Experience the best of Uruma

Uruma was formed in 2005 by the merger of two cities and two towns on the central east coast of Okinawa Island, around Yonashiro Bay and the Katsuren Peninsula. The castle ruins of Katsuren, a World Heritage site, crown a hill above the sea, their curved limestone walls once the seat of the fifteenth-century lord Amawari, who challenged the Ryukyu kings.

A causeway, the Kaichu Doro, runs across the water from the Katsuren Peninsula to the islands of Henza, Miyagi, Hamahiga and Ikei, with small fishing villages, beaches and low hills. Bridges join some of them, and the drive, with sea on both sides, is one of the island's better coastal routes. Back on the peninsula, the castle's upper terrace gives long views over the Pacific.

Okinawa soba, sata andagi doughnuts and island vegetables fill the roadside restaurants, and the fishing villages serve their catch plainly grilled. In winter the east coast catches cool breezes off the Pacific, and sunrise over the water is the draw.