Sanya, a coastal city located in the southern most of Hainan Island, is called “the oriental Hawaii" for the two have quite similar tropical climate and beautiful landscape. Sanya is a city with both sea view and mountain landscape and with spring all year round the trees are always green, water refreshingly clean, flowers bloom in every season, and the birds are found in nearly all rivers. It is a place to relax.

Where to go

Sanya has many scenic spots, including Tianyahaijiao, or the end of the earth park, Nanshan Cultural Park, Yalong Bay Tropical Forest at Paradise Park, Yalong Bay Rose Valley, Haitang Bay, Sanya Bay, Wuzhizhou island, Luhuitou Park and Fenghuang Mountain Park. If you want to visit all of these places, you have to stay at Sanya for at least a week. There are two places that you must go. The first is Yalong Bay Tropical Forest Paradise Park. It offers excellent opportunity to get intimate with nature. The other one is Betel Nut Park and Li and Miao Ethnic Village. Li and Miao are native people of Hainan island. The village provides a glimpse into their life.

Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park is known by lots of young couples because of the movie If You Are The One 2.Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park boasts a beautiful tropical forest landscape. The natural environment attracts more than 100 kinds of birds and 20 kinds of butterflies. I love this place so much not only for its fresh air and peaceful environment, but also because it offers a better view of Yalong Bay and Haitang Bay. [photo by Huang Yiming]

Sanya Tanka people were called 'gypsies on the water'. They used to live on boats their whole life and made living on fishing, with most of them only occasionally coming to land. But now many of them own properties on land, while maintaining their traditional customs. [photo by Chen Wen]

Sanya Bay is one of the most popular beaches for residents and visitors. Whenever I come to this place, I find swimmers and beachgoers everywhere, including Russian tourists. [photo by Lin Xulong]

Phoenix flowers and triangle plum are the most common flowers in Sanya. The triangle plum is the kind that you see in all seasons while the phoenix blooms from May to July. [Photo by Li Yunbin]

Sanya also has many natural sheltered harbors where sailboats and yachts can anchor and port, including Sanya Visun Marina,Sanya Serenity Marina and Yalong Bay Yacht Club. [photo by Huang Yiming]

Coconut trees are as strong as men when they ‘fight’ like soldiers with typhoons. But are as mild as women dancers when the breeze blows.[photo by Huang Yiming]

Just like many Sanya citizens, Haiyue square is another place that I love. Sanya is a melting pot of different groups of people, and Haiyue square is the stage that reflects the different cultures. Folk performances are on display from early morning to midnight, and the shows include Uighur folk dance, ballroom dancing, rumba, Cha Cha as well as tai chi. [photo by Markku]

I would like to name this passageway as Gallery Street as there are many painters here. The artists here can draw a portrait of the visitor in minutes, or spend whole day on sketch works.[photo by Luo Biwen]

   Where to eat

If you go to Sanya, there are two places that you cannot miss, especially if you love food. The first is what we call the first market. It is actually a market where local people buy daily grocery and different kinds of seafood, fresh vegetables and tropical fruits. Crabs, shrimps, sea snails, pomfrets, groupers, mackerels are the common and popular seafood in this market. But for visitors, it is also a nice place to try the most delicious food and a place to meet friendly local people.

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to cook or boil or fire or steam, just pick up whatever you want, walk a few miles and you will see many small restaurants that will cook food for you at a reasonable price. But if you prefer music over noise while eating, then you should go to Dadonghai Beach. There are lots of outdoor seafood booths so you can enjoy the palm breeze and sea view at the same time. The seafood here is fresh. You can order both seafood and Hainan local cuisine, such as Wenchang chicken, Dongshan Mutton, and beer or wine, but the price here is higher than the first market. Here you can spend 50 yuan ($8.2) and enjoy a pop song as there are many amateur singers here who are as good as professional. A tip: don’t choose a restaurant near a scenic spot.

Mango, pawpaw, pineapple, watermelon, mangosteen, orange and many other fresh fruits are sold in the first market in Sanya. [photo by Li Yingjie]

Prices of these fishes range from 14 yuan to 60 yuan per kilo. [Photo by Li Yingjie]

I really recommend visitors steamed crabs as it’s my favorite. [Photo by Huang Yiming]

Where to stay

Some visitors will be amazed at the number of hotels Sanya has. Too much choice some time means no choice as it becomes too difficult to decide. For business, you should better stay in downtown since it is convenient. And if you are here to relax, then you have many choices. Hotels at Sanya Bay, Yalong Bay and Haitang Bay are international brands. The price is a little bit more; one room for one night will cost 2,000 yuan ($325) and bit more in winter.

Being the national coast, Yalong Bay has attracted many international hotels, including the Sheraton Sanya Resort, Marriott Hotel, MGM Grand Resorts. [Photo by Huang Jingliang]