Sanya

China's premier domestic beach destination, on Hainan's southern coast. Yalong Bay, Dadonghai, and a year-round tropical climate. Russia-Chinese resort-tourism culture.

Sanya occupies the southern tip of Hainan island at approximately 18 degrees north latitude, which makes it genuinely tropical rather than subtropical — warm enough in December and January that northern Chinese families book flights months in advance to escape the continental cold. The domestic resort market that has built up around Sanya is one of the largest in Asia, and it operates on a scale that can be startling if you arrive expecting a small beach town.

The coastline east of the city centre divides into three distinct zones. Dadonghai, closest to the centre, is the oldest beach area: a compact bay with a mix of hotels from budget to mid-range, a walking promenade, and the city's largest Russian-speaking community — a legacy of the package-tour era of the 1990s and 2000s when Sanya was one of the few Chinese destinations easily accessible to Russian tourists. Yalong Bay, 15 kilometres east, is the luxury resort strip: a long crescent of imported sand fronted by a line of international five-star hotels. The water here is cleaner than Dadonghai and the beach is better maintained; the strip is also more expensive across the board. Haitang Bay, further east still, is the newest development zone — large-scale resorts, duty-free shopping malls, and a marina, still filling in at the edges.

Tianya Haijiao (End of the Earth) is the traditional sentimental landmark: two large rocks on a beach inscribed with 'edge of the sky' and 'rim of the sea', historically the designation for the southernmost reach of the empire. Wuzhizhou Island is a small offshore island with coral snorkelling, accessed by ferry from the north shore.

Nanshan Buddhism Cultural Zone, west of the city, centres on a 108-metre bronze standing Guanyin statue rising from an artificial island platform in the bay. The complex is large, admission-charged, and busy with domestic pilgrims and tourists.

Sanya's food market is strongest in tropical seafood — bought by weight at the seafood markets and cooked to order at adjacent restaurants — and in Hainan cuisine: Wenchang chicken (poached, served at room temperature with rice cooked in the chicken fat), Dongshan goat preparations, and coconut-based desserts.