Hi

This is our second trip to Japan. Our first trip was in November and we went to Tokyo, Takayama, Kanazawa, Kyoto (4 days), Nara, Koyasan, Himeji, Hiroshima and Miyajima. We thoroughly enjoyed it, so much that we will return mid october.

We will go 3.5 weeks and are thinking of including Okinawa this time, to see something different (tropical)! I find it more difficult to judge how much time we would want to allocate. We do like to not rush too much. Our interest is in nature and outdoor activities, good food ans we would probably want to have one 'relaxed' day on Okinawa (sitting somewhere with a book and a nice view).

For the Okinawa part, we are now thinking of about a week:
- Day 1: Fly to Ishigaki
- Day 2-5: time on Ishigaki, day trips to Iriomote, Taketomi
- Day 6: fly to Naha
- day 7: visit aquarium (+ open for suggestions)
- Day 8: fly out of Naha
We are including Naha as that we need to stopover there and want to visit the aquarium.

Great to get some feedback about this itinearay: is this doable and sufficient time? Suggestions for places to stay?

Any help is much appreciated!

It's certainly doable - I loved it myself, and it's unfortunate that so many people ignore the place.
There are some good deals that might change your plans though. One is if you'd like to see a number of islands, there is the Okinawa Island Pass, which gives a huge discount for foreign tourists. There are also low cost carriers like Jet Star and Peach that have some dirt cheap airfares to and from Okinawa. Or look at something like ANA's Experience Japan Fare.
I really loved the aquarium - if I recall right it has a 10,000 ton tank, and is one of the best in Japan if not the world. The Pineapple Farm was interesting enough and I kind of regret not buying a bottle of pineapple wine when I had the chance. Some of the WWII sights were well worth seeing as well. You might consider renting a car if you are up for it - it truly makes getting around a lot easier. I didn't stay in a series of hotels and I have no idea what budget or accommodations you are thinking of, so I can't give any ideas of where to stay. There is no shortage of booking engines or reviews of places on Trip Advisor, Hotels.com or other places though.

Thank you for your reply, bit delayed response from me.

I was indeed looking at the ANA offering, which comes to $250 dollar for 3 flights. We will consider renting a car!

I realize that my accomodation question was a bit silly. I'm exploring the sites, looking at max $250 for something special, but will do some t wou googing .

About the itineraryI'm now thinking of making it 2 nights Okinawa, 3 nights Ishigaki (including a day trip to Taketomi) and 2 nights Iriomote. I'm still a bit in doubt whether that would be a good split and provides us enought time or wheter we should drop something. Any feedback on that is welcome.