Okinawa Travel Guides, Written in Okinawa

Q: How many roadside stations are there in Okinawa?

Ten places on Okinawa's main island are roadside stations registered with the national ministry: Kyoda, Ogimi, Yui-Yui Kunigami, Kadena, Kina Banjo, Toyosaki, Itoman, Ginoza, Sunrise Higashi and Yanbaru Pineapple Hill Aha. Okinawa Lovers covers those ten plus ten farm markets, sea stations and drive-ins that locals use in the same way, for twenty guides in total.

Q: Do I need a rental car to travel around Okinawa?

A car makes the north of the island far easier, but it is not the only option. Naha and the southern towns are reachable on the Yui Rail monorail and city buses, and a number of roadside stations have a bus stop directly outside. Each of our station guides lists the bus routes and stop names that actually serve it, so you can tell in advance which places work without a car.

Okinawa Lovers is a travel guide to Okinawa, published from Yomitan Village on the main island. We go to the places we write about, take the photographs ourselves, and print the prices we actually paid — with the date we checked them. When an official source contradicts an older guide, including our own Japanese edition, we follow the official source and say so at the foot of the page.

Start here

three ways into the island

01

Tour the roadside stations

The cheapest, most local way to see Okinawa. Twenty complete guides — opening hours, real prices, bus stops and how to string them into a drive.

All 20 stations →

02

Churaumi and the north

The aquarium is the reason most people drive north — and the ticket you buy at the gate is not the cheapest one available.

Discount tickets, every route →

03

Getting around

Whether to rent a car, what the cheap rental companies really cost you, and how to move around if you decide not to drive.

Transport, honestly →

The roadside stations

every michi-no-eki and farm market on the main island

Michi-no-eki are where Okinawa actually shops. Each one is run by its own town, so it sells that town's harvest and cooks its own specialty — which makes hopping between them a tour of the island's regions rather than a tour of rest areas. Parking, restrooms and entry are free at all of them.

Ten of the twenty below are roadside stations registered with the national ministry. The other ten are farm markets, one sea station and a drive-in — locals use them the same way, and we label which is which on every page.

Stations #02 · NagoKyoda, the Original

Okinawa's first station, and discount attraction tickets from 8:30.

Stations #03 · KadenaKadena, the Front Row

A free deck over the air base, and an award-winning exhibit.

Farm Markets #04 · NakijinSo-re, the Mothers' Market

A farm market run by the village women who founded it.

Stations #01 · ItomanItoman, the Southernmost

Japan's southernmost station, and a co-op fish counter.

Island Stations #07 · KouriSorahashi, the Sky Bridge

Where the sky bridge lands, with showers for after the beach.

Sea Stations #18 · UrumaAyahashi, the Beautiful Bridge

The sea station standing in the middle of the causeway.

All twenty stations

Open the full series →

From the archive

guides we are rebuilding next

Mihama American Village, in fullChatan's seaside complex — what is actually worth your evening Kokusai Street, explainedNaha's main street: what to do, what to skip Churaumi discount ticketsUp to 15% off — stations, apps and convenience stores compared Renting a car without regretsThirteen things the cheap rental companies do not tell you The Blue CaveSnorkelling and diving at Okinawa's most photographed cave Typhoon season, planned forWhen to worry, how to move your itinerary, when to cancel Thirty-five rainy-day spotsThe wet season is not a lost trip Bibi Beach ItomanThe swimming beach closest to the airport Okinawa World and Gyokusendo CaveThe limestone cave and castle town in the south

Why trust us

what we do differently

01

We live here

Written from Yomitan Village on the main island, not from a desk overseas. The drives we describe are drives we make.

02

Sources you can check

Where a fact comes from an official page, we say so at the foot of the article — so you can verify it yourself rather than take our word for it.

03

Prices with a date

Prices move. We print what we paid and when we checked it, so you can tell how stale a number is.

04

We correct our own work

Where an official source contradicts our Japanese edition, we follow the official source and list the correction at the foot of the page.

Questions

asked often enough to answer here

What is a michi-no-eki in Okinawa?+

A michi-no-eki, or roadside station, is a rest stop registered with Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Each is run by its own municipality, so it sells that town's harvest and cooks that town's specialty. Parking, restrooms and entry are free. Okinawa's main island has ten registered roadside stations; alongside them sit farm markets, one sea station and a drive-in that work the same way but are not registered.

How many roadside stations are there in Okinawa?+

Ten places on the main island are nationally registered roadside stations: Kyoda, Ogimi, Yui-Yui Kunigami, Kadena, Kina Banjo, Toyosaki, Itoman, Ginoza, Sunrise Higashi and Yanbaru Pineapple Hill Aha. We cover those ten plus ten farm markets, sea stations and drive-ins that locals use the same way — twenty guides in total.

Do I need a rental car to travel around Okinawa?+

A car makes the north far easier, but it is not the only option. Naha and the southern towns are reachable on the Yui Rail monorail and city buses, and a number of stations have a bus stop directly outside. Every station guide lists the routes and stop names that actually serve it, so you can tell in advance which places work without driving.

Who writes Okinawa Lovers?+

Okinawa Lovers is published from Yomitan Village on Okinawa's main island. We visit the places we write about, photograph them ourselves, and record prices with the date we checked them. Where an official source contradicts an older guide — including our own Japanese edition — we follow the official source and say so at the foot of the article.

Is there a Japanese version of this site?+

Yes. okinawa.bio is the Japanese edition and the larger of the two, with Traditional Chinese and Korean editions alongside it. The English roadside station guides are newly written rather than translated, and several correct errors that still stand in the older Japanese pages.

Okinawa,by a local