If you’re looking for beaches in China, then Sanya in Hainan is probably the best you’ll be able to find. Unfortunately, it’s not up to par with other amazing beach destinations in the area (Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan-Penghu, Cambodia and even Vietnam-Nhatrang and Hong Kong-Saikung) and it’s unbelievably crowded and over commercialized. The Chinese are also relatively traditional people when it comes to swimwear and still do not have my appreciation for a quiet clean motor-less BBQ-less KTV-less beach. Still, I was visiting Hainan and wanted to see what the beaches were like, and below you can get a sense of what it’s like.
Here we go…
So, yeah, you’ll have all sorts of famous characters walking around the beach for a photo-op, for which you’ll only be asked to part with 5rmb per shot.
There are coconut trees, and even the occasional coconut climbing guy.
But, as you can see, overall it’s a beach with white sand, relatively swimmable water, but not exactly what I’d consider a top-rate beach. Still, I had a beer and some BBQed veggies away from the noisy KTV joints and it was fairly pleasant to watch the locals.