Best time to visit Ishigaki
Japan · East Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Ishigaki
Tap a month for its page
- JanJIshigaki in January: good
- FebFIshigaki in February: sweet spot
- MarMIshigaki in March: sweet spot
- AprAIshigaki in April: ok, busy
- MayMIshigaki in May: ok
- JunJIshigaki in June: sweet spot
- JulJIshigaki in July: sweet spot, busy
- AugAIshigaki in August: ok, busy
- SepSIshigaki in September: sweet spot
- OctOIshigaki in October: sweet spot
- NovNIshigaki in November: sweet spot
- DecDIshigaki in December: ok
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
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Flights
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Where to stay
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Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
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Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
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Things to do in Ishigaki
- Iriomote Island Island in Okinawa, Japan
- Kabira Bay You can walk along the coast from bay to bay, but beware of the fast-moving tides that may trap you if you dally too much in the evening.
- Mount Omoto Mountain in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
- Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave Ruins Paleoarchaeological site on Ishigaki, Yaeyama Islands, Japan
- Miyaradunchi Building in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
- Yubu Island Island
- Barasu Island Uninhabited Japanese island in the Yaeyama chain
Tours and tickets in Ishigaki
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Ishigaki), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 21° | 9d | 70% | 6.1h | good | 21C max, 9 rainy days |
| Feb | 21° | 8d | 73% | 6.6h | sweet spot | 21C max, 8 rainy days |
| Mar | 23° | 11d | 75% | 8.1h | sweet spot | 23C max, 11 rainy days |
| Apr | 25° | 10d | 79% | 9.3h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| May | 27° | 14d | 83% | 9.7h | ok | 27C max, 14 rainy days |
| Jun | 29° | 12d | 85% | 10.2h | sweet spot | 29C max, 12 rainy days |
| Jul | 31° | 8d | 81% | 11.3h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Aug | 31° | 9d | 82% | 10.7h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Sep | 30° | 8d | 80% | 10.1h | sweet spot | 30C max, 8 rainy days |
| Oct | 28° | 7d | 75% | 8.9h | sweet spot | 28C max, 7 rainy days |
| Nov | 25° | 8d | 74% | 7.8h | sweet spot | 25C max, 8 rainy days |
| Dec | 22° | 11d | 73% | 5.4h | ok | 22C max, 11 rainy days |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Ishigaki town, by the port, 11 km from the airport (ISG): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Ishigaki's October days now average 28.0°C, 1.8°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 12 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 19.5° | 20.1° | 21.9° | 23.9° | 26.2° | 28.0° | 29.3° | 29.0° | 28.1° | 26.2° | 23.7° | 20.6° |
| 2017–26 | 20.7° | 21.5° | 22.9° | 25.1° | 27.5° | 29.4° | 30.6° | 30.5° | 29.7° | 28.0° | 25.5° | 22.3° |
| Change | +1.2° | +1.3° | +1.1° | +1.2° | +1.3° | +1.5° | +1.3° | +1.5° | +1.7° | +1.8° | +1.7° | +1.7° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Ishigaki is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Ishigaki, flying or not.
Before you go
Type A and B plugs at 100 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Yen. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise normal security precautions. US State Department: Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions. Everything for Japan: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Cards are widely taken in cities, but carry cash for small restaurants, inns and rural areas. Suica and PASMO also pay in many shops, and PayPay QR codes are common.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not done in restaurants or taxis; some hotels and restaurants add a 10% service charge.
Getting around Ishigaki
- Apps — Rides: GO, DiDi, S.RIDE, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: LINE. Ride apps here hail ordinary licensed taxis; private-car rideshare is limited to small trials.
Azuma Bus operates services throughout the island radiating from the bus terminal on Sanbashi-dōri, just across the street from the port. The most useful services connect to the airport (¥520) and Kabira (¥700). More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Ishigaki, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — police 110 · ambulance and fire 119.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (21)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/japan/getting-help
- japan.travel/en/plan/getting-around/taxis
- japan.travel/en/plan/cashless-payments-in-japan
- japan.travel/en/plan/credit-cards
- japan.travel/en/plan/tipping-in-japan
- japan.travel/en/guide/how-to-travel-by-train-and-bus-in-japan
- japan-guide.com/e/e2359_credit_card_tap.html
- visa.co.jp/pay-with-visa/featured-technologies/contactless/merchants-transit.html
- apps.apple.com/us/app/go-taxi-app-for-japan-visit/id1254341709
- uber.com/global/en/cities/tokyo
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Japan
- www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/webguide/en/bus/howtoride_bus.html
- www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/webguide/en/ticket/ic_card.html
- www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/webguide/en/ticket/regular_1day_card_comm.html
- city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/page/0000240757.html
- city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/page/0000334479.html
- westjr.co.jp/travel-information/en/tickets-passes/oneway/haruka
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- nipl.com/uploads/NPCI_International_signs_Mo_U_with_NTT_DATA_Japan_to_enable_UPI_acceptance_at_merchant_locations_in_Japan_14_Oct_002_a292d8d769.pdf
Ishigaki in pictures
i
663highland, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
What Ishigaki is like
Ishigaki (石垣) is the second-largest and the most populated island of the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, Japan. The whole island belongs to the City of Ishigaki, which also includes the deserted Senkaku islands. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Ishigaki is a little low on must-see attractions and somewhat tamer in terms of scenery than Iriomote. Most visitors hit the beaches of the northern coast and stay there. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- The transparent waters around the island are full of coral reefs, making scuba diving the number one activity on Ishigaki. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- New Ishigaki Airport (ISG IATA 新石垣空港 Shin-Ishigaki Kūkō) (15 km from the center of Shiraho). The largest airport in the Yaeyama Islands. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Ishigaki, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Ishigaki
Also in Japan
- Aomori best Jun, Jul, Sep
- Fukuoka best Apr, May, Jun
- Hakodate best Jun, Sep, Oct
- Hiroshima best Apr, Jun, Sep
- Kanazawa best Apr, May, Jun
- Kobe best Apr, Jun, Sep
- Kyoto best May, Jun, Sep
- Mount Fuji best Apr, May, Oct
- Nagasaki best Apr, Jun, Oct
- Nagoya best Apr, May, Jun
- Nikko best Mar, Apr, Dec
- Niseko best Mar, Jun, Jul
- Okayama best May, Jun, Sep
- Okinawa best Feb, Apr, Oct
- Osaka best Apr, May, Jun
- Sapporo best Jun, Jul, Sep
- Sendai best Apr, May, Jun
- Tokyo best Apr, May, Jun
- Tottori best Apr, May, Jun
- Tsushima best Apr, May, Oct
Nearby
Kind of place
Ishigaki is in Japan, East Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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