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China ChinaIsland

Hainan Island

33,210 km² rising to 1,746 m out of the South China Sea.

When to go

Hainan Island seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
HaikouSanyaWenchangWanningQionghaiBasuoNada
N 50 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

33,210km²

Area

1,261km

Coastline

measured on a simplified outline

1,746m

Highest point

9,200,000

People

29°C

Warmest sea

August

62km

To the mainland

When to go to Hainan Island

Best for the beach from November to March.

The sea is warmest in August (29 °C) and coolest in February (22 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island in China which makes up the majority of the province of the same name

Hainan Island is an island in China. It covers 33,210 km², with 1,261 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 1,746 m. About 9,200,000 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 62 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • Sanya Phoenix International Airport (SYX)main airport (3 on the island with scheduled flights)
  • FerriesGuangdong-Hainan Railway Ferry
  • 62 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
  • From November to Marchbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Car hire in ChinaDiscover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Hainan Island.

  • 78beachespossible camp site, Dadonghai Beach, potential camping beach and 75 more
  • 51viewpointsHaiyue Square, Sea View Platform, View for Haikou City and 48 more
  • 9lighthouses
  • 12ferry terminalsXinhai Harbour, Nangang Station and 10 more
  • 20marinasClearwater Bay Marina and 19 more
  • 58named peaksWuzhi Shan II, Wuzhi Mountain, Yingge Ling and 55 more
  • 4volcanoesMount Fengluling, Mount Yanjingling, Leihu Volcano and 1 more
  • 5waterfallsDiaoluo mountain and 4 more
  • 1castles and fortsChangming Village Gun Tower
  • 8ruins and archaeological sitesHuangnigoudui Tianjiaotanban and 7 more
  • 4campsitesRV Park & Camp Groud and 3 more
  • 307hotels, guesthouses and apartments
  • 515restaurants, cafés and bars

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Hainan Island in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Hainan Island, each with its own numbers.

  • 1beachCoastya
  • 85mountainsPeakyas
  • 67lakesLakeyas

  • Highest point

    1,840m

    Wuzhi Mountain

    prominence 1,840 m · according to Peakyas

  • Largest lake

    58.0km²

    Songtao Shuiku

    according to Lakeyas

  • Warmest lake

    31.6°C

    Shimen Shuiku

    surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas

  • Beach with the warmest sea

    28.4°C

    Xiao'ao Gang

    sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

1 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

  1. Xiao'ao Gangcove28.4°C

Open Coastya ↗

85 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

  1. Wuzhi Mountainprominence 1,840 m1,840m
  2. Haikou Volcanic Cluster Global Geopark
  3. Hainan Dao Volcanic Field
  4. Wolong Ling
  5. Jianfengling Mountain
  6. Du Ling
  7. Houshan Ling
  8. Mengtong Ling

77 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

67 lakes

on Lakeyas, the lake atlas

  1. Songtao Shuiku58.0km²
  2. Daguangba Reservoir35.2km²
  3. Niululing Shuiku25.3km²
  4. Nanfu Shuiku11.6km²
  5. Wanning Shuiku9.5km²
  6. Changmao Shuiku7.3km²
  7. Gaopoling Shuiku6.8km²
  8. Hongcheng Lake0.29km²

59 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 191 m above the sea. 69 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 32 %0–50 m
  • 38 %50–200 m
  • 20 %200–500 m
  • 9 %500–1,000 m
  • 1 %1,000–2,000 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Hainan Island33,210 km²
Ireland83,069 km²
Sicily25,615 km²

200 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Towns on the island

  • Haikou3,001,600 people
  • Sanya1,031,396 people
  • Wenchang560,894 people
  • Wanning545,992 people
  • Qionghai528,238 people
  • Basuo444,458 people
  • Xiuying290,000 people
  • Nada256,652 people
  • Wuzhishan112,269 people
  • Qiongshan87,657 people
  • Dacheng84,620 people
  • Sandu76,757 people

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)232630333331313030282623
Night low (°C)131418212424242423211814
Sea (°C)222223252829292928282624
Rain (mm)252044831801912563443043329046
Wet days5571120212223211596
Sun h/day3.23.94.15.16.36.26.35.24.84.33.82.8
Wind (km/h)111010989989111212

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020+1.1+0.4+0.7+0.6+0.3+0.4+1.0+1.0+1.9+0.1−0.8−0.7
2021−0.4−0.2+0.8+1.3+1.3+0.4+1.1+0.2+0.6+0.7+1.4+1.3
2022+2.1+1.1+0.9−0.1−0.4+0.7+1.3+1.0+1.4+0.6+0.5+0.3
2023+0.2+1.6+0.8+1.0+0.6+0.9+1.8+0.8+0.7+0.9+1.3+1.5
2024+1.7+1.2+0.6+0.4+0.2+1.1+0.8+0.3+0.9+0.2−0.2+0.2
2025−0.3−0.7−0.1−0.3+0.4+0.4+0.4+0.4+0.3+0.6+0.1+0.9

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More islands nearby.

Weizhou IslandChinaChina25 km²87 m208 km awayCát Bà IslandVietnamVietnam155 km²322 m328 km away

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q1081204) · CC0
OutlineNatural Earth · public domain
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsCoastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit