Sea Change Okinawa: Naha

Shikinaen Royal Gardens, Okinawa

Shikina-en Royal Gardens in Naha are a world heritage site, and a lovely place to explore in Okinawa.

On the way home from our Naha staycation last weekend, we finally stopped in to have a look at the Shikina-en Royal Gardens, which I have been meaning to do for so long. I feel like this staycation was great for checking out places that were on my Okinawa bucket list.

I really wasn't sure what to expect of these gardens, as i've seen many amazing Japanese gardens in my time on the mainland, and I always expect things to be a little more rustic in Okinawa. It was definitely very Okinawan, but gorgeous all the same.

There is plenty of shade walking through the lush, rocky paths, which was great because it was extremely hot and humid. Once we got through the "forest" we came to a lovely lake surrounded by the old Royal family second home as well as some old old bridges and a pagoda. We got to walk around inside the house, which was quite interesting to see how people used to live (well, the royal people!).

I think you can easily spend an hour looking around these gardens, and I would definitely recommend it to visitors in Okinawa.

The pond in the middle of Shikina-en Royal Gardens is filled with koi carp and surrounded by old stone bridges and the royal holiday home

The lake in the middle of the gardens

Shady paths

The "holiday home" of the royal family of the Ryukyus

I loved these old stone bridges

Pagoda

View of Naha from the gardens

Love this kid!

Admission:

Adults/High School Students: 400Yen

Children: 200Yen (I think kids under elementary school age are free)

Hours:

April – September: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm

October – March: 9:00 am – 5:30 pm

Closed on Wednesdays

Phone: 098-855-5936

Address:

421-7 Maaji, Naha-shi, Okinawa-ken, Japan
〒902-0072, 沖縄県那覇市真地421-7

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Shikinaen royal garden in Naha, Okinawa is a must visit. Beautiful grounds and lovely restored Okinawan houses.

17:20
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One night in Naha, Okinawa

Naha

Last week, on a whim, we decided to book ourselves a little one night staycation in Naha. We had both had really difficult weeks at work, and island fever was starting to set in, so we needed to get away! I had a look online at hotels in Naha, and put the call out for a pet sitter, and luckily the stars aligned and we could go!

We drove down to Naha after G's swimming lesson and decided to stop in at Naminoue Shrine on the way to the hotel. It was a crazy hot day, so we didn't stay super long before heading to the hotel to check in and go straight to the pool. I've been trying to teach little G to swim, because his actual swimming lessons seem to be resulting in very little progress, so we spent lots of time in the pool and in just one session we made heaps of progress!

Naminoue Beach in Naha is the only swimming beach in the city, overlooked by a gorgeous temple

These cuties at Naminoue Beach

After our swim we got ourselves dressed and headed out to explore a bit before our dinner reservation. Although I do like Naha, and we will continue to go back for the occasional staycation, it's just so so touristy. Pretty much every shop on Kokusai dori (the main street) is a souvenir shop, and there's not much else going on. One good thing it has going for it though is the amount of good food options! It's also great to be in a "city" (I use the term city very loosely - Naha is tiny!) and not have to drive everywhere.

Waiting for dinner at Ukishima Garden

For dinner we went to Ukishima Garden again, which we went to on our last Naha staycation. It's a vegan restaurant that is amazing. The atmosphere is lovely and the food is delicious!
After dinner we decided to check out the Hyatt Regency bar on the 18th floor (probably the highest building in Naha - this says something about the size of Naha) for a nightcap before bed, and it was awesome. I could almost imagine we were in Tokyo. The bar was classy, with great cocktails and live music. If you are after a bit of a Lost in Translation experience in Okinawa, I think this is the place to go. We will definitely go back.

Ukishima Garden is a gorgeous Vegan restaurant in Naha, Okinawa, with a great organic wine menu and delicious food!

I love the interior of Ukishima Garden

What we ate (clockwise from top left): Vegetable terrine, tofu caprese, creamy tomato and vegetable pasta, fried potato bites

Kokusai Dori is the main tourist street in Naha, Okinawa. It has a laid back tropical feel

Kokusai Dori at night

Kokusai dori

Naha at night

Convenience store decorations in Okinawa, Japan

Inside a convenience store with it's very tropical decorations

The Hyatt Regency Bar in Naha, has a Tokyo vibe. Classy cocktails and live music make it a great date spot.

Some music at the Hyatt Regency bar

View from the Hyatt Regency bar...almost felt like Tokyo

Little G loved the music

After checking out in the morning, we headed home via the Shikina-en Royal Gardens, which was another Naha spot I had been wanting to check out for ages. Although it was crazy hot (aaah, Okinawa summer), the gardens were lovely and the shade made it bearable. We drove home via the only Cocos Curry in Okinawa with the vegetarian menu and before we knew it our staycation in Naha was over. It was such a lovely weekend, and a much-needed getaway!

