Haikou Hainan Island Travel Guide/Haikou Hainan Island Destination Guide

Located in the north of Hainan Island, Haikou is the Capital City of Hainan Island,  and also the Commercial, Culture & Economic Center of Hainan Island.  Haikou is also the biggest city on Hainan Island with over 1.2 million population.

Haikou (海口）is the capital city of Hainan Province, located in the north part of Hainan Island. The widest river—Nandu River rushes into the sea from the east side of Haikou city. Haikou has a total population 1.6 million, and the yearly average temperature is 23.8°C.

Haikou perches neatly at the northern top of Hainan, facing Guangdong province across the Qiongzhou channel and at the mouth of the Nandu River. Haikou is the political, commercial and transportation center of the Hainan Island and serves as a convenient stopping point. Perhaps the most curious aspect of the city however, is the feeling that despite the 1.6 million inhabitants here, this place lacks a truly "local" population as 50% of the population are immigrants form Mainland China especial from 1988.

Despite local government attempts to market this place as a HOT Chinese tourist destination (which have led to inevitable "renovations"), Haikou still has a few interesting sights and some charming old streets and alleys to wander and explore. Most of all however, this is a good place to get accustomed to the island and the laid back feeling about the place. Despite the massive changes taking place, a very relaxed feeling remains about this city. Palm trees line the boulevards, and some well preserved colonial architecture adds to the feeling that this is a city with a distinct and unique way of life, struggling to come to terms with its new role as tourist destination and as the capital of one of China's newest Special Economic Zones and the nation's newest province.

Average Temperature of Haikou Hainan Island

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Haikou, Capital of Hainan Island, the biggest city of Hainan Island in the very north