Sanya has plenty to offer outdoor activities in the day, happening bars and restaurants in the night, and enough pearls to sink several pirate ships. While Sanya is not yet an established party island along the lines of Phuket or Bali, the entertainment on offer here is increasing at a very sharp rate.Sanya's varied topography makes for excellent hiking and mountain biking opportunities. From the summit of some of the mountains are terrific views and great picnic spots. Closer to the water level are innumerable water sports like jet-skiing, parasailing and scuba diving.
The arts and culture scene of Sanya may be a little lacking but the shopping scene here is top notch and the vast majority of visitors to Sanya travel here for the hot weather and the beach, so there really isn't too much call for cinema and theater.
Most of the drinking in Sanya is done in hotel cocktail bars or on the beach, where vendors with ice buckets sell the local Tsingtao beer to holiday makers lazing on the sands. At night-time, most of the smaller outfits along the beach turn on the fairy lights and crank up the stereo for some night-time grooves that usually run until the early hours.
Parasailing, scuba diving, paragliding and snorkeling take place in Dadong Bay, Sanya Bay and Yalong Bay. The former two bays are the most crowded and have the most facilities, but the latter is for those who prefer their water adventures to be a little more private and quiet.
Sanya's biking trails are really world class. They double with the excellent hiking tracks that scale upward from Fragrant Water Bay and Sanya Bay. Five Finger Mountain is probably the most arduous trip, if only because it takes a good hour from downtown Sanya on a bicycle to reach the entrance point.
A great Sanya night is spent wandering the street stalls under a canopy of balmy stars snacking on one little delicacy after the next. If this ever wears thin, visitors can enter into any of the many seafood restaurants and seafood halls that fill the city.
Diving into any of Sanya's pearl shops is a fairly rewarding experience, even for the uninitiated. Naturally, any major purchases should be approved by someone with a keen eye but the quality of the merchandise is generally sound. Great silks can be bought at the malls in Sanya, where massages and beauty treatments await the shopped-out.
Find more information about Sanya and hotels in the area:
Sanya hotels | China hotels
