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Sydney to Haikou Return Direct with Hainan Airlines $216 (Book by 31 May, Departure to 31 Dec)

1290

Ozbargain's favourite China deal is back again! Not sure when it will last till. Found quite a few dates with skyscanner, just search by month view, or search from Hainan's booking page direct. Link to previous deal for some useful advice and links.

Perfect timing to take advantage of Hainan's new visa-free policy for Australians!

Sample dates:
4 - 10 May Skyscanner link
1 - 5 June Skyscanner link
8 - 12 June Skyscanner link
20 - 24 July Skyscanner link

Good for short trips from Friday - Tuesday. Works for me! See you guys in Hainan!=D

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closed Comments

  • Damn

  • Damn

  • Damn.

  • +35

    I did not need to
    go on a trip to Haikou.
    I did anyway.

    • +19

      i came here for this
      i was not disappointed
      Refrigerator

    • +7

      What's there in Haikou?
      What's interesting to see?
      Serious question though

      • -5

        Pretty much nothing. People focus on the cheap price for this flight but ignore the opportuity cost of wasting valuable annaul leave to go to a place which essentially sucks.

        Time > money

        • +2

          RUOK?

        • Time spent relaxing is time not wasted

        • +3

          Hand in your OzBargain badge please

        • @laser:

          Why? Because I don't agree that taking a holiday to a polluted 4th tier Chinese city is worth my time? Clearly some have difficulty understanding the concept of opportunity cost.

        • +2

          @Icecold5000: I have been to Sanya and stayed seven nights there the place wasn't polluted. I felt the air quality was better than Sydney. And yes you don't stay in Haikou you take the bullet train to Sanya. Haikou is a hole.

        • Same thing with the cheap Fiji travel packages

      • Haikou has a volcano crater and the old streets not much. Most people hop on the bullet train to Sanya where it is very resorty. You can also catch the bullet train to the mainland or fly out. We went to Macau last time.

    • +5

      Very low air fare
      On airline I know not of
      Perhaps status run

  • Ozbargain's favourite China deal

    Do yoI have any other china deals to compare this to?

  • +1

    Wow. That's cheap. I'm reading Wikipedia but I still don't know what to do there as a tourist (i'm not Chinese).

    • +1

      See family

    • +1

      Catch a train or another plane?
      Stay in the hotel?

      Doesn't exactly seem all that touristy there ;)

    • Eat chicken?

      • +1

        Chicken out.

        Haikou's just a working city. The resorts are on the coast or in the centre.

  • Nice, also works during September/October school holidays and kids are actually only $120 AUD return. Nice resort style hotels can easily be found for under $100 AUD per night in Sanya as well.

    • Can you help with the dates? Can’t find anything

      • +2

        28th sep to oct 4th
        28th sep to oct 11th
        oct 3rd to oct 11th

        etc. just play around with the calendar view

  • That’s a great deal! Thanks

  • +2

    These Hainan airlines if you're reading, need to start offering AirAsia priced flights from Haikou to other places, so we can do dog legs.

    Hanoi, HCMC, Manila, BKK would be a good start.

    • +2

      I'm sure there are a few restaurants in town to fulfil that canine craving?

      • We'll have to add Seoul to the list for that

  • Whoa, Hainan partners with Virgin, could be useful for a status boost.

    • +1

      Last time I checked these sale fares didn't qualify for status,which is a shame

    • Haha don't expect any status point from this trip. It's just way too cheap

      • Sigh.

  • +1

    Ozbargain's favourite China deal is back again!

    I thought April Fools joke was over.

  • Anyone gone over just for the f😜😜😜 of it

    • +4

      Thought that was more of a thing in Thailand

  • -1

    Im pretty interested in going here. Is there any language barrier in this city? Can you get around easily without speaking a hint of chinese?

    • +1

      I'm sure almost nobody will speak English. It's a place for Chinese tourists.

      unless you are fascinated by new cultures, you will be disappointed. I guarantee you won't go back unless again you can get a crazy price like this.

      • I was thinking of using marriott points to redeem at the Marriott Haikou (Only Category 3) and it looks like a really good seaside stay. For 5 nights of resort stay (using 60k Marriott points) and $216 return flights, seems too good to pass up lol :(

        • what about heading to Sanya (the resort place on the island) and going to the marriott there?

        • @cathole:

          If you just want to stay in a hotel, you'll be fine.

          But don't expect many people to speak English. Maybe a few young university graduates.

  • +1

    ”After obtaining a Visa on Arrival in Haikou, travelers can visit other cities, then leave from any cities at randomly in mainland China”

    https://www.hainanairlines.com/AU/GB/sydneyhaikou

    Does this still apply now that it’s visa free?

    • Traveler whose nationality is Australia will be charged a Visa Fee for 168 CNY by cash, credit card or debit card.

      • https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/373245

        Visa Free from the 1st May. That’s why I’m asking if the rules will be the same in regards to visiting mainland.

