When to go to Okinawa?
→ The detailed month-by-month page, with real weather records
Best time: March to April and October to November
At a glance
Why go to Okinawa?
Okinawa is Japan without Japan's codes. The archipelago was an independent kingdom, Ryukyu, from 1429 to 1879, trading with China, Korea and Siam before being annexed by Tokyo. What remains is a language, limestone castles with curving walls, turtle-shaped tombs in the hills, shisa lions on every roof and a cuisine of pork, goya and awamori found nowhere else in the country. People live long, talk louder and close later.
The main island is 106 km from north to south, so you can see it all by car in a week. The south holds Naha, Shuri, the caves and the sites of the 1945 battle. The west coast lines up the beaches of Yomitan and Onna, Cape Manzamo, then the Motobu Peninsula with the aquarium and the Kouri Bridge. The north, Yanbaru, is a UNESCO-listed subtropical forest where the road narrows to a single lane. 50 minutes away by ferry, the Kerama Islands offer water that divers rank among the clearest in Japan.
Timing matters a great deal. March and April bring 22-26 °C, cherry blossoms already over since February and a sea at 22 °C. May and June are drowned by the rainy season, July and August bake at 32 °C with humidity close to 80%, then the typhoons arrive in August and September and ground planes two or three days a month. October and November are dry, and the sea stays at 26 °C. Winter, mild at 18-20 °C, suits the humpback whales that cruise the Keramas from January to March.
Map of Okinawa: what is where?
The map shows the 6 places covered in this guide, to picture the distances and plan your route.
- Naha
- Churaumi Aquarium
- Cape Manzamo
- Zamami
- Cape Hedo
- Okinawa World
How much does a trip to Okinawa cost?
Okinawa is slightly cheaper than Tokyo for sleeping and eating, but the car and ferries come on top. With guesthouses, soba and konbini, you can get by on €60 a day. A west coast resort and izakaya dinners take the bill to €200.
| Style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €60-90/day | Dorm or business hotel, bus and monorail, soba and konbini, free beaches |
| Comfort | €120-200/day | Business hotel then beach resort, shared car, the aquarium and the Keramas, izakaya in the evening |
| Premium | €350+/day | West coast resort, car, diving and whale-watching trips, Okinawan kaiseki dinners |
Cash is still needed at soba-ya, island guesthouses and markets: withdraw from the cash machines in 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart konbini, which accept foreign cards, or at the post office. Hotels, resorts and big shops take cards. The OKICA card works on buses, while Suica and its counterparts work on the monorail but not on buses.
Is Okinawa safe?
Okinawa is as safe as the rest of Japan, with almost no crime and lost property that finds its way back. The real issues are natural. The sea first: habu-kurage box jellyfish from June to September, hence the nets on resort beaches, and strong currents over the reefs on a falling tide; swim in supervised areas and check the tide times for the Blue Cave. Then the typhoons, mainly in August and September, which shut down the ferries and cancel flights one or two days a month; leave some slack before your flight home and get insurance that covers cancellation. The venomous habu snake lives in the long grass and stone walls of the north, but rarely bites. Finally, driving is on the left, there is zero tolerance for drink-driving, and the sun burns in 20 minutes even under cloud. The hospitals in Naha and Nago are of Japanese standard.
What to see and do in Okinawa
- Churaumi Aquarium
- Shuri Castle
- Kokusai-dori and Makishi Market
- Cape Manzamo
- Kerama Islands (Zamami and Tokashiki)
- Kouri Island and its bridge
- Cape Hedo
- Gyokusendo and Okinawa World
Naha and Shuri
The prefectural capital has 320,000 inhabitants and is organised around Kokusai-dori, the Heiwa-dori arcade and Makishi Market. The Yui Rail monorail, with 19 stations, links the airport to Shuri Castle in 30 minutes and skirts the Shintoshin district with the prefectural museum, worth seeing before the sites to understand the kingdom's history. In the evening, Sakaemachi, a 1950s covered market near Asato station, turns into a string of tiny bars. Tsuboya, the potters' quarter, keeps its climbing kilns and shisa workshops, five minutes from the market.
Churaumi Aquarium and the Motobu Peninsula
The north-west of the island, 1h45 from Naha, is home to the aquarium and its whale shark tank, but also to Nakijin Castle, 14th-century UNESCO-listed ruins whose walls snake for 1.5 km above the sea, in bloom from late January. Motobu is also Okinawa soba country: a hundred or so stalls along the 'soba road' serve wheat noodles in a pork and bonito broth. Motobu port has boats to Ie Island and its 172-metre peak, 30 minutes by ferry, or to Minna-jima and its crescent beach.
