Hainan Island is a Hit

Just off the southern tip of China lies tropical Hainan Island – a booming haven for some of China’s most exciting golf courses and luxury resort hotels. Within easy reach of Singapore, Guangzhou or Hong Kong, Hainan Island offers golfers a fabulous range of courses and resort hotels.

The island has 2 international airports – Haikou in the north and Sanya in the south. Hainan Island also offers a superb high-speed bullet train service in which you can travel between Haikou and Sanya in a little over 90 minutes. Whilst there is in excess of 30 golf courses on the island so far, our favourites tracked along the east coast reaching Yalong Bay & Sanya in the south. Beginning in the north of the island at Haikou, the Mission Hills 10-course mega resort needs little introduction. As you head south you can’t pass up the opportunity of playing the 2 Dunes courses (owned by Sheraton hotel group) at Shenzhou Peninsula. The Dunes are in the top 5 courses in China and provide a great variety of seaside challenges. Here you have a choice of the Sheraton or Four Points by Sheraton luxury ocean front hotels, which are also within an easy drive of the BFA and Clearwater Bay courses. A little further south is Haitang Bay, a rapidly developing seaside hotel resort destination headed up by the likes of the InterContinental & Kempinksi 5-star resorts. Haitang Bay is also home to the world’s largest Duty Free Shopping Centre which is destined to be a major international draw card and fierce rival to shopping in Hong Kong.

As you travel further south you’ll reach the Yalong Bay and Sanya coastal resort havens. A large number of hotel chains can be found here – Marriott, Pullman, Sheraton, MGM Grand and St. Regis just to name a few. These resorts all have wonderful 5-star facilities and serve as great bases for stay & play trips. Championship courses such as Yalong Bay, Mystic Springs and Sun Valley have won numerous awards and provide challenging layouts and eye-catching designs.