Miyako Islands Travel Video Guide

Miyako Islands Travel Itinerary

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There's a gap of nearly 300km between Okinawa-Honto and the eight MIYAKO ISLANDS centred around Miyako-jima , the largest and most interesting of the group. In late April, you'll find Miyako swarming with athletes competing in the All-Japan Triathlon, a combination of swimming, cycling and running, and in July the Miyako Matsuri, the island's main festival, runs for three days, but otherwise the prime attractions are pretty coastal scenery, quiet beaches and watersports.

Anyone afraid of snakes will be glad to hear that the Miyako islands are the only ones in Okinawa free from habu - the snakes were all wiped out in prehistoric times when the oceans engulfed the low-lying land. Having said all this, Miyako-jima - too big and flat to have the desert-island intimacy of Zamami-jima, not quite as exotic or picturesque as Taketomi-jima and Iriomote-jima further south in the Yaeyamas - is something of an also-ran in the Okinawan island stakes.

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