AWAY FROM THE BEACHES

Many will be happy to remain within the confines of their luxurious resort, but if you want to explore outside the hotels, there’s plenty of choice to explore farther afield. Golf enthusiasts are well catered for at the Sun Valley Sanya Golf Resort, located beside Hongxia Mountain in the Yalong Bay National Resort. Covering an area of 20 million sqm, it boasts 27 holes designed and shaped by world-famous golf design company JMP. This includes the Lake View, Desert View and Mountain View courses, plus a tropical garden-style clubhouse situated at the top of the resort with full views of Yalong Bay.

For another stunning panorama, Luhuitou Peak Garden is perched atop a 275-metre hill presenting beautiful panoramas across Sanya. The park’s winding paths lead past ancient banyan trees and painted rock faces to a statue of two lovers from the local Li ethnic group, and a deer. As the story goes, the deer was chased by a young hunter for nine days, until he looked again and realised the deer had transformed into a beautiful girl with whom he promptly fell in love. In fact, Sanya’s nickname is “the City of Deer”.

Tianyahaijiao (“Edge of Heaven, Corner of the Sea”) is another scenic hotspot, located on the southern tip of the island. On the beach, huge boulders were inscribed with poems written by Qing dynasty officials, who lamented being banished to the “end of the earth”. Having your photo taken next to the rocks is a must, before wandering off to explore the gardens, enjoy a boat ride in the bay, or hunt for tourist trinkets in the market nearby.

Another 15 kilometres west is the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone, a huge complex of gardens, newly built temples and shopping streets offering a jumble of nature, spirituality and theme-park style attractions. On a man-made island just offshore stands a 38-metre-high statue of Guanyin, the goddess of compassion. Here the holiday mood is momentarily set aside as tourists make offerings of money, incense and prayer under the giant, benevolent gaze of the statue.

Other day tours include trips into the island’s mountainous interior to visit ethnic Li and Miao villages (often tacky affairs aimed shamelessly at trapping the tourist dollar) or climb the 1,840-metre Wuzhi Mountain, Hainan’s highest peak (more authentic Li villages can be found around the mountain base). Ninety minutes up the eastern coast stands the Xilong Botanical Garden where you can sample the tea and coffee culture of the area, while farther inland there are hot springs and mountain retreats where monks built temples and monastic cave dwellings.