Here’s a quick list of places to visit in Okinawa. There are so many incredible places to visit across the prefecture, but this is just meant to be a quick list to give you a starting point if you’re looking for something to see or do here. You can Google directions for all of these places.

  • Shuri Castle is the major tourist stop in Okinawa, but is worth visiting at least once just to learn about some of Okinawa’s ancient history and see some unique architecture.
  • Churaumi Aquarium is in the Guinness Book of World Records, and is a very good aquarium.
  • Heiwakinen Peace Park and Museum is a national park dedicated to peace and remembrance of the atrocities of World War II. It includes a monument wall to the war dead of all nationalities from the Battle of Okinawa, as well as monuments from each prefecture on the site of the final and bloodiest resistance. The museum talks in depth about some history that doesn’t often get talked about and is worth seeing. Be warned: there is some graphic material.
  • Okinawa World is a theme park designed around ancient Okinawan crafts. It is notable for the very large and beautiful limestone caverns that run underneath it, which are publicly accessible. If you make a reservation, you are able to go spelunking deeper during certain times of the year.
  • Built for a television show, Murasaki Mura is a traditional Okinawan village that was later turned into a theme park also based on Okinawan crafts. Murasaki Mura is situated on a sprawling site and features interesting architecture perfect for an exploration.
  • Ryukyu World is another Okinawan theme park village like the two above.
  • Kodomo no Kuni (Children’s World) is aimed at younger folks, but has plenty to offer adults too, including a zoo and an imagination museum.
  • Cape Hedo is the northernmost tip of Okinawa, featuring a lighthouse you can climb for a small fee. On a clear day, the island of Yoron (Kagoshima prefecture) can be seen. Although there isn’t much to do, it is very scenic.
  • The Okinawa Prefectural Athletic Park is mostly convenient if you live nearby, but there are often festivals and sports games held here, and features some lovely coastline as well as an expansive area to walk around and enjoy.
  • Okinawa has two professional sports teams, one for soccer (FC Ryukyu) and one for basketball (Ryukyu Golden Kings). In addition, there are a number of marathons held through the year, many of which attract world-class athletes–in particular, the Naha marathon held in the fall. Also, the Nippon Ham Fighters hold their winter practice sessions in Nago City.
  • Okinawa ProResu is Okinawa-themed luchadore style of professional wrestling. Their main arena is in Naha, but they will often do shows around the island. Their shows are generally aimed at a younger audience. Regardless, they are amazing.
  • There are many botanical gardens, as well as butterfly gardens. Some of them are attached to the other sites mentioned here and are as such not particularly difficult to find.
  • If you want to see Okinawa’s beautiful ocean and beaches, there are tons of places. Be warned: “beach” means a roped off area meant for play and fun! If you’re looking for scenic views, you want to look for “kaigan” or “coastline,” which may or may not be directly advertised as such, or even open to the public. But since we live on a small island, it’s not too hard to find this kind of thing.
  • If you’re interested in wildlife, ecology, hiking, diving, snorkeling or other nature-based pursuits, the places to go are either the north of the main island (Kunigami district) or any of the outer islands, many of which will specialize in one of these activities, but most of which will have all of these options available.
  • If you like music, any major city will frequently have small concerts (known as “live house”). Especially popular in Okinawa are jazz, J-rock, and J-reggae. J-hiphop is also easily found. There are a number of music festivals that occur year round. Although most are not particularly accessible to foreigners, there are boundless opportunities for the dedicated music lover.