Hainan is located in the South China Sea at the same latitude as Hawaii. The tropical island's serene and unhurried pace of life is very different from mainland China. There are many natural parks, reserves and sanctuaries with unique nature. For example, a 500-meter liana grows on Hainan and a 300-year-old turtle lives there.
Throughout the year, people come here to relax on the beaches with fine white sand, look into the Heavenly Grottoes, walk on a glass bridge over the abyss, climb to the top of the mountain to the crater of the volcano, and relax in the thermal pools.
Three quarters of the island's territory consists of evergreen jungle. The authorities prohibit the placement of industrial facilities, cutting down trees and throwing garbage within 100 kilometers around. Most of the vehicles run on electric motors. Clean, healthy air contributes to the long life of the islanders.
Today, there are more than a thousand people over 100 living on Hainan. Locals joke: “People go to Thailand to lose their health, and to Hainan to improve it.”
I'll tell you what's worth seeing on the island first.
1. Phoenix Island
One of the unusual man-made attractions of Hainan and the entire Celestial Empire is the artificial Phoenix Island, created on the basis of small coral reefs. It is located near the port of Sanya and is connected to the mainland by a 400-meter bridge.
Several fantastic luxury skyscrapers house luxurious five-star hotels, elite apartments, brand boutiques, restaurants and shops. The island has a beach and an amusement park, a yacht club and a sports complex. There is also space for a cruise liner berth and a large ferry terminal. It is interesting that the area of all the interior spaces of Phoenix is almost 40 thousand square meters larger than the area of the island. The hotels position themselves as five-star and non-existent seven-star. There is simply no cheap housing here. By the way, the cost of apartments at the construction stage reached one and a half million rubles per square meter.
The island's symbol is the 50-meter Fire Phoenix sculpture. In 2008, the traditional ceremonial procession of the Olympic flame began here. In the evenings, the island hosts a colorful light and laser show. It is best to watch the extravaganza of light and color from the water during sea excursions, of which there are a huge number in Sanya. Only guests of Phoenix hotels or excursion groups have free access to the island.
In Hainan, the name "Phoenix" is popular. In addition to the island, there is also an airport of the same name and an amusement park. The Phoenix Park is located on the top of a mountain in the city of Sanya. If you do not want to walk a long way around the hill to the peak of the metropolis, you can use the cable car laid over the jungle. At the top, tourists will enjoy panoramic views of the surrounding bays and city blocks.
How to get there: city buses No. 25, 26 and taxis go here. If you have a hotel pass, electric cars will take you to the desired location.
Phoenix is open from 07:30 to 21:00.
2. Park "The Deer Turned His Head"
Tourists can also admire the magnificent light show from above from the observation deck of the park with the unusual name "Deer Turned His Head", which in Chinese sounds like "Luhuitou". The park is located on a high cliff in Sanya.
The unusual name of the territory comes from a local legend about a young hunter. One day, the young man saw a beautiful deer in the forest and chased it for nine days and nights until it climbed a high hill above an abyss from which there was no way out. The guy put an arrow on his bow and had already pulled the string when he noticed that the animal turned its head in his direction and looked sadly. The young man was unable to shoot, and the deer suddenly turned into a charming girl of unprecedented beauty. Then, as in all fairy tales, they fell in love and got married.
Now there is also a deer nursery here, which tourists can feed. It is better to choose morning or afternoon for visiting, as the animals are already asleep in the evening. You can climb to the top by electric car, the price is from 15 yuan (190 rubles) there and back. The road takes half an hour. Along the way you will come across gazebos, small baobabs and ubiquitous monkeys.
How to get there: From Sanya Bay there is bus No. 26, from Dadonghai – No. 54.
Opening hours: 07:30–21:00.
Ticket prices start from 45 yuan (560 rubles).
3. Statue of Guanyin
The world-famous calling card of the island and the landmark of Hainan is the statue of the goddess of mercy. Guanyin protects people from misfortunes and troubles, cares, sympathizes and asks the gods for well-being. It is located in the Nanshan Buddhist Center. The name translates as "southern mountain". According to legend, a ship crashed on the reefs here. Among the passengers were 12 Buddhist monks, who were helped out of the raging sea by dolphins. In gratitude to the gods for saving them, the priests decided to found a Buddhist temple on this shore.
