Okinawa

The sea is the reason most people come. It is warm enough to swim from about May to October, reaching 28°C or more in high summer, and around the reefs it is extraordinarily clear. The best beaches are not on the main island but on the outer islands. Miyako has long white beaches such as Yonaha Maehama. The Kerama Islands, an hour or less by fast ferry from Naha, have small sandy bays on Tokashiki and Zamami where the water turns a famous pale blue over sand and coral.

On the main island the beaches around Naha and Chatan are mostly built or tidied resort strands, and the nicer ones are further north towards Motobu and Onna. Many beaches have netted swimming areas, partly for box jellyfish, and lifeguarded hours. Locals tend to picnic on the sand more than swim. Typhoons can close the sea for days in late summer, and in winter the water is too cool for most swimmers.

Okinawan cooking is its own cuisine, not just Japanese food in a warmer place. It is built on pork, bitter melon, tofu and seaweed. Goya champuru, rafute (slow-braised pork belly), and Okinawa soba with its thick wheat noodles are everyday dishes. Taco rice and steak houses come from the long American presence. To drink there is awamori, the local rice spirit, aged in clay pots, and the light local lager.

Naha is the place to eat. The Makishi Public Market sells fish downstairs that cooks upstairs will prepare for you, and the side streets off it are full of small izakaya. Elsewhere there are roadside soba shops, fruit stands with mango and pineapple in summer, and seafood places in the fishing harbours. There is less depth at the high end than on the mainland, and resort-hotel dining can be generic.

The heritage here belongs to the Ryukyu Kingdom, which ruled these islands for centuries before Japan absorbed them, and it looks different from mainland Japan. Shuri, on the hill above Naha, was the royal seat. Around it are the Shureimon gate, the royal tombs at Tamaudun and the Shikinaen garden. Several gusuku, the curving stone castle walls of the old lords, stand across the main island at Nakijin, Katsuren, Nakagusuku and Zakimi. Sefa-utaki is a sacred grove in rock.

The Battle of Okinawa in 1945 destroyed most historic buildings, and remembering it is a serious part of a visit. Look for the Peace Memorial Park and museum at Mabuni, the Himeyuri memorial and the underground naval headquarters. The Prefectural Museum in Naha gives good context. It adds up to a few rewarding days rather than a dense historic city.

Evenings centre on Naha. Kokusai-dori and the lanes off it fill with izakaya serving awamori. Many have a sanshin player or a singer, and drinking with strangers comes easily. The Matsuyama district has hostess bars and a denser late-night strip, and Sakaemachi's market alleys have tiny standing bars. Mihama American Village at Chatan has a more Western feel, with bars and a few clubs that draw young locals and people from the bases at weekends.

Outside these areas the islands go quiet early. Ishigaki town has a small run of lively izakaya, but most resort coasts offer a hotel bar and little else. There is no real club culture, and nobody chooses Okinawa for its nights out.

Under the water Okinawa is world class. The Kerama Islands are a marine national park with coral gardens and turtles a short boat ride from Naha. Off Ishigaki, manta rays gather at a known cleaning station. Miyako has caverns and arches for divers. From about January to March humpback whales come to calve around the Keramas, and whale-watching boats leave from Naha. Snorkelling, sea kayaking and SUP are easy almost everywhere.

On land, the Yanbaru forest in the far north of the main island is subtropical hill jungle with rare endemic birds. Iriomote, near Ishigaki, is mostly mangrove and rainforest, with rivers to paddle up to waterfalls. Cape Manzamo and the northern cliffs give fine coastal walking. There are no high mountains, though, and summer heat makes hiking hard work.

Most outings here lead to another island, and many of them are really trips to the sea or the forest rather than to a place. The day out with the most character is Taketomi, a short ferry ride from Ishigaki harbour. It is a small village kept as it was, with red-tiled houses behind coral-stone walls, white sand lanes and water-buffalo carts. From the main island, Kudaka is a quieter outing. It is a small, flat island off the southeast coast that Ryukyu tradition holds sacred, with a single village and shrines visitors are asked not to enter.

The rest of the list is modest. Bise, near the tip of the Motobu peninsula, is a hamlet of lanes tunnelled through old fukugi trees. Ie, a ferry ride from Motobu, has a farming village under a single rocky peak. Nago is a working town rather than a destination. There are no historic towns of note, wine regions or major sites beyond those already on the main island, so a visitor who likes to spend days exploring other places will find the choice runs out quickly.

Okinawa works well for families who want a beach-and-sea trip. The Churaumi Aquarium on the Motobu peninsula is one of the great aquariums, with whale sharks in its huge main tank, and the Ocean Expo Park around it has playgrounds and space to run. Shallow, netted beaches and reef lagoons make snorkelling possible for young children. There are also glass-bottom boats, Okinawa World's cave and craft village, and the zoo-like Neo Park in Nago.

It is safe, clean and orderly, and resort hotels on the west coast cater well to children. A car is almost essential, because the best sights are an hour or two's drive from Naha. Summer heat is heavy, and typhoon days can mean a lot of time indoors.

Naha is easy: a compact centre and a monorail that runs from the airport through town to Shuri. Beyond the capital, the main island is car country. Buses exist but are slow and sparse for visitors, so most people hire a car. Roads are well kept and an expressway runs north, but traffic around Naha and along the western coast is often slow. Reaching Motobu takes longer than the distance suggests.

The Kerama Islands are a short ferry ride away. Miyako and Ishigaki are separate trips that need a flight from Naha. Once there, a hired car, scooter or bicycle covers each island easily. Sea conditions can cancel small-island ferries.

The worthwhile shopping is in crafts. Tsuboya, a pottery quarter just off Kokusai-dori in Naha, sells yachimun, the chunky local stoneware. Yomitan has a village of potters' kilns. There is also Ryukyu glass, blown from recycled bottles in bright colours, and bingata, the stencil-dyed textiles once made for the court. Markets and food halls sell brown sugar, sea salt and awamori to take home.

Kokusai-dori itself is mostly souvenir shops. Beyond that, the choice is a large outlet mall near the airport and big suburban shopping centres. There is no fashion or luxury quarter worth the trip.

Prices sit in the middle. In Naha, business hotels, soba shops, izakaya and the monorail are reasonably priced, and everyday eating is good value. The costs come with the kind of trip most people make. West-coast beach resorts charge high-season rates in summer and during Golden Week and the Japanese school breaks. Hiring a car is close to essential, and diving trips, island flights and outer-island lodgings add up. A trip based in Naha with day ferries stays moderate. A summer resort stay is not cheap.

Okinawa has a living musical tradition. Its sound is the sanshin, a three-stringed lute covered in snakeskin, and the island folk songs, min'yo, can be heard most nights in Naha's live-music izakaya, where audiences often end up dancing kachashi. The National Theatre Okinawa in Urasoe stages Ryukyu court dance and kumiodori, the old court music drama. In summer, eisa drum dancing fills streets and festivals across the islands, with the largest gathering in Okinawa City.

There is also a rock and live-house tradition in Koza, around the bases. Opera, orchestral music and theatre are scarce, though, and most of the year the offer is folk music in small rooms.

Okinawa has none of the volcanic hot-spring culture of mainland Japan. Bathing means a few spring-fed bathhouses and the large baths and spas of the resort hotels along the west coast, some with sea views. What the islands do offer is pace. On Taketomi, Kohama or the quieter corners of Miyako, days slow to cycling, eating and sitting in the shade. The traditional diet and island longevity give the place a gentle, unhurried character.

For real rest, choose a small outer island or a resort on the northern main island over Naha, which is busy and full of traffic.