Places visited: Naha, The Blue Cave, Aharen Beach
As much as I love Hong Kong, it is a place that gives you the occasional feeling that you need a getaway from the hustle and bustle of life. For that reason, me and my sister have decided to venture our way to Okinawa for a spontaneous weekend trip.
Okinawa has one of the top ocean views in the world and it is also a popular destination for snorkelling and scuba diving for locals and tourists. If you are planning to visit Okinawa, be ready to be hit by the subtropical climate, sun-kissed beaches and sparkly blue sea water!
To Stay
We stayed at a place called Southern Beach Hotel & Resort, it’s about 20 minutes drive from Okinawa’s centre. The rooms are okay, and they offer free parking spaces, staff there are very friendly and most importantly, they have really decent breakfasts! ๐
To see
Aharen Beach – you can’t miss out on this island if you plan to visit Okinawa! Take a ferry from Naha port to Tokashi Island, as soon as you get off the ferry, you will be greeted by a few friendly Japanese people holding “To Beach” signs, hop on that bus (the fare is 1,000 YEN per person) and you will be sent to the dazzling Aharen Beach in just 10 minutes! The brief bus journey from Tokashi Port to Aharen itself already is an unforgettable experience.
Aharen Island
Blue Cave – If you are a fan of diving and snorkelling, then you definitely need to give this place a visit. The water there is amazingly blue, simply beyond your imagination! We didn’t even have to dive in deep and were already surrounded by lots of beautiful fishes.
*Blue Cave can be crowded during the summer time though, so do try to book online before you go.
To eat
Unlike other cities in Japan, tourists don’t tend to come to Okinawa for 5 days and eat till you drop. But we did have a really good bowl of Ramen at a place called Dokka Ramen (้ๅ ๆ้บต) and the dumplings there are just mind-blowing! There is also a fish market called Tomari Fish Market if you are a fan of Sashimis. 
Tips
Hiring a car is probably the most important thing when travelling to Okinawa. You might think a country as developed as Japan is, public transport must be really convenient, but that’s not the case for Okinawa. Coming from a city like Hong Kong, we simply can’t tolerate the train’s frequency to be any less than a train in 5 minutes. As soon as we hopped off the plane we went straight to OTS to pick up our car, the rental price was around HKD 400 per day.
You can never get enough of a holiday on a tropical island and we already want to go back to Okinawa for more! Until next time xxx
elephant and daisy 