I am looking for advice or recommendations on hotels/resorts in Okinawa, beach front preferable, we want to try it out in June or July. Any experience you have there would be welcome. It would be nice to find a hotel that would require only one room but in Japan that is not easy...

What kind of hotel are you looking for? Japanese style, or Western? What price range do you expect?

How is Moon Ocean Ginowan hotel? It's very new (opend this month!)
http://www.moonoceanginowan.jp/

If you book earlier than 45 days from your stay, a ocean view 4-bed room (ah... is this correct expression? I mean a room with 4 beds, don't mean 4 rooms... In actual, there are 2 bed rooms both has 2 beds and a living room.) with kitchen, bath, internet access is 26,400 Yen per night per room at weekday before June 17. Price will start to soar as high as 48,400 Yen (late June, early July) or 61,600 Yen (late July) as it became the summer holiday season. If your dates are flexible, you should go earlier than mid June.

They will prepare a guest cot so that you can use the room with 5 occupants. (May need extra fee that I can't figure out from their site.)

Is that price per person or per room, I have seen some that are per person at that rate. I would like to find something 60,000 yen or less per day for the 5 of us.

I recommend the Okinawa beach tower it can be a bit pricy but its on a little sandy beach. Most of souther Okinawa is coral beaches so to find sand in the south is something. Its also right next to a Jussco, the sports plex and a little walk to camp lester (which is where the naval hospital is)and its a nice little area. Also concider staying in a few hotels like the Churaumi Aquarium resort. They usually offer weekend deals or three nights here or there for big discounts.And the Aquarium is going to be nothing like you have ever seen. It's the second largest in the world. They have whale sharks in the big tank. I think they are up to 4 or 5 of them too. The littlest one is going to be the new female that they intend on breeding when she matures in 10years.They also have an in house resturant that sits up against the side of the whale shark tank its pretty cool. I got the most amazing picutre of my son sitting at a table against the glass and one of the whales came by and its just wow.
Or if you really want to you can try to make it out to Okuma its the millitary resort. East side of the resort you want one of teh cheapy cabins beacause they are closer to the beach. West side you want the suiets because they are right on the beach. There are go-carts, a par 3 golf corse,hikin hiji falls ect. This is going to be your cheapest option but Okuma is in northern Okinwa and you will most likely fly into Naha airport (for commercial) or Kadena on a MAC. Both airports are in the south(well Kadena is kinda mid island kinda). There isnt a whole lot of mass transit here. There is no train, there are busses but they tend to be difficult to get around in.

Most people here drive. So if you can rent a car do. But as I have been told about driving in main land there are a few differnces. People here will run the red lights after the three car rule. So make sure that you just sit for a min to let trafic pass when your light turns green. I say this because we have gotten alot of newbies on the island and I just keep seeing accidents with them. And they are things that could have been avoided by just letting traffic pass and not playing the who has the right of way game. Relax your on an island you arnt going to get there any faster by being aggressive.

Or if you look on kadena's support site on the itt tab they have beach resorts listed with a price list
http://www.kadenaforcesupport.com/t...lList.html
I noticed that the prices go up during certian weeks of they year like the okinawa beach tower is 6,000.00 yen per night for 5 people from 4/ to 4/27,5/5 to 6/30,10/1 to 12/29 and 1/3 to 3/31 but the price goes up to 13,000.00 a night for 5 people for other dates

Oh and i forgot if you do get around to renting a car try making it to Ryuku marua, it think i spelled it wrong>< but it used to be the set of the longest running Japanesse soap and when it stoped filming they left all the buildings. So Okinaw turned it into a traditional okinawa/ japan theme park. Also check out Okinaw world in the south it has the second largets cave in the world(its a neat walk) and you can take sanshi lessons there. And just check out some of the tours through ITT. Check bothe the Kadena site and MCCSokinawa MWR. There are so many cool things to do here it really irratates me when i hear people say they get bord.

FCCMCOLLINS, prices are per room. Extra cot may costs 2,000 - 3,000 I think.

Are there any other places to contact that are reccommended, we are trying to get a AMC flight and may not have much prior time to find a place this month. Where can you get something not too expensive?

I'm going down there on Sunday for a 2 week TDY period. I might have to check out a few of these places...

Unfortunatly, not sure how much time I have. Billeting is on Kinser and work is on Foster...

I read somewhere that Okinawa has the 2nd largest Aquarium in the world.

I was thinking about vacationing in Okinawa as my first trip here... I hear the northern part of the island is very beautiful. Can anyone confirm this, and if so... an hotel in the area? Thanks!!!

Yes its Churi Umi aquariume. Its about 60 Km north of the middle of the island. And the aquarium has its own resort. It offers stay 1-2 nights and tickets to the aquirum and Neo butterfly park.Sometimes Pinapple park is offered as well. You can go through Kadena ITT. Or Ill try to get the numbers for you since they arnt listed on the website at this time. And I wouldnt miss the aquarium. There are now 5 whale sharks in the largest tank. Plan on eating at the resturant there it sits right up next to the glass of the larg tank. So you get to eat and watch the whale sharks go by with the gigantic sting rays and large fish that are in there. But go to the resturant early seating against the glass fills up quick.

I'm considering visiting the area over the holiday's in December, flying commercially would it be recommended at that time of year?

Would anyone know a contact # or email for rental car providers?

Will the SOFA issued Japan drivers license be valid in Okinawa?

Your Japan SOFA license is sufficient to rent a car.

The best deals I found are with Mazda, who provides contracted car rent on base & out in town. They won't tell you this when you call, but they have an office at the airport & you can pick up your car there for the same price you would get on base. This saves an expensive taxi ride to the base. Camp Foster told me to take a taxi to the base (like $90), but they would be closed by the time I got there, so I would have had to walk to their office the next morning & pick up my car. Instead, I got them to book the car at the airport,, no taxi ride required, and no night onbase without wheels. Plus you can drive yourself back to the airport instead of a crummy shuttle or another expensive taxi. You'd think they'd tell you about this, but it was like pulling teeth.

Try these numbers:
Car Rental, Camp Foster Bldg 447, near USO 645-4577
Car Rental, Shogun Inn, Kadena AB 632-1880
Car Rental, WestPac 645-8237

Posted By Rea on 07-26-2010 9:52 AM
Plan on eating at the restaurant there it sits right up next to the glass of the larg tank. So you get to eat and watch the whale sharks go by with the gigantic sting rays and large fish that are in there. But go to the resturant early seating against the glass fills up quick.

They have this recipe on Okinawa which I haven't seen anywhere else, it's called Taco Rice.  It's basically all the taco ingredients (meat, cheese, salsa, lettuce) on a bed of rice.  I tried it at several restaurants, and the best was at the aquarium.  They put it on top of seasoned Spanish rice, but other places put it on plain white rice, which tends to be kinda flavorless.  It's very cool having your meal with sharks as big as your car cruising by about 6 feet away.