Today, on a territory comparable in area to the Italian San Marino, there is a landscape and ethnographic park. On a cape extending into the sea stands a hundred-meter statue of a three-faced Buddhist goddess.
The park's territory is simply huge. If you are not in a hurry, then a whole day will not be enough to see it all. There are many interesting things here. At the "Heavenly Gate" there is a gong of happiness, striking it three times will bring you wealth, prosperity and luck. The "Valley of Longevity" has collected portraits of Chinese people who have reached their 100th birthday. At the "place of power" anyone can tie a scarlet ribbon. According to an ancient ritual, this will make life happy until old age, and will give married couples the joy of motherhood and fatherhood.
How to get there: the temple complex is about 40 kilometers from the resort city of Sanya, and can be reached in an hour by buses No. 25 and 29. The fare is from 5 to 20 yuan (60–250 rubles), depending on the starting point. A taxi ride costs from 140 yuan (1,720 rubles).
Opening hours: 08:00 to 18:00.
Ticket price: from 150 yuan (1850 rubles).
4. Yanoda Forest and Glass Bridge
40 kilometers from Sanya, in the tropical forest of Yanoda, one of the adrenaline attractions of Hainan Island is located. The bridge with a transparent glass floor is located at a height of 400 meters above a deep abyss.
To maintain the transparency of the glass, everyone is given soft shoe covers at the entrance. The bridge offers a very beautiful view of the bay, mountains and tropical forest. In addition to the glass bridge, Yanoda has eco-routes through the tropical rain forest, observation decks, a 500-meter cable car, a suspended wooden bridge, fountains, cozy benches and swings decorated with flowers.
The park is large, so to get your bearings and see all the most interesting things, I recommend taking an audio guide in Russian at the entrance.
How to get there: from Sanya bus station by bus in the direction of Baoting or Wuzhishan, by taxi or with a tour. The distance is about 40 km. Electric cars take you from the entrance to the park to the start of the walking routes.
Price: entrance to the park from 150 yuan (1850 rubles), with a cable car 200 yuan (2500 rubles), entrance to the glass bridge 100 yuan (1240 rubles).
Opening hours: from 7:30 to 18:00.
5. Dadonghai Beach
The beautiful white beaches of Yalong Bay and Dadonghai Bay are the resort attraction of Hainan. On the Yalong coastline, which means "dragon coast", surrounded by mountains, tropical forests and gardens, there are prestigious hotels. It is not for nothing that the islanders consider the coast "paradise on earth".
Dadonghai Bay Beach is popular with Hainan tourists due to its affordable prices for accommodation and a good selection of entertainment: jet skis and boat rides, catamarans and banana boats, paragliding behind a boat. There are almost ideal conditions for surfers, and in the evening you can finish your walk along the beach in one of the many restaurants, bars or clubs.
The entrance to the beach is located near the Ananas shopping center (a four-story building in the shape of a pineapple). The sandy shore is bordered by a beautiful park with coconut palms. There are also kiosks with souvenirs and beach accessories and numerous European-style cafes. Important: with the onset of dusk, the current in the bay changes, and swimming becomes dangerous.
How to get there: from Sanya by bus or taxi. The distance is about five kilometers.
6. Zhujiang Nantian Hot Springs
Thousands of years ago, there were powerful volcanic eruptions in this part of the island. Hot lava covered the entire territory of the current health resort, and after a while, healing springs began to flow here. Local residents have known about the healing properties of thermal waters for a long time. For centuries, they have been resting here and improving their health. It is no coincidence that in translation, "Nantian" means "Valley of Longevity."
Today, a modern, well-appointed resort with a cozy hotel and restaurant, outdoor cafes and tea houses is located on a territory of 12 hectares. But the main thing is more than thirty thermal pools with temperatures from +32 °C to +57 °C and different water compositions. Conveniently, each pool has an explanatory sign in Chinese, English and Russian.
People come here for the whole day to bathe in lemon, tea, flower, coffee, ginseng and wine baths. Or relax on a lounge chair in the area by the large pool. Or get a full-body peeling from garra rufa fish in two spacious baths. There is a pool with slides for children. And of course, you can feel the real Chinese flavor near the lotus lake. Children will be interested in watching its inhabitants - wild geese and shiny carp.
