In most cases you may have got a direct flight from your country to Haikou directly rather than to Sanya. However, most the attractions lie in Sanya esp. the best beaches are all situated in or near Sanya such as Dadonghai, Yalong Bay and others.
In the case of arriving at Haikou Meilan International Airport and heading to Sanya straight. The best method is the high speed rail from Meilan Airport to Sanya Train Station.
Once you go through immigration and customs in Meilan you walk to the front exit which is straight. Not many people speak English there so it can be challenging, but you don't have to worry as it is pretty straight forward.
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| Sign just outside the front exit pass customs. It shows you the options getting to the Domestic Terminal of the airport (which is where the Meilan Airport Train Station is. The free shuttle bus is ideal. |
Upon the exit to where cars or taxis are waiting, there is a sign that lists in both Chinese and English the various means of transportation. Aboard the free shuttle bus that arrives supposedly every 15 minutes. The bus takes you to the Haikou Meilan Domestic Airport and that is where the station high speed bullet train is situated. Once you get off the stop for Domestic Airport, follow the signs that lead to the ticketing booths or machines at the train station, its a very long corridor.
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| Straight when you get off the shuttle bus, you will see this sign for the Railway Station, follow the arrows. |
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| Continue following the signs, yes the station corridors are very long. Very typical of Northeast Asian cities in every Metro network. |
The ticket machines aren't in English so its best advised to go to the ticket booth. The ticketing officers at the booth can speak English, so you will need to buy the earliest possible ticket to Sanya Train Station, which will cost approx. 95 yuan or approx. $19-20 AUD per ticket. Note: you must produce your passport or Chinese ID card to purchase the ticket.
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| Queue to get the train tickets to Sanya (or Haikou East and other stops). The automatic ticket machines are on the opposite side but I tried it and its in Chinese. So I decided it was easier to line up. |
Once you got your ticket go walk through the entry security gate, where your bags will go through a scanner. Also note: you have to have your hat off when walking through the security (they won't know how to say that in English to you, as they will say it in Chinese). Once through, just go to the seating area or go near the boarding gate of your ticket. The signs on the gates are in Chinese so I only managed to recognise the Chinese characters for Sanya, which I barely know any Chinese at all. Around 15 minutes before boarding time, the ticket gates will be activated and you will know once you can pass by putting in your ticket through the machine, when you see everyone starting that process.
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| This is the direction to Sanya at the waiting room. My ticket had D7357 as shown below, just simply look for the platform code on your ticket and where the signs have the same code. |
Then walk to the platform of the train departure, generally by following others. Locate which carriage your seat number is booked in. Its displayed on your ticket, again in Chinese. Look for your seat number and sit down. There is a top rack where you can put your luggage and the train is super modern and spacious with a foldable table. The bullet train goes up to speeds up to 246 km per hour and there are toilets on board.
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| What inside the train looks like with the speed and temperature display board |
I believe Sanya is the final stop, but I could be wrong. Once you know you are at Sanya Train Station, head to the exit. There is likely some people offering rides via scooter at the exits, I had quotes of 40 yuan and 50 yuan to head to Dadonghai, but I did not take the offer. I went to the taxi stands where you have to queue up and the taxis cost around 30 yuan or little more to get to my hostel in Dadonghai. Just show the driver, your accommodation address in Chinese and he will get you there. Note: if you don't have a SIM card, the app Maps.me on your smartphone has GPS and can help you visualise if you heading the right direction or if the driver is taking you the long way. My experiences so far has been relatively good, despite I couldn't speak much Chinese.
So Chinese phases that may help you with the taxi driver is: "Chu Dadonghai" (Chu meaning "go to Da Dong Hai") or Yalong Bay (in Chinese is Ya Long Wan) or where ever you are going. I presume the cost to Yalong Bay is gonna cost more than to Dadonghai as Yalong Bay is much further than Dadonghai from Sanya Train Station.
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