Free entry and free parking, a beach for local residents
Entry and parking are free. The water is not the clearest, but you can barbecue in the substantial beachside shelters, and play beach volleyball, beach football and other sports on the sand.
The barbecue pavilions are magnificently built. The eaves are generous, so you can enjoy yourself without worrying about the rain. The pavilions are also well spaced, so you can make as much noise as you like without troubling the group next door.
On the beach that is not the swimming area there are proper beach volleyball and beach football courts. At ¥540 an hour including the ball, they are good value.
At Nishihara Kirakira Beach both parking and entry are free — welcome news for families.
Nishihara Kirakira Beach has a lawn that can be booked for exclusive use, which would suit a group doing sport or recreation. It is called the Light Sports Ground and costs ¥2,160 an hour. You can book through the official website.
The left-hand side as you face the sea from the beach. The sand is reasonably broad and does not feel cramped.
A photograph of the beach straight ahead. The breakwater on the right of the photograph can be walked along.
Further to the right of this photograph, beyond the breakwater, is the beach with the beach volleyball and football courts.
The clarity at Nishihara Kirakira Beach is among the lowest of any beach in Okinawa. The water is cloudy and a good deal of seaweed floats in it. I take the causes to be the small grains of sand, which are easily stirred up, and the breakwaters that firmly enclose the swimming area, which leave the water little exchanged. The gradation of the sea is barely visible either.
On the green beside the beach there are plenty of pavilions and patches of tree shade with a view of the sea. If you want shade closer to the sand — while swimming, say — you can hire a beach parasol for ¥540 a day. The table with a parasol seen in the photograph of the size of the beach (left) can also be taken for ¥2,160 a day.
The swimming area is more than 100 m long and amply wide, so it feels spacious. The depth felt a little shallow for adults.
Nishihara Kirakira Beach is well equipped for swimmers — toilets, showers, changing rooms, coin lockers and a foot rinse are all there. The showers are cold, at ¥300 for five minutes, and the coin lockers are ¥300. Parking and entry are free, so each of those is ¥100 more than at the other beaches in the south.
The menu of water sports and marine activities. The banana boat and the super marble must be the cheapest in the prefecture. Compared with Chura SUN Beach and Bibi Beach in the same southern region, the banana boat is ¥620 cheaper and the marble ¥660 cheaper.
The hire menu. It is not on the sign, but there is also a pump for inflatable rings, for a fee — ¥100 for one large ring, or ¥100 for three small ones.
The parlour and the shop from outside, with their menus. The parlour's menu is mostly light meals. The shop stocked what you need for a barbecue (salt and pepper, kitchen paper, ice, beer and so on) and what you need for the sea (swimming costumes, swimming goggles, island sandals, swim nappies and so on). * The photograph can be enlarged.
As written among the things to recommend, the barbecue pavilions at Nishihara Kirakira Beach are superbly built. You can book through the official website. You may not bring your own equipment or food. Camping is not allowed at Nishihara Kirakira Beach.
The facilities for swimmers are good, but the water in the swimming area is cloudy, and the view from the beach, with its breakwaters and other man-made structures, is not much. It does not suit anyone hoping for a tropical beach.
We do not run beach yoga at Nishihara Kirakira Beach. The nearest beach where we do is Senaga West Beach — about 25 minutes by car for a morning session, or about 30 minutes for a sunset session.
In Japanese (for maps, taxis and car navigation): 西原きらきらビーチ 沖縄県中頭郡西原町東崎１７
Beach yoga in Okinawa runs at 8 beaches on the main island and Ishigaki, at the loveliest hours of morning and evening. First-timers and solo travellers are very welcome.