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Narrow down your accommodation by how you will return after dinner and which direction you will travel the next morning. Decide whether you will have a car and which airport you will use, then balance time exploring the islands with time at your accommodation.
Yonaha Maehama and Kurima Bridge in the Shimoji district.
“Yonaha Beach” — Raita Futo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 (resized and converted to WebP) · Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 GenericCentral Hirara is an option if you want to walk to restaurants. For a seaside stay, assess whether you can eat dinner and buy what you need near your accommodation, as well as whether an airport transfer is available.
If you will go out each day, compare the journeys to and from the areas you want to visit. If you will spend time at the beach or hotel, prioritize the route to the sea and places to eat, and limit the number of days spent travelling farther afield.
Miyako Airport is on Miyakojima itself. Shimojishima Airport is on Shimojishima, next to Irabu Island. Use the airport name on your ticket when arranging accommodation and car rental, and plan your arrival and departure journeys accordingly.
Distances from accommodation to shops and bus stops vary within each area. Start with the car-free information, then compare dinner, shopping and airport travel for the same area.
For a late arrival, include collecting your car and having dinner in the journey to your accommodation. Arriving at Miyako Airport for a stay in the south involves different roads and rental offices from arriving at Shimojishima Airport for a stay on Irabu.
For an early flight, add refuelling, car return and check-in time to the journey from your accommodation. Bridges and roads may be restricted during typhoons or strong winds. For a journey involving a bridge, check traffic information from the previous day and decide accordingly.
Consecutive nights avoid repeated packing, luggage transfers and check-in, leaving your full day for sightseeing or the beach. Split the stay if changing hotels serves a purpose, such as dining in town on the first evening and staying by the sea the next. On the moving day, include luggage storage and what to do before room access in your itinerary.
Check travel from the two airports, outward and return bus times, and road and bridge restrictions.
Once you have chosen your accommodation area, group destinations by direction on each day.
These examples illustrate dining in town, staying at Yonaha Maehama, spending time at a south-coast resort and exploring Irabu Island. Their order is not a ranking.
On the seaward side of central Hirara. You can plan to explore the islands during the day and return to town for dinner.
Beside Yonaha Maehama. Consider separate days for the beach and hotel, and for outings to places such as Kurima Island.
Within the resort in Ueno Miyaguni. You can plan a stay centred on time at the hotel and within the resort.
Overlooking Sawada no Hama. Combine days exploring Irabu and Shimojishima with time at the hotel.
Provide the airport name, flight number and arrival time shown on your ticket. Check which airport the transfer serves, the booking deadline, operating hours and conditions for luggage and child seats.
Read your selected rate plan for room-access time, the latest check-in, and luggage storage for early arrivals or a split stay. Keep the contact details for notifying the accommodation of a delay.
Match the collection and return offices against your booking voucher. Check hotel parking charges, whether a reservation is needed and vehicle-height limits. Include refuelling and car-return time in the itinerary.
Check breakfast and dinner inclusion, dinner reservations and opening hours against the rate plan you selected. On days when you eat out, decide how you will travel in both directions.
Check each property's age and occupancy limits for sharing existing bedding, bedding provision, meal charges, and age rules for facilities such as pools. Tell the property how many beds you need when booking.
Read the hotel's operating notices for closures or renovation works overlapping your stay, and for pool or restaurant closures.
Read when cancellation charges begin, the treatment of cancelled flights and the conditions for shortening a multi-night stay. Keep the flight and accommodation cancellation terms separately.
The night from 31 January to 1 February is not subject to the tax. Eligible stays from 1 February are taxable even if booked before the tax begins.
Take the accommodation charge per person per night excluding meals, consumption tax and similar charges, round it down to the nearest ¥1,000, and calculate the combined 2% tax: 1.2% city tax and 0.8% prefectural tax.
The tax applies to paid accommodation within Miyakojima City. Consecutive and long-term stays under an accommodation contract are also taxed according to the number of nights.
Children are subject to the tax if an accommodation charge is incurred. A free stay, such as sharing existing bedding without adding bedding, is outside its scope when no accommodation charge is incurred.
Exemptions apply to school educational activities such as school trips, excluding universities, and to some competition participation by schoolchildren. Check the city's guidance for eligible schools, activities and accompanying supervisors, and submit certificates or other required documents to the accommodation by check-in.
The tax is paid at the accommodation. It may already be included in a payment to a booking website or travel agency, so check how it is treated in your booking breakdown.
Accommodation within walking distance of restaurants in central Hirara is an option. Even within Hirara, west-coast hotels have different distances, so choose by the route from your accommodation to dinner.
The Shimoji district is in southwestern Miyakojima, while Shimojishima Airport is on Shimojishima beside Irabu Island. They are different places; travelling from the airport to the Shimoji district involves crossing Irabu Bridge.
Start by considering consecutive nights at one hotel. Choose a split stay when you have a reason to change how you spend your time, such as a night in town and a night by the sea, and allow for moving your luggage.
A sea view does not necessarily mean access to a beach open for swimming. Check the hotel's directions, swimming areas and opening periods, and follow the sea conditions on the day.