The Onna Coast and Cape Manzamo
The west coast between Yomitan and Nago lines up Japan's big resorts, with beaches closed off by jellyfish nets and diving courses on offer. Cape Manzamo is the must-see viewpoint, but Maeda beach, in Onna, is worth a detour for the Blue Cave, a sea cave reached with fins, mask and snorkel from the steps on the point, where light enters from below. Yomitan keeps the potters' village of Yachimun no Sato, with its shared kilns, and the ruins of Zakimi Castle, a curved UNESCO-listed wall overlooking the coast.
Kerama Islands
This national park west of Naha can be visited in a day from Tomari port, but deserves one or two nights in a guesthouse on Zamami or at Aharen to see the beaches without the excursion boats. Furuzamami, on Zamami, is a walk from the port and can be enjoyed with a mask and snorkel hired on the spot, turtles included. The Takatsukiyama viewpoint overlooks the channel where humpback whales pass from January to March. Tokashiki offers the same beaches with more accommodation and a 35-minute fast ferry. An e-bike is enough to get everywhere.
Yanbaru and Cape Hedo
The northern third of the island is 130 km² of subtropical forest, with tree ferns, mangroves at the Gesashi estuary and species found nowhere else: the Okinawa rail, Pryer's woodpecker and Ishikawa's frog. The east coast road from Hedo to Higashi passes through fishing villages without a single shop. The Hiji Falls, in Kunigami, are reached by a 45-minute forest trail. Kayaking in the mangroves, a night in a guesthouse in Ogimi, the village of centenarians, and sunrise over the cape make for a full day.
The South: Gyokusendo and Sefa Utaki
South of Naha you will find Gyokusendo Cave and the Okinawa World park, but also Sefa Utaki, the most sacred sanctuary of the Ryukyu Kingdom, a UNESCO-listed ensemble of rocks and forest passages where the high priestesses officiated facing Kudaka Island. Itoman's Peace Memorial Park and its Cornerstone of Peace, engraved with the names of 240,000 people killed in the 1945 battle, on all sides, explain the island's recent history. The hilltop cafés of Nanjo, overlooking the reef, and Mibaru beach round off the loop.
How many days, and which itinerary?
Four days are enough for Naha, Shuri, the south and a day trip to the aquarium. A week allows the full tour of the island with two nights in the north. Ten days add two or three nights in the Keramas, Okinawa's real bonus.
🗺️ Day-by-day itinerary · 📓 Free printable Okinawa guide (PDF) · 🌍 All of Japan
Naha and the north in 4 days
Day 1: Kokusai-dori, Makishi Market, the Tsuboya potters, an evening in Sakaemachi. Day 2: Shuri Castle in the morning, the prefectural museum, then Gyokusendo and Sefa Utaki in the south by hire car. Day 3: drive north via Yomitan and Cape Manzamo, Churaumi Aquarium in the late afternoon, night in Motobu or Nago. Day 4: Nakijin Castle, the Kouri Bridge, back to Naha on the motorway. Pick up the car on day two; central Naha is done on foot and by monorail.
Round the island in 1 week
Two nights in Naha for the city, Shuri and the south. Two nights on the Onna coast or in Yomitan, with snorkelling in the Blue Cave, Manzamo and the Zakimi ruins. Two nights in Motobu or Nago for the aquarium, Nakijin, Kouri and a day out to Cape Hedo via the west coast, returning via the east coast and the Gesashi mangroves. A last night in Naha before the flight, with the morning market for last-minute shopping. Around 400 km in total, never more than 2h30 of driving a day.
The main island and the Keramas in 10 days
The island tour in seven days, then three days in the Keramas: ferry from Tomari, two nights in a guesthouse on Zamami with Furuzamami on foot and a snorkelling trip to the islets of Agenashiku and Gahi, then a night on Tokashiki for Aharen before heading back. From January to March, add a whale-watching trip from Zamami. Those with more time fly on to Ishigaki and Iriomote, 400 km to the south-west, for the mangroves and the Kabira reef.
Getting there and getting around
Naha Airport (OKA), 3 km from the centre and linked by monorail in 12 minutes. There are no direct flights from Europe: fly to Tokyo, then 2h45 on to Naha, with some forty flights a day from Haneda and Narita, from €80 one way if you book early.
