Naha Airport to Your Hotel: Monorail, Bus, Taxi or Rental Car

Which way out fits your hotel

This is our own summary of the options in this guide. The bus and monorail fares are as of October 2026, official site; the taxi figures are the airport's own estimates, explained in the taxi section below. Dollar figures use ¥157.81 per $1 (as of October 2, 2026, Federal Reserve).

For more on choosing an area, see Where to Stay in Okinawa.

Yui Rail monorail: the easy way into Naha

Yui Rail is an elevated monorail through Naha. It starts at Naha Airport Station, which you reach from the airport's 2nd floor by a walkway. The line runs 19 stations to Tedako-Uranishi in Urasoe, about 37 minutes from the airport, and fares run from ¥250 to ¥390 for adults. To Prefectural Office Station, near one end of Kokusai-dori, Naha's main shopping street, it's 13 minutes and ¥290 (about $1.80); to Makishi Station, near the other end, 16 minutes and ¥320 (all as of October 2026, official site).

about 11 minin all

¥290fare

Notransfers

1. StartNaha Airport Station
2. MonorailYui Railabout 11 min¥290
3. Get offAsahibashi Station

For reference only. Travel times depend on traffic, and routes and fares change. Check the operator's official site before you go (as of October 2026, official sites).

Asahibashi Station, shown above, is close to Naha Bus Terminal, where many of Okinawa's route buses start.

How to pay. Buy a QR ticket at the machines, or tap a Suica card. Yui Rail has taken Suica and the other nationwide IC cards, such as PASMO and ICOCA, since March 2020. A 1-day QR ticket costs ¥1,000 and a 2-day ticket ¥1,800; they last 24 and 48 hours from purchase, not until midnight (all as of October 2026, official site). Okinawa's own IC card, OKICA, is sold at the station machines too.

Yui Rail's site doesn't list luggage rules for suitcases, but these are city trains used by commuters. With big bags, the airport station, the first stop, is the easiest place to get on.

Buses: limousines to the resorts, route buses to Chatan and Onna

Bus stops are outside the 1st floor, grouped by area and numbered. Here's the short version for the stops in this guide:

• Stop 1: limousine and resort buses to central and northern Okinawa
• Stop 2: expressway buses to the north, including route 117
• Stop 5: route 120 to Chatan, the Onna coast and Nago (all as of October 2026, official site)

Airport limousine buses

Okinawa Bus runs airport limousine buses straight to major resort hotels in the middle and north of the island, without changes. The airport lists five lines:

• LIM-A: Ginowan and Chatan
• LIM-B: Yomitan
• LIM-C: Onna
• LIM-CD: Onna to Nago
• LIM-DE: Nago to Motobu

Okinawa Bus's own timetable page also runs a D line, from Onna to Nago, including The Ritz-Carlton, Okinawa. It says the DE line to Motobu is currently suspended, along with its AB and E lines (as of October 2026, Okinawa Bus official site). Check your hotel's stop on the operator's timetable; we don't print the times here because they change by season.

Route 120 to Chatan and Onna

Route 120 is an ordinary local bus that runs up the west coast from the airport to Nago, stopping in Chatan and along the Onna coast. It's slower than the limousine but needs no booking.

about 70 minin all

¥900fare

Notransfers

1. StartDomestic Passenger Terminal stop

   stop 5, 1st floor: go out of the domestic arrivals lobby; the stop is on the curb in front of it, toward the international terminal side

2. Bus 120Okinawa Bus / Ryukyu Bus Kotsu (joint)about 70 min¥900
   More about this ride

   About 55 to 80 minutes by the timetable, depending on the time of day and the route through Naha. The walk from the stop to the shops is not confirmed here.

3. Get offMihama American Village Iriguchi

For reference only. Travel times depend on traffic, and routes and fares change. Check the operator's official site before you go (as of October 2026, official sites).

about 120 minin all

¥1,710fare

Notransfers

1. StartDomestic Passenger Terminal stop

   stop 5, 1st floor: go out of the domestic arrivals lobby; the stop is on the curb in front of it, toward the international terminal side

2. Bus 120Okinawa Bus / Ryukyu Bus Kotsu (joint)about 120 min¥1,710
   More about this ride

   About 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours 20 minutes by the timetable. Route 120 also stops along the Onna coast at Renaissance Hotel-mae, Moon Beach-mae and Onna Village Office (Onna-son Yakuba-mae), so check the stop nearest your hotel.

3. Get offManza Beach-mae

For reference only. Travel times depend on traffic, and routes and fares change. Check the operator's official site before you go (as of October 2026, official sites).

