Atlas of China
Sanya 三亚Sānyà
Hainan's southern beach resort, and once the far end of the empire
About Sanya
Sanya lies at the island's southern tip, where bays such as Yalong Bay and Dadonghai make it Hainan's main beach resort. Known in imperial times as Yazhou and used as a place of exile, it keeps the boulders of Tianya Haijiao, 'edge of the sky, corner of the sea', and the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone, with a Guanyin statue 108 m high including its base. Boats cross to Wuzhizhou Island, and Luobi Cave is the southernmost prehistoric cave site found in China.
What to eat in Sanya
- Yazhou sour rice noodles (崖州酸粉)
- Gangmen noodles (港门粉)
Featured places in Sanya
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Sanya Beaches 三亚
China's tropical south coast, where winter is beach season
Listed sites in Sanya
12 sites in Sanya are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Da Xiao Dongtian 大小洞天 5A scenic area · on the map
A coastal scenic area at the foot of Nanshan hill in Yazhou district, named Da Xiao Dongtian, or 'Great and Little Cave-Heavens' (a Daoist term for sacred grottoes), in the Song dynasty. - Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone 南山文化旅游区 5A scenic area
A large modern Buddhist-themed park on the coast west of Sanya, built around Nanshan Temple, founded in 1998, and the Guanyin of Nanshan, a 108 m statue (including its base) on an artificial islet that was consecrated in 2005. - Tianya Haijiao 天涯海角 5A scenic area
A beach west of Sanya scattered with large boulders, several carved with the characters that made the place famous: Tianya (edge of the sky), cut in 1733 by the Yazhou prefect; Nantian Yizhu (pillar of the southern sky), added in 1909; and Haijiao (corner of the sea), added in 1939. - Wuzhizhou Island 蜈支洲岛 5A scenic area · on the map
A small island of about 1.5 square kilometres in Haitang Bay, with sandy beaches, rocky shores and tropical forest, and water sports on offer around its coast. - Atlantis Sanya 三亚亚特兰蒂斯 4A scenic area · on the map
An ocean-themed resort complex on Haitang Bay that opened in April 2018, covering about 31 hectares with a 1,314-room hotel, restaurants and a shopping arcade. - Luhuitou Park 鹿回头公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A hill park on the peninsula just south of central Sanya, covered in evergreen tropical monsoon forest. - Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex 三亚国际免税城 4A scenic area · on the map
A large duty-free shopping mall run by China Duty Free Group on Haitang Bay, which moved here in 2014 from a smaller shop in Dadonghai that opened in 2009. - Sanya Red Detachment of Women Performing Arts Park 三亚红色娘子军演艺公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A show-centred theme park in Tianya district, laid out in three zones named Red Memory, Red Sanya and Sea of Stars. - West Island 西岛 4A scenic area · on the map
A small island off Sanya's western coast, the offshore island nearest to the city, with a working fishing village of old coral-stone houses whose history goes back more than 400 years. - Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park 亚龙湾热带天堂森林公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A forest park on the hills behind Yalong Bay, set in dense tropical forest. - Luobi Cave 落笔洞遗址 National heritage site · on the map
A limestone cave under Luobi Peak, the southernmost prehistoric cave site found in China so far. - Yacheng Academy 崖城学宫 National heritage site · on the map
The former Confucian school of Yazhou prefecture, founded in 1044 in the Northern Song dynasty, moved to this site in 1823 and repaired in 1872.
Getting to Sanya
Train, flight and driving times from the cities most visitors come from, with stations, fares and how many run a day; each opens the full comparison.
- Haikou 海口 high-speed train 1 h 14 min, 67 a day, from ¥113
- Nanning 南宁 no direct train; one nonstop flight a day, 1 h 15 min in the air
- Hong Kong 香港 no direct train; one nonstop flight a day, 1 h 50 min in the air
- Guangzhou 广州 train 16 h 20 min, 2 a day, from ¥232; 11 nonstop flights a day, 1 h 40 min in the air
- Guiyang 贵阳 no direct train; 4 nonstop flights a day, 2 h in the air
- Kunming 昆明 no direct train; 3 nonstop flights a day, 2 h 5 min in the air
- Xiamen 厦门 no direct train; 2 nonstop flights a day, 2 h 30 min in the air
- Changsha 长沙 train 24 h 12 min, 2 a day, from ¥314; 7 nonstop flights a day, 2 h 25 min in the air
On the map
Open Sanya on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Sanya on the map