Okinawa Without a Car- Part 2- Beyond Naha City

Last time I talked about the fact that many people, both Japanese and foreign residents here, will assert that you need a car to enjoy Okinawa, but I disagree! In Part 1, I wrote all about Okinawa’s capital city Naha, so this time I’ll write about some other spots on Okinawa’s main island.

Getting Past Naha

To get out of Naha, there are a few options. The main way is the bus. I’ve taken the bus to all the destinations I’ll write about today (that I’ve personally been to). It might be a bit slower than a car, and you have to wait for it, but I didn’t think it was a big deal; in fact, I liked it!

Besides the bus, you could also take a taxi, and some tour or resort packages may come with transportation to and from Naha or the airport. There is also a monorail in Naha. It goes from the airport, east to Naha, and a bit further east to the next city Urasoe.

Chatan

Chatan (北谷町) is a town a bit north of Naha, and it’s known for its close vicinity to the American military base (and therefore American shopping and food) and nightlife, plus there are strips of beach that are easy to walk to. If you’re homesick for some shopping outside of the usual Japanese shops, the Mihama American Village will scratch your itch. It’s sort of like a large mall complex with interesting architecture in the town around it. Plus there is some great food around!

There are also some beaches you can walk to easily, which I enjoyed, and there are more Pokémon around (like in Naha). Don’t forget to find the cute local Chatan manhole of a little surfing character. If you’re in the mood for nightlife, Chatan has got you covered. I feel like the nightlife might even be better than Tokyo in some ways.

Obviously the size of the city is smaller, but if you actually like music or dancing, Chatan is the place to be. When I went to Chatan, I attended a salsa expo! When you go, have a search for what’s going on!

Okinawa Island’s North

Even further north than Chatan is where real adventure awaits! Wonderful water sports, traditional Okinawan Ryukyu culture, and more! To be fair, if you want to get way up there and explore a lot, you do need a car, but the following places are absolutely accessible by bus.

Onna (恩納村) is a village north of Chatan, and it’s got a lot of water sports. I went snorkeling from a dock in Onna, and it was amazing! That was me with a bunch of fish in the cover photo of this blog! Did you notice how crystal clear that water is? Two points of caution: first, it could be tricky to find the dock for your specific booked activity, so I’d recommend getting there early to give yourself time to get lost and ask someone where to go (I may or may not be speaking from personal experience). Second, some water activities conduct tours that many westerners would consider violating animal rights, such as swimming with or blatantly attracting certain sea animals to the ship which probably would benefit from less contact with humans, so check the activity you want to book ahead of time. Anyway, you can book these tours on the booking platform of your choice.

Between Onna and Chatan is the Ryukyu Mura (琉球村), a traditional Okinawan culture theme park. Ryukyu was the name of the Okinawan kingdom before Japan colonized it, and “mura” means village, so the name basically means Okinawa village! I had such a great time here. You can wear a ryusou, the traditional Okinawan clothing that looks a bit like kimono but feels much cooler and has extremely colorful patterns. You can also make some crafts and try some Okinawan snacks. But the best parts of visiting are walking around the traditional buildings, learning to play the sanshin (三線) 3-stringed instrument, and attending the thrilling eisa (エイサー) traditional drum + dance + singing performance.

When I went to Onna and Ryukyu Mura, I booked snorkeling in Onna in the morning and took the bus there from Naha. After the tour got back I took the bus down to Ryukyu Mura, and after my time there I took the bus down to Chatan and had dinner and finally took the bus back down to Naha. It was certainly a full day, so if you follow this itinerary, be ready to move, but it was a blast!

Further north but still accessible by bus are some nice looking things that I haven’t been to, including a pineapple farm, a famous aquarium that I will not write about because they still have dolphin shows (like many in Japan), and a brand new dinosaur theme park. To get to the pineapple farm and aquarium from Naha, you can take 2 buses. The dinosaur theme park and spa, Junglia (ジャングリア) (my spell check really doesn’t like that name, neither the English or Japanese haha), has a paid shuttle from Naha Airport and 2 stops in Naha City. Junglia just opened on July 25, 2025, so of course I haven’t been yet, but I bet a social media search will give you an idea of how it is.

War Memorials

From April to June 1945, the Battle of Okinawa ravaged Okinawa Island. Dubbed the “Typhoon of Steel” in Japanese (for the sheer amount of ammunition shed) or Operation Iceberg in English, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives, including Japanese soldiers, local Ryukyunans, and US soldiers. Although many people visit Okinawa without learning more about this history, I recommend trying to learn at least a little. In Naha, there’s the prefectural museum (which I talked about in Part 1), but if you don’t mind getting out of Naha, you can experience much more!

The Battle of Okinawa was so brutal in no small part due to the natural and manmade caves and tunnels in Okinawa. Local Ryukyuans and Japanese soldiers alike hid in these caves, offering some cramped cover from American fire, but this made the US takeover of the island expend much more firepower. Furthermore, the Japanese military generally wouldn’t allow their soldiers or the civilian Ryukyuans to offer themselves to the Americans for capture, adding to the death toll.

So the first place I recommend to visit is the Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters. This is a series of tunnels which the military used to command operations. You can see a lot of interesting structures (or spaces for structures) in the tunnels, as well as enter rooms where commanders took their lives towards the end of the battle. It’s not too far from Naha, accessible by monorail then a bus ride. Visit plus transport time shouldn’t take more than 3 hours or so.

Next I recommend the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum. This museum provided a comprehensive look at the Battle of Okinawa and beyond in English. I learned a lot about the battle and what happened after, including about the American occupation of Okinawa and its return to Japan. I really enjoyed it here and I’d love to go back with a notepad as photos weren’t allowed (as of my visit in 2023) and there was a lot of information to take in! A bit further down in the south of the island, you can get here from Naha by taking 2 buses with a pretty straightforward transfer between them.

I got to both of these memorial museums via public transport using Google Maps, so don’t be afraid!

Other Islands

There are many other islands in Okinawa, including Miyakojima and Ishigaki, as well as many tiny islands accessible via short cruises from the bigger Okinawan islands. For some of these islands, especially the “bigger” ones, a car might be helpful, but recently a friend told me she went with some friends to some islands and rented bicycles! I would imagine some hotels come with pickup shuttles as well. So if you find a destination in Okinawa you’re interested in, don’t limit yourself right off the bat, go ahead and look into it!

Pack Your Bags!

Are you ready to head to sunny Okinawa? I sure hope so, whether you can drive in Japan or not! I didn’t even write about the amazing food and drink in Okinawa, so I hope you have fun exploring that department. When you go, don’t forget your sunscreen and your hat, but most importantly, bring your sense of adventure and curiosity!

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