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Through its enticing to spend all your Sanya time sun¬bathing on the beach with a pina colada in hand, the vicini¬ty offers several interesting day trips, many of which are perfect for families with children.
In order to make the most of your time and avoid tourist traps like the staged "minori¬ty" villages, its recommended to organize private, small group tours through your hotel or with a reputable tour company (check pg.i6). Going with a large group tour will undeniably mean lots of unwanted stops and being herded like cattle to every kind of pearl, crystal and jade factory possible.
The best experiences usually come from either footing it yourself intrepidly or going with a small group tour which has flexible, tailor-made itiner¬aries and guides who will take you to see the true heart of Sanya: unrehearsed, natural end factory free.
Luobi Cave 落笔洞
Mysterious and ancient, the Luobi Cave in Lizhigou, about 15 km northeast of Sanya, is shrouded in unwritten history and an enduring legend. The rock for¬mation is located in the Liang Keng Slope of Litchi Furrow at an elevation of Ho meters. The cave itself is about 12 meters high at its mouth, reaching to a height of about 22 meters at its center, where two pen-shaped stalactites hang from the roof. The cave and surrounding area are of archaeological significance.
Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone 南山文化旅游区
One of the largest cultural tourist attractions of its kind in China, the color¬ful Nanshan Cultural Excursion Zone, located just 40 km west of Sanya along the Hainan West-line Expressway, is, in fact, three separate theme parks rolled into one. Nanshan Buddhism Culture Park is a window into China's traditional Buddhism culture; the Felicity and Longevity Culture Park focuses on creating an atmosphere of peace and harmony; and the Nanhai Cultural Customs Park highlights China's diverse social customs. Key features of the zone include the four-sided statue of Buddha, Buddhist temples and sea views. The zone has been designated a Priority Project of China Tourism Development and is earmarked for further development, including the construction of a m8-metre-tall bronze statue of Buddha on a man-made island in the sea just off Nanshan. Admission it the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone is ￥128.
Nanshan Minor and Major Caves 南山大小洞天
Nanshan Minor and Major Caves encompass an area of more than 20 square kilometers beside the seashore near Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone, about 20 km west of Sanya city. You can take a bus from the West Bus Station that takes about 5o minutes. The caves provide visitors with an alternative world to discover, and are of archaeological significance with relics dating to the Tang dynasty.
Pearl Culture Center 珍珠文化馆
Sanya's inviting Pearl Culture Center, located in Tiandu Town at 89 Hengxin Avenue, should be the first stop for anyone and everyone who appreciates the beauty of the most exquisite jewel in Neptune's kingdom - pearls. The 53-hectare center has eight busy showrooms, plus a fascinating range of exhibits including the commercial cultivation and international marketing of pearls in the region. The Pearl Culture Center is located in Tiandu, just east of downtown Sanya.
Sea and Mountain Scenic Site 海山奇观
Providing breath-taking panoramic views of the sea and cliffs, Sea and Mountain Wonderful Scenic Site, or Haishanqiguan, offers visitors unique insights into local history and culture. Located about 4o km west of downtown, the site marks the spot where Jianzhen, an eminent Buddhist monk in the Tang dynasty, and 36 of his disciples landed on Hainan Island and spread Buddhist teachings and literature. Jianzhen and his followers had originally set sail for Japan, but had been caught in a typhoon, landing on Hainan Island.
Sea Zoo 海洋动物园
Always a family favorite, the Sea Zoo, adjacent to The Remotest Corner of the Earth Resort, is populated with performing dolphins and sea lions, featuring a sea aquarium, turtle pool, crocodile pond and performing birds. Located about 20 km west of central Sanya and just west of the End of the Earth Resort, the aquatic park is set in a landscaped area facing the South China Sea and surrounded on three sides by green hills. Facilities include a collection of more than r,000 sea birds, aquatic animal displays, shops and restaurants.
Seashell Exhibition Center 贝壳馆
Beachcombers of every age will take delight in visiting the Seashell Exhibition Center located in the Yalong Bay Square area of Yalong Bay National Resort. The first exhibition center of its kind in China, the Center is guaranteed to have shells of almost every shape, color and size - a big hit with the kids.
Shuinan Village 水南村
Shuinan Village is a cultural point of interest most notable for the fact that Huang Daopo, a well-known innovator of weaving technology during the Yuan dynasty, once lived and studied there. Located in Yacheng about 4o km west of central Sanya, Shuinan is a village offering a glimpse into the cultural heritage of Sanya and its surrounding area.
