Best time to visit Okinawa
Japan · East Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Okinawa
Tap a month for its page
- JanJOkinawa in January: good
- FebFOkinawa in February: sweet spot
- MarMOkinawa in March: good
- AprAOkinawa in April: sweet spot
- MayMOkinawa in May: ok
- JunJOkinawa in June: ok
- JulJOkinawa in July: good, busy
- AugAOkinawa in August: good
- SepSOkinawa in September: good
- OctOOkinawa in October: sweet spot
- NovNOkinawa in November: good
- DecDOkinawa in December: ok, busy
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
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
Flights from
Flights
Your city is a guess from your time zone. Choose your city
Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights and fares.
Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
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.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Things to do in Okinawa
- Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium Aquarium in Okinawa, Japan
- Kerama Islands Island group
- Shureimon Gate in Okinawa
- Cornerstone of Peace Monument in the Okinawa island, Japan
- Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum Museum and memorial monument in Japan
- Tamaudun Building in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
- Sefa-utaki Sacred space in Kudaka, Okinawa
Tours and tickets in Okinawa
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, 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
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 19° | 8d | 68% | 7.0h | good | 19C max, 8 rainy days |
| Feb | 20° | 8d | 71% | 7.2h | sweet spot | 20C max, 8 rainy days |
| Mar | 22° | 10d | 74% | 8.1h | good | 22C max, 10 rainy days |
| Apr | 24° | 10d | 78% | 8.8h | sweet spot | 24C max, 10 rainy days |
| May | 26° | 12d | 83% | 8.7h | ok | 26C max, 12 rainy days |
| Jun | 28° | 14d | 87% | 8.8h | ok | 28C max, 14 rainy days |
| Jul | 30° | 7d | 82% | 11.2h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| Aug | 30° | 7d | 82% | 11.2h | good | 30C max, 7 rainy days |
| Sep | 30° | 9d | 80% | 10.2h | good | 30C max, 9 rainy days |
| Oct | 28° | 5d | 74% | 9.4h | sweet spot | 28C max, 5 rainy days |
| Nov | 25° | 7d | 73% | 7.8h | good | 25C max, 7 rainy days |
| Dec | 21° | 8d | 70% | 6.2h | okbusy | holidays: GB: Christmas Day; GB: New Year's Day; JP: New Year's Day |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Naha: 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
Okinawa's October days now average 27.8°C, 2.1°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 | 18.2° | 18.5° | 20.3° | 22.3° | 24.8° | 26.9° | 29.0° | 28.8° | 27.9° | 25.8° | 23.0° | 19.6° |
| 2017–26 | 19.4° | 20.0° | 21.5° | 23.6° | 26.0° | 28.5° | 30.4° | 30.5° | 30.0° | 27.8° | 24.7° | 21.0° |
| Change | +1.2° | +1.4° | +1.3° | +1.3° | +1.2° | +1.5° | +1.4° | +1.6° | +2.1° | +2.1° | +1.7° | +1.4° |
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 Okinawa is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Taipei
- from Seoul
- from Hong Kong
- from Manila
- from Tokyo
- from Ho Chi Minh City
- from Bangkok
- from Singapore
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Okinawa, 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 Okinawa
- 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.
Ferry and air connections link the islands together, but many of them are simply so small in population that scheduled services may be infrequent and prices vary. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Okinawa, 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
Okinawa in pictures
i
CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
kohei sasabuchi, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Okinawa is like
Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄 Okinawa, Okinawan: 沖縄 Uchinaa) is a subtropical island chain between mainland Japan and Taiwan. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Most people come to Okinawa for the sun and beaches. Even in midwinter, when many areas of the mainland Japan teeter around the freezing point, temperatures rarely dip below 15°C in Okinawa. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Okinawa is the best place in Japan for all sorts of watersports. The Okinawa archipelago is one of the world's best diving destinations, with the count of marine species on par with the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Most visitors arrive in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, which is also well served by low-cost carriers like Skymark and Jetstar. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying safe
- Okinawa is as safe as mainland Japan or more so. On the smaller islands it's not uncommon to leave front doors not merely unlocked, but open all day. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying healthy
- The number one health risk on Okinawa is sunburn, and it doesn't take long at all to get fried to a crisp when it's sunny outside. Slap on plenty of lotion. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Okinawa, 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 Okinawa
Also in Japan
- Hiroshima best Apr, Jun, Sep
- Kyoto best May, Jun, Sep
- Mount Fuji best Apr, May, Oct
- Niseko best Mar, Jun, Jul
- Osaka best Apr, May, Jun
- Sapporo best Jun, Jul, Sep
- Tokyo best May, Jun, Nov
Nearby
Kind of place
Okinawa is in Japan, East Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
Check your inbox. A confirmation is on its way: open the link in it, press Confirm, and you are subscribed.
That did not go through. Check the address, or try again in a minute.
Already sent. A confirmation went to that address in the last day: look for it, spam folder included. Its link works for three days.
You are not on the list until you confirm from your inbox. The list lives with our email provider, Resend; the privacy page says the rest.
Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the scores on this page, which are computed from climate and fare data before any link is built.