Zhujiang Nantian Resort

This was an amazing hotel. Built in the hot springs area, there are some 68 hot springs (and one freezing one) for you to dip in, all in the grounds. Each spring has a 'tea bag' of herbs or some other addition, giving each spring a different smell and purpose. Together with the big infinity pool, a water park area with slides and water cannons and the pools with fish that nibble away the dead skin (fine once you get over the tickling and does leave skin feeling good), it is easy to see hours just slide away here. It looks like the whole resort is fairly new, so some areas are not fully functional but it is quite quiet which is a bonus. When the rest of the hotel, the adjoining hotel and the plethora of hotels along the nearby coast are built, I suspect the resort will be swamped with an overload of visitors like many of the developed resorts in China. Talking of the building of hotels, there is loads of work going on along the Haitang Bay coastline. We took the free minibus down there one afternoon but there is nothing there apart from a nice bit of beach and a restaurant further along the coast. No vendors, no activities, no shade, nothing. The sea is too dangerous to swim in so you will be fine if all you want to do is lay on a hot beach but you need to come prepared! Once the hotels along the whole stretch are opened, I suspect the shops and vendors will follow but with so many hotels in such a short stretch, I am sure it will be packed again. There are bus stops on site for a number 29 bus. We never saw a bus though and the receptionist explained (I think) that it wasn't running yet. A real shame as it has just a few stops at major tourist points such as the resort, Yalong, Sanya and Nanshan. Will be perfect if it ever runs. There is also a free bus into Dadong. This is a more interesting place with shops and restaurants, but suffers from having a packed beach and overpriced activities. Transport times are, erm, 'limited' and buses are rarely on time so actually making it to Dadong can be a challenge. The hotel itself is very nice. Staff are very friendly and helpful and there is usually someone who speaks some English on duty. Most signs and menus also have English and there is a nod towards the western breakfast although the whole thing appears to be set up for Chinese and Russian. We stayed in a split-level room which was excellent. Nice views, plenty of space, good air con but typically hard beds. Facilities were good and maid did a good job of cleaning up after us each day! Because it is a fairly big site and the breakfast restaurant a bit of a hike, there are electric golf carts that run you everywhere. Possibly due to the hotel being undercapacity at present, however, these appeared to stay at the main reception area so most days we ended up having to walk somewhere as a buggy and driver were nowhere to be found. There is a little shop on site as part of the employee accommodation. This gives a bit more flexibility if you don't want to visit one of the on-site restaurants or fancy taking something into the springs area. Other than that, there is little in the way of shops and activities and the whole resort is quite isolated. Reception will order a taxi for you but it takes about an hour to arrive and comes with a call-out fee. Overall? If you are happy to just chill in the springs for a few days, this is perfect. Entrance into the springs area and breakfast were included in our rate which kind of made the actual room free! If, however, you are staying for longer or want to see a bit more of the island, perhaps somewhere more central would be suitable.