Four days in Okinawa on a trip to Japan with kids

If you are traveling from Seattle, flying to Tokyo is usually about a nine hour flight-I like to justify a family trip to Tokyo to travelers with kids by saying it’s just a few hours more than a flight to Hawaii which is a very popular destination for families in the Pacific Northwest.  And because it’s not horribly far for us, and because we have family in Japan and Singapore, we have traveled to Japan often either as a destination or as a stopover to break up an even longer journey.  On a recent trip to Japan we decided to try flying to Okinawa for the first time and we had four days in Okinawa to explore.  We have heard so much about this place over the years and we really wanted to see it for ourselves.

Four days in Okinawa in February

Our kids go to public school and being tied to a school schedule and a sports schedule makes it so that we have to make an effort to travel during school holidays.  Last year we went to Kauai for mid-winter break and we ran into many Seattleites on our trip. This year we decided to go to Japan for mid-winter break because we found some reasonably-priced flights from Seattle. When we were planning our trip we remembered how nice it was to feel warm at this time of year and the hopes that we might get some sunshine on our Japan trip made Okinawa an appealing destination.  Okinawa is also the first area in Japan to get cherry blossoms and this often happens in February.  It is not very busy in Okinawa in February, but we realized when we arrived that many beaches are not open yet there either.  We were warm enough that if we were in San Francisco or on the Oregon Coast we would have hung out on the beach but for some reason we did not see anyone on most of the beaches we drove by and it seemed like many beaches in Okinawa were actually closed.  The guys love beaches and have decided they want to travel to Okinawa in March or April next time so they can actually swim.  A friend told me that she heard from someone who lived in Okinawa that the last two weeks of June are a good time to visit too.

Things to see in Okinawa and how we decided where to stay

I knew we wanted to see the Aquarium in Okinawa for sure because it has whale sharks. I also knew we would want to go to a beach even if it was just to play on the sand.  My husband read somewhere that Ishigaki island was the most beautiful island in the world, but we realized that would be a long flight and we didn’t know if it would be warm enough to justify that long of a trip. Ultimately we flew into Naha which is on the main Okinawan Island and about a 3 hour flight from Tokyo.  We booked our flight to leave a couple hours after we landed at Narita Airport so that we could just keep all of our travel on the same day.  Seattle had a snowstorm the day we left and we arrived at Narita airport to snowfall so it was definitely an intense travel day.  By the time we reached Okinawa, it was very late at night too but we booked our car so that we could pick it up ‘After-hours” at OTS International and that was very convenient and easy.

ANA Intercontinental Manza Beach

As with most of our trips, during my research I found a hotel that we had to stay at and the rest of our trip became centered around this resort.  The ANA Intercontinental Manza Beach had balconies that looked out to the ocean and I decided that if I was going to fly 3 or 4 hours from Tokyo to go to an island, we really needed to be able to see the beach.  I knew it had a warm pool that would be open when we went.   I also knew that pork-based foods are a big staple in Okinawa and my family doesn’t eat pork and I wasn’t sure how much I would need to be able to speak Japanese to help convey our dietary needs around Okinawa and I knew the ANA intercontinental has a club lounge.

The Club Floor at the ANA Intercontinental Manza Beach includes breakfast, tea, cocktail time and snacks so I thought booking this would be helpful as a backup just in case we didn’t find cafes, etc. that we could eat at on our travels.  Being stressed about meals with kids just causes additional drama and we booked a Sheraton in Vancouver with this kind of lounge idea at Christmastime and it took the stress out of eating out with kids.  The Club Floor at the ANA Intercontinental Manza Beach is exquisite.  The pastries here are so beautiful that we made sure to come back one afternoon for the high tea that was included in our room rate.  I loved that so many local delicacies were on the menu too-we were able to try a bunch of interesting foods we might not have had time to try on our visit if they hadn’t all been here in the lounge.  Kids are not allowed during the cocktail time in the lounge but there is an alternate arrangement for families with children under the age of 12.

The pool at this ANA Intercontinental Manza Beach was heated and warm.  On our first day in the pool the kids swam in the pool by themselves for most of the pool time-they were 10 years old when we visited, they are strong swimmers and we were sitting on deck chairs watching them.  This day was a blissful swim day.  The second day we went swimming a lifeguard insisted that my kids needed a grownup in the pool with them at all times so then it wasn’t my favorite pool anymore.

