Hainan is a favorite destination for beach goers traveling to China. Rest, reviews of which we will analyze in this article, on this paradise island is unforgettable. Hainan is already a well-trodden path for Russian tourists. Many Siberians and residents of the Far East each year warm their bones under the tropical sun and treat ailments in healing springs.
The name "Hainan" is translated from Chinese as "an island lying south of the sea." The name is more than accurate. Hainan lies in the extreme south of the country. And it is the second largest island of China (after Taiwan). It was once part of Eurasia. And now only a narrow strait separates it from mainland China. The area of the island is thirty-four thousand square kilometers. About eight thousand years ago, numerous volcanoes erupted in Hainan. Now they are extinct, but left behind a memory - healing thermal springs. And this fact makes the rest on Hainan not only enjoyable, but also beneficial to health.
Arriving on the bucolic island, it is hard to believe that in the Middle Ages it was a place of exile disliked by the emperor nobles. Now it has turned into a resort. True, this happened only in 1988, when Hainan was separated into a separate province and the rapid development of the tourism industry began. You can come here either on a package tour or on your own. Guests are always welcome here.
Nature and climate. When to go on vacation?
The only truly tropical island in China is Hainan. Rest, reviews of which cause a desire to come here, are not recommended here only in winter. But more than three hundred days a year, the sky over Hainan is clear. This island is deservedly called eastern Hawaii. Here there is the whole surroundings that are inherent in tropical resorts: lush green palm trees, coconuts, bananas, turquoise warm sea, white sand of beaches. The average annual temperature here is +24 degrees, and water - all twenty-six. In the South China Sea, corals grow with their motley life of reef dwellers, so rest on Hainan Island is also attractive for divers.
Russian tourists from the eastern part of the country come here in the winter months, especially for the celebration of New Year and Christmas. The climate at this time, as in the red sea resorts of Egypt: during the day +24 degrees, and the evenings are cool.
The best time to visit Hainan, tourists consider the period from November to April. Below we give the calculation of the good tropical island of China in spring and summer. But what should be avoided is the arrival in Hainan during the celebration of the Chinese New Year (late January or early February). Prices during this period soar to unprecedented heights, and the level of service falls due to the influx of domestic tourists.
How to get to Hainan Island
Cities of Russia connect with eastern Hawaii only charters in the tourist season. You can fly to Almaty on a regular flight, and from there - to Hainan, with a change in Urumqi. Also, tourists get to the tropical island with domestic flights via Hong Kong, as well as Beijing and Shanghai (mainland China).
Hainan has two international airports. The first - "Camellia" - is located in the capital of the island of Haikou. This city is located in the north, while the main resorts of eastern Hawaii are in the south. Therefore, if there is an opportunity to choose, then prefer the Phoenix airport to Sanya as the arrival point. This city is the center of the entire resort of the Hainan Riviera. In principle, a visa can be opened directly upon arrival at Sanya Airport, but experienced tourists do not recommend this if you travel on your own and are not included in the group list.
Free buses run from Kamelia to the center of Haikou. Travel time is half an hour. A taxi ride will cost about one hundred yuan. Regular buses run from Phoenix Airport to various resorts on the southern tip of the island. A trip to Sanya will cost ten yuan, to Dadong Khai - at 20, to Yalong Bay - 30.
Transport Hainan Island
Beautiful roads connect all key settlements. At the tip of the island runs a highway. You can move around East Hawaii not only by buses and taxis, but also by motorcycle and cycle rickshaws. True, fare in this case also depends on the weight of the passenger. You should agree on a price with a rickshaw in advance.
There is a railway on the island. Trains are fast, very comfortable, not like those that run in mainland China. Tourists warn that an average cost of eighty-five yuan should be kept until the end of the journey. You will need it to exit the station at the arrival point.
Rest on Hainan is impossible without visiting the "Island of the Apes." It can be reached by cable car. It is interesting that regular buses on Hainan travel not only between settlements. There are many routes to tourist destinations. Bus number 102 should go to Sanyavan Bay, number 2 and 4 to Dudonghai. Buses to Asian Dragon Bay, World's End Park, and Nanshan Temple also run.