Ying Wang Tower 崖城孔庙
Ying Wang Tower is a hexagonal Confucian temple built during the Qing dynasty that played a pivotal role in the establishment of Buddhism in the area. The zo-metre tall brick temple is located in Yacheng near the ancient town of Yazhou about 4o km west of Sanya. Jianzhen, an eminent monk in the Tang dynasty, and his disciples left a large number of Buddhist writings in Yazhou that were later kept in the temple.
Botanical Garden and Monkey Island
Visits to the Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden and Monkey Island make a great day trip for children and people who are new to the tropics. Wandering through the garden's verdant paths, you'll discover indigenous flora, fauna and fruits, while at Monkey Island you can get up close and personal with our mod¬em day ancestors.
The Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden, the first of its kind in China, was built in 1957. The 400,000 square meter park boasts over 1,200 tropical plants that come from over 4o countries and regions. The complex really serves two purposes - tourist attraction (where you can come face to face with a football- sized cacao bean) and actual working farm. The walking tour takes guests on a sensory experience, where you'll see what chocolate, coffee and pepper look like in their natural forms, before they find their way to your mug or saucepan. Besides cacao trees, coffee plants, peppers and vanilla, you'll see tropical fruits like durian and coconuts, and rare wild plants. The edible products are harvested and sold at the garden or around the island and can be sampled by guests when the tour finishes. Try an eye-opening cup of black coffee, bitter medicinal brews and creamy hot chocolate with coconut milk.
After soaking up the exotic natural environment, make a trip to the Nanwan Monkey Peninsula, otherwise known as Monkey Island and home to the pink-faced and wide-eyed macaque monkey. If you've got time to kill and want a mini-adventure, try getting to Monkey Peninsula via local public trans¬portation. You'll find yourself taking a carnival ride mix of buses, minibuses, motorbikes, trams and boats. From Sanya city, catch a bus to Xincun Port, a small fishing village and the jumping off point for the island, which lies just across a narrow bay. Many villagers live on houseboats between the island and town, and the water is filled with a colorful assortment of fishing trawlers, ferries and dinghies. From there you can take a boat (Y45 return) or a cable car (Y55 return) over to the island. The island itself is actually a giant hump of a moun¬tain covered in forest and fruit trees. You can choose to either watch organized monkey shows (more like a third rate monkey circus) or step off the beaten path and hike further up the mountain to search for monkeys in a more natural habitat.
Both destinations can certainly be reached on your own but an organized day trip is logistically easier. A day tour to Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden combined with a stop at Monkey Island costs around Y48o per person and includes an English speaking guide, lunch at a local restaurant and transporta¬tion by private car. The ride to the botanical gardens takes one hour from Sanya city.
The Ends of the Earth and West Island
Almost every Chinese who visits Hainan heads immediately for Tianya Haijiao, 24 kilometers west of Sanya, otherwise known as the Ends of the Earth. In ancient China, this stretch of beach signified the end of the world as the Chinese knew it. Today, Chinese tourists make pilgrimages here to have their picture taken beside enormous rocks engraved with ancient sayings and poems, like "the edge of the sky" or "the large rock that emerges from the southern seas." The highlight is the rock that is printed on the back of the Y2 bank note. Chinese couples also journey to Tianya Haijiao to proclaim their love for each other beside two rocks representing two legendary lovers who jumped into the sea.
From Tianya Haijiao, tourists can board a boat out to West Island. Once on the open seas, your initial impression may be that for some bizarre reason you're willfully allowing yourself to be shipped out to a gigantic tourist trap from which there is no easy escape. A sandy strip dedicated solely to recreating an "island" experience, every inch of West Island is overloaded with water sports, seafood, hammocks and somewhat tacky shopping. If your hotel already offers a full range of jet skis and parasailing, it's better to skip West Island, which can be overrun with tourists during peak seasons. It can be worth a trip during the low season, however, especially if you don't have access to water sports at your hotel.
Most of the local tourists, outfitted in Hawaiian shirts and high heeled shoes, will probably be lounging in hemp hammocks or drinking tea in seaside huts. The stretch of beach is long enough to spread out on during the quiet sea¬son. Some people might take part in beach volleyball or football, but other than that, the sand is free for sunbathers looking to catch some quiet rays.
Much of West Island is undeniably kitsch: the gigantic seashell statue standing guard on the dock, or the towering hermit crab sculptures in the center of the island. But that is part of the fun. If you've done any traveling around China before and understand that this is the norm, you may be able to appreciate the statues for the tacky photo ops they are. If you're hungry or looking to shop, there are plenty of local snacks and products for sale, as well as a collection of restaurants that pump out continuous plates of fish, prawns and other seafood creations at breakneck speed.