A car is essential outside Naha: €40-60 a day for a small model, and booking is a must in summer.
In Naha, the Yui Rail monorail serves 19 stations from the airport to Tedako-Uranishi via Shuri, with a day pass at ¥800 and Suica cards accepted. Long-distance buses link Naha to Nago and the aquarium (Yanbaru Express bus, around 2h30).
Ferries to the Keramas leave from Tomari port, a 15-minute walk from Kokusai-dori: 50 minutes on the Queen Zamami, 2 hours on the slow ferry. Ishigaki and Miyako can only be reached by air, a 1-hour flight from Naha.
Where to stay in Okinawa?
Hostels and guesthouses in Naha: €20-35 for a dorm bed, €50-70 for a double room. The Kume district, between Kokusai-dori and the port, has a cluster of simple places within walking distance of the monorail and the ferry.
Naha's business hotels, clean and well located: €70-120 a room, often with a large shared bath and breakfast. The logical base for the first two or three nights before picking up the car.
West coast resorts, between Yomitan and Nago: €150-300 a night with a private beach and pool, to book early for Golden Week in early May and for August. Rates drop sharply from December to February.
Family guesthouses on the Keramas, minshuku with dinner: €60-100 per person half board, booked by phone or through the islands' websites. In the north, the guesthouses of Ogimi and Kunigami cost around €80-120.
Our places to stay, stop by stop, at three budgets →
What to eat in Okinawa?
Okinawa soba, thick wheat noodles in a pork and bonito broth, topped with pork spare ribs (soki) or braised belly: ¥700-1,000 at a stall. Rafute, pork simmered in awamori and brown sugar, comes with almost every meal.
Goya champuru, a stir-fry of bitter melon, tofu, egg and pork, is the everyday dish of the izakaya. Umibudo, or 'sea grapes', are bead-like seaweed served with ponzu vinegar. Jimami tofu, made with peanut milk, and sata andagi, round doughnuts sold at the market.
Awamori, a spirit distilled from Thai rice with black koji, 30 to 43 degrees, is served with water and ice; aged versions (kusu) are drunk neat. Orion beer, brewed in Nago, is in every bar. An izakaya with sanshin music costs €25-40 per person.
Taco rice, spicy beef, cheese and salad on rice, was invented in the 1980s for the American soldiers at Kin. Beni-imo tart, a little purple sweet potato tart, is in every souvenir shop. The hilltop cafés of the south serve zenzai, red beans on shaved ice.
Entry requirements
Visa-free for 90 days for EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
Rules change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
Frequently asked questions about Okinawa
When is the best time to visit Okinawa?
March-April and October-November: 22-27 °C, little rain, a sea at 22-26 °C and hotels without the crowds. Avoid the rainy season from May to late June and the height of the typhoons in August-September. Winter, at 18-20 °C, is too cool for swimming without a wetsuit but good for whales in the Keramas and the late-January cherry blossoms.
Do you need a car?
Yes, as soon as you leave Naha. Buses exist but are slow and infrequent in the north. Driving is on the left and speed limits are low, 50-60 km/h on ordinary roads and 80 on motorways.
How many days should you plan?
Four days for Naha, Shuri, the south and a day trip to the aquarium. A week for the full tour of the island, with nights on the west coast and in the north. Ten days to add two or three nights in the Keramas. Ishigaki and Iriomote, an hour's flight away, need four more days.
Can you swim all year round?
Beaches officially open from April to October, with jellyfish nets and lifeguards. The sea drops to 21 °C in February, which is still doable in a thin wetsuit, and climbs back to 29 °C in August. Out of season, beaches remain accessible but unsupervised, and habu-kurage jellyfish are around from June to September.
How do you get to Okinawa from Tokyo?
By air only, 2h45 from Haneda or Narita, with ANA, JAL, Peach, Jetstar and Skymark. The low-cost airlines sell one-way tickets from €80 without hold luggage. The Japan Rail Pass covers nothing on the island. The ferry from Kagoshima exists, but it takes 25 hours and is only of interest to those working their way down the archipelago island by island.
Similar destinations
City🇬🇷 Corfu
City🇰🇷 Busan
Region🇫🇷 Charente-Maritime and the Île de Ré
City🇫🇷 Bordeaux and Around
Country🇬🇷 Greece
Country🇭🇷 Croatia
Country🇲🇹 Malta
Country🇹🇭 Thailand
City🇮🇩 Bali
Country