# Haikou travel guide (海口) Hainan Province · South China, China · 8 places Canonical: https://cnatrip.com/en/destinations/hainan/haikou ## Quick itinerary - **Day 1:** Qilou Old Street → Wanlyu Park → Five Lords Shrine → Dongzhaigang Mangrove Nature Reserve ## The feel of the place - **Coconut Charm:** “Coconut City” is another name for Haikou. Haikou used to be a quiet little town, with clean streets you could walk down barefoot and coconut palms swaying in the breeze. That is how people remember Haikou. Although economic development has brought high-rises and bustling tourist crowds, coconut palms remain the constant theme of Haikou and still stand as a synonym for “romance”. - **Dad's Teahouses:** Teahouses are everywhere in Haikou, especially the open-air, street-stall style ones. These teahouses have little decoration and look a bit rough around the edges, and locals call them “Laoba teahouses” (“Dad's teahouses”). They are the most popular leisure spots in everyday local life. - **Longevity:** Statistics show that Hainan people have the longest average life expectancy in the country. Abundant sunshine, pure air and excellent water quality... these natural conditions that make life better are not found everywhere, but Hainan has them all, so it is no surprise that it is known as a longevity province. ## The feel of the place ### Hainanese Dialect The Hainanese dialect is fascinating and rich in cultural meaning. For example, in the north, going to a market is called “gan ji” or “gan xu”, whereas in Hainanese it is called “fa shi”. The character “fa” is the same as in “fa cai” (getting rich), and it carries the hopes of ordinary people: the more the market “fa”s (thrives), the more people come to trade, meaning abundant goods and easier days. In the north, “guo ri zi” (getting by, living) is called “zuo chi” in Hainanese, literally “make and eat”. This reflects how ordinary people survived in the past, when the economy was backward and productivity low: “we eat in order to work, and work in order to eat”. It also expresses the simple philosophy “in life, if you want to eat, you must work; only with work is there food”, and the longing for a full meal after toil. ### Preparation and Advice ### Language Hainanese belongs to the Min dialect group, and most people speak with a Wenchang accent. Communicating with locals in Mandarin is generally not a problem, although many people have a very strong local accent that can be hard to follow. ### Climate and Travel Season Haikou's annual average temperature is 23.8℃. June to September is typhoon season, so it's best not to travel to Hainan during this period; Wenchang and Qionghai in particular are known as the “Typhoon Corridor”. The best time to visit is from November to March of the following year. ## Getting there & around ### Getting There Hainan is an island lying across from the mainland, so planes and ships are the main means of getting to and from the island. ### Flights Haikou Meilan International Airport is only 25 km from the city centre. It has more than 60 routes to major cities across China and also connects with Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. ### Getting Between the Airport and the City 1. Airport shuttle buses: there are 4 lines. Line 1 goes to Xinyuan Hot Spring Hotel, Line 2 to the West Bus Station, Line 3 to the Old Town, and Line 4 to Hainan University. Fare: ¥20. 2. Buses: Route 21 (Yinwan Garden → Meilan Airport), fare ¥5; Route 41 (Aihua Community → Meilan Airport), fare ¥6. 3. Train: Meilan Railway Station is right next to Meilan Airport. The journey to Haikou East Station takes about 10 minutes, with a fare of ¥4–8. ### Railways The Yuehai Railway was China's first railway to cross a strait. Since opening in January 2003 it has carried heavy freight, and on 5 December 2004 the first cross-sea passenger train, K408, began running, turning a natural barrier into a smooth passage. The Hainan East Ring High-Speed Railway runs from Haikou through Wenchang, Qionghai, Wanning and Lingshui to Sanya in just 90 minutes. Trains run between Sanya and Haikou East daily from 6:10 to 21:35, and Hainan's