Okinawa Airport Shuttle

A private bus company, the Okinawa Airport Shuttle, runs from the airport to stops along the Onna coast, including Halekulani Okinawa, and on to Motobu and the Churaumi Aquarium. Its timetable gives about 1 hour 15 minutes to Onna-no-eki and, on its rapid buses, about 1 hour 55 minutes to the aquarium. You can pay the driver by card, e-money, QR code or cash if there are free seats, or reserve online. Between October 15, 2026 and January 31, 2027, one departure from the airport is suspended (all as of October 2026, official site). Its fares are shown as images on its site, so we couldn't confirm them; check before you ride.

Route 117 to the Churaumi Aquarium

about 140 minin all

¥2,880fare

Notransfers

1. StartDomestic Passenger Terminal stop

   stop 2 (central and northern expressway buses), 1st floor; check the airport's bus stop map for its place

2. Bus 117 (expressway bus)Ryukyu Bus Kotsu / Okinawa Bus / Naha Bus / Toyo Bus (joint)about 140 min¥2,880
   More about this ride

   About 2 hours 10 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes by the timetable. Only some route 117 buses start at the airport, and none leave it in the late afternoon or evening, so check the operator's timetable before you plan on it. The bus continues to the Orion Hotel Motobu Resort & Spa stop.

3. Get offKinen-Koen-mae (Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium)

For reference only. Travel times depend on traffic, and routes and fares change. Check the operator's official site before you go (as of October 2026, official sites).

Route 117 is the only route-numbered bus in this guide that goes straight from the airport to the aquarium. Its timetable has no airport departures in the late afternoon or evening (as of October 2026, official site), so it won't work on the day you arrive on the afternoon flight from San Francisco. On the day you land, we couldn't find an airport bus that reaches Motobu in the late afternoon (as of October 2026, official sites). Rent a car, or spend the first night in Naha or Chatan.

Taxis

The taxi stands are outside the 1st floor, in separate lines by distance:

• Short and medium trips: Naha, Urasoe, Ginowan, Nishihara, Nakagusuku and the south
• Long trips: central and northern Okinawa
• Vans, and reserved or sightseeing taxis: stands of their own (all as of October 2026, official site)

The airport publishes estimated fares to some destinations, made with a fare-calculator site:

Picking up a rental car

You don't pick up rental cars at the terminal. The rental companies have offices outside the airport, and each runs its own shuttle bus from the rental car shuttle stops outside the 1st floor (as of October 2026, official site). Check your booking for the company's stop number.

As one company's example (we have no relationship with any rental company), Nippon Rent-A-Car's shuttle leaves from stop 11-A, across one crosswalk to the left of the domestic terminal's 1st-floor exit, and takes about 20 minutes to its Toyosaki office. The company warns that, with traffic, the trip between the office and the airport can take about an hour (as of October 2026, official site). Other companies use other stops and offices.

After a long flight, a two-hour drive north on unfamiliar roads is a lot. If your hotel is in Motobu, a first night in Naha or Chatan and a morning drive is one way around it.

Arriving on the afternoon flight from San Francisco

United's new nonstop from San Francisco, UA833, leaves SFO at 10:35 am and is scheduled to land in Naha at 3:50 pm the next day, after 13 hours 15 minutes in the air (as of October 2026, united.com flight search). Aviation Wire, a Japanese aviation news site, reported in August 2026 that it flies on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Times can still change before launch, so check your booking before you plan your transfer. It's an international flight, so you'll come out of the international arrivals exit on the 1st floor, after immigration and customs.

That leaves the afternoon and early evening for the trip to your hotel:

• Naha: the monorail is the simplest choice. If your flight is late, check the last train on Yui Rail's timetable.
• Chatan and Onna: bus 120 has airport departures into the evening (as of October 2026, official timetable). The limousine bus to Chatan makes its last airport run in the early afternoon, before this flight is due in, so for Chatan take bus 120 or a taxi. For Onna, some limousine buses still leave in the late afternoon; check the last departure to your hotel on the timetable and buy your ticket ahead (as of October 2026, Okinawa Bus official timetable from August 21, 2026).
• Motobu: we couldn't find an airport bus that reaches Motobu in the late afternoon (as of October 2026, official sites). Rent a car, or spend the first night in Naha or Chatan.

When to go

Okinawa is warm all year, but two seasons affect getting from the airport. The rainy season usually runs from around May 10 to around June 21, and typhoons come closest most often in August and September. When a typhoon approaches, buses and the monorail can stop at short notice, and flights can change. Follow the operator's official site, your airline and the Japan Meteorological Agency, not forecasts from other sources.

Official info

• Naha Airport: naha-airport.co.jp (bus guide and taxi estimates under Access)
• Yui Rail: yui-rail.co.jp
• Okinawa Bus (airport limousine and routes 117 and 120): okinawabus.com
• Okinawa Airport Shuttle: okinawa-shuttle.co.jp

Next:

• Pick your base with Where to Stay in Okinawa.
• See the flight details in our SFO–Naha nonstop guide.
• Plan the whole trip with the 5-day Okinawa itinerary from SFO.