Churaumi Aquarium and Sightseeing Bus Tour (from Naha, Ginowan, Chatan and Onna)
Overall Rating
4.25
Nice trip around Okinawa island
Reviewed by: Tuomas, 2020/02/29The trip was nice and there were quite many stops during the day. Stops were quite short but it was ok because there wasn't that much to see. First hour went collecting people to bus from different stops. Tour guide spoke only japanese but she was really nice. In bus there was english audiotape to inform about the route and sightseeings. All entry fees were included in the tour price.
Tour voucher said a light meal would include the tour but we only got a biscuit and ice cream and we needed to pay a proper lunch.
All other stops were nice except the pineapple farm was quite a disappointment. Only good thing there was pineapple wine and juice tastings.
All in all the trip was not bad but not really good either. It was nice way to spent a day. But I'd recommed to rent a car and drive the route on your own. But if you don't have a chance to rent a car this tour is good way to see the island because public transport is not that easy in Okinawa.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2020/02/24 |
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Fun Tour with Great Activities but maybe better Planning would be Nice
Reviewed by: Nathan, 2019/12/30The tour was really fun with a lot of great places to visit and see along the way. I especially loved the aquarium but would’ve appreciated some more time there since it’s the biggest one out of all of the tourist attraction points. The bus tour guide was very friendly and they were also very patient as to wait for everybody to come back before departing.
I really enjoyed the places that we went to but didn’t realize that they took so much time to enjoy and walk through. Especially if you want to go and shop after the activity there wasn’t much time to shop at all. They did mention the big market as an alternative but it can be quite hard to find things you would at the attraction.
I think they could’ve been more accurate with the description of the bus as it said “blue bus with an aquarium logo” but what showed up was a beige bus with a orange and green stripe through the middle so me and other tour goers actually couldn’t find it for 20+ minutes.
If you’re looking for a fast paced tour to see a lot of things then this is probably the tour for you. But I was kind of hoping for more time to shop and be able to actually read the information about things.
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2019/12/27 |
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Disappointed.
Reviewed by: Laura, 2019/12/27We were given the option to pre-order Okinawan soba on the bus ahead of the stop at Okashi Goten. We chose not to order as we wanted to look at other options. When we arrived, the pre-ordered food was ready on the tables. We only had 35 minutes at this stop and as the restaurant was busy we didn’t risk ordering food.
Churaumi Aquarium is lovely and you could easily spend a full day there. I recommend checking the times for the planetarium as we were sad to miss this!
I was most excited for Pineapple Park and had assumed that despite the pineapple cart ticket not being included in the tour, we would still have the opportunity to do it out of our own pocket. This is not the case. Instead we were given a ticket for the “shopping route” which meant we didn’t see ANY of the park and instead spent the 30 minutes walking through a big long gift shop. There was free wine samples but I could’ve done with a full glass after this long day.
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2019/12/27 |
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A long way to the aquarium.. and too short time there
Reviewed by: Magokoro, 2019/06/21I booked this tour because of the promised visit to the butterfly farm and Churaumi aquarium. But on the tour I’ve realized that it doesn’t include butterfly farm since April 2019 even though it is still in the program.. We stopped in a few shops for tourists (including pineapple farm that suits kids) till we got to the aquarium after 4.5 hours on the road (direct driving on highway from Naha takes about an hour to there). In aquarium we were given 3 hours but I needed 4-5 hours to see other facilities as well. The place is huge and 3 hours would be enough only to see the aquarium.
On the way back we stopped again in the place selling local sweets for tourists, when most of these sweets can be found at the airport so it was waste of time again.. we were only 6 people on a cloudy day of the rainy season so I returned to Naha at 6 p.m (last drop off) but I can imagine that the way back can take 2 hours more just for dropping off every participant in different locations..
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| Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
| Activity Date: | 2019/06/19 |
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Lack of English translation
Reviewed by: KO YOUN CHANG, 2019/03/05Lack of English translation. Hotel pick up is time-consuming.
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2019/02/28 |
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It was ok
Reviewed by: Pedro, 2017/12/02Good value for money but the guides spoke no english so that was weird.
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| Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
| Activity Date: | 2017/11/29 |
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Not too bad
Reviewed by: Brenda, 2016/11/24We had three hours to spend at the aquarium but will be good if the hours can be extended. However we managed to enjoy the dolphin show at 230pm (but then quickly ran to chase the bus afterwards. Bus departs at 3pm). The recommended time to watch the dolphin show is at 130pm.
When you walk in to the entrance of the aquarium, you can get your photo captured for free (only for the small-sized photo but good enough to serve as memory. If you wish to buy an enlarged photo, then you will have to purchase it). Just be prepared to queue up.
We seem to enjoy the Pineapple Park more than Butterfly Farm (lunch is no good :(
Last but not least, we had a very polite Japanese tour guide. however English may be difficult to understand for her. Audio guide is provided but would be perfect if the tour guide can speak English so that we can have more interaction.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2016/11/18 |
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A bit disappointed
Reviewed by: Yann, 2016/03/28The tour was a bit of a rush.
For the butterflies, we had to eat our Okinawa Soba very fast to get some time to enjoy them. No guide or signs to guide you, it was hard to know where to go.
The Aquarium was really nice, there was enough time to enjoy it.
The Pineapple Park visit was really disappointing : we had a 5 minutes tour in Japanese to end up in the park's shop. We saw basically nothing of the park, the point here was to buy stuff.
The Ryukyu Mura was a bit more interesting, but the point here was also to buy things (Okinawa Glass).
The tour is really made and thought for Japanese tourists, a pamphlet in English explaining in detail the program would have been nice and helpful, as well as a guide who could speak a bit of English.
This tour is useful to go to the Aquarium, but aside from that, not interesting at all for non-Japanese speaking tourists.
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2015/07/09 |
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