Cycling in Hainan

Cycling has become a popular activity on Hainan. Both Chinese and foreigners enjoy exploring Hainan by bike. Maybe you just want to cycle a few kilometers in the afternoon, or perhaps your planning a trip to cycle around Hainan Island. Either way this section contains some useful information.

Hainan is well suited to bicycle trips, especially if you enjoy rural landscapes and natural beauty. Away from the heavy industry of mainland China, Hainan has a pleasant environment for cycling. Hainan offers beaches, mountains, jungle, coconut plantations, waterfalls, minority villages, and a couple of cities for exploring.

Hainan hosts atleast one professional cycle competition, the ‘Tour de Hainan’ every year.

Bring your own bike to Hainan or rent one from a bicycle shop in Haikou or the Banana Hostel. Haikou has a fairly good bike shops where you can rent good quality bicycles for reasonable prices. Alternatively, you could buy a decent bike for around 2000 RMB.

Road conditions around Hainan vary widely, from bumpy mud tracks to good modern asphalt roads.

Bicycle Rental in Hainan

The Haikou Banana Hostel has several mountain bikes that are suitable for cycling around Haikou City. Guests can use them for free, but they can only be used within the city and surrounding area.

If you want to cycle around Hainan island we suggest that you rent a bike from Giant bike rental store, because you can return the bike in Sanya and it is professionally serviced.

Bike Shops in Haikou

The nearest bike shop to Banana Hostel is:

Giant Haidian 1 Road Store 捷安特海甸一东路专卖店 Address: Binjiang Coastal Commercial Street C114-C115,No.40,1 Road East, Haidian Island, Haikou City, Hainan Province. 地址：海南省海口市海甸一东路40号滨江海岸商业街C114-C115 联系电话 Tel：13016238230

We can help you contact the store when you arrive.

Other Bike shop details:

Hainan Giant Bicycles Jiefang Road. Address: 40 East Jiefang Road, Haikou City, Hainan. 捷安特海口解放东专卖店 解放东路40号 0898-66222615

Hainan Giant Bicycles Meixiangheng Road. 捷安特海南CYCLING WORLD 美祥横路和风江岸8幢8-9-10号商铺 0898-65255669

Hainan Giant Bicycles Fengxiang East Road. 捷安特绿色佳园专卖店 风翔东路2号江畔人家云悦坊商街36号

Bike Shops in Sanya

Hainan Giant Bicycles Hedong Road. 捷安特三亚专卖店 Address: 15 Mejing Huayuan, Hedong Lu, Sanya Shi, Hainan 三亚河东路丽景花园15号 0898-88986150

Hainan Giant Bicycles Xingbin Road. 捷安特三亚崖州专卖店 崖州区南滨农场兴滨路东侧A栋10号房 0898-88842158

You can find a list of all the Giant bike shops in Hainan on their website: http://www.giant.com.cn.

Cycling Around Hainan

There are many possible cycle routes. A shorter cycle trip would be from Haikou to the coconut plantations of DongJiao near Wenchang (distance 100 km one way). Another route would be Haikou to Sanya through the centre of Hainan (250 km). The central road is in good condition and passes through beautiful rural landscapes and mountains. Venture off the central road and find waterfalls and minority villages. Arrive at the beaches in Sanya. A popular cycle plan is Haikou to Sanya down the central route and back to Haikou along the east coast (or vice versa). If you get tired and decide you just want to cycle one way then you can take your bike on the High-speed train back to Haikou.

The following section gives the elevations and distances of some of the major roads in Hainan which should be useful for cyclists and perhaps bikers too.

Elevation and Distance of Hainan’s Central Highway (G224)

The graph below shows the central highway is fairly mountainous. The biggest incline/decline is just north of Wuzhishan Town. Maximum elevation is just over 900m and the total length is 280km.

Elevation of Hainan’s central Highway

Road to Wuzhishan Mountain

To get to Wuzhishan Mountain you need to exit the central highway and take the road to Shuiman Village. There are 2 possible routes: take the turn at Maoyang Village, or the turn off just south of Wuzhishan town. Either way it is approximately 30km to Shuiman. The elevation graph below shows the road to Shuiman has some significant inclines/declines.

Elevation and Distance of Hainan’s Eastern Highway (G223)

Note: Hainan has both an Eastern Highway (the G223) and an Eastern Expressway. The highway is older and the road surface is not always good. The expressway is newer and more direct, but not for cyclists, it is basically a high speed motorway. The graph below shows that Hainan’s eastern highway is mainly flat and about 300km long.

Elevation of Hainan’s Eastern Highway

Elevation and Distance of Hainan’s Western Highway (G225)

Again, Hainan has both an western highway (G225) and a western expressway. The expressway is a motorway and not for cyclists. This graph shows the western route is also quite flat, but is the longest, at around 400km.

Cycling Distances Between Hainan Towns in kilometers.

