Tropical Coast of Sanya

Overview

About

The Sanya tropical coast scenic area around the city of Sanya at the southern tip of Hainan has a land part and a sea part. On land are the Yalong Bay, Tianya Haijiao (“End of the Earth”) and Nanshan sea-and-mountain areas and four separate sights: Luobi Cave, Luhuitou Park, the old town of Yazhou and Coconut Island. The sea part includes the East and West Mao islands, the East and West Pai reefs and Wild Boar Island.

On the boulders at Tianya Haijiao, the characters “Tianya” (edge of the sky) were carved by Cheng Zhe, prefect of Yazhou, in 1727; “Haijiao” (corner of the sea) on the next rock dates from the Republican period. Nearby is the inscription “Haipan Nantian”, carved during the Kangxi survey of 1714.

Daxiao Dongtian, west of Nanshan and once called Aoshan, was developed from the Southern Song and has cliff inscriptions of many periods, including “Xiao Dongtian”, “Fishing Terrace” and “Haishan Qiguan”.

Yalong Bay is a crescent-shaped bay enclosed by hills on three sides and open to the south, with a beach about 7 km long.

Luhuitou (“the deer turns its head”) is named after a Li legend in which a hunter chased a deer to the sea and it turned into a girl; Sanya is nicknamed “Deer City” after it.

It is in the third batch of national parks of China (national scenic areas) named by the State Council in 1994.

Travel tips

Getting there: Sanya Phoenix International Airport has domestic and international flights; the Hainan round-island high-speed railway stops at Sanya, about one and a half to two hours from Haikou.

Layout: Yalong Bay is to the east, Tianya Haijiao to the west, Nanshan further west and Luhuitou just south of the city. All need a vehicle, taking roughly 30 to 60 minutes between them.

Yalong Bay: beach and clear water, good for swimming and diving; water is clearest mostly in winter and spring.

Tianya Haijiao: carved boulders on the shore. Nanshan has the Guanyin statue on the sea and a Buddhist cultural park; the two fit into one day.

Luhuitou: a hill park south of town with a view over Sanya and the bay, popular around dusk.

Islands: Wuzhizhou, the West Island and similar trips go by boat, and sailings stop in bad weather, so do not overfill the schedule.

Season: November to March is cool and dry and is the peak season; summer is hot and wet, and typhoons occur from June to November.

Note: the sun is strong, so use sun protection; choose licensed shops, dive operators and boats yourself, and check whether items offered on tours are optional.

Main areas

Yalong Bay: a tropical beach resort for winter holidays, about 80 km² of land.

Nanshan: seascapes, mountains, rocks and historic sites, with sightseeing and religious and cultural activities, about 34 km².

Tianya Haijiao: the history and culture of China’s southern frontier, about 16.4 km².

Coconut Island: to be preserved for now and developed later for special tourism.

Luhuitou: a sightseeing spot.

Banknotes and stamps

The back of the 2-yuan note of the fourth series of renminbi (1988) shows the Nantian Yizhu rock.

The fifth stamp of the 1981 definitive set R21 “Scenery of the Motherland” shows Hainan.

Nearby

Straight-line distances. Search nearby