CONTRIBUTED BY MARY RICHARDSON

IMG_4907

 Bios on the Hill is a forest and nature park located near Onna Village.  I especially recommend it for children, but last weekend my husband and I went as a childless couple and we had a fabulous time.

 There is a huge array of things to do and see. At the entrance, they give you a map of the park, which is Japanese, but it’s easy to figure out and plan your time there. Some of the main attractions include:

Water buffalo cart rides

IMG_4847

Lily ponds

 IMG_4910

Stilts – Everyone except for me seemed to be able to balance on them.

IMG_4864

Goats and pigs with leashes so you can take them for a walk!

IMG_4935

  A Giant Swing—we had to wait while four Japanese grown men got their fill of this!

IMG_4913

Lots of butterflies! Amazingly, this butterfly perched itself on my finger and let me carry him around for a long time.

IMG_4895

In addition, there are exotic plants and orchids to view and buy, slides and treehouses, canoe and standing kayaks (for an extra charge; quite expensive), and these dragons to cool you down during the steamy Okinawan summer… they spray a heavenly cool mist every hour or so.

 IMG_4844

We also paid extra (~600 yen/ person) for a 25- minute boat ride of a small riverbank. It was a nice break from the heat and we saw some neat things, but the entire tour was in Japanese, so most of the interesting commentary was completely lost on us! When you purchase your entrance tickets to the park, you can buy or opt out of this ride.  

Bios also has several restaurants and snack shops selling sandwiches, rice balls, fruit drinks, etc. It looked like you could also pack a lunch from home and have a picnic if you wanted.

We had so much fun this day that we made a video travelogue of it. You’re welcome to check it out!

Bios on the Hill

Cost: Adults: 690Y entrance only/1,200y entrance and boat ride. Children 4 yrs to high school: 350Y entrance only/700Y entrance and boat ride. There is a discount for groups of 20 or more.

Hours: 0900-1800 (last entrance is 1700)

Phone: 098-965-3400

Address: Japan, Okinawa Prefecture, Uruma, Ishikawa Kadekaru, ９６１

GPS Coordinates: 26.4223169689, 127.795901907

Directions:

Take the expressway north to Exit 6. Go to the second light and turn right (onto 329) Go through the tunnel and turn right at the light just after the tunnel. (there is a green & yellow sign that says Bios on it on the corner) This is the 6. Go a little ways and you will see a sign for the Royal Garden Hotel. Turn left here. Go up the hill on a very curvy road until you see another green & yellow sign with Bios written at the top. Turn left at that sign. You will follow a very curvy narrow road a little ways and dead end into the parking lot.
From Kadena: Turn right out Kadena gate 1. Just after the Renessiance Hotel you will see a sign for the 6. (this is the 6 that will turn to the right. You will pass three roads that say 6 to your left.) Turn RIGHT onto the 6. Go straight (don’t turn off this road even if it says the 6 goes a different way) You will see a sign for the Royal Garden Hotel. Turn right at that sign. Go until you see a green & yellow sign with Bios written at the top and turn left. If you get to the hotel, you missed it. Go back down the hill.

18 COMMENTS

  1. My husband, 9 month old daughter and I went to Bios yesterday, we followed the directions provided above by Analicia and we found it easily! We had a blast at Bios, I highly recommend it. Make sure to go on a sunny day to fully enjoy all the outdoors activities. The boat ride is fun and beautiful. You can also buy a ticket to take a ride on the cart pulled by the water buffalo, we chose to do this and it was definitely a unique experience! Our tour guide had me get off the cart and ‘walk’ the water buffalo with a leash which was something I never thought I would do haha. The flowers were worth the trip themselves, you feel like you are walking around a tropical garden.

  2. We took a trip to Bios on the hill today and took the 58 route. It is the 3rd light past Renaissance Resort and the sign from 58 shows 58 going straight veering right and then going right. You turn right here, like I said the sign says 58 but once you get on the road it says 6. Also the Royal Garden sign is a little covered by trees. There is another sign on top of the Royal Garden one that is green and it said something under kanji like Golf Country Club. Once I figured out where to turn and whatnot it’s right off 58 and very easy to get to.

  3. Easier way to go, if you are coming from Kadena, go straight out Gate 3 onto the 26. Once you get to the 329 take a left. Follow it for a WHILE. Eventually you’ll see a golf range on your left (tall green mesh). The next light you’ll see a yellow house on the corner on the left. Take a left at that light. KEEP GOING. It will take you about 10min to get there, but this road is the road Bios is on. Instead of turning left into Bios you’ll turn right. (you’ll pass the Royal Garden Hotel on your right *big empty building* before starting to go downhill towards Bios. Here’s a map: http://g.co/maps/7kpvu

  4. It is considered the same Route 6, but no, you do not take 58 then turn left onto Route 6 like you would going to the front gate of Torii. Look at the directions posted by “Robin” above. She says to take 58 North to the Route 6 to the RIGHT not left. This will be past the Route 6 to the left that takes you to Torii. Notice that she says that after you take the Route 6 to the RIGHT, stay on that road until you see the sign for the Royal Garden Hotel even if the road signs tell you that 6 is a different way. Confusing, I know, but her directions are accurate. Hope you find it!

