There wasn’t too much info about travel to Sanya so here’s our detailed trip report about how we got to and from Sanya to do nothing but lie in the sun. Overall it was nice and relaxing so we'd do it again.

A week ago Thursday we were in Shanghai with nothing planned for the weekend so I got online and booked flights via e-long and hotel reservations at the Hilton Sanya Resort and Spa via the Hilton website. Our friends gave Marriott and Sheraton high marks but we chose this hotel because it was the newest, having just opened in March.

We flew out of Shanghai Pudong at 11:30am on Friday via China Southern. I don’t think I’ve ever flown China Southern and I certainly never will again. The plane freaked us out. There was a piece missing off the chair in front of us and my husband’s chair wouldn’t stay upright, but worst of all we decided that there was no way anyone would be able to remove the mid-cabin emergency exit door if it was required. It looked like an additional row of seats had been added which left little room to get the door off and into the cabin with or without a disorderly crush of people pushing from behind. Fortunately we were seated in row 13, which was the other row of seats in front of the exit door.

We departed 20 minutes late after waiting on the hot, humid, sweaty tarmac for a few straggling passengers to board. We arrived at Sanya Airport that same 20 minutes late. As we didn’t know how long it would take to get to the hotel we decided to use the WC just in case. Unfortunately the men’s was out of order. The ladies was functioning but there was water all over the floor and it smelled of urine. Note that the furthest toilet from the door is western style and it was stocked with TP.

We picked up our luggage quickly and went to get a taxi. As our western faces emerged from the terminal we were swamped with taxi offers. Unfortunately, though, we did not speak the same language and for reasons unknown I didn’t bring the hotel name written in Chinese. We felt that some of the drivers were scammers. We finally found a driver who said “Yalong Bay” and “meter” so we were on our way. He had no idea where in Yalong Bay he needed to go, but we were able to read hotel names in English from signs and told him in Chinese which way to take us. Certainly pointing would have worked too. We arrived at the Hilton in about 45 minutes at a cost of 131.50 RMB. We pulled out 130 RMB and were still fishing for the remaining 1.5 when he thanked us and left. Walking in we saw a van arrive with people from our flight and we supposed that the hotel offers a pick up service. Could be something to look into if you’re not comfortable with local taxis.