There are hot springs both in the landscaped area with the hotel and in the tropical forest, which can be reached with an excursion. They are offered by many travel agencies in Sanya and Dadonghai. As a rule, a visit to the hot springs is included in the tour program to "Monkey Island".
How to get to the resort: by free shuttle bus from Pearl River Hotel near Dadonghai Beach or from Resort Intime Hotel. Distance from Sanya - 30 kilometers.
Ticket price: from 1200 rubles. It is more profitable to purchase an electronic reservation for visiting the thermal resort in the shopping centers "Ananas" and "Zima" in Dadonghai. The price at the resort's ticket office is twice as high.
Opening hours: daily from 10:00 to 18:00.
7. Monkey Island
70 kilometers from Sanya there is a nature reserve - Monkey Island . The Guangxi macaques living here, like humans, have blood that is divided not only into groups, but also into Rh factors. More than two thousand individuals currently live on the island. These small monkeys freely roam the territory, sit on the ground, jump on trees, swing on vines, dive into water bodies, and also boldly contact tourists and try to examine their bags for treats.
On the island you can observe the life of macaques, feed the animals, and also see a small but interesting performance with the participation of monkeys.
On the island, visitors can only walk along special alleys and paths. If a tourist wants to have a snack, he must go into a special "cage" where the primates will not be able to get to the traveler's food.
The world's only natural isolated reserve can be reached via a two-kilometer cable car, which offers excellent views of the island and the fishing village.
Floating settlements are one of the attractions of Hainan. This is a whole town on pontoons, where in addition to residential buildings, restaurants, fish farms, a hotel and a police station are located. Instead of cars on water streets, residents use boats to get to the desired point or transport goods. It is funny that dogs here "walk by themselves", but the villagers put cats and cats on chains so that they cannot steal the caught fish and seafood.
Monkey Sanctuary opening hours: daily from 08:00 to 16:30.
Entrance fee: from 163 yuan (2000 rubles), including the cable car ride.
The best way to get here is from Sanya as part of a tour group. A trip to the monkeys can be combined with a visit to the hot springs.
8. Taoist Park Heavenly Grottoes
50 kilometers from Sanya there is a wonderful park and the oldest attraction of Hainan. It was founded during the Song Dynasty in the 12th century. In the park you can visit the Dongtian Grottoes and the Wall of Records with sacred texts carved in stone, in the Natural History Museum you can see what the Earth was like 140 million years ago, on the Longevity Mountain you can breathe in the extraordinary air saturated with negatively charged ions, take memorable photos of the Sea Wonders - unusual stone blocks, in the Temple of the Dragon King you can ask for "luck in the house".
How to get there: from Sanya take buses 25 and 29 to the Daxiao Dongtian stop. The journey takes about an hour.
Price: entrance 135 yuan (1,700 rubles), autocar — 35 yuan (440 rubles).
9. Wenchang Spaceport
In the east of the island there is an unusual landmark of Hainan - the Wenchang spaceport. Today, an extraordinary spectacle evokes special emotions and awe: basking on the sand of the beach, you can watch the launch of a spaceship across the bay.
From here, cargo ships and modules for the space station and for the lunar exploration program are launched.
10. Ma An Volcano
On the territory of the Ma An National Park, amidst the jungle, there is a solidified crater of an ancient volcano. You can climb up to it along natural steps that were built by solidifying lava about 50 thousand years ago. It also formed several dozen grottoes in the vicinity of Ma An. There is a circular observation deck around the mouth of the volcano. Those who wish can descend into the crater overgrown with bushes. The Chinese often come here for meditation as a sacred place.
The route from the park entrance to the crater is about two kilometers long. The road up goes along well-equipped paths, among flowerbeds and funny statues, rose bushes and vines. Along the way, you can admire the bonsai and a small pond with carp, and visit the volcano museum. Those who want to relax can sit on benches or in a restaurant.
How to get there: From Sanya take the high-speed train to Haikou, then take a 27 km taxi to the park.
Opening hours: 9:00 to 18:00.
Ticket price: from 45 yuan (600 rubles).
Have you been to Hainan? Tell us in the comments what you liked the most!
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