Sand dunes and fairway running down to a turquoise sea on the Hainan coast
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Hainan · China's Tropical South

Sun, Sand & Lava

Where China keeps its warmest winters — links on the dunes, a headland course above Sanya Bay, and a coast that runs from the first tee to the surf.

Ideal Length
5–7 nights
Golf
3–4 rounds
Best Season
Year-round
Pairs With
Yunnan · Shanghai
Where Hainan fits in a journey
The Journey

China's tropical south.

Hainan sits at the latitude of Hawaii, a green island in the South China Sea — and while the north of the country freezes, golf here is played in shirtsleeves through the depth of winter. It is China's most unlikely golf destination, and quietly its most rewarding: Blackstone at Mission Hills — World Top 100, host of The Match with Tiger Woods — Tom Weiskopf's seaside links on the dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula, and a headland round at Lu Hui Tou, the South China Sea on one side of the fairway and the mountain on the other.

And Hainan is more than its fairways. Down on the surf coast at Wanning, with our partner SurfChinaCo, complete beginners stand up on a real, rideable wave at a PerfectSwell pool — so the non-golfers come home with a story of their own.

The Golf

Three coasts, three kinds of golf.

Hainan holds more World Top 100 golf than anywhere else in China — volcanic-rock parkland, true seaside links and a headland course above Sanya Bay.

Rugged white-sand bunkers set against black lava rock on a Blackstone fairway A palm-lined fairway running between walls of volcanic stone at Blackstone A green set beyond a wide sandy waste area dotted with scrub on the Blackstone course Dawn light over a Blackstone fairway, the sky turning pink above distant hills Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy walking a fairway together during The Match at Mission Hills Haikou A wall of black volcanic rock crossing the fairway toward a green at Blackstone
World Top 100
Haikou · Hainan

Mission Hills Haikou — Blackstone

The headline course at the world's largest golf resort, Blackstone is carved straight through a field of black volcanic rock — fairways framed by jagged lava walls, white sand and tropical palm. Both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have played here, meeting in The Match at Mission Hills on the Blackstone course; it holds a place in the World Top 100 and remains the course every visiting golfer wants to tick off. Floodlit play and natural hot springs at the door make it the easy, spectacular start to a Hainan trip.

Designer
Schmidt-Curley Design
Setting
Lava-rock tropical parkland
Best season
All year
Pair with
The Dunes, Lu Hui Tou, the resort's hot springs
An aerial view of The Dunes wrapping a rocky headland above a turquoise bay at Shenzhou Peninsula An aerial of The Dunes fairways, water and sand winding toward the sea at Shenzhou Peninsula A fairway running up to the clubhouse at The Dunes, Shenzhou Peninsula A green set above the rocks and breaking surf at The Dunes, Shenzhou Peninsula A green beside a lagoon with a forested hill behind at The Dunes, Shenzhou Peninsula
Asia Top 50
Shenzhou · Hainan

The Dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula

A natural links carved from real sand dunes along a wild, unspoilt stretch of tropical coast — closer in spirit to Ireland than the South China Sea. Tom Weiskopf routed the holes through tumbling duneland to the water's edge, leaving the wind and the land to do the defending. It is the most thrilling drive-and-pitch golf on the island, and the round most guests remember longest.

Designer
Tom Weiskopf
Setting
Oceanside dune links
Best season
All year
Pair with
Lu Hui Tou, Sanya, the surf coast at Wanning
Palm-lined fairways beneath the green hills at Lu Hui Tou, villas on the slope behind A hilltop fairway at Lu Hui Tou with Sanya's skyline in the distance The turquoise bay beside the Lu Hui Tou course, mountains rising beyond A tee box set among granite boulders beside the water at Lu Hui Tou
Sanya's headland
Lu Hui Tou Peninsula · Sanya

Lu Hui Tou Golf Club

Sanya's headland course — eighteen holes draped across the Lu Hui Tou peninsula between the South China Sea and the green mountain ridge. Nelson & Haworth's routing uses the elevation to give every approach a different angle and every tee a different view of Sanya Bay. Minutes from the Haitang Bay resorts, it makes the island's most polished golf day: the round in the morning, a yacht or the spa by mid-afternoon.

Designer
Nelson & Haworth
Setting
Headland peninsula above Sanya Bay
Best season
All year
Pair with
A yacht day on the Sanya coast, Rosewood Sanya

The classic shape is Blackstone to open, the Dunes for the round you'll talk about, and a headland day at Lu Hui Tou to finish in Sanya. Keen groups add a second loop at the Dunes; everyone else trades it for the surf coast and the sea.

A Hainanese seafood table set out by the water at dusk
After the Round

The day does not end at the 18th.

Hainan eats the way an island should: the morning's catch chosen from the tanks and grilled by the water, Wenchang chicken done as the island has cooked it for centuries, clay-pot rice in the port towns and cold local beer as the fishing boats come in. The best tables are set on the sand, a few steps from the tide.

