Okinawa, Japan · City, Sea / Beach
The capital of Okinawa, home to Shuri Castle (Ryukyu culture) and the starting point for trips to the archipelago's outer islands.
Plane — Naha International Airport, gateway to the Okinawa islands
In Tomigusuku, about twenty minutes away. Okinawa is the birthplace of karate, which grew from the fusion of Okinawan ti with Fuzhou kung fu and developed in Shuri, Naha and Tomari before reaching mainland Japan in the 1920s. The complex has a museum, a traditional timber dojo and trial classes for visitors by booking. 25 October is Karate Day, with a mass demonstration on Kokusai-dori.
A daytime market that after six in the evening turns into a maze of tiny izakayas. Entirely local, with no mass tourism: the best night out in Naha.
The former royal palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, with a cultural identity of its own distinct from the rest of Japan.
It was the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1429 to 1879, a tributary state of China with its own language, religion and architecture, invaded by Satsuma in 1609 and annexed by Japan in 1879. Some 120,000 Okinawans died in the 1945 battle, around a quarter of the civilian population. American occupation lasted until 1972, and today Okinawa is 0.6% of Japan's territory and holds over 70% of its US bases. This explains the food, the music, the townscape and much of the local mood.
Court opera of the Ryukyu Kingdom, created in 1719 to receive the Chinese envoys, with singing in old Okinawan, sanshin and dance. It has been Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2010, and the national theatre in Urasoe is where it is preserved and taught. This is not folklore for tourists: it is the high culture of a kingdom.
Awamori is Japan's oldest distilled spirit, dating from the 15th century, made with Thai indica rice and black koji; aged, it is called kusu. There are distilleries open to visitors in Shuri, one with free tasting and another by advance reservation only.
Bingata is the polychrome dyeing of the Ryukyu court, reserved for centuries to the nobility. At a workshop in Shuri you can dye a piece of your own, and also try sango-zome, printing with fossil coral, a technique exclusive to that house.
A dance with drums dedicated to the ancestors. The big August parade goes along Kokusai-dori and the main festival is held in Okinawa City on the Obon weekend; out of season it can be seen at scheduled shows.
It is in Tomigusuku, fifteen to twenty minutes from the centre. There are 450 metres of tunnels dug out by pickaxe by the sailors, where Rear Admiral Ota and his staff killed themselves on 13 June 1945; grenade impacts are still visible on the walls. Ota had earlier sent a telegram asking for special consideration for the people of Okinawa.
Next to Kokusai-dori, it brings short workshops in bingata, Ryukyu glass, pottery, lacquer and weaving under one roof. It is the best option if time is short.
Noodles made from wheat flour, not buckwheat, in a pork and bonito broth, with pork belly or ribs. Finished with koregusu, chilli steeped in awamori.
A World Heritage site: the kings' 18th-century leisure residence, with a pond, Chinese-style stone bridges and a red-tiled pavilion. Closed Wednesdays and badly underrated.
In early November, with a parade of the Ryukyu royal court in reconstructed costume. The 2026 edition is the one commemorating the completion of the main hall, so it will be exceptional.
A World Heritage site, built in 1501 and five minutes on foot from Shuri. It is almost empty while the castle is bursting with people.
Goya champuru stir-fries bitter melon with island tofu and Spam, the Spam coming straight from American rations, and the rest of the repertoire includes umibudo, the sea grapes that burst in the mouth, rafute, peanut tofu and the sata andagi doughnuts sold in the markets.
The eight shrines protected by the royal court, six of them in Naha, each with its own stamp. It is a route practically absent from Spanish-language guidebooks and is done on foot combined with the monorail.
The Tsushima Maru was a ship evacuating schoolchildren and was sunk by a United States submarine on 22 August 1944: close to 1,500 dead, some 780 of them children. Survivors were forced to keep silent under military secrecy. It is emotionally hard and not suitable for young children.
Tsuboya has concentrated the kilns since 1682, when the kingdom grouped them here, and this is where the shiisaa, the guardian lions of the rooftops, come from. A piece takes a month to fire and shipping abroad is expensive.
Quiet urban beaches just a short distance from downtown Naha.
The main shopping and dining street of Okinawa's capital.
Tropical fish and Okinawan dishes rarely found elsewhere in Japan.
A mid-October festival featuring one of the largest straw ropes in the world, pulled by thousands of participants along Kokusai Dori Avenue.
From 3 to 5 May in Naha port. They began as a fishermen's rite to pray for a good catch, and today they are free and come with concerts and fireworks.
Okinawa's most important Shinto shrine, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea next to Naminoue Beach.
Its origin is postwar: it was blown from recycled Coca-Cola and beer bottles from the American bases, and that is where the colours and the bubbles come from. The large glass village is in Itoman, but Naha has small glassblowing studios.
A detail almost no guidebook gets right: it was not born in Naha but in Kin, next to Camp Hansen, in 1984, to feed the marines cheaply. In Naha it is served everywhere, but the pilgrimage is to Kin.
It is Okinawa's only railway: the island's train was destroyed in 1945 and never rebuilt, hence the dependence on cars. Akamine is the southernmost station in Japan and the airport one the westernmost, both with a commemorative plaque.
Narrow lanes lined with workshops producing traditional Okinawan pottery (yachimun) since the 17th century.
Independent bars, record shops and an arthouse cinema on the streets parallel to Kokusai-dori. It is the civilised alternative both to the tourist avenue and to the aggressive touts on Matsuyama street, which are best avoided.
A Chinese-style garden built to honor the historic ties between Naha and the Chinese city of Fuzhou.
Run in early December and now in its 40th edition, with a capped field and registration months in advance.
Okinawa's only urban beach, literally under the motorway viaduct. It is more surreal than beautiful, but it is where the people of Naha swim.
A museum dedicated to the history, nature, and culture of the Ryukyu Kingdom, with an adjoining art gallery.
Tell us how many days you have and what you are interested in, and the planner builds a realistic itinerary with real train times.
Open the planner