
Travel
Okinawa: The hotel stay on the paradise island
Okinawa is a great destination in Japan for a lazy vacation, for family trips, for those who just want to lay at the beach and enjoy the sunsets.
This article will mostly describe the hotel stay experience and share amazing personal photographs of picturesque views.
First things first, a small introduction to the location itself.
Okinawa is the largest island in the Japanese land, located approximately halfway between Kyushu and Taiwan. The area of the island is 1207 km². The first time I've heard about it was from anime called GTO. It is an old one but really funny, so it's recommended to watch.
The flight to Okinawa is pretty long, approximately 3 hours. Then after landing, it took us about 1.5 hours to reach our hotel by bus. We've made a booking through booking.com and made sure that breakfast was included.
The hotel was recommended by some members of the Facebook group, who have been there with a family, so it was, without a doubt, a family-friendly hotel-resort.

It worth mentioning that, if renting a car is possible, then it will be easier to reach the most famous spots like Miyakojima island - the most beautiful seaside, visiting Shuri Castle, Churaumi Aquarium, seeing Whales or diving with Sharks, and etc.
Our trip took place at the beginning of October, which was already the ending time of the swimming season. However I found it most pleasant time because the weather was not excessively hot and the hotel wasn't packed with visitors, so I'd recommend this timing for a trip.

The hotel called Rizzan Tancha Bay, which is quite big and pretty affordable. For 4 nights we paid only 56000 yen, with great breakfast included.
However, the biggest disappointment was, when we realised that out of 4 restaurants that were described by the official website of the hotel, only one was working. So, limited options for dinner frustrated us a bit. Moreover, we discovered that outside the hotel there were no many restaurants to go to as well.
Another thing I didn't expect was, that the hotel which has a private beach, makes you rent a towel and sunbed for around 1000 yen. I discovered also, that it is something common for all hotels in Okinawa.

To the good points of the hotel though, the breakfast was very diverse, with the chance to change it for lunch, which was also rich in options.
Another interesting fact is that you are able to put the "Do not disturb" sign outside your room, and they grant you with 1000 yen coupon, which can be used for restaurants, shops, or other hotel facilities.

The hotel has many facilities such as gym, massage services, spa and sauna, gaming centre, souvenir shop, convenience store and so on.
We enjoyed the beach, it was pretty big and clean, with many activities like diving, snorkelling, water scooters, water slides, sailing (for additional payment of course). Every evening you can enjoy local Okinawan performances, dance and music art.

As for local colour, almost everywhere you see the same sculpture, which is a sign of Okinawa called Shisa.

The thing that made me startle a little was an announcement board with venomous fish, that can be encountered by anyone. But I just trusted that the net placed around a specific swimming area by the hotel beach protects and those were just additional warnings.

Overall, Okinawa will stay in our hearts as an amazing place with the wonderful sea, white sand, picturesque views and nice people. We enjoyed it even if many sightseeing spots weren't visited, although this article basically points out the lazy vacation and pleasant hotel stay in one of the best family-friendly hotels.
So if you plan such a trip, Okinawa is the best option.
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