Okinawa driving! tips?

[nataliepzj]

Hi all,

I am spending 2 days in Okinawa to dive and go to the aquarium. We are renting from OTS car rental and will be driving around.


Day 1:
Drive to Onna
Dive at Blue Cave, and Manza Area
Stay at Onna (Rizzan Sea Park Hotel Tancha Bay)

Day 2:
Drive 1 hour from Onna to Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
Drive 2 hours to Naha Airport

• Any tips on where we can stop on the route for interesting things? E.g. nice food?
  
• Any issue with the 2 hours driving route from Aquarium to airport? e.g. congestion, getting lost etc.
  
• Any issues with OTS rental car?

thanks

 

[gentoro]

End of Nov I go try and let u know.

 

[jiawen1989]

Hi all,

I am spending 2 days in Okinawa to dive and go to the aquarium. We are renting from OTS car rental and will be driving around.


Day 1:
Drive to Onna
Dive at Blue Cave, and Manza Area
Stay at Onna (Rizzan Sea Park Hotel Tancha Bay)

Assuming u driving from Naha using none expressway
Along the way theres Blue seal , 港川外国人住宅街, american villeage, Aeon Rycom, cape zanpa, 琉球村
​

Day 2:
Drive 1 hour from Onna to Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

御菓子御殿 恩納店, busena 海中展望塔, Sesoko island, Bise Fukugi Tree Street, Kouri Bridge , 岚山展望台, nakijin castle
​

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
Drive 2 hours to Naha Airport Any tips on where we can stop on the route for interesting things? E.g. nice food?

• Any issue with the 2 hours driving route from Aquarium to airport? e.g. congestion, getting lost etc.

• Any issues with OTS rental car?

thanks

- Route 58 direction towards Naha, Sunday will have traffic jam
- U might wanna take the highway, fastest route

 

[jenahcoil]

Hi!

There's a nice cozy restaurant about 10mins away from blue cave that sells Okinawan and Hawaiian food. Went there in May after our dive at blue cave and thought it's quite good. It's called Hanahou.

Also, for OTS rental car, I would advise you to check the car properly before you drive off. Not only for scratches, but also minor things like whether the windows can be opened, all doors unlocked (we had a child lock on one of our doors so we couldn't open it) and cleanliness. But if you're not particular about this kind of stuff then it's fine

Btw, OTS is quite popular so the airport branch is usually quite crowded and will take some time to collect/return the car. You should take that into account as well.

 

[gentoro]

Just came back from Okinawa - I really miss driving there compare to here. All drivers there so polite and give way when ever they can and they never horn...either the expert driver of cargo vehicle sped and move away quickly or slow auntie driver slower than me also give way.

OTS at Tgalleria having like 3-4 counters and most of them are Chinese speaking. The senior saw my passport and got a newbie PRC gal to serve me and told her - can speak Chinese to me, I can understand. PRC gal really kawaii and brighten up...

Procedure was fast and staff were very professional. Both me and my bro inspect every square inch and make sure the staff noted all the minor paint work defect or scratches (minor). Bf driving off, the staff told me to fill up the tank just outside the entrance of Tgallery which newly open and keep the receipt as proof.

The drive was there wonderful, most places out of NAHA having FOC parking and came back to our hotel nearby parking of 600yen (max for 12hrs) at 8.30am.

Next day, we had breakfast at our local market nearby walking distance till 10am. OMG! Parked more than 12hrs from last night 8.30am. Got to car and pay only 600yen also...wonderful!

And yes, unless you taking bus tour or tour package - definitely need a car to explore Okinawa. It fun and easy to drive. We complete our tour using only google map. I still feel there GPS suck! keep tell us to use the highway (got toll) while the Gmap tells us to use the fastest way! Usually non-highway when going back to NAHA. Its usually jammed packed at Okinawa highway in evening.

When returning to Tgalleria, if not sure of where the petrol pump is, just circle the Tgalleria a couple of times to note the returning car park entrance and the petrol pump next to the entrance.