This is a backpackers and travellers paradise about two hour flight south of the mainland of Japan, and about an hour south of Okinawa. 100 km from Taiwan. Ishigaki Islands has a vibrant tropical landscape with mangroves and tropical forests.
There are buses that come every 20 minutes or more, but they take you all over the island. You don’t need a car to get around, but having a car would be beneficial if you want to visit Yonehara Beach - One of the top snorkeling beaches in Okinawa.
Great breakfast. Instead of eating out we went to the local market and bought and cooked everything in our room.
A lot of tourist don’t cook their own meals while on vacation, instead they eat out at expensive restaurants. Cooking on vacation is great and is a good way to sample whole food grown locally.
Things you can do here:
World-class snorkeling, especially if you like clown fish!
Great local markets for fresh beef, exotic fruits, vegetables, and seasonings that you can cook in your own room with a kitchenette
Great hiking
Great places for stargazing
marine sports
Finally, it’s not too touristy here so you can still feel like it’s a vacation.
@HiroyukiTakisawa Thank you for your reply and nice comments. You should visit here with your family and enjoy marines sports. Have you been to Okinawa?*
@user_not_found Amazing man, you are right cooking on own gives us more satisfaction, the place looks like lonely planet. Let’s see if chance, sure will visit. Thank you for your great post.
@MortenSI Thank you for your kind words. I recommend staying for two weeks. In my humble opinion you need to camp out for at least 3 days so that you can enjoy the starry night sky. The other nights I recommend hiking, fishing, skin diving, and exploring the caves.
I think two weeks sounds good @user_not_found , it would give people plenty of time to experience everything and not stress about missing out on anything.
Thanks for the great tips too, and based one you food photos I might just choose to eat breakfast three times a day. It looks delicious!
I’ve never heard of sweet basil before @user_not_found , but it sounds nice with fried fish. I agree about eating out and when on vacation by the way. I usually go for the local street food options but the restaurants in touristic areas are often overpriced.
