By Tighttravellers, April 2026
Tokashiki Island
Now then – just a short ferry journey from Naha, is Tokashiki island. The largest of the Kerama Islands.
Perfect for: nature lovers, snorkelling, beach bums; day trips or an overnight stay when island hopping!
How to get to Tokashiki
From Naha, there are two ferry’s that depart from Tomari port: the high speed Marine Liner, and a more budget friendly ferry. Bet you can guess which we one we got!
Reyt – Let’s talk about the cheaper option first! The Tokashiki ferry departs from Tomari once a day, takes around 70 minutes, and costs ¥1,690 one way (adult).
Next, the high speed ferry – Marine Liner Tokashiki. Departing from Tomari also twice a day, but this journey only takes 40 minutes; and costs ¥2,530 one way (adult).
You can book from 2 months in advance, up to the day before you plan to board.
Where to stay
As you can imagine, there ain’t many places to stay on such a small island. But the place we found was reyt.
Not as cheap as we wanted, but cheerful nonetheless! Of course we compared the limited accommodations on as many platforms as possible to find the best price, and you should be too!
Have a gander on TikTok, and book below.
Getting around Tokashiki
Of course, the most budget friendly option is to walk! You could walk the whole length of the island in a couple of hours but the massive hills are no joke.
Our guest house was a 5 minute walk from Tokashiki port – exactly what we needed when double backpacking in’t 25 degree heat! But we were a 40 minute walk from Tokashiki beach, and just over an hours walk from Aharen beach. The scenery was the bollocks though, so canny complain.
If you’re not committed to the tight travellers way, there are other options.
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- There is a public bus that runs from Tokashiki port to Aharen beach and back. This costs ¥400 per person, one way.
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- You can hire a bike (or e-bike) and cycle around the island. Bikes can be hired from Sunny Coral Cafe for ¥3,800 for the day. A great place for a butty too! You can make reservations here in advance – he has recently bought more bikes to keep up with the influx of people.
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- You could also hire a scooter, though this isn’t the most budget friendly option! At our guesthouse, bike hire cost ¥4000 for the day! Not too bad of a price, but you could definitely drive around the full island in under an hour, so is it worth it?
Things to do in Tokashiki
I mean let’s start with the main reason people travel to Tokashiki, the beaches.
During our 5 days here we went to the popular Aharen beach. Beautiful white sand, and vivid Kerama blue water that looked like bloody glass!
There are options for snorkelling tours, you can book both at the beach or at your guesthouse. This cost ¥7,000 when we were here (April 2026). ‘Ow much!
If you’re like us, and brought your old pair of goggles halfway across the world to save a few quid, then you can snorkel from the sand; just don’t have too high expectations.
Aharen beach has lifeguards April – October and has designated swimming areas. Unfortunately, we found naff all coral in this area and only a few fish! Not the best snorkelling spot if you just want to go for a paddle on your tod!
If you want more than snorkelling, or just being a beach potato, there are other activities at Aharen beach: kayaking, jet ski, banana boat rides, you can even give scuba diving a try!
Other facilities at Aharen beach:
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- Toilets
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- Showers (¥300 coin shower)
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- Snorkel rental
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- Umbrella / sun bed rental
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- Restaurants (a lot of these closed around 5pm)
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- Coin lockers
There are of course other unmanned beaches surrounding Aharen that you can visit – just be careful when swimming!
Next, a favourite of ours – Tokashiki beach. Quieter and more relaxed than Aharen beach, with high chances of spotting sea turtles!
There are also designated swimming areas here, and lifeguards, however you can swim outside of these areas (as long as you are a confident swimmer / have the correct equipment and stay away from the boat area – or we did anyway). There also looked to be snorkel tours, but us tight travellers did it ourselves!
Use code ‘TIGHTRAVELLERS5’ for money off!
Not really catered to tourists, we found one food truck where we got ourselves some drinks, and nowt else to be honest! But what more do you need?
If the beaches ain’t enough for you, there are many viewpoints around the island. Panoramas of white beaches, rugged rock formations, and vibrant vegetation. Perfect to relax in nature – if you can relax with bugs the size of low flying aircraft’s.
Don’t worry about them too much, it’ll be reyt!
Our tight travellers experience in Tokashiki
Reet then, here’s our honest tight travellers opinion.
We were chuffed with the ferry over ‘ere – no faff, just smooth sailing. Literally.
We rocked up to our £52 a night lodgings and found our host was out. So we let ourselves in and had a gander. First impressions, a dive. There was so much clutter in the reception area – shells, fishing gear, life jackets, scuba equipment. You name it, she had it! Definitely, looked like our host has too many hobbies! Not a clean, aesthetic place – but a proper lived in spot.
We had an idea of what the rooms looked like, as they were the only pictures on the booking, and they were accurate! Private rooms, clean, with twin beds. Perfect when you’ve spent too much time with your other half.
Shared bathrooms – 4 showers, but only 1 bog! Relatively clean, with hot water (most of the time). The boiler decided to pack’in during our stay! Nowt like a cold shower after a day spent at the beach – and what can you do when you’re on a remote island? Our host dealt with this the best she could, very apologetic, let us shower in her home, and supplied us with free Sake on a night!
Let’s talk scran. Ain’t many restaurants ‘round here. About 4 in Tokashiki town: one’s only open for 3 hours on a Tuesday, one that commits daylight robbery, and one with a questionable menu. The fourth we have already mentioned: Sunny Coral Cafe, serving up butty’s and Okinawan curry, but only open 8:00-13:00.
Our first night here, and none of these were open so our host reserved us a table at a restaurant by Aharen beach – pick up and drop off included. Jammy. We caught a great sunset on the way down – good food, mediocre price.
Our second night was where daylight robbery was committed. We headed to the only open restaurant in the area – mediocre food alongside a scam. For “our comfort” we had to order a drink (free tap water not included). Of course we chose to cheapest drink on the menu, especially when we noticed the ¥300 extra charge if you ordered a pint (or any alcohol).
Our third night we attempted to get scran down at Aharen beach as there are a lot more options! 10 minutes before the last bus, we realised that all the restaurants were either closed for the day or closed at 5pm if not before. Not worth the hour walk back to our guesthouse in the dark, so we legged it to the bus and got oursen a pot noodle. Cheap an’ cheerful.
So is Tokashiki worth a visit? We think so! If you like your luxury on a budget, consider a day trip. If you want to slow down, and live island life with the locals we recommend you stay at least one night on this beautiful island.
Use code ‘TIGHTRAVELLERS5’ for money off!
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