7 days in Japan Okinawa - self-drive trip with toddler!

Okinawa is a Japanese prefecture comprising more than 150 islands in the East China Sea between Taiwan and Japan's mainland. It's known for its tropical climate, broad beaches and coral reefs, as well as World War II sites. (google)

I always thought the photos I find online are heavily photo-shopped, but the beaches are really so beautiful in real life that they almost seem unreal. You really need to visit Okinawa to see them for yourself.



When I was researching for the trip, most of the itineraries I could find were for 3 to 5 days only. It seemed like we had booked too long a trip just for Okinawa mainland. I guess we are also quite used to trips with back-to-back itineraries so I was a bit concerned whether we will have enough to do during the 7 days. It was a perfect decision to go there for 7 days! We visited most of the places we planned but the trip was not so rushed.

I had a few considerations for my itinerary:
1. Start and end point in Naha
2. Minimise travelling time
3. Accommodation to be convenient / good views from the hotel room (it's Okinawa afterall :D)
4. Free parking for rental car (we chose Orix Rent a Car which is very near JR Kyushu Hotel)

I had a tough time choosing where to stay but we decided on the following 4 hotels:
1. JR Kyushu Hotel Blossom Naha (Naha)
2. Hotel Mahaina Wellness Resorts Okinawa (Motobu)
3. Hilton Okinawa Chatan Resort (Chatan)
4. Hotel WBF Art Stay Naha Kokusai-dori (last minute change as we wanted to stay near Kokusai street) (Naha)

The locations for the hotels were relatively convenient for the places we wanted to visit. Staying at Chatan for 3 nights may have been a little too much though.

Here's a list of places we visited. Hopefully I will be able to blog about them soon! Here a link to the self-guided itinerary I did for the trip, including the list of Okinawa attractions and Okinawan food to try. I made some changes to the itinerary as we went along, but we visited most of the places mentioned in the itinerary. Do note that I don't own the copyright to the images found in the document. You are free to reference to the itinerary for your personal trips. 

Naha
First Makishi Public Market
Shurijo Castle
Heiwa Street 平和通り商店街
Tsuboya Yachimun Street 壺屋やちむん通り(Pottery Street)
Kokusai Street (Okashigoten 御菓子御殿国際通り松尾店, Blue Seal Ice Cream shop, Calbee+)

Kunigami
Cape Hedo 辺戸岬
Himawari Shokudou ひまわり食堂 (Soba)

Nakijin
Kouri Island
Kouri Ocean Tower 古宇利オーシャンタワー
Heart Rock ハートロック

Nago

Manmi Yakiniku 島豚七輪焼 満味
Nago Pineapple Park
Busena Marine Park Underwater Observatory

Onna
Ganso sea grapes 元祖海ぶど
Cape Manzamo 万座毛（まんざもう）
Ryukyu Mura 琉球村

Uruma
Bios Hill

Motobu
Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium 沖縄美ら海水族館
Okichan (Dolphin) Theater オキちゃん劇場
Papaya Hall ぱぱいや (dinner)

Okinawa City
Southeast Botanical Garden
JA Farmers Market Chanpuru Ichiba
うなぎ大和田 (Unagi Rice)
Okinawa Children's World Zoo and Museum 沖縄こどもの国

Kitanakagusuku
Aeon Mall Okinawa Rycom

Chatan
Kinpa Ginpa きんぱぎんぱ
American Village アメリカンビレッジ
Araha Beach (Sunset Beach)

Gurume Conveyor Belt Sushi

Nanjo
Okinawa World おきなわワールド
Nakamoto Fresh Fish
Ryugushin 竜宮神

Itoman
Itoman City Market
Bibi Beach美美美海灘

Tomigusuku

Umikaji Terrace - A Happy Pancake

Map view