Hi! I've briefly visited Naha city before.. but this will be my first time ever renting a car in Japan before. I'm wondering if this plan makes sense. Would love any feedback or suggestions to improve.
The one major wildcard in the plan is it's September.. so peak typhoon. I am concerned how it's impossible to predict typhoons a week out. I'll be traveling from Singapore to Taipei to Okinawa to Tokyo which seems like the path where all typhoons go.
Assuming there are no major typhoons that ruin and cancel all plans.
My plan is to rent a car from OTS near Naha airport. The first day I'll drive to a hotel called Ada Garden Hotel.. It seems about a 3 hour drive to the north part of the island. Is that a nice area? It's near Yanbaru National Park. Just having never driven in Japan nor on the left hand side of the road though.. will it be easy. lol I hope so.
2 nights there.. seems there are some nice rural beaches nearby too.
Then stay in Nago to visit Kourji Island and other nearby place. 2 nights
Then over near Uruma to visit those nice looking beaches. 2 nights
Then back to Naha
Do most hotels outside of Naha have free parking?
My understanding is OTS rentals come with CDW insurance but how much is liability coverage per day? Is it necessary to add?
I had the option of electric vehicle or gas. I chose gas because unsure if not speaking Japanese and being in rural areas it would be easy to find charging stations? Do you pump your own gas in Okinawa?
by purplelight
2 comments
You can always buy extra travel insurance before you arrive that covers the rental car, or even after you arrive from a convenience store (I would do it beforehand though), that way it can cover you in case of typhoon and your car even with no typhoon. On the subject of typhoons, stop being so worried about it. You never know if there will be one for your trip and most likely there won’t be one. Millions of people come to Okinawa every year and only a fraction of them are stuck because of a typhoon. You literally couldn’t be in a better place if a typhoon does come. Okinawa’s concrete brutalist architecture has its detractors, but it withstands typhoons better than anything.
Your Okinawa part of the trip sounds nice. I’d get a gas or hybrid car if you are going to the northern part of the island, especially if you go exploring. There is a mixture of full service and self service gas stations on the island, just look for an “SS” on the sign for pumping your own gas. If you end up in a full service station, all you gotta do is say “Mawntawn regular des” (I know for other commenters that the hiragana and katakana version is more accurate, but the shorter romanji American accent version works just fine when speaking), it just means “Fill it up with regular gas”.
Yes, most hotels have free parking, especially outside Naha. I like the wild, natural beach and jungle areas better than the tourist manufactured and roped off beaches, but I would recommend a rash guard, felt bottom boots or swimming shoes, and not to swim alone in those areas. Always check the sea conditions before going in the water. They are nice to go to, but more dangerous, and the tides bring in a lot of ocean trash in some areas (Oku beach was full of Chinese bottles and fishing gear up north when I went earlier this year, while a couple areas on the east coast was all Japanese bottles and fishing gear, so everyone can be blamed).
Ada Garden: looks like a very nice hotel. But I have not been there. It is in a rural heavily forested part of the island where there are not too many roads. It should be perfect for 2 nights.
Parking will not be problem anywhere in Okinawa and it should be free.
But electric car is a very bad idea – get a regular car or a hybrid instead.
I recommend renting a smaller car – many roads and parking spaces are considerably narrower than in the US.
Getting used to driving on the left is easy, but what sucks are car controls – blinker lights and wipers – their location is switched too.