Beach Hotels in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

Grand Mercure Okinawa Zanpa Beach truly impressed us with its spacious, comfortable rooms and stunning ocean views. The well-equipped swimming pool and other facilities make it an ideal choice for family trips. The friendly and attentive staff further enhanced our stay, making it a thoroughly satisfying experience.

The ultimate choice in Okinawa! Stunning beach, caves, and perfect family vibe Our second room was just as wonderful. If you are looking to stay on the main island of Okinawa without taking extra flights to outer islands like Ishigaki, this is hands down the best hotel for a family vacation with kids. What we absolutely loved: * Stunning beach and nature: The beach is perfect and super safe for children. There is an incredibly beautiful, winding path along the shore. The rocky coastline, scenic caves, and lush tropical plants make walking around a magical experience. * A winning hotel chain: We highly recommend combining your trip with their sister property. If you do travel to Ishigaki, stay at ANA InterContinental Ishigaki Resort—it is easily one of the finest hotels on that island. Both resorts represent the absolute top tier of hospitality. * Flawless service despite flight issues: Our only complaint about the entire trip goes to ANA Airlines, as our return flight to Tokyo was delayed by 8 hours, which was quite exhausting. However, this is strictly an airline issue. It has nothing to do with the hotels themselves and their wonderful, dedicated staff who did an impeccable job. The local Okinawans at the resort are the sweetest and most welcoming people. Between the brilliant service, incredible nature, and great facilities, this was a dream vacation!

I would say it's quite an old hotel but rooms were big. We had a corner room with it's own kitchenette, a sofa area with tv and 2 single beds. We initially wanted to combine the bed as we have a toddler with us but it wasn't a viable option as the bed frames were built attached to the wall. Room is rather dirty even though we requested for room cleaning, I could feel the floor abit dusty and sticky. The bathroom curtains were also cold and had mould at the bottom (the part that's most often in touch with water).

The hotel is located in the city center, right next to a sports stadium. The elevated highway nearby can be a bit noisy due to heavy traffic. The hotel has its own parking, but the fee is a bit expensive at 1500 JPY per day. Overall, it offers medium value for money.

The structure of the hotel is old, but the rooms have been updated and were very comfortable and new. I absolutely loved the retro charm of the place and the common areas such as the atrium pool and inside courtyard area were beautiful spaces. What the marketing doesn’t show is the vast open spaces at this hotel, the stunning landscaped gardens and the art-spaces such as artist in residence and exhibition space. I was blown away by this and enjoy a fantastic painting workshop with the artist who focuses on the local flora and fauna of Okinawa. The best point about this hotel is the staff. They are all incredibly lovely. Lisa and another lady name starting with H on front desk especially were so amazing, very helpful! One night there was an error with our dinner and the chef personally came to apologise. He replaced our meal with a local menu which was incredible and after eating he said the bill was on him as a gesture of apology. I was truly touched by this gesture of kindness. Areas for improvement: the kitchen being closed outside of designated times. If you want food at 10am for example, no chance. Also nowhere to buy drinks near the pool and beach. Food options are not great and the buffet is really mediocre. Also, I would expect their approach to sustainability to be better on an island like this. There is an overuse of plastic, especially single use such as straws and each tiny piece of cake at the buffet being individually wrapped. Really no need for that. I do worry where all this plastic is going. Beach is smaller than it looks. Can’t swim, very shallow full of seaweed and dead coral. Very quiet. Very strict lifeguard: no throwing a ball, no jumping, splashing, laughing it seems. We were using an empty bottle to collect water and build a sandcastle -he removed it. No standing on inflatables. No swimming outside of the fenced off area. From what I’ve seen this is an island-wide thing though, not limited to here. Local area: really not much to see and do outside of the hotel.

Contrary to my expectations from the photos, the hotel turned out to be a disappointment. First of all, the information on Trip.com does not match reality. The site stated check-in from 2:00 and check-out until 11:00. In fact, check-in is from 3:00 and check-out is by 10:00. The staff gave no explanation for this discrepancy. Secondly, the site confirmed a room in the new building. However, I was placed in the old building, which, judging by the exterior, looks like it was built in the 19th century. The room matched the condition of the building. All the furniture was very old and worn out, some even with mold. The view and access from the window was onto a shared balcony, which meant that to maintain privacy I had to keep the curtains closed at all times. The noise isolation was terrible — neighbors were loud from 7 AM to 11 PM, making it impossible to sleep. Speaking of the beds, the mattress was extremely hard and the pillows were stiff and uncomfortable. As for breakfast: not only was it limited to 7–9 AM, but the website had advertised a buffet with both European and Japanese options. Upon arrival, it turned out that there were no European options at all, only a fixed Japanese set meal. The only good thing was that at least coffee was available. The hotel has no beach, despite being close to the sea. There is only access to a rocky embankment, where swimming is unsafe. I used the coin laundry service, paying 300 yen just for my clothes to be rinsed in water. There was no detergent provided, nor was it sold at the hotel — I had to go out and buy it separately. The dryer only partially dried the clothes, so I had to finish drying them in the room. If you plan to come by car, keep in mind that there is no lighting in the surrounding area, so driving in such darkness doesn’t feel very safe. Overall, if you are looking for a proper rest and relaxation, I cannot recommend this hotel at all.

I requested a high-floor room in advance, but the front desk said I'd have to pay extra, which is a bit much. The BBQ dinner buffet was good, and the seafood paella for breakfast was also nice.

The room was spacious and comfortable, though the pillows weren't the best. The hotel staff were all very good, but there seemed to be too few of them. When we checked out early, everyone was busy in the restaurant, and the front desk was unattended. It took us a while to find someone, even though we had already provided our departure and check-out times during check-in. The hotel has a great variety of recreational facilities, including multiple pools, snorkeling and diving excursions, as well as SUP and kayaks available by the shore. There's also a golf course. Dining at the hotel was convenient, and there's also an excellent certified Ishigaki beef restaurant nearby, plus a good Tri-Mountain ramen place.

Traveling as a family of four, we didn't specifically request extra beds, but we were pleasantly surprised upon entering the room – the hotel proactively arranged four beds for us. The sea view room was absolutely beautiful. The hotel pool is great for kids, very fun, with changing rooms, towels, and outdoor slippers provided, which was very thoughtful. We ate at the hotel's Japanese restaurant in the evening; the food was decent, but a bit pricey. It's also very convenient to walk from the hotel to restaurants on the main street. Definitely worth staying.

The overall hotel experience exceeded my expectations! The hotel environment was absolutely stunning, with both public areas and guest rooms impeccably clean. The staff provided meticulous and thoughtful service. Coincidentally, a typhoon passed through these two days, so staying at the hotel felt incredibly safe and comfortable. The hotel's various meals were outstanding, allowing us to savor authentic island cuisine without even leaving the premises. My sincere thanks go to all the staff for their attentive care and dedicated service. Although our trip encountered a typhoon, we were wonderfully taken care of by the hotel's warmth. Highly recommend!