Finding hotels for families in Japan is not an easy task. Our room at the ANA intercontinental Manza Beach was a family room but in this hotel this meant that 3 or 4 beds were pushed together to make one giant bed in a small area and the whole family slept together.  This was a short period of time and we were all exhausted every day, but if you prefer more space you may want to consider another type of accommodation.

Places that we ended up visiting in Okinawa with kids

We arrived in Okinawa on ANA’s R2D2 plane, so our trip was already off to a great start.  We ended up with a bit of bad weather on our Okinawa trip, but that did not prevent us from getting out and doing lots of things.  We were lucky to have a rental car so we never felt stuck at a resort.  One day we went for a drive to a brown sugar factory and the Yomitan Pottery Village.  We explored an old castle-the Zakimi Castle Ruins, and tried Okinawan Potato shave ice at Tsurukame-do Zenzai shaved ice cafe. A friend told us about a highway roadstop “Michi-no-eki” where you can get ice cream and other fun treats.  I tried sakura ice cream here and we actually came back for lunch as well.  You can buy discount tickets for the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium at the Michi-no-eki as well, so I think we saved some dollars by buying our tickets here.

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is great for families

Of course, the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is the type of place where you can spend a whole day.  There was a really big rainstorm the day we went so it seemed like everyone in Okinawa was here too, but it was still a really great visit.  There is a cool playground here, but it was closed because of the weather.  The rooftop parking lot of the Churaumi Aquarium is grassy and beautiful as well.  We loved seeing the whale sharks in the giant tank.  There is a restaurant in the aquarium that you can go to and sit directly in front of the tank while you eat.  If this is something that you plan on doing, stop at the cafe when you get to the museum and try to make a reservation-there were no spots available by the time we made our way to the cafe and it was all booked up for the day.  In the same area as the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is a botanical garden called the Tropical Dream Center that we might have visited on a better weather day, but we had already gone through wet cherry blossoms in the morning and decided we were done with gardens.  If you decide to go to the botanical gardens you can get 50% off your ticket with your Churaumi Aquarium ticket stub.

Himbeere Bakery and another cute stop with kids in Okinawa

I tend to find a lot of places just by chance.  We had a bit of a drive one morning and I looked for interesting stops on the way and found a couple coffee shops and bakeries on google maps that sounded intriguing.  Our first stop was on a really windy road.  We ended up in what felt like the middle of nowhere at one of the most beautiful bakeries I have ever seen.  Outside Himbeere bakery, a cat was playing underneath a cherry blossom tree.  And when we walked through the doors of the bakery I wanted to try all the pastries.  I managed to get my choices paired down to a few, and we loved the baked goods that we bought here as well.  Everything tasted so fresh and delicious.

A little nearby the Himbeere Bakery we stopped at another place that was marked as a cafe, but looked like someone’s home-there were so many places like this in Okinawa.  We were greeted by an elderly woman and her husband and they made us fresh orange juice and gave us oranges to try.  These type of oranges are called Tankan, and I thought we would try and pick some to try them while we visited Okinawa, but we did not have to because of this stop.  The lady turned out to be an artist and showed us her beautiful studio.  I loved this visit so much.

Hamahiga Island Salt Factory  and the beach nearby

My favorite day of our four days in Okinawa was our last day when somehow we ended up at a salt factory on Hamahiga Island that I had pinned on my maps. We drove through narrow roads and a sunflower field, past rocky beaches to the end of a road.  We have many missteps in our travels and at first I thought we might be in someone’s yard.  But this was truly a traditional salt factory.  There wasn’t really a tour there, but a man gave us a paper that kind of explained how the salt was taken from the seawater.

Behind the salt factory was the most beautiful beach. There was another family here dipping their feet in the waves as well.  The day was sunny and warm, and even though we ended up with sand in our shoes on the way to the airport, all of us enjoyed a little beach time and we bought some beautiful salt souvenirs to bring back home.

Urasoe Park

If you are in Okinawa with kids, you need to go to Urasoe Park.  We did not have time to visit and we zoomed by it on the highway on the way to the airport and you can see the slide from the highway so I had to look it up. This is the perfect kind of park that we love to visit.  Any chance you’ve been here?  I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments below, but it looks absolutely amazing.

Okinawa was a place that stole our hearts the minute we arrived and we are determined to go back again one day.  Next time we want to try more coffee shops and bakeries, hang out in Urasoe Park and spend a lot more time on the beach.  Maybe we’ll get as far as Ishikagiki too. Have you ever been to Okinawa?

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)