3 of the best Hilton Okinawa hotels for island-hopping

White-sand beaches, UNESCO-listed history and wellness as a way of life: it’s time to explore Japan’s tropical dreamscape.

Mention Japan and your mind paints a vivid scene. Tendrils of steam floating above an onsen, red torii gates, cherry blossoms, and futuristic streetscapes. But set your sights a short flight south of Tokyo, and you’ll discover Okinawa: a tropical patchwork of 160 postcard-ready islands. As one of the world’s five ‘Blue Zones’ (where people live measurably longer and healthier lives than the global average), Okinawa is a destination defined not just by its scenery, but by wellbeing.

The best way to experience Okinawa’s laid-back, tropical atmosphere is by hopping between its islands. To start, here are three islands to dip your toes into Okinawa’s blue waters.

Wherever you land across the archipelago, you’ll find a Hilton in Okinawa waiting. And at each Hilton, discover a unique reading program, Reading Voyage. Find a diverse and distinctive collection of books reflecting the character of each destination.

Okinawa Island

Ryukyu dance Chatan (Zakimi castle) — Explore history and culture on Okinawa Island.

Okinawa Island is the largest in the archipelago. Dramatic karst landscapes jut from thick forests in the north’s Yambaru National Park. In the south, Ryukyu Kingdom-era castles tell the story of an island sitting in the historic cross-currents of Japanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian influence.

In the island’s centre, you’ll find bustling oceanfront entertainment complexes, like Mihama American Village, an Americana wonderland complete with American diners, boutiques and a cinema.

Where to stay: Central Okinawa Island

The facade of Hilton Okinawa Chatan Resort opens onto a tropical oasis of pools, palm trees and sea views. — Relax poolside with Okinawa’s stunning coastline as your backdrop.

Mere footsteps from the Mihama American Village, you’ll find two Hilton properties – the perfect base to explore Okinawa’s largest island.

Hilton Okinawa Chatan Resort is the ultimate island getaway with sweeping views across the East China Sea, an indulgent spa and easy beach access. Plus, multiple pool experiences, including a waterslide.

Next door you’ll find DoubleTree by Hilton Okinawa Chatan Resort. Walk down to the beach for snorkelling, kayaking, jet skiing or a range of other water sports. Or take a short drive to the beautiful, limestone Cave Okinawa. End a day of exploring with sunset yoga or make the most of your proximity to the local nightlife.

Where to stay: Southern Okinawa Island

The pool of DoubleTree by Hilton Naha Shuri Castle. — Discover Okinawa’s heritage from a unique vantage point.

Naha (Okinawa’s capital) feels like a futuristic Japanese city set against a tropical backdrop. It’s also where you’ll find the UNESCO-listed Shuri Castle—the former royal palace of the Ryukyu kingdom. Sample local Okinawan doughnuts (sata andagi) at artisan bakeries, browse textile houses hand-weaving traditional silk and banana fibre shuri fabrics, or catch live sanshin music at one of Sakaemachi arcade’s cosy izakayas.

Experience the island’s history, complete with a panoramic rooftop views of the castle, at DoubleTree by Hilton Naha Shuri Castle. While DoubleTree by Hilton Naha puts you closer to Kokusai-dori shopping street and local museums. One of the hotel’s best perks is the breakfast buffet built. Here, the local dialect word for food (kusuimun) literally translates as medicine. Start each day with shabu shabu (hot pot) cooked with the region’s famous Agu pork.

Sesoko Island

woman sitting on beach on seseko island — Cross the bridge to Sesoko Island.

Sesoko Island is a tiny, eight-kilometre-round paradise. It’s a superb option for those who want to have the feel of a remote island getaway while still technically being connected to the Okinawan mainland via a bridge.

Snorkel off the coast above vibrant coral reefs rich with marine life. If you’re up for an adventure, dive the island’s labyrinth of underwater caves. Stargaze each night in totally clear skies.

Where to stay: Sesoko Island

Aerial view of Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort, one of the destinations when you visit 3 of the best island-hopping destinations in Okinawa. — Wake up to the stunning hues of Sesoko Blue.

Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort will be your island home. You’ll be within close reach of the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium—one of the largest aquariums in the world—and the UNESCO-listed Nakijin Castle remains.

This is the perfect place to discover why Okinawa was named a Blue Zone through a dedicated workshop. Start living your new Blue Zone lifestyle with an excursion to a local craft workshop, snorkelling, and learning programs.

From your balcony, you’ll discover a shade of blue locals call ‘Sesoko blue’ in the waters lapping the island. Wrap each day with the sand between your toes and a dusting of bright, sparkling stars overhead. Fall asleep to the gentle thrum of waves meeting the shore.

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Miyako Island

Miyako Island found a way to bring every tropical island cliché to life: endless white-sand beaches, unmatched hues of blue water, rugged coastlines, and punchy coral reefs. You’ll find it a short flight from Naha.

Miyako Island is connected via a series of bridges to the surrounding islands, including the Irabu Bridge. An engineering feat that stretches over three kilometres across turquoise waters to create one of Okinawa’s most famous vistas.

Where to stay:

Hilton Okinawa Miyako Island Resort next to Canopy by Hilton Okinawa Miyako Island Resort — Spend your days chasing turquoise waters and coastal adventures.

Hilton Okinawa Miyako Island Resort is a relaxed, family-friendly home base with five pools to enjoy. Next door, Canopy by Hilton Okinawa Miyako Island Resort takes cues from the local neighbourhood and Okinawan design, resulting in a trendy stay for experienced travellers looking to explore Okinawa’s local culture, food and wellness. Both are beachfront, with Miyako’s reefs and beloved Sunset Beach just steps away.

Or wander the newly opened shopping mall in between. Explore one of Japan’s most famous beaches, Yonaha Maehama. Spend a day exploring Higashi-Hennazaki Cape where the striking blues of the reefs meet the coastline.

After a day spent snorkelling and beach hopping, catch the sunset from Canopy by Hilton Okinawa Miyako Island Resort’s rooftop bar. Gaze out over the sprawling Irabu Bridge, one of Miyako’s most recognisable landmarks. Head down to Yard Miyakojima, an ultra-trendy spot where locals and visitors can connect over good food and cool music.

Start planning your Hilton island-hopping escape to Japan at hilton.com/en.

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

3 of the best island-hopping destinations in Okinawa