Araha Beach

Araha is the gentle, green city beach of Chatan, and it is honest to praise it for that rather than pretend it is wild. A short walk up the coast from the livelier sand at Sunset, it runs about six hundred metres of clean pale sand backed by Araha Park, a long strip of grass, walkway and shade that locals jog, cycle and walk their dogs along all day. The swim sits inside a netted, lifeguarded enclosure that keeps out the occasional jellyfish, calm and clear enough for a child's first paddle, and a full size pirate ship called the Indian Oak anchors the playground behind.

The honest catch is the same as any mainland city beach. This is brought in sand on an engineered shore, not a living coast, so there is no reef to snorkel and no quiet cove to find, and on a summer weekend the park and its picnic tables fill with families and parties. None of that is a fault, it is simply what Araha is, one of the best run easy beaches near the central resort strip, made for calm swims and lazy afternoons rather than wild nature. A naturalist will enjoy the green walkway and the birds along it, but will look elsewhere for reef.

So treat Araha as the easy day it is, a netted swim, a long walk or run in the park, a pirate ship for the children and a kiosk never far away, with the shops of American Village close by. Keep to the enclosure, follow the lifeguards and pack out what you bring. Then, when you want the real Okinawan sea, head north to the natural coast at Motobu or take a ferry to the Kerama islands, where the clear reef and turtles live that a city park beach can only point you toward.