Roundtrip boat fare and entry to West Island costs YnDo, but you'll have to pay for water activities separately. Entry to The Ends of the Earth is ￥65.
Butterfly Garden and Nanshan Culture Zone
If you're a photography or entomology addict, or simply a lover of beautiful things, start the day out early with a trip to Butterfly Valley, a gigantic butterfly garden cloaked in airy netting. The best time to see butterflies is in the early morning when cooler air seeps in. The garden houses over a hundred species, which hide amongst the flora and occasionally flutter out to feed on the flowers. To attract more butterflies and please visitors, the staff have planted artificial flowers along the path and spray them with a sweet, sugary liquid.
After you've seen your share of butterflies, head 4o kilometers west of Sanya to the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone. As you walk up the landscaped grounds, past manicured flowerbeds and up the sparkling new temple entryway, you may feel more as if you're approaching Disneyland than a Buddhist Temple. In a way, that's what the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone really is - Sanya's attempt at a Buddhist theme park, complete with souvenir shops selling trinkets, golden lions and dolls garbed in multi-colored minority dress.
The Nanshan Temple complex is a baby as far as temples go. It was built after the establishment of the PRC in 1948 and modeled after pre-Tang dynasty architecture. Later it was turned into the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone, designed to provide a glimpse into Hainan's religious and cultural life. However, with altars, statues and bells placed strategically around every corner and displays of potted tropical flowers lining the promenades, it's as much a non-stop photo- op for tourists decked out in Hawaiian shirts as it is a cultural education center. Yet despite the carnival feel, it's easy to lose yourself inside the temples amid the heavily perfumed smoke billowing out of gigantic incense burners.
Nanshan's centerpiece is the enormous ro8-meter high statue of Buddhism's Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin (locals will playfully flaunt that it is 2 meters higher than the Statue of Liberty). The smooth marble goddess keeps a watchful eye over the island from her vantage point at the end of a rocky jetty out at sea, bestowing her blessings and protection on the land-bound.
If you're hungry for lunch, the temple's Buddhist vegetarian restaurant comes highly recommended. The kitchen cooks up imitation duck, pork and other meats which could fool even the more devout carnivore.
Entrance to the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone is Yr5o, but some sights require an additional charge, such as the Golden Buddha statue. Admission to the Butterfly Garden is ￥25.
Rainforests, Villages and Hot Springs
If you want to see more of Sanya than just sand and water, opt for a tour that takes you through local minority villages, up into the tropical rainforests sur¬rounding Wuzhi Shan (Five Finger Mountain) and into fresh hot mineral- springs.
Tours typically leave around dam and begin by following windy mountain roads through banana farms and past tiny minority villages. If a particular village captures your eye, ask your driver to stop and explore for a little while. Small group tours are particularly accommodating and your guide will be able to help you speak with the local people. If you want to see real Li and Miao minority peo¬ple instead of staged tourist villages, this is the way to do it. You'll see stunning mountain vistas, villagers fanning their crops and colorful local markets full of tropical fruits and crafts.
After wandering through villages, head up into the tropical rainforest sur¬rounding Five Finger Mountain for a few hours of hiking. Hiding deep in the heart of the island, Five Finger Mountain is Hainan's highest at 1,867 meters. Hainan has unfortunately experienced heavy deforestation to make way for rub¬ber and banana plantations, but this stretch of rainforest has been relatively untouched. You'll wander through pine, oak and bamboo groves and past water¬falls. There are many myths about how Five Finger Mountain got its name. Some claim that its five peaks symbolize the five "fingers" of a palm frond, while other legends say that the five fingers represent five Li gods. Climbing to the top takes around three to four hours, so if you have plans to make it to the peak (from where you can sometimes see the sea), it's best to extend your outing and spend a night at the base. For a day trip, however, shorter hikes are recommend¬ed and still allow you to take in the scenery.
A popular way to end the tour is with a relaxing visit to the rainforest Nantian Hot Springs. The manicured grounds blend in nicely with the sur¬rounding tropical plant life and pools of mineral rich water hide beneath swaying palm trees. Jump into a spring and soak up some of the minerals, which suppos¬edly have a healing effect on hypertension and skin diseases, or opt for one of their special body treatments. ¥128 includes a towel, showers and soaking as long as you like. If you haven't gotten enough in one day, the hot springs provide wooden houses for overnight stays.
Hotels in Yalong Bay and Dadonghai can help you to arrange these flexible day trips. A private car for four people costs around Y400 per day. An English- speaking guide costs ￥400 per day and a Chinese-speaking guide costs about ￥200. Entrance to the rainforest costs.
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