east coast has once again become a popular destination. ### When in Rome “Xiao mei” and “Da jie”: in Hainan, don't call a waitress “xiao jie” (miss), as locals consider this disrespectful. Younger women are usually addressed as “xiao mei” (little sister), and older women as “da jie” (big sister). ### Impression · Hainan Island Part of the same series as Impression · Liu Sanjie in Guilin, also directed by Zhang Yimou. The show is staged at the Impression Theatre just east of Holiday Beach, but its overall reputation is not as strong as that of Impression · Liu Sanjie. - ticket: Standard ticket: ¥238 - phone: 0898-60898888 ### By Road Haikou is the main hub of Hainan Island's entire road network. Bus stations including Haikou Main Bus Station, East Bus Station, South Bus Station and West Bus Station run coaches to destinations across the island, such as Sanya, Wenchang, Wanning, Lingshui and Tongshi. To travel from Haikou to Sanya by bus, take the East Bus Station, where buses depart every half hour. A deluxe express ticket (second-class high-grade seat) costs ¥69, and a mid-grade air-conditioned seat costs ¥50. Danzhou is the transport hub of western Hainan. The Haiyu West Highway runs through the city, with fixed daily services to Guangzhou and to other cities in Hainan. In county towns in Hainan, you can charter a minibus to reach the island's various sights. Expressways in Hainan have no toll booths; the cost is built into the fuel price, which is why petrol here is more expensive than in other provinces. Xiuying Port in Haikou has passenger ferries to and from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beihai and other cities. There is also a daily ferry between Zhanjiang Haian and Haikou, with a ferry departing every hour, or as soon as it is full, around the clock. Departure times Guangzhou: Mon, Wed, Fri, sailing at 15:30 Shenzhen: Mon, Wed, Fri, sailing at 16:30 Beihai: sailing daily at 20:00 Haian (Zhanjiang): daily, 06:00–23:00, one ferry every hour or as soon as full ### Local Transport ### Buses There are more than 40 bus routes. Fares are ¥1–2, and buses are unattended, so you pay on board. The 'Gongqi Lengba' (air-conditioned bus) costs ¥1 and is much more comfortable than ordinary buses. Operating hours are generally 06:00–23:00. ### Tourist Buses Dedicated sightseeing bus lines link Haikou's main attractions. Six tourist routes connect Haikou Wildlife Park, the Volcanic Cluster Geopark, Baisha Gate Park, Wanlü Park and other sights, with fares of ¥14–17. Tour Bus 1 and Tour Bus 2 also serve some sights (departing from Five Lords Shrine; full-route fare ¥4). The 'Xinmeilan' tourist bus route, with Lines A and B, runs direct to six major city sights: Qiongtai Academy, Five Lords Shrine, Hai Rui's Former Residence, Wanlü Park, Xiuying Fort and Hai Rui's Tomb. Fare ¥5. ### Tips on Buying Fruit 1. Fruit 'farms' that tour guides take you to typically charge several times the normal price, so avoid buying there. It is best to buy at local markets where residents shop for groceries. 2. If you plan to take fruit on a flight, ask the vendor to pack it in a box for you. Otherwise, the airport will charge a high packing fee. 3. Never buy an unfamiliar fruit that a vendor recommends, such as the 'qimi guo' that looks just like a honeydew melon and is touted as the 'king of Hainan fruit' grown with seawater. It is actually a 'round honeydew' with a mediocre flavour. Tasting one is fine, but there is no need to buy in quantity. 4. Locals in Hainan are generally fairly honest in business. ### Visiting Five Lords Shrine 1. The Five Lords: Li Deyu (Tang), Li Gang (Song), Li Guang (Song), Zhao Ding (Song) and Hu Quan (Song). 