  7. I took my boys there today and they loved it! There was a really neat playground goats to pet. It was very hot and luckily there was an old time water pump where they could pump out water and play with wood water guns. I think that was the most fun for them. We did the boat ride which was fun, but as noted above it was all in Japanese. One note, I took sunscreen, but if you go in the summer, take lots of bug spray. We got eaten by mosquitoes pretty good. As for the directions I called MCCS tours and got wonderful directions b/c I could not understand any of the above since we are new to the island. Also came home on the 58 which was really easy. Here’s what they told me. Get off the expressway on Exit 6. Go to the second light and turn right (onto 329) Go through the tunnel and turn right at the light just after the tunnel. (there is a green & yellow sign that says Bios on it on the corner) This is the 6. Go a little ways and you will see a sign for the Royal Garden Hotel. Turn left here. Go up the hill on a very curvy road until you see another green & yellow sign with Bios written at the top. Turn left at that sign. You will follow a very curvy narrow road a little ways and dead end into the parking lot.
    For a little faster route from Kadena: Turn right out Kadena gate 1. Just after the Renessiance Hotel you will see a sign for the 6. (this is the 6 that will turn to the right. You will pass three roads that say 6 to your left.) Turn RIGHT onto the 6. Go straight (don’t turn off this road even if it says the 6 goes a different way) You will see a sign for the Royal Garden Hotel. Turn right at that sign. Go until you see a green & yellow sign with Bios written at the top and turn left.
    If you get to the hotel, you missed it. Go back down the hill.
    Hopefully this will help more people want to visit this wonderful place. I followed those directions and drove straight to it. We went on a Friday and it was not crowded at all. We didn’t wait in line for the boat ride or the cart ride.

  9. I totally agree..we were lost for 1.5 hours it was ridiculious..

    if you take the 329 bypass going towards hansen, take the 6..going left..and then follow that until you see the signs for Royal Garden Hotel..make that left..and follow that road until you see the signs for Bios on the Hill..you can’t miss it…

    if you live by Ctny or Mc. T it’s about 20 minutes from that area.

    We had a great time once we got there..

  10. Yes, please follow the directions others have provided. We followed the above directions and got completely lost! Basically, you get on the 329 and go north on the 6. Then, turn where the Royal Garden Hotel sign is. Bios is at the top where there are tons of red arrows pointing you to the left. There are a few arrows on the way, but wait until you get to the point where it is clearly obvious that you should turn to the left.

  11. I hope you don’t mind, but I had a really hard time with directions so I thought I might clarify them for someone who needs th help?

    When you exit the expressway go straight til the T-intersection and make a right onto 329. Then you’ll go through a tunnel, but there’s no T-intersection!! You come up on Route 6. Make a right onto Route 6. The signs are really hard to see, so instead turn Left at the Royal Garden Hotel Sign. Keep going and you’ll see the signs from Bios from there easily.

    You can also exit Kadena Gate 3, go straight to 329. Make a left onto 329 and then a left onto 6. Again, turn left at the Royal Garden Hotel sign and then follow the Bios signs.

    Hope this helps some 🙂 We spent about 20 minutes driving around confused.

  12. If you can’t get enough of the beautiful orchids as you walk throughout the Bios, you can buy them too! There is the souvenier/orchid shop to the right of the entrance..you can go either as you are coming or exiting the Bios..

  14. Great to see this post- my son’s class took a field trip to Bios and I felt like sharing it w/ everyone too 🙂 . There were nice walking paths/trails to go on for the nature lover, with hammocks scattered throughout the park to take a little snooze! Loved those swings (they sure were big-definately made you feel like a little kid again) and the open field where you mentioned feeding the goats had the wooden play park/fort/teeter-totters. That was unique and loads of fun for kids (of all ages) or without. Did I mention there were hula hoops too if you just wanted to shake your thing :)they were there along with the stilts and other simple gadgets to play with or to purchase. We were lucky to have one of the parents who was Japanese translate for us on the riverboat ride~by the way a few things we learned during the ride were that some unique red dragon flies that fly around the river distinctly only stay in that area. There was also something about the water buffalo that were on the Bios are the only ones on island w/ the exception of two that are located somewhere else on island. There was also a tree/bush that was pointed to that was deadly (good to know). The snack shop was a cool treat with icecream and sno-cones..the lunch sets looked like they would by yummy too-but definately lots of picnicing area. You really have to visit this place if you haven’t. I couldn’t believe it was basically in our backyard~ esp. if you are coming from Kadena..take 329 (toward Ishikawa)- make the L on hwy 6 and follow up the hill till you see Bio’s on the Left..

  15. Thanks for posting this information. I was just looking on here a couple of days ago to see if anyone had done a post on it yet and didn’t find anything; so it was nice to come on here this morning and see that it was posted. I’ll have to go check it out, and it’s good to know that you can have fun there even if you don’t have children. Thanks!