Okinawa Itinerary

This itinerary was actually the second part of a larger 9- to 10-day trip covering both Hong Kong and Okinawa, as the latter was a roughly half-week trip covering primarily Northern Okinawa Island (or at least around Motobu and Nago).

The main island was actually surprisingly quite large so we didn’t get a chance to cover as much of the island as I would have liked (and hence we didn’t cover as many waterfalls as I would have liked).

Nevertheless, we had to compromise between having a relaxing trip while also throwing in some adventure (i.e. chasing waterfalls) to keep things interesting.

I’m hoping that we might get an opportunity to return to Okinawa again to explore more of its main island as well as its other islands.

Anyways, here’s our humble sampling of what we were able to accomplish during our half-week or so here…

Trip Map

Trip Highlights

Todoroki Falls – this impressively tall and picturesque waterfall was the first that we visited in Okinawa, and it also happened to be a pretty convenient and easy one, too. That was because it was a short detour off our long drive between Nago and the Motobu area. So it was the perfect way to start off our waterfalling on the island on the day that we arrived from Hong Kong.

Churaumi Aquarium – this was an impressive aquarium near Motobu that had a lot of impressive marine life, but the most impressive one had to be the huge whale shark that dominated their main tank. Adjacent to the aquarium itself was also an ocean expo park that featured other marine animals (e.g. sea turtles, manatees, etc.) as well as nice ocean views, including a possible sunset viewing.

Kijoka Nanataki Waterfall – we managed to visit this waterfall right before the onset of some bad weather shortly after we were disappointed with the closure of the Hiji Otaki Waterfall. It actually featured a couple of main drops though I didn’t really sense there being 7 waterfalls as its name suggests. Nevertheless, this felt more like a local sacred site, and thus respect and reverence were the way to experience this place properly.

Nago Pineapple Park – this was kind of an over-the-top cheezy pineapple plantation that also doubled as a bit of a theme-park-like self-tour. We appreciated the self-driving, rail-less cars that covered a large chunk of the plantation, and then we walked the remainder of its facility (which even included a kitschy dinosaur park). Given that we had some bad weather on our first full day in Okinawa, this seemed like the best way to make lemonade out of lemons, so to speak.

Tataki Falls – on this was perhaps the most satisfying waterfall excursion that we managed to do during our short time on Okinawa Island. It pretty much had it all – an adventurous river scramble, tourist-friendly infrastructure and signage, and a nice waterfall with a swimmable plunge pool!

Nakijin Castle – this is a UNESCO World Heritage site whose history dated back to the 13th century. Even for castle ruins, it featured impressive walls with commanding views towards the colorful reefs fringing the coastline in this part of the northern side of Okinawa’s main island.

Sesoko Beach – this was a nice strand of beach that just so happens to be conveniently close to the Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort that we stayed at for almost the entire time we were on the main island. Not only did it have satisfying bright sand fringed by colorful reef waters, but there was even a surprise waterfall by some interesting caves to boot!

Cave Okinawa – for a bit of a change of scenery and pace, this well-lit cavern with some accompanying music was the excursion roughly an hour’s drive north of Naha was it. Like other cave systems, there were imaginatively-named formations, but in this case, our visit was a one-way self-guided tour that was well-paced and delightfully uncrowded.

American Village – this was pretty much a kind of outdoor shopping mall with quite a bit of over-the-top pastel-colored buildings that essentially was a sort of caricature of what the Okinawans must have envisioned what America must be like. It was kind of part Vegas-like artificialness but with that Japanese cleanliness and sense of pride, and you end up with this attraction that is quite unlike anything you’ll see on Okinawa let alone Japan!

Naha City Center – while Okinawa is known for the longest living people on earth and a bit of what Hawaii is to the USA, it does have an energetic night life in the center of its main city – Naha. In my mind, it was like a cross between the indoor arcades of Sapporo and the one in Kyoto, and even during the day, there’s a farmers market kind of setup in the inner parts of the indoor arcade.
Indeed, this was where we spent our final night in Okinawa on this trip, and it was definitely a memorable one.

Trip Advice

Since this was our first time visiting Okinawa, there were definitely things I wish I knew beforehand as well as some things I might have done differently when planning this trip out. Here are some of the lessons learned from this visit…

Size of the Island: I didn’t really appreciate this at the time, but it took a pretty long time to drive from Naha to Motobu (it took us over 90 minutes on mostly local streets). Most of this time was due to a very slow speed limit (consistently 50-60 km/h) and lots of traffic lights. However, there was an E58 toll motorway that was available towards the eastern coastline of Okinawa Island, which would have saved about 30 minutes. Come to think of it, we probably could have used it to fit in other excursions that we wished we had time to do (and now we’d have to do them on a return trip though we don’t know when that’s going to be).

