Okinawa: Ryukyu Heritage and the Island Coast, 6 Nights

Flights reach Naha, the capital, mostly via Tokyo, Osaka or a regional hub. The air is warm and damp even in winter, and the pace is slower than on the mainland. Once you have checked in, walk Kokusai-dori, the main street, and sit down to Okinawan food: goya champuru, a stir-fry of bitter gourd with tofu and egg, and Okinawa soba, thick wheat noodles in a clear broth. Vegetarian versions are common.

Start in Tsuboya, the potters' quarter since the seventeenth century, where kilns and shops line a stone-paved lane and the glazed shisa lion-dogs that guard Okinawan roofs are made. Makishi public market, the kitchen of Naha, sells fish in colours you will not have seen before, and upstairs will cook what you buy. In the afternoon, Naminoue Shrine stands on a coral cliff directly above a city beach, the most unusual view in Naha.

Sefa-utaki was the holiest place of the Ryukyu kingdom: a forest shrine with no building, only stone altars in the rock and a triangular cleft that frames the island of Kudaka, where the Ryukyuan gods are said to have first come ashore. It closes on a few days each year for rituals. The south coast carries the memory of 1945; the Peace Memorial Park at Mabuni lists the names of every person who died in the battle, of every nationality. Return via the limestone cave of Gyokusendo.

Shuri Castle ruled the islands for about four centuries. Its red lacquered main hall burned in 2019 and has been rebuilding in public view; the gates, walls and restored halls around it are open, and we confirm before you travel what can be entered. Nearby are Tamaudun, the stone tomb of the royal line, and the stone-paved slope of Kinjo-cho. The afternoon is Shikina-en, the royal villa garden with its pond and arched stone bridges, quiet and rarely crowded.

North by expressway to the Motobu peninsula, about two hours. Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is built around one enormous tank, the Kuroshio Sea, where whale sharks and manta rays swim past a window taller than a house. Nearby Bise village has lanes of old fukugi trees shading the houses from typhoons. Then the long bridge to Kouri Island, over shallow water so clear the sand shows through, with the heart-shaped rocks on its north beach.

The west coast between Onna and Nago. Cape Manzamo is a meadow on a cliff that ends in a rock arch like an elephant's trunk. At Cape Maeda the Blue Cave glows with reflected light, reached by snorkelling boat on calm days. From late January to early February the island's deep-pink kanhi cherries flower on the slopes of Mt Yaedake and in Nago, weeks before the mainland. The rest of the year the afternoon can go to a beach; the sea is warm enough to swim from about April to October.

Breakfast and check-out, then the drive to Naha Airport, which is close to the city centre. If your flight is later in the day, the Kokusai-dori shops are the place for last purchases: brown sugar, beni-imo purple sweet-potato tarts and a small shisa to guard your own front door.