Sanya is connected with the capital of Haikou Island by a regular (every twenty minutes) bus service. The main station is located on Jie Fan Avenue. Taxis on the island are only official - with a counter and even a terminal for bank cards. Rates are indicated on the windshield or rear door of the machine.
Popular resorts
Holidays in China, on the island of Hainan, will appeal to all types of tourists. Surfers are attracted to Dadonghai Bay. Perfect winds blow here, generating the right wave. All hotels of this resort are located on the first line from the sea. But the municipal beaches of Dadonghai are often crowded, because together with European tourists local vacationers go to the beach. The Chinese love not so much to sunbathe and swim, but to gather together by large companies and discuss something vigorously and loudly. You need to get used to this specificity ... or to avoid places of their gatherings.
The most expensive and fashionable hotels are concentrated in the resort of Yalongwan, which is twenty-five kilometers from Sanya (south of Hainan Island). Holidays with children will be perfect everywhere, if the time is chosen for him a good one. However, Dadonghai should be avoided with its fresh breeze and the sporting features of the resort. In Sanyavan (near the Phoenix Airport) there may be a muddy sea. However, the beauty of the surrounding nature completely compensates for this. With a small child, it’s good to settle in a quiet and respectable Yalunvan. A teenager will find a lot of fun in Sanya. But in this center of the Hainan Riviera, almost all hotels are across the street from the beaches.
Speaking of coasts. All are sandy, free and very well maintained. Rescuers are on duty everywhere, there is a shower, toilet, umbrellas, sunbeds and deckchairs.
Hainan: holidays in March, April and May
Should I come to a tropical island in the first month of spring? When frosts still rage in Russia (and especially in Siberia), visiting Hainan is like visiting paradise. Reviews assure that in the first month of spring on the island the weather is very comfortable for the northerner. Even in early March, the air warms up to +26 degrees in the afternoon, and the South China Sea gives warmth. Nights also stop being cool. In the southern bays, where all the resorts of the island are concentrated , the sea waves gradually disappear.
Holidays in Hainan in April can not be called budget. This is the peak season. There is no rain in the middle of spring, the sea is calm, and the thermometer does not show any extreme temperatures. During the day +29, at night +21 degrees. This fertile time lasts until the end of April and the first rains - the harbingers of the "wet season". In the last month of spring, a monsoon begins to blow in the tropical climate zone, bringing heavy rainfall. But rest in Hainan in May cannot be called "soaked". Reviews assure that it rains only in the evening and at night, and by morning everything dries up and shines with washed freshness. In addition, according to reviews, the southern resorts protect a little from the downpours of the mountains, which divide the island almost in half. When it rains in Haikou, it can be dry in Sanya. The sun is already burning with might and main, and the temperature during the day reaches more than thirty degrees in the shade.
Holidays in Hainan in June, July and August
What really offend: in the summer months (and in the autumn too, until the beginning of November) a wet monsoon blows over the island. This cannot be said to cool the air. The thermometer column in June keeps at the same mark as in May (about thirty degrees). But even if it does not rain, the air is filled with a damp suspension. Therefore, trips to Hainan in the summer months should be abandoned for cores, hypertensive patients, asthmatics. The sea is starting to get very stormy. The so-called typhoon corridor runs north of the island, but heavy winds and high storm waves can spoil the rest on Hainan in July.
But tourists can use the advantages of the "low season" with might and main. Hoteliers, to lure customers, offer unprecedented discounts. Tourists warn that, despite the high cloudiness, sunscreen should not be neglected. The star in tropical latitudes will burn white skin and behind a curtain of dense clouds.
As a bonus for dedication, Hainan gives summer tourists many interesting events. In June, for two thousand years, the Duan Wu-Jie festival (Dragon Boat Festival) is annually celebrated. It is impossible to name the exact date of this colorful action. The holiday is celebrated according to the lunar calendar, on the fifth day of the fifth month. Would you like to celebrate Valentine's Day a second time a year? This is the seventh day of the seventh month (end of July or August). The same romantic fever that engulfs Europe and America around the date of February 14 is also observed in Hainan, only with Chinese characteristics.