Anyways, that’s definitely something to consider when planning a trip here, especially if you’re intent on staying in just one place for the whole trip (which might not be a wise idea). We actually spent 3 nights in Northern Okinawa and just 1 night in Naha, and that was probably the right mix.

Weather and Climate: we tend to think that late November is a pretty good time to visit tropical destinations, but after having done this experience, we were quite surprised by a day of bad weather as well as some pretty cold temperatures (exacerbated by some wind chills) resulting in some rough and cold waters. My only rationale for this is perhaps that Okinawa lies more north to places like Guam and the South Pacific Islands, and thus it has a bit of a different climate that’s more subtropical as opposed to tropical. So that’s definitely something we’ll watch out for if we’re fortunate to return to Okinawa in the future (climate change notwithstanding).

Japanese Yen: one thing that was a bit of a pleasant surprise for us using American currency was that it was very strong against the Japanese currency (almost 150 yen for $1 USD). While this can’t be good for locals earning yen, it pretty much made Japan (Okinawa included) a budget destination without the consequences that you tend to associate with less politically stable countries that might also be budget destinations.

So we were pretty much living like royalty (think A5 Wagyu steak dinners that were under $100 USD whereas it would be like $200-$300 USD back at home), and in an age of skyrocketing cost-of-living issues, this was a very fortunate consequence at this particular moment in time. That said, I do wonder how much longer this is going to last because there’s definitely something unsustainable about this.

Travel Itinerary

Day 5: Transit from Hong Kong to Okinawa then drive to Motobu

Overnight: Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort (Motobu, Okinawa, Japan)

We started this day with a brutal 3am wake-up to catch a 7am flight from Hong Kong to Okinawa. When we arrived, it wouldn’t be until about about 12:35pm when we finally picked up the rental car and were on our own. From there, we drove up to Northern Okinawa while making detours to Todoroki Falls and the Churaumi Aquarium before settling in at our resort on Sesoko Island.

Day 6: Full Day in Northern Okinawa

Overnight: Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort (Motobu, Okinawa, Japan)

This was a day that was impacted by bad weather. So our intentions of visiting all the main waterfalls (Hiji Otaki, Ta-taki, etc.) on this day only resulted in visiting the Kijoka Nanataki Waterfall. So in making lemonade out of lemons, we visited the Nago Pineapple Park, which was surprisingly fun even if it was kind of a death-by-cheeziness kind of an experience.

Day 7: Full Day in Northern Okinawa

Overnight: Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort (Motobu, Okinawa, Japan)

With the improved weather on this day, we got a chance to visit Ta-taki before visiting Nakijin Castle and Bise Fukugi. We eventually ended off the day finally getting to check out Sesoko Beach and its surprise waterfall.

Day 8: Drive from Motobu to Naha

Overnight: JR Kyushu Hotel Blossom Naha (Naha, Okinawa, Japan)

On this day, we stretched out a long drive back to Naha by taking detours to Cave Okinawa and the American Village before enjoying the night time energy of Naha City Center and its shopping arcades, restaurants, and bars.

Day 9: Fly back to Hong Kong Airport en route to Home

This was a travel day, where we returned the rental car and caught a flight back to Hong Kong for a long layover at its airport. We actually made use of that long layover in Hong Kong before going home, which I detail in the Hong Kong 2024 Itinerary page.

Best Places We’ve Stayed At

Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort, Motobu– Even though we only stayed in two different places during this trip in Okinawa, I thought it was worth mentioning this place because it gave us good value (aided by the favorable exchange rate), a comfortably clean and spacious room with a nice view of the ocean, and a breakfast buffet that had a lot of variety (compelling us to pretty much eat like pigs).

That buffet was worth binging on because they had a mix of local Okinawan foods as well as Japanese food (think miso soup, hot udon or soba noodles, sashimi over rice, etc.). Of course, they also had typical American stuff as well. But we really appreciated the fresh fruits that included lychee and very sweet pineapples.

It was also in a quiet location on the Sesoko Island, which is connected by a bridge near Motobu, and that gave us the best of both worlds in terms of tranquility as well as being close enough to the action to take our pick of places to eat in and around Motobu. That said, it was actually close to the Fuu Cafe, which we liked so much that we ate there twice!

It also helped that we were within a half-hour drive or a little longer to most of the targeted attractions on the main island that we were after as well.

As for the location other amenities, parking was free for guests during our visit and we even got a welcome ice cream treat from Seal.

However, if I had to make one complaint, it was that their electrical plugs didn’t have ground and that they were too close to walls or other obstructions that prevented us from putting in our adapters that did have ground (you need them to plug in things like laptops or other power hungry devices we’d bring on our travels).

Nevertheless, if we’re ever fortunate to return to the main island of Okinawa, this is likely the place we’d come back to again.