Zamami Jima and Aka Jima, from Okinawa

Travel Tips

• Which islands – there are a range of islands within less than a 3 hour ferry ride from Naha.  The ones you want are those that sit within the Keramashoto National Park, and in particular Aki-jima and Zamami-jima (“jima” just means “island” in Japanese).   Mainly because, whilst all the islands are beautiful, Aki and Zamami are a bit easier to get to and allow you to get short ferries between them (something the others don’t offer)

• The islands are tiny – Aki is only 2km across and Zamami not much bigger, and both very basic, although Zamami-jima has the slightly more developed village and probably a bit more to see.   We stayed on Aki-jima (which slightly confusingly has its main village called Zamami-mura) mainly because it was the only place we could find accommodation at relatively short notice, but really enjoyed our time there.  Nishihama Beach is worth checking out on the East of the island, and so is wandering over to Geruma and Fukaji Islands – a very nice feeling doing so while not having to worry about traffic

• Zamami-jima has more things to see and a bigger selection of restaurants etc.  The gorgeous Furuzamami Beach is only 1km from the main village (over a hill) and is a beautiful 700m white sand beach, which also has some good coral to snorkel around

• Slightly odd – at times it feels like a parallel universe and nothing highlights this more than the walk over the bizarrely large and modern bridge from Aki-jima to the small village on Geruma-jima, which has maybe 10 houses, yet is complete with a large school, athletics track and nearby airport.  All within  a tropical paradise – all a bit odd, which makes it so worth the trip!

• Main highlight was renting a bike to go exploring around Zamami-jima.  You can easily rent the bikes from the main village and just head off around the simple loop of the island.  Whilst you could do this on Aki-jima, Zamami-jima makes more sense as there is a loop, better views and easier to get to some of the cool spots.  The route we took was a relatively standard one – picked the bikes up in the village and then headed to the various observations decks – Kam-no-hama in the west; Inazaki in the north, Takatsuki-Yama in the east and then to the Furuzamami Beach in the South East before heading back to the village.  Total distance was 10.5km / 6.5miles and with a total elevation of 210m / 700ft.  Whilst not too far, some of the uphills can be a little steep and a bit of a slog on the basic bikes – best just to jump off and walk these bits, but well worth it for the views and sense of adventure

• Getting between the islands of Aki and Zamami is super easy and, considering how small the islands are, hard to get wrong!  There are 3 ferries a day that do the Naha – Zamami-jima route which stop off at Aki-jima; plus a motor boat that makes 4 trips a day between the two.  If any confusion, just pop to the little ports and ask there – people working there will be more than happy to help

• BIGGEST TIP – just try to chill out when there.  There are some wonderful beaches to see, and some great hikes / short cycling trips.  But the highlight here is really being able to just take advantage of the extremely peaceful atmosphere.  May even be worth paying attention to how the locals live – Okinawans manage to live to some of the oldest ages anywhere in the world

• For the evenings, make sure to either find a restaurant that you know will be open or agree with your hotel that you’ll be having dinner – most things shut down quite early on the islands

• Getting to the islands from Naha is super easy and can take as little as 50mins with one of the fast ferries (around USD40 for the round trip).  Head to Tomari Port and there are a range of departure options.  For tips on Naha and the main island, see the travel entry – A weekend in Okinawa for Naha and the Aquarium

• Booking accommodation is a bit tricky – give the likes of booking.com and Lonely Planet a try, but you may have to do a bit of googling.  We stayed at an exceedingly random spot called simply Housei (on Aki) which was a bit like a garage on the beach.  Lovely staff, but was a bit pricey at USD250 for 2 nights so maybe have a look around

• 2 nights felt about right for the 2 islands, but you could easily spend more if you combined with scuba diving (wish I’d done some here) and tried to make your way to come of the other islands