For golfers, the evening becomes a seafood dinner at the water's edge — booked, briefed and waiting by the time you've putted out.

Signature Experiences

Hainan, beyond the fairway.

Built on relationships on the ground, set up for your party alone — never an excursion from a brochure.

A surfer riding a clean, peeling wave at a PerfectSwell wave pool on Hainan's surf coast
Wanning · Hainan

Stand up on your first wave

On Hainan's surf coast, with our partner SurfChinaCo, we put complete beginners onto a real wave from the very first session. At a PerfectSwell wave pool the swell is generated to order — the same shape, the same gentle peel, every time — so there's no paddling out and no waiting: just a coach at your shoulder and a wave built for your level. First-timers especially welcome.

View more about Surf China Co.
A surf coach guiding a beginner in the shallows at a wave pool on Hainan
For Beginners

The private surf lesson

A one-on-one session with a SurfChinaCo coach in the calm end of the pool — pop-ups on the sand, then onto a soft, slow wave dialled right down. The gentlest possible way to learn to surf.

See Details
A Li woman in traditional dress and silver jewellery weaving brocade on a back-strap loom, central Hainan
Wuzhishan · Hainan

An afternoon with the Li

In the island's interior, the Li — Hainan's first people — weave brocade on back-strap looms, patterns three thousand years old. Sit with a master weaver in a village few visitors reach.

See Details
A private yacht anchored in a turquoise bay off the Sanya coast, Hainan
Sanya · Hainan

A day on the water

A private yacht off the Sanya coast — quiet bays for swimming, a chilled lunch aboard, and the island skyline softening as the afternoon turns to gold.

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A cup of black Hainan coffee, a basket of red coffee cherries and a carafe on a wooden table above the jungle
Xinglong · Wanning

Coffee in the hills

Wanning's Xinglong hills have grown coffee for generations. Walk the plantation, roast a small batch by hand, and taste Hainan's own brew — strong, dark and unmistakably tropical.

See Details

These are a beginning, not a menu — tell us what your party loves and we'll find its Hainan equivalent.

Where You Stay

Sleep on the tropical coast.

Not a tower by the airport road — an address on the water that is part of the journey itself.

Sanya · Haitang BayDining pavilions set among the pools at dusk, Rosewood Sanya

Rosewood Sanya

Haitang Bay, Sanya
Haikou · At Mission HillsA lone piper at sunset on the fairway beneath The Ritz-Carlton at Mission Hills, Haikou

The Ritz-Carlton at Mission Hills

Mission Hills, Haikou
Wanning · Shenzhou PeninsulaThe Grand Hyatt resort running along the beach and bay at Shenzhou Peninsula, Wanning

Grand Hyatt, Shenzhou Peninsula

Shenzhou Peninsula, Wanning

Specific hotels, room categories and the level of comfort you choose are set out in your private proposal — every address booked entirely on your behalf.

Extend the Journey

The coast is the finale.

Most of our guests arrive in Hainan after the mountains or the cities — it is where a China journey comes to rest. Two natural chapters that lead here:

Naxi rooftops with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain glowing at sunset, Yunnan
90 min by air

South of the Clouds

Snow-mountain fairways, the Tea Horse Road and China at its most distinctive — then south to the sea.

Explore →
A stone bridge over misty West Lake with the Leifeng Pagoda beyond, Hangzhou
2.5 h by air

Jiangnan & Modern China

West Lake calm, garden-resort golf and the Bund — the elegant counterpoint to the tropics.

Explore →
Journeys Featuring Hainan

Where Hainan fits in a journey.

Hainan is the warm-weather finale of a Golf China route — the place a journey unwinds, after the cities and the mountains. Two of our sample journeys are built to end here.

Pure Hainan The PerfectSwell surf pool at golden hour on Hainan's surf coast
8 Nights · 3 Rounds · 4 Surf Sessions

Surf & Golf Hainan

Wanning + Sanya + Haikou
A wave built to order for every level, links at The Dunes, a headland round at Lu Hui Tou and a lava-rock finale at Blackstone — the island, complete.
View Full Itinerary →
Signature Trip Naxi rooftops with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain glowing at sunset, Yunnan
9 Nights · 4 Rounds

Snow Peaks to Tropical Coast

Yunnan + Hainan
Highland fairways and Tea Horse Road culture, then south to a tropical coast for links, surf and Asia's most exclusive golf.
View Full Itinerary →
The Complete Route An oceanfront golf hole on Hainan's tropical coast
16 Nights / 17 Days · 7–9 Rounds

The Grand China Golf Journey

Beijing + Hangzhou + Yunnan + Hainan
Open in the capital, rise through the clouds of Yunnan, finish on a tropical coast — the complete Golf China.
View Full Itinerary →

Or build Hainan into your own.

Make it a pure winter golf week, add surf days for the family, swap a round for the sea — every journey is designed from scratch. Tell us about your party and we'll shape the route around you.

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