Hotel Noah

“No frills, budget friendly, conveniently located,safe, helpful staff and clean rooms.”

If you find yourself in Okinawa in the Ginowan area which is located near the convention center, you may want to check out this businessman's hotel. It simply means that this is a no frills hotel...no swimming pool, no bar, no dining room, no exercise room...nothing but a tiny air conditioned room… more

If you find yourself in Okinawa in the Ginowan area which is located near the convention center, you may want to check out this businessman's hotel. It simply means that this is a no frills hotel...no swimming pool, no bar, no dining room, no exercise room...nothing but a tiny air conditioned room with very clean bathroom. It is a typical Japanese business hotel which is located next to the very new and modern shopping mall called Convention City. It is so new that even local cab drivers may take you mistakenly to the nearby Convention Center. The mall is a five minute walk away and boasts the only Tokyo Hands store in Okinawa. It also has a food court and large market. The mall is conveniently open from 9:00 AM to 12:00 midnight. There is an information booth in the middle of the mall, but you will be hard pressed to find anyone speaking a language other than Japanese. Even at Hotel Noah, you will need to use a translator to help you because it was almost impossible to converse with anyone in English. I have rudimentary Japanese, but it was still challenging, but the staff is so helpful that they will try their best. While it is billed as a businessman's hotel, it caters to scuba divers and they take divers out daily. I must say that the waters surrounding Okinawa and Miyako Jima island are some of the clearest that I've seen anywhere. The mall also has a "green" colored ATM that will allow foreigners to get Japanese Yen. Also, the gals at the information booth a extremely helpful even for things like getting a bus into Naha...45-60 minute ride. Taxi cabs are plentiful. They're metered and the drivers are honest and courteous. I would suggest that you have your intended destinations written in large and clear Japanese characters. Many drivers are older and several times they were unable to read the print of the Hotel's brochure. The hotel clerks will call a cab for you. It will arrive in front the hotel within 3 minutes. Best time to visit is January, February and March. I was here in September and no one was outside because it was too hot, too humid...much like Savannah, Georgia in the summer. During this time of the year (March) International Street was jammed with Japanese visitors. It was short sleeve weather with a light breeze. Rates are around $50-60 for a single room with a very simple breakfast of toast, rolls, coffee, juice and a huge vegetable salad. Yes, you read correctly. They will serve a fresh salad every morning. Room service comes 1x/week. Do not expect any more than basic service, but very clean bathrooms and rooms with a friendly staff who may not speak other languages, a safe and convenient location if this is the area you need to visit and you will not be disappointed.

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“good value but with some caveats”

We stayed here for three nights while visiting Okinawa. It is a good value but with some caveats. The rooms are clean and modern and the staff is friendly. The free breakfast was very welcome and, while simple, was typical by Japanese standards, consisting of various breads, juices, and salad. The … more

We stayed here for three nights while visiting Okinawa. It is a good value but with some caveats. The rooms are clean and modern and the staff is friendly. The free breakfast was very welcome and, while simple, was typical by Japanese standards, consisting of various breads, juices, and salad. The hotel is in a fairly nondescript part of the island with not much in the surrounding area but is centrally located and quiet if that's what you're looking for. The hotel is also affiliated with a dive shop run from the same building, convenient if you're doing any diving around the island. We did not make use of those services so we cant vouch for them however. Make no mistake though, this is a budget hotel. The rooms have little in the way of soundproofing and we could very clearly hear footfalls, drawers opening and closing, and people talking above us, enough to wake us up. With a fair number of guests in the hotel heading out for early morning dive excursions, we found ourselves woken up at very early hours in the morning each night we were there. The hotel's adjacent parking lot is also very small, consisting of just four spaces. There is a shared dirt lot across the street but that also filled up quickly while we were there. Fortunately we weren't ever not able to find parking but I imagine that could be an issue during high season. Also, there is only free wired internet access available but to be fair that's typical of lower-priced hotels in Japan. There seemed to be wifi available via Softmap but you need to be a subscriber (unlikely for most travelers unless you live in Japan). All in all, there are both positive and negative aspects to the hotel. It offers good value for the price but with some caveats.

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