Whether the Chinese island of Hainan really does deserves its moniker of ‘Hawaii of the East’ is still up for debate, but judging by the blue-chip hotel and resort brands that are shooting up along North Haitang Road in the island’s southern city of Sanya, there’s no gainsaying its lucre, especially among the massive mainland Chinese tourist market.
The latest bold-faced name to land on a prized slice of beach here is Ian Schrager’s Edition. The 512-room hotel was designed by Singaporean-based architecture fiem SCDA, whilst Schrager’s team furnished the capacious rooms with light oak, white drapes, Le Labo toiletries and gigantic circular bathtubs.
The grounds are mindboggling in their size, especially the port corchere whose cathedral-like splendour is lined with soaring wood-lined ceilings, a pair of teak pavilions, a 10,000 sq ft reflection pool carved out of solid black granite and huge bamboo groves. Landscape architects Madison Cox have framed the resort and its views of the South China Sea within 50 acres teeming with coconut palms, Beach Naupaka, Madagascar Almonds, Manila Grass and Birds of Paradise.
Equally gratifying is the hotel’s artistic diversions, not the least of which is a double storey bookshop stocked with heavy duty art and cultural volumes, an en plein air gallery showcasing contemporary Chinese artists, and a boutique showcasing limited editions co-curated by UCCA (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art) Beijing and Steven Giles of Base Project.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
100 North Haitang Road
Sanya
Hainan 572013
-
Aesop’s Queer Library bookmarks brilliant literature, no purchase requiredReturning to London’s Soho, 3-6 July 2025, the Queer Library pop-up offers complimentary books by LGBTQIA+ authors and allies
-
Wangechi Mutu's powerful sculptures take over the palatial interiors of Rome's Galleria BorgheseThe Kenyan-born artist is the first living woman to have a solo exhibition at the villa
-
Il Sereno’s new Listening Suite is what phonophiles’ dreams are made ofDesigned by Patricia Urquiola and Il Sereno founder and audiophile Luis Contreras, the new Lake Como-facing suite unites Japanese listening culture with Italian design
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
-
Enjoy heritage views and contemporary brews at a new Beijing caféJM Café, White Pagoda Temple by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio nods to the history of the Xicheng District while injecting a shot of vitality
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designThere’s more magic to the movies at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s ‘flying’ roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillityAlila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Travel back to the Ming dynasty at Beijing’s new Mandarin Oriental hotelMandarin Oriental Qianmen merges traditional culture with contemporary needs in a 600-year-old historical building complex
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotelPalazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