Therapeutic rest
The violent volcanic activity that shook the island many thousands of years ago left behind many thermal springs and mineral waters. Combined with traditional Chinese medicine, Hainan's spa resorts work wonders. Staying on the island will heal the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, bathing in radon and mineral pools of different temperatures will drive away lung ailments, skin, gynecological and urological ailments. Blood pressure is optimized, you will forget about osteochondrosis and rheumatism for a long time.
Healing rest in Hainan uses only traditional Chinese methods of therapy in combination with medicinal herbs and other natural preparations. The most famous such center of healing is considered the “Garden of Longevity”. It is located in the Dadonghai district and is located in the Pearl River Garden Hotel. If you relax in Sanya, you can buy a healing course in the center of San Yi Tang. In the resort of Yalunvan at the hotel "Cactus Resort" not so long ago opened a branch of this medical institution. Here you can go through not only a course of procedures, but also conduct a comprehensive diagnosis of the body. Experienced doctors will develop an individual program.
Reviews of tourists mention other medical centers. These are Yu-Kang, Taiji and the Nantan complex. On the territory of the latter there are almost thirty pools with mineral water of various chemical composition and temperature.
Sights and excursions
Cognitive rest in Hainan has its own specifics. All antiquities are concentrated in the north of the island, where exiled nobles settled, waiting for the opal to end and they can return to the imperial court. The southern tip of Hainan really resembles Hawaii. Around chic resorts, coffee plantations, coconut groves and other agricultural land extend. But in the south you can find many interesting places. Sanya is home to the Tianya Tropical Ocean Animal Park. And you can see land animals in the nursery of tigers and lions. Tourists advise visiting the capital Haikou, if not for the sake of ancient architecture, so for shopping.
Holidays on Hainan cannot be called complete without visiting nature parks. There are many, and the most popular are Butterfly Gorge, Monkey Island, and Dongshan. The last park is divided into two halves. One can walk on foot, since the fauna there is harmless. And in the second half you need to ride only in jeeps, watching how bears, lions and tigers arrange races with a car.
For those who are not afraid of hiking in the mountains, reviews recommend climbing the Ma-An volcano (fifteen kilometers from Haikou). The steps to the crater are cut in frozen lava. Another tourist attraction is the End of the World park. It is located twenty kilometers from Sanya. On a unique beach scattered many boulders of bizarre shape.
Shopping
It is safe to say that the main purpose of tourists' arrival in Hainan is rest. A photo of the Nanshan Buddhist Center alone with a golden statue of a thousand-armed Bodhisattva Guanyin is present in many guides to China. But this sculpture is also included in the Guinness Book of Records. She has a record weight of 140 kilograms, given that it is made of pure gold, and even decorated with precious stones.
Excursions in Hainan are good in that they combine the interesting for the soul with the useful for the pocket. At Cape "Land of the Sea and Sky" you can buy a variety of souvenirs. In Sanya, all key stores are located in the city center, along Liberation Avenue. But true shopaholics should go shopping in Haikou, on Haysydunlu Street.
What do tourists advise to bring from Hainan? From the huge assortment of goods with the Made in China tag, you can choose quite high-quality, even precious things. For example, products from pearls and nacre, rock crystal, silk and porcelain. Tea is very much appreciated (some varieties are worth its weight in gold). From simpler souvenirs, tourists carry wooden figurines, woodcuts, Buddhist, Taoist symbols, and Feng Shui amulets. Herbs and medicinal ointments are also popular.
Reviews and travel tips
What needs to be done to ensure a good rest on Hainan Island for yourself and your family? Reviews are primarily advised to responsibly choose the time of the trip. After all, a vacation spent in a hotel, because the weather is raging around, cannot be called successful, even if the hotel itself is five-star.
One more tip. In China, there is a striking difference between five- and four-star hotels. In a word, Hainan is not the case when you can and should reduce the cost of your vacation. Yalongwan is a wonderful resort in every way. Transparent water and the absence of waves and currents attract divers from all over the world. But the restaurants here are located only in expensive hotels, and therefore the food will be overhead. In Dadonghai, cafes are found at every turn. You can dine here for six to seven dollars.