2. Opposite Five Lords Shrine is the Haikou Museum. You can combine a visit to Five Lords Shrine, Su Gong Shrine and the Haikou Museum in one trip. ### Shishan Goat Hotpot To try Shishan goat hotpot, head to the area near the Volcanic Cluster Geopark, where many open-air street food stalls serve it. - **Haikou Meilan International Airport Voice Inquiry** — - **China Southern Airlines Hainan Branch** — ## Eat & drink Hainan cuisine is a regional style with its own distinctive flavours. Hainan's restaurants fall mainly into three types: seafood restaurants, chicken and duck shops, and open-air street food stalls (dapaidang). Hotels usually have fish tanks, so you can pick out your seafood and have it cooked. Wenchang chicken is famous, and many chicken rice restaurants in Hainan serve it alongside a few simple stir-fries. Hainan's local snacks are also inexpensive and good value. ### Specialty Food Streets To eat seafood in Haikou, head to Xinbu Bridge, Banqiao Road on Wenming East Road, or the Qukou seafood stalls at the pier of the Dongzhai Port Protection Station. Blue crab, roe crab, blood clams, oysters and prawns are at their best there. Many open-air stalls there will prepare your seafood for you. The owners will help you choose and even haggle on your behalf, though their main goal is to earn a seafood cooking fee. That fee is not expensive and is usually calculated as the unit price multiplied by the weight, based on the cooking method. Guomao Jinlong Road Food Street and Haidian Island Riverside Road 2 are among the areas with the highest concentration of restaurants in Haikou. Regional cuisines from across China can be found here. ### Signature Dishes ### Specialty Snacks - **Shishan Goat Hotpot** — Made with a breed of black goat, this hotpot uses the meat and bones of young goats. Its flavour is unique and deliciously fresh, and it should not be missed. - **Jiaji Duck** — Commonly called 'fan duck' (foreign duck), it is light, crisp and silky-smooth. - **Coconut Chicken Snake Soup** — A clear broth with a mellow flavour and a rich, wafting aroma. It is highly nutritious and can also be eaten as a tonic. - **Hainan Coconut Milk Chicken** — Tender chicken with a rich coconut fragrance and high nutritional value. - **Four-Treasure Qiongshan Tofu** — Not real tofu, but a distinctive dish made from eggs and other ingredients. - **Hainan Cuttlefish Balls** — Cuttlefish balls are snow-white in colour and springy. They are crisp when bitten and deliciously fresh. - **Ginger and Salt Pipa Prawns** — Named for its resemblance to a pipa lute, its freshness speaks for itself. - **Hainan Fen** — Hainan's most distinctive local snack. Hainan fen comes in thick and thin varieties. Thick noodles are served with simple toppings. Thin noodles are more elaborate, mixed and marinated with a range of ingredients, seasonings and thickened sauce, a style known as 'yan fen' (marinated noodles). Hainan fen usually refers to this marinated type. - **Hainan Jianbing** — Made on much the same principle as thousand-layer pancakes, with many thin layers that are crisp outside and soft inside. Rich in aroma, with flavours to suit every taste. - **Coconut Glutinous Rice Ba** — A popular local snack in Hainan. The skin is made from glutinous rice flour and filled with fresh shredded coconut, sesame, crushed fried peanuts and white sugar. It is wrapped in wild pineapple leaves into round parcels about 5 cm across. Sweet without being cloying, and delicious. - **Hainan Radish Cake** — A traditional Hainan snack made mainly from glutinous rice batter and shredded white radish, with other ingredients varied to taste. The cake is dotted with red and green, and has a pleasing texture. - **Coconut Pandan Cake** — Coconut fragrance combined with the aromatic scent of pandan. Refreshing on the palate and smooth and sweet on the throat. It is also said to have heat-clearing, spleen-strengthening and stomach-nourishing properties. ## Nightlife Xinnixi Road Commercial Night Market, in the old town, has street stalls selling all kinds of braised and roasted foods and bar snacks. The flavours are authentic and the prices extremely low. In the evening, stroll to the 'Food Night Market', the perfect place to sample Hainan's cuisine. The night markets are mainly concentrated at Xingang Pier, Desheng Sha Road and opposite Hainan University, and generally stay open until 2 a.m. ### Local Opera Qiong opera, also known as Hainan opera, is a local opera form of Hainan Province. Together with Cantonese opera, Teochew opera and Han opera, it is known as one of the Four