Going to Ishigaki with kids for 4 days next month and looking for some specific Ishigaki info:
1. Car rental–it seems there are zero cars available to pre-book at the airport. Is this typical for summer? Am I late to the game? I found ONE kind of near the airport, and it’s coming out to $250USD/day. Does that sound right?
2. Kabira Bay–do I need to book a glass-bottom boat in advance, or can I just show up? I was thinking this place would be slow island life, and we could make our plans based on the weather of the day, but the lack of cars has me thinking that maybe the secret’s out on this place.
3. Stargazing–i booked an airbnb with a roof on the northern tip of the island. Will this give me insane views, or do I want to book a stargazing tour somewhere? We don’t speak Japanese and my understanding is that the tours are 100% in Japanese.
4. Food–looking for recs of restaurants, local treats and other yums that we absolutely must try!
Open to any and all reccos for this amazing island!!
4 comments
1) I visited in January so idk how summer rates differ on car rental but i paid $58/day for Nissan rentacar on Rentalcars.com in advance. Ended up adding extra days to this to stay in Ishigaki longer but the last min extension daily rate was still very similar. The double coverage “crash into anything and we will take care of it” insurance was 2200¥ per day
Based on the pricing you are seeing I would say either their summer rate is much higher or you are quite late to the game.
2) From what I understand Ishigaki is a popular domestic and some international travel destination during summer. Was very “slow island life” in January but this is business as usual for summer. Didnt do the glass bottom boats so cant offer you specific advice sadly.
3) North side of the island is great for stargazing there is zero light pollution. Roof star gazing from your airbnb should be good but if you decide to go to the beach and look from there watch out for coconut crabs lol especially around kids. If I were a kid I would immediately want to go mess with the huge crab but those things are no joke and would definitely mess someones day up
4) Ishigaki beef is some of the best wagyu i’ve ever had. Loads of places to try on the island. Even in the touristy bits like Kabira Bay the restaurants nearby had amazing ishigaki beef and reasonably priced.
There is an okinomiyaki restaurant called umaru on the north west ish area of island. Looks a bit like a wooden shack on the outside but this is by far the best okinomiyaki i’ve ever had in my entire life.
There is a really good Neopolitan pizza place/italian restaurant in the city. Forgot the name but its the one with the most reviews.
Try the sea grapes and other local specialties. All very tasty.
Good luck! feel free to message me other questions, always happy to help
I booked mine through chase travel a month ago for a trip right now and it was around 85 a day try looking outside of the airport maybe?
Okinawa has struggled with not having enough rental cars during peak season since covid. Try Japanese companies
I was there in March and could not find a car, so instead I just took an excursion to a different island every day.