        • -2

          Visa is free for staying in that island only. If you want to go somewhere outside the island you need a Visa. Don't tell me you are confused.

        • +1

          @bbtlovebbt: I think your confused with “Visa-Free” and “Free Visa”. I’m not asking anything about the cost.

        • @Hugetyler:
          To stay in Hainan island - which is newly defined as a free trade zoom - you don't need to apply for a Visa to land in this Island (if you have kind of special background which China won't grant your visa normally, Hainan won't let you in for sure). If you want to get out of the island - for example, other mainland cities outside this island - you still need a visa - RMB $168 compare to AUS $110 in Australia. This is clearly written in the airline's web site.
          Think about Hong Kong. Hong Kong is part of China, but you don't need the visa to go to Hong Kong. But if you are going into mainland China from Hong Kong, you need a Visa.
          All communist countries are confusing.

  • I was going to post this deal too but dates seems limited….

    Don't forget you get Visa free entry from 1st of may too. See this deal: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/373245

  • +1

    Remember that Hainan is subject to typhoons in season. Check the climate summaries.

  • What fare letter does this go under?

    • -2

      C for cheap.

    • The worst one, no points

  • Booked. Thanks heaps for sharing!

  • -3

    What do you even do there? I don’t understand.. Hawaii of China? But it is still China with smoggy air and amazing group of tourists with great public manner

    • Username checks out

  • +2

    Ok, I'm off to sunny Sanya again, was there just last month. Thought this would happen, so didn't bother with changing back my RMB last time. I even have a wallet enabled wechat account with actual RMB in it. I am not Chinese, and cant speak a word of Mandarin, but have managed 6 weeks so far in Mainland China on my own. Very useful to have a wechat wallet in China, though, but a bit difficult without a Chinese ID card. This will be my third trip in a year. I am obviously quite at ease with travelling around China, have visited 11 cities so far in all corners, find the place very organised, clean and the people are very well behaved and the youth are usually English speaking in cities, though some may have not had enough practice, but they are usually very helpful. BTW the overnight sleeper trains are a great way of getting around China.

    • do you often use these sorts of fares as a cheap way to get to the region and travel around mainland china from there?

      • That's what I am doing this time around. First time I flew to Changsha and then Beijing and did a big circle round China. Second time I just stayed at Sanya in a resort. This time I'm going to see the places in Mainland that I missed in the first big circle.

    • How did you get.WeChat Wallet?

      • +1

        You ask one of your wechat friends to send you a red packet.

        • Do I need to send nudes?

        • @Wallyt99: That will get you banned from WeChat.

  • It's a bargain, you save the Visa application fees ,
    https://www.visaforchina.org/SYD_EN/yyxz/276210.shtml

  • +8

    I've just been to HaiKou from the last deal (traveled early March 2018). I'd like to share my experiences and hopefully it may help others.

    The VoA process has it's downside, basically you needed queue in this area prior to immigration at least 2 hours for the processing of this visa. There is no sense of urgency by the immigration personnel there to streamline this process. If you have kids travelling along, you may need to factor in the extra delay. However I think it's a reasonable trade off as the normal visa would take more than 2 hours of effort to process in Sydney.

    Taxis outside the airport have massive LPG tanks that takes up the whole boot space - hence making it useless to store your luggage. No problem if you are a light/solo traveler but if travelling with a group or family, you may need two taxis.

    For the life of me, I can't seem to get WeChat pay or AliPay to work and foreign credit card(visa/mastercard/amex) are almost useless there. But if can get those payment method working for you, it would be more convenient than carrying wads of cash around.

    Public transport is cheap, air-conditioned, clean and frequent (cough cough….ShittyRail) - most routes only charge RMB1 per ride. You can get to most tourist destination few transfer in between. There are english translation for all the stops and automated PA in english to tell you what the next stop is.

    Some noteable places to visit:
    * Official XiaoMi Store to stock up
    * Qilou Old Town area
    * Various night markets e.g. Shangsheng Food City (Jinpan Rd, Longhua Qu, Haikou Shi, Hainan Sheng, China, 570206)
    * Any KFC - menu is amazing there
    * Baishamen Park
    * Shopping at Pearl Plaza and WangHai (SeeView) Plaza

    • +1

      Its not so much a queue as sitting around waiting for them to finish processing all the applications in your plane load.

  • Any suggestions for an ozbargainer's honeymoon in Sanya in December? Bullet train from Haikou? Best 5 star resorts for a couple of young lovers (ozbargain style of course)?

    • +1

      You could also consider the east coast there are resorts and good beaches around Wen Chang and Boao. There are stops on the HST.

      • Wen Chang is the home of Hainan Chicken.

        • I had some good seafood on the coast.

    • I stayed in Resort Intime in Sanya and had a very good experience. The name of the hotel is also appropriate for honeymooners.

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