In some respects, nightlife is an oxymoron in Sanya. For years the growing number of visitors were left with nothing to do after a late night dinner. But finally Sanya is awakening from its slumber. Each of the three bays (Yalong, Dadonghai and Sanya) is evolving a distinct night scene of its own based on the nature of its clientele.

Yalong Bay Sanya Hainan Island

Yalong Bay is the only holiday resort area in China to receive the national 4-star rating from the State Council. By enticing a number of large international brand name resorts (such as the Sheraton, Marriott, Gloria, Holiday Inn, Golden Palm, Horizon, Hilton and Mangrove Tree), the government has created a Club-Med type strip along a 7 kilometer stretch of beautiful beach. It has devoted considerable resources to develop a virtually self-contained world class tourist resort that caters to the upper class.

Most visitors to this area rarely leave the confines of their full service resort accommodations. Each hotel has several restaurants, a spa, an activities center and extras like cigar and wine bars. For their evening entertainment, most guests go to a music lounge, attend an occasional floorshow or relax by the hotel pool.  But is not ready. All the hotels have small night clubs. But the best is to sit in the lobby enjoying the live band showing with gentle.

Night life is not 0 in Yalong Bay. There are more local restaurants, bars and night clubs in Crowne Plaza.

Dadonghai Beach 

Dadonghai has undergone significant tourism development in the past few years, albeit more haphazard and less organized. Dadonghai is a very busy tourist area with some of the most diverse accommodations, eating, shopping and entertainment facilities in Sanya, with a distinct Russian presence.

A new Blue Sea Luxurious Bar Street on Haiyun Lu has developed with several bars and places for nightly entertainment. The Hot Spot, The Sky Bar and Pectopah Disco-Bar are among the new offerings. Just a few blocks away is Yuya Road, which seems to be developing a nightlife area of its own.

The Hot Spot was started by Giuseppe Insana, a young Italian who came to Hainan to teach biology at the Danzhou University, but ended up trying to make Sanya a more internationally appealing travel destination. Insana tried a series of ideas and his first successful one was a bar on Haiyun Lu, The Hot Spot: The Italian Club, equipped with disco music, a full bar list and scantily clad petite bar dancers.

The Roma Pizzeria sits on the top floor of The Hot Spot, opened by Insana and his partner Eolo Tomassoni (an ice cream maker with an artistic flare) opened the Roma Pizzeria. On their open-air terrace, Eolo (from Rome) designed and created a little piece of Italy with an authentic wood-burning oven and a "Roman Room" equipped for imperial lounging. Together, the restaurant and bar make for a tasty and fun evening out.

The restaurant also provides an outlet for another of Insana's enterprises; carrying on the family tradition of producing sun-dried tomatoes.   Marinated in olive oil and garlic and dried by the sun for over a month, his tomatoes are close to perfection. In a moment of triumph, an Italian tourist dining at Insana's pizzeria commented that the pizza is just like what he gets at home in Italy. As Insana says, "What better compliment could we get?"

Recommendation: Rainbow Grill & Bars in Dadonghai with live Band

Downtown Discos

Sanya's downtown is opposite Sanya Bay on a peninsula between the ocean and Sanya River. This is where most residents in Sanya live and where most of the day-to-day amenities are found. 

A broad ocean boulevard, Binhai Lu, runs 20 kilometers along the ocean bay and a beautiful stretch of park, palm trees and beach. It extends from downtown towards the airport and beyond with luxury high-rise apartments springing up along the way.

The bar street here is on Sanya He Xi Lu. There, on a strip lining the river between two shopping centers, are a number of bars, KTV's and discos. Too many of these night spots are nothing but loud, Smokey discos with an incessant techno-trance drone. If that is what you are looking for, they are easy enough to find: Bujian-Busan Bar, Golden Glory Nightclub, Love at First Sight Bar and Sanya Hollywood Club.

For a more unusual nightlife experience, head to the Guo Xi Hotel around 8:30pm every night for a strangely beautiful showgirl dancing spectacular where at least half of the "girls" are men, but it is impossible to tell which is which. Sanya's nightlife certainly is heating up.

Of all the activities, we would like recommend a hair-dressing at USD1.5-4/person including a head, shoulder, arms and hands massage. You could get it in any beauty salon or barber's in Sanya.

Now a new bar street available just besides Eadry Resort: a few nights clubs, bars with wonderful shows. It is the highlight of Sanya's night life.