224 国道 Middle Highway

									Haikou 海口
								Xinwu 新吴	47
							Tunchang 屯昌	38	85
						Wushi 乌石	37	75	122
					Qiongzhong 琼中	15	52	90	137
				Shenyun 什运	35	50	87	125	172
			Maoxin 毛阳	15	50	65	102	140	187
		Wuzhishan 五指山	25	40	75	90	127	165	212
	Daben 大本	25	50	65	100	115	152	190	237
Sanya 三亚	61	86	111	126	161	176	213	251	298

223 国道 East Highway

										Haikou 海口
									Lingshan 灵山	11
								Yunlong 云龙	12	23
							Penglai 蓬莱	43	55	66
						Huangzhu 黄竹	15	58	70	81
					Qionghai 琼海	29	44	87	99	110
				Wanning 万宁	70	99	114	157	169	180
			Niulou 牛漏	15	85	114	129	172	184	195
		Lingshui 陵水	46	61	131	160	175	218	230	241
	Tiandu 田独	56	102	117	187	216	231	274	286	297
Sanya 三亚	14	70	116	134	201	230	245	288	300	311

225国道 West Highway

418	394	341	304	240	205	195	136	88	55	27	Haikou 海口
391	367	314	277	213	178	168	109	61	28	Laocheng 老城
363	339	286	249	185	150	140	81	33	Dala 大拉
330	306	253	216	152	117	107	48	Duowen 多文
282	258	205	168	104	69	59	Danzhou 儋州
223	199	146	109	45	10	Bangxi 邦溪
213	189	136	99	35	Taipo 太坡
178	154	101	64	Reshui 热水
114	90	37	Lingtou 岭头
77	53	Jiusuo 九所
24	Tianya 天涯
Sanya 三亚

East Expressway 东高速公路

• Haikou 海口 - Sanya 三亚 260km
• Lingshui 陵水 - Sanya 三亚 69km
• Lingshui 陵水 - Qionghai 琼海 108km
• Qionghai 琼海 - Haikou 海口 87km

Other:

• Haikou 海口 - Wenchang 文昌 65km
• Haikou 海口 - Dongfang 东方 212km
• Dongfang 东方 - Sanya 三亚 148km

Hainan Bicycle Trip Reports

Here is a bike trip report from a guest at Haikou Banana Hostel. They took the G223 (old eastern highway) from Haikou to Sanya in Sept 2011.

Bike trip to Sanya

I just did this ride with my girlfriend. Buy a map of the island (only in Chinese but you can copy English names onto it from the map at the front desk). Xinhua Bookstore sells the maps. We followed the G223 all the way to Sanya. If is well marked and it has kilometer markers and tenth of a kilometer markers. Only in the cities does it get confusing. We did the ride in 3 days although I’d recommend 4days. In total it is about 330-350K based on where you start + end.

Route: Head to the East Train Station, go just beyond it and at the “T” go left and you are on the G223.

Day 1: Once on the G223 follow it with a bike lane out of town through several small towns on smooth roads for 115K to the town of Qionghai. There is a nice cheap hotel on the right on the main street.

Day 2: Follow the main road out of town and look for the G223 sighs to let you know you are on the track. Bike about 60K and relax in Wanning after a short day.

Day 3: Wanning to Lingshui: you encounter the first mountain pass at 50K not too long or steep. Lots of cheap hotels everywhere, cheap food too.

Day 4: Lingshui to Sanya is around 70K with one pass around 50K and a big downhill into Sanya 40 of the 70K, the road is in bad condition, it will be slow and dusty.

Summary: Follow the G223; water + food are plentful along the way as you pass a lot of towns. Bring a big shade hat + sun scream — there’s not much shade.

Bike can be taken on the train for the return!

NOTE: We have had feedback back from cyclists who warn that bikes must have their wheels taken off before being allowed on the train.

Cycling Routes Around Haikou City

Here are suggestions for cycle trips in and around Haikou.

Banana Hostel to the Old Town Centre

Haikou’s old town centre is about 1km south of the hostel. To get there head south down Renmin Road and cross the bridge. It can be fun cycling through the small decaying alleys and getting lost in he process. You can find many small real temples. If you’re lucky maybe there will be some kind festival at a temple. The area is being renovated. This is an easy ride except for the bustling bikes and people to steer around!

Banana Hostel to Holiday Beach

This route will take you to Holiday beach. Take a left at the Clock Tower and follow the new cycle path along Haidian river, under century bridge, and past the iconic Wormhole library. Continue on to Evergreen park. Keep following Binhai Road as it becomes a coastal road, leading to the beaches in the west of Haikou.

You can also take a detour into Changming Village and Wuyuan River Park.

Banana Hostel to Wugong Temple via canal

There is a canal that runs through the east of Haikou. Along the canal is a path suitable for cycling. This is an easy way to see some of the city while avoiding motorised traffic. The canal leads to Wugong Temple. You can come back to the hostel along the Nandu river to complete the loop.

Cycle routes south of Haikou City

The Longhua area is an old volcanic area (there are no active volcanoes). The area has abundant amounts of volcanic rock just beneath the top-soil. As a result, you can find many rock cutting factories, quarries, and some small ancient lava rock villages. The roads are generally small concrete or tarmac affairs interconnecting the small farming villages. Most of the area is tropical countryside. Traffic is sparse apart from around the new Mission Hills Golf Resort where there is construction and big trucks moving lava rock. The altitude is roughly sea level and largely flat.

The map below shows the Longhua District cycling area (the red square) in relation to Haikou city. The cycling area is south of Haikou city, inbetween the central highway and the eastern expressway. Paths suitable for cycling begin on the southern side of Yehai Avenue (椰海大道), which is basically the edge of the built up city.