Experience the best of Motobu-cho

Motobu occupies the Motobu Peninsula, a rounded headland on the west coast of northern Okinawa Island. Its Ocean Expo Park, built for an international exposition in 1975, holds the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, famous for a huge tank with whale sharks and manta rays, along with a beach, gardens and a replica of a traditional village.

Bise, a village on the north-west coast, is lined with fukugi trees planted as windbreaks, forming a shady lane between stone-walled houses. Sesoko Island, joined to the peninsula by a bridge, has beaches and snorkelling, and ferries cross from Motobu harbour to Ie Island, whose steep conical peak rises from flat farmland. In January and February the cherry blossoms of Mount Yaedake turn the slopes pink.

Okinawa soba in a pork broth is served at roadside restaurants all over the peninsula, and tropical fruit is sold at stalls. Swimming and snorkelling are best between May and October, while the early cherry blossom of winter draws visitors to the mountain.