Great Opera Genres of Lingnan. It takes its name from Qiongzhou (today's Qiongshan District), where it originated. Its outstanding repertoire includes Hongye Shiti (Red Leaf Poem Inscription), Zhang Wenxiu, Sou Shuyuan (Searching the Academy) and Gou Xian Jinchai (The Dog Carrying the Golden Hairpin). Qiong opera was once popular in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, and was also called the 'Red Coral of the South China Sea'. ## Shopping The top recommendations are coconut shell carvings, coral bonsai and natural crystal. Coconut carvings are attractive ornaments, sold on street corners everywhere in a wide range of designs at low prices. There is also shell carving, with themes such as coconut-grove scenery and Tianya Haijiao (Edge of the Earth). Its fine, detailed workmanship makes it very popular, and it is usually in white, red or green. Also worth mentioning is Hainan's natural crystal. It is clear and sparkling, and when made into bracelets, necklaces, earrings and brooches, it looks very beautiful. ### Recommended Local Specialties Handicrafts include coconut carvings, wood painting, wood carving, butterfly-wing paintings, seawater pearls, natural crystal, Hainan red beans, prayer beads and rattan ware. Tropical fruits include coconut, plantain, jackfruit, pomelo, durian, banana, lemon, tamarind and Chinese olive. Local specialties include coconut foods, dried seafood, coffee, pepper, tropical fruit preserves and cashew nuts. Other Hainan specialties include sour fen (rice noodles), chicken-leg whelk, grouper, squid, sandworm, pipa crab, pearls, betel nut and lantern chilli. ## Where to stay Haikou has plenty of hotels, concentrated closely together. There is practically one every ten steps, and discounts of 20–30% (7–8 折) are generally available. The main upscale four- and five-star hotels include Huandao Taide Hotel, Golden Coast Luodun Hotel and Baohua Seaview Hotel. - **Haikou Meijing Seaview Hotel** — (16 Binhai Avenue, 0898-66206888) - **Hainan Civil Aviation Hotel** — Basic accommodation, but very convenient for transport. (9 Haixiu Road, 0898-31289888) ## Things to see - **Holiday Beach** (★★★): Time needed 4 hours — https://cnatrip.com/en/places/holiday-beach - **Old Town and Qilou Old Street** (★★★★): Time needed 2 hours — https://cnatrip.com/en/places/old-town-and-qilou-old-street - **Five Lords Shrine** (★★★★): Admission ¥48; Opening hours Day session: 8:00–18:00; night session: 18:00–23:00; Time needed 2 hours — https://cnatrip.com/en/places/five-lords-shrine - **Wanlyu Park** (★★★★): Time needed 2–3 hours — https://cnatrip.com/en/places/wanlyu-park - **Mission Hills Huayi Feng Xiaogang Movie Commune** (★★★★★): Admission Combined ticket for three attractions: ¥238, available on Meituan and other online platforms, offering relatively good value; ¥35; ¥10; Opening hours 9:00–22:00: the best time to visit; shops operate normally and performances run as scheduled; mainly for day visitors and tour groups. 22:00–9:00 the next day: operating hours for the scenic resort inn; street lights remain on; mainly for inn guests and membership cardholders. 9:00–18:00; Time needed 3–6 hours; 2–3 hours — https://cnatrip.com/en/places/mission-hills-huayi-feng-xiaogang-movie-commune ## Day trips & beyond - **Hainan Tropical Wildlife Park and Botanical Garden** (★★★): Admission ¥158; Opening hours 9:30–17:30 (Monday to Friday) 9:00–17:30 (weekends); Time needed 2–3 hours — https://cnatrip.com/en/places/hainan-tropical-wildlife-park-and-botanical-garden - **Volcanic Cluster Global Geopark** (★★★★): Admission ¥54; Opening hours 8：00—18：00; Time needed 2–3 hours — https://cnatrip.com/en/places/volcanic-cluster-global-geopark - **Dongzhaigang Mangrove Nature Reserve** (★★★★): Admission Free; Opening hours 9：00—17：30; Time needed 2–3 hours — https://cnatrip.com/en/places/dongzhaigang-mangrove-nature-reserve --- Source: China Self-Guided Travel 2025 (《中国自助游》, Tianjin Science & Technology Press, Aug 2024), pp. 2489–2506. Prices, hours and transport details are as printed in the August 2024 edition and may have changed. Always confirm with the venue before you travel.