Hainan, China

📍 Haitang Bay, off Sanya, Hainan

The flagship: a 5A-rated island whose coral is described as the most intact in Hainan, with the east-side Coral Garden holding reef fish in the shallows — parrotfish, butterflyfish and the occasional green turtle. Strict no-touch rules and staffed swim zones are actively enforced, and reef-safe sunscreen is the local norm.

Entry runs from about 150 yuan including the round-trip ferry and a snorkeling session is roughly RMB 200 — prices approximate, from secondary sources, so re-verify at booking. Dive and medical-evacuation travel insurance is worth carrying here, and it is reasonable to ask an operator directly about their emergency oxygen and evacuation plan before you commit to a boat day.

📍 Lingshui, about a 40-minute drive from Sanya

A 5A island known locally as Sleeping Beauty Island, quieter than Wuzhizhou, with a PADI dive shop on site and both snorkeling and diving on offer — the good second day if you want a different island rather than a repeat of the first.

Snorkeling is offered; confirm availability with an operator before committing, because the day-of programming here is less documented than Wuzhizhou's. The Hainan Free Trade Port's own page lists entry at 165 RMB including the ferry — fees change, so re-verify at booking.

📍 Yalong Bay, Sanya

Sanya's earliest dive base and the most resort-convenient snorkel on the island: live soft-coral gardens and tropical fish with professional instructors, beginner-friendly shore and boat entries, and the whole thing wrapped by the Yalong Bay resort strip.

Visibility here is lower than at the island sites — the Sanya government's own top-five list puts Yalong Bay at roughly 7–9 m — and the trade is dive-led, so ask whether the trip you are booking is a snorkel programme or a dive. Verify current access and what the session includes locally before you travel.

Hainan's signature dish: a free-range bird poached gently so the meat stays tender, served cool or at room temperature with rice cooked in the broth and a ginger-garlic dip. It is the island's own food rather than a resort menu, and the version with chicken rice is what most visitors end up eating twice.

Tip: Order by the half or whole bird to share, ask for the rice cooked in the chicken broth, and pick a busy local place rather than an international hotel dining room.

The dish that left this island and became famous in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand: rice simmered in chicken stock with garlic and ginger, served with poached chicken and the same dips. Eating it here is the chance to taste where it comes from, and it is usually the cheapest good meal of the trip.

Tip: The rice is the point, so ask for it made with the chicken broth, and look for a shop that sells little else — the specialists beat the all-day menus.

Hainan's hot-afternoon answer is a bowl of coconut milk over ice with beans, jelly, taro and fruit — exactly what the midday heat asks for. The other half of eating here is the sea: Wenchang and Sanya are fishing towns first, and the fish, prawns and shellfish come off the boats daily.

Tip: Buy the dessert from a stall with a queue and ask for less sugar if you are not used to Chinese dessert sweetness; for seafood, go where you pick the fish yourself and it is weighed in front of you.