Shikina-en Royal Gardens

18:09
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Naminoue Shrine - Naha Okinawa

Naha

This past weekend we booked ourselves a last minute and much needed staycation in Naha. Naminoue Shrine has been somewhere I have wanted to visit since I moved to Okinawa, and it wasn't until now that I finally got to visit.

Naminoue Shrine, sits atop a rock (mountain? I'm not sure what it's called) overlooking Naminoue Beach in Naha. It is the most important Shinto Shrine in Okinawa, and as temples and shrines seem to be much more scarce in Okinawa than on mainland Japan, I was excited to visit. The temple complex itself isn't actually very big, but it's very pretty, and when we visited there was some kind of ceremony happening, which was interesting to watch.

I really loved how, although the temple itself looked typical of most shinto shrines I have seen in Japan, it was surrounded by palm trees and other lush, distinctly Okinawan trees, that gave the whole place a bit of a tropical vibe.

After visiting the shrine, we walked down to the beach below because you can get a glimpse of the shrine atop the mountain as well as go for a swim or just dip your feet in the amazingly blue water.

Torii gate leading up to Naminoue Shrine, Naha Okinawa

Torii gate at the entrance to the Shrine

Main building of the shrine

I love the palm trees

Amazing tree makes this shrine feel very Okinawan

Palm trees surrounding the Naminoue Shrine in Naha, Okinawa, give it a tropical feel in an otherwise typical Japanese Shinto Shrine

View of the shrine from the beach

View of the harbour from the Shrine

Naminoue Shrine is actually quite close to Naha airport, so could be easily visited on your way to or from the airport, as well as Tomari Port. Access information can be found here.

17:09
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Ukishima Garden Naha - Vegan Restaurant

Cafe

While we were in Naha for our little stay-cation I did a bit of research on where we would go out for dinner when we arrived. We decided to try Ukishima Garden, which is vegan and had an amazing looking menu. Let's just say that it exceeded expectations and we went back for lunch the next day, and will definitely be back in the future!

At night, the atmosphere is lovely and a bit romantic, so would be great for a date night. We ordered our drinks (their wines are organic and delicious) and looked at the menu to decide what to eat. We ordered the vegan caprese salad, which was just like your typical tomato, basil and mozzarella salad, except instead of the cheese, it was tofu. I was a little apprehensive about how this was going to taste, but actually the tofu tasted AMAZING and if I closed my eyes I would be fooled into thinking it was mozzarella. It was the highlight dish of the night. We also ordered a vegan carbonara pasta, vegan tsukune meatballs, and some miso onigiri (for the little guy). G actually loved the tsukune meatballs, so I barely got a taste of those. Everything was delicious and even non-vegans would love this place. I was so excited about the food that the only photo I got was of the caprese salad! oops!

Entrance

Lovely and much needed organic booze

They have a cute little section of things you can buy

I love bubbles!

Vegan Caprese Salad - Tofu, Basil and Tomato

The next day after wandering around Kokusai dori, we were looking for somewhere to lunch, and it happened that we were right near Ukishima Garden again, so we didn't hesitate to go back again. The lunch menu is completely different to the dinner menu. We shared the vegetable curry and the creamy vegetable soup, both delicious. If I had to choose between lunch and dinner, I would choose dinner, but both were delicious. We sat outside for lunch, which was great because it meant G could have a little explore in their garden and we didn't have to worry about him being a bit noisy.

If you are curious about their menu, you can find both the lunch and dinner menu's on their website. If you're ever in Naha, it's worth making an effort to try this place.

This guy was perfect all weekend

Gorgeous outdoor seating

Creamy vegetable soup

Veggie curry

This palm was huge!

17:30
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Naha Stay-cation part 2

Naha

After our night and morning in at the Hyatt Regency Naha, we headed out to explore the town. Firstly, we wanted to treat our child for being such an amazingly behaved child at our late night dinner, so we took him for a ride on the monorail. Anyone who knows G, knows that he loves all forms of transport. He was pretty damn happy to get to ride on a new form of transport.

After the monorail, we hopped off at Kencho-mae station next to the Ryubo shopping mall. We had a look around at all the lovely expensive things there as well as Muji then headed out to wander up Kokusai-dori. Kokusai-dori is the main street in Naha, where there are a heap of shops and restaurants. I'd say 80% of the shops are souvenir places, so we didn't really look in any of them, but it was nice to just wander.

Eventually we were hungry for lunch, and decided to go back to Ukishima Garden again because it was so amazing the night before, we wanted to try their lunch menu. I will be doing a separate post about this restaurant in a couple of days because it was just so good.

We spent the rest of our time in Naha wandering the shops and alleyways until we were all exhausted and made the drive back home. Now having finally spent some time in Naha, we will definitely be back again for some more getaways, when we need some time away from our sleepy village.