Get to Hainan

There are 3 main ways to get to Hainan Island: plane, train & bus. There are frequent flights from all major Chinese cities and Hong-Kong to Haikou airport. Trains and buses can be taken from the Guandong province and all over the Chinese mainland. These are loaded on to ferries to cross over the sea to the island.

By air

Hainan has two airports: Haikou Meilan Airport (HAK) and Sanya Phoenix Airport (SYX).

Domestic Flights

There are regular domestic flights between Haikou and most Chinese cities including: Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Nanning, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Prices vary over time and are much higher during Chinese national holidays. The table below gives you a rough indication of flight frequency and duration. Some good websites for booking domestic tickets and checking latest prices are:

City Duration (hours:mins) Frequency
Beijing 3:30 5/day
Guangzhou 1 +10/day
Kunming 1:30 2/day
Nanning 1 2/day
Shanghai 2:30 +5/day
Shenzhen 1 +10/day

International Flights

You can fly to Haikou from most major airports around the world, most flights are not direct and will make a stop.

There are direct international flights between Haikou and the following cities:

There are daily international flights from Hong Kong.

Haikou - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia):

Airasia.com fly directly between Haikou and Kuala Lumpur. Sometimes they have very cheap flights, check their website (www.airasia.com).

Haikou - Singapore:

Singapore-based Jetstar Asia has direct flights from Singapore to Haikou (www.jetstar.com).

By Train

There is a train link between Haikou and Guangdong province (the trains are loaded onto ferries to cross the sea). So you can get the train from Guangzhou to Haikou. Guangdong province has rail links with the rest of China, therefore Haikou links to many Chinese cities via Guangdong.

You can check the latest train timetables and prices on the following popular Chinese website: http://train.qunar.com/ By Bus

You can get buses from/to many cities on the mainland to Haikou, including Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guilin, and Nanning. Most buses are overnight sleeper buses. Buses are loaded on to ferries and arrive at Haikou Xingang port.

From/to Duration (hours) Cost (RMB)
Guangzhou 16 250
Guilin 18 220

By Boat

Haikou has two ports - Xingang and Xiuying. Xingang is the main passenger port. There are frequent ferries between Haikou and Haian (Haian is just across the sea from Haikou on the mainland). These take around 1 hour 30 mins, and are good value at around 35 RMB.

There are daily boats between Haikou And Beihai. The trip takes 12 hours. Prices range from 120 RMB for a large dormitory to 230 for a private double cabin.