Okinawa Trip without Car: Part 11: Half-Day Bus Tour, Sefa-utaki & Mibaru Beach & Himeyuri Peace Museum

[Introduction]

I traveled to Okinawa for four days and three nights. This time, I visited Okinawa Main Island, mainly Naha area. My concern was that I don’t drive, which might make my trip difficult, but I enjoyed the trip very much by using monorail and taking bus tours. In this article, I will write about a half-day bus tour (Sefa-utaki & Mibaru Beach & Himeyuri Peace Museum) as part of Day 4.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Fly to Okinawa
* Day 1: Surijo Castle Park
* Day 1: Surijo Castle Park (Light-up)
* Day 2: Naminoue Beach & Fukushuen Garden & Shikinaen Garden
* Day 2: Kokusai Street
* Day 2: Kokusai Street (Night Walk)
* Day 3: Kouri Island
* Day 3: Churaumi Aquarium
* Day 3: Busena Marine Park
* Day 3: Mihama American Village
* Day 4: Sefa-utaki & Mibaru Beach & Himeyuri Peace Museum [This article]
* Day 4: Ashibinaa & Chura Sun Beach
* Day 4: Senagajima Umikaji Terrace & Return Home

[Travel Date]
2017.07.01-04

[Main Part]

Hotel Rocore Naha

Finally, the fourth day (the final day) of the Okinawa trip started. To begin with, breakfast at Hotel Rocore Naha (FYI: please see the past article for more details about breakfast at Hotel Rocore Naha).

After breakfast, I checked out Hotel Rocore Naha.

To give my impression of Hotel Rocore Naha where I stayed for three nights, I believe I made a right decision. The hotel is conveniently located and provides delicious breakfast including a variety of Okinawa local food. 。

Half-Day Bus Tour

In the morning of the fourth day, I decided to participate in a half-day bus tour operated by Rado Kanko Inc. In this tour, we will visit (1) Sefa-utaki, (2) Mibaru Beach and (3) Himeyuri Peach Meseum.

The following two photos of Nirai-kanai bridge were taken on the way to the first destination.

Sefa-utaki

The first destination of the tour was Sefa-utaki. “Utaki” means sacred places in Okinawa for pray. Sefa-utaki is considered the most sacred place and registered as a World Heritage Site in 2000.

Ticket office. There was also a souvenir shop adjacent it.

It took about ten minutes from the ticket office to Sefa-utaki.

After watching a video for safety purposes, then I entered into Sefa-utaki.

This is “Sangui”, one of the six sanctuaries in Sefa-utaki.

The triangle figure was very impressive.

From “Sangui”, visitors were able to see Kudaka island.

I will return to the bus. Here are some photos on the way to the parking place.

As I had some free time left, I will walk around the souvenir shop.

There was an observation deck.

I dropped by Sata andagi (Okinawan donuts) stall and bought it.

Mibaru Beach

The second destination of the tour was Mibaru Beach. In this tour, tour participants were able to choose either Mibaru Beach or Okinawa World and I chose Mibaru Beach as it was sunny.

I arrived at Mibaru Beach.

There was a couple.

Mibaru Beach is famous as there are several beach cafes from which visitors are able to see beautiful sea.

One of the famous beach cafes in Mibaru Beach was “Shokudo Kalika”.

Visitors are able to enjoy unobstructed view of sea.

I will walk along the beach.

Along with “Shokudo Kalika”, this cafe (“Hamabe-no-chaya”) is also famous as a beach cafe in Mibaru Beach.

There is also a resort hotel along Mibaru Beach.

View from the terrace in the hotel.

As I had some free time left, I decided to ride on a glass boat.

On board.

Let’s start.

When we looked down on,

we were able to enjoy beautiful scenery over the glass.

We will go back.

The glass boat riding was over.

Then, I left Mibaru Beach and left for the next destination.

Himeyuri Peace Museum

The final destination of the tour was the Tower of Himeyuri.

The Tower of Himeyuri was built to commemorate the victims of Himeyuri students during the battle of Okinawa in 1945 and there is also Himeyuri Peace Museum.

Visitors are not allowed to take photos in the museum, so I just photos outside.

Now the half-day bus tour was over.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about a half-day bus tour (Sefa-utaki & Mibaru Beach & Himeyuri Peace Museum) as part of Day 4 of my Okinawa trip.

To sum up the half-day bus tour, I was able to go around the south area of Okinawa main island efficiently thanks to the bus tour. One of the drop-off points was Naha airport, so I think it would be a good idea to use this tour on the final day of the trip 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Ashibinaa & Chura Sun Beach as part of Day 4.

(FYI)
If you would like to gather information on bus tours, I would recommend “Tabiplusone” since users are able to search for tour information across tour companies. For example, here is the link of the half-day bus tour I participated in.

[Map]

[Related Link]
Visit Okinawa Japan – Official Travel and Tourism Information
Okinawa Labo
Hotel Rocore Naha
Sefa-utaki
Himeyuri Peace Museum

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