We stayed for 8 nights at the Horizon - parents, two kids, aged 9 and 11.

We booked through a travelagent in Shanghai.

Horizon Resort & Spa (Family Room with 2 breakfasts, 1 double bed, 2 singel beds)

RMB 1480/room/night (MON,TUE,WED,THU,SUN)

RMB 1680/room/night (FRI,SAT)

Flight:

RMB 2260+TAX 400 per adult

RMB 1900+TAX 300 per child (not over 12 years)

The flight took about three hours, the taxi from airport to Yalong beach about 30 to 45 minutes. We booked a taxi before hand which cost us 200 RMB.

We decided for Horizon because of the nice pool area.

We were very happy with our choice.

1. Family room was extremely spacious: one BIG double bed, two BIG single beds. Bathroom a bit old fashioned (shower in the tub) but absolutelly ok. Lots of space to walk around (app 50m²). Clean towels every day. Clean beds every day. You can also have smaller family room in case you only need one extra bed. Double bed is more then big enough for three - but be aware: only one blanket!

2. Pool area was fantastic. Even if the hotel is fully booked you have enough space at the pools. Water slide, top level pool with wonderful view. Clean, guards everywhere. Ideal for kids to be there for hours. For parents with smaler children it will be hard to keep an eye on them, because of the many paths and options to visit the several pools.

3. Breakfast: plenty, very big breakfast area, plenty of food: western, eastern, hot/cooked, cold - we missed nothing. The restaurant is open to the outside, nice view, in case you take a table in the first rows. Very busy between 9 and 10: we often had to wait a few minutes for a free table. So no quiet, romantic breakfast, but this is a family hotel!

4. Beach: easy access, Hotel area goes directly down to the beach. Wide beachfront. Nice wooden deck chairs and big umbrellas. Enough chairs for everyone. Beach towels provided. Beach was clean, water was clean. A sign said: be aware of jelly fish, but we never had an encounter with one. Guards watch your belongings and safe guards are there all day.

What we did not like:

1. Supper at the hotel was overpriced. Only one restaurant (the breakfast area) served "normal" food like pasta or pizza or burgers. We are adventurous with food, but the other restaurants were "very chinese" and pricy. It was too hot for us to walk around check the area for cheaper and better restaurant options...

2. the Drinks are "5-Star-hotel-level" price - except the coconut milk. We walked everyday about 500 Meters to a puplic place and bought water, beer or soft drinks there.

3. We had to leave the sea at 6 pm - the guards took care that everybody left the water! But that seems to be the same at all the other hotels as well in this bay.

4. We booked a family room for 4 but only got 2 free breakfasts- that does not make sense to me. (170 or 190 RMB per child per breakfast - I can not remember exactelly)

5. Jetboads where rented out and spoiled the lovely beach with their noise and smell. But that was only occasionally and bearable.

One day I walked to check the other hotels (all 5 Star Hotels are one after the other at Yalong Bay) - I still was happy with our choice. Sheratan was also nice, but much more expensive - not worth it in my opinion. Compared with all the other hotels - the pool area at Horizon was unbeatable, also the width of beach front and the quick access to beach.

We stayed for 8 days and that was nearly a bit too much because it got a bit boring. 5 to 6 days would have been fine for us - and we did need some serious rest after packing everything in old Europe and moving to Shanghai! We went in August and it was extremly hot, so we did not go anywhere else. You could do day excursions, if you like (book at the hotel lobby).

The sea was nice and during the first two days we had good waves for our 11 year old boy and his board! (it rained the day before we arrived). The sea got calmer every day. In the end it was like in a tub but very, very nice and always refreshing. There are always signs about how strong the wave are (red, orange, yellow, green).

The beach is ideal for smal kids: at low tide a sand bank shows up und makes a nice pool without any waves for the small ones.

Please don´t expect to collect shells - we only found tiny ones.

We would consider to go back for four days or so for a quick and easy relaxing and sun catching experience. It is always good to know a place where nothing went wrong and you could leave with a peaceful and happy mind - that is the Horizon for us. For a more exciting holiday you should choose the other south asian countries...;-)

I chose this hotel/resort because I was attending a meeting there. I would recommend this as a business meeting venue because the facilities are excellent. The resort itself is well situated on the beach with watersports etc. Food, service, bars in the hotel are very good. The rooms are well fitted out and comfortable. The staff are exceedingly pleasant and many speak very good English.

The location is in a "tourist zone" about 40 minutes by taxi east of the airport (expect to pay RMB150). In the special tourist zone there is very little except tourist hotels - don't expect to see a lot of the "real China". On the other hand, this means that the area is very clean, quiet at night and seems very safe (I walked at night frequently and was only once bothered by anyone selling anything, and then only politely). The hotel seemed to be popular with mostly Chinese, Japanese and Russian tourists.

Hi,

I used to spent a great one-week-holiday during august time this year on Hainan in the Horizon Hotel. I just can recommend to all people just not decided yet: vote for this Hotel.

The staff is very friendly, the hotel is directly based at the beach, the beach as well as the hotel area is marvelous clean, the food is quite delicious and the different restaurants offer enough variations for any kind of taste. We used to stay at the Deluxe Sea View Room and that offered just an amazing view on the ocean. The rooms as well as the complete hotel quality did not gave any reason to complain about. It's a shame we could only stay one week :-(. Only one thing would be great to add in future: Offer the hotels guests few persons, who could give them a lift to further famous places on the island and explain something about these places in english. It's for those, who not only want to stay all the time at the beach :-).

All in all: we would not hesitate to come back to this nice place with its nice HORIZON hotel.

Carsten from Germany

The Horizon has the best pool area on Yalong Bay with several to choose from including a lazy river, waterslides, theraputic pool, etc. I looked at a couple of the other resorts and the Horizon grounds are the largest and in a great location across the street from the Crowne Plaza's restaurant/shopping area. The beach area at the Horizon is large as well with lots of lounge chairs and umbrellas.

We would definitely stay there again.

The only thing that disappointed us in Sanya was the food. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was fine - it's served in several locations and despite what your ticket says you can eat in any of the locations - some are more crowded than others so pick the least crowded. The problem was dinner - we ate in a variety of places - mostly across the street in the Crowne Plaza area - and didn't have a single meal that was good. The Thai place was so-so, the pizza so-so, the chinese awful (almost inedible). We also ate at western restaurants in both the Holiday Inn and the Horizon and were very disappointed. I have never been on a beach vacation with such awful food! Could be our restaurant choices were just unlucky but I definitely suggest researching places ahead of time and being more willing to splurge on nicer places.

We are Americans based in Hong Kong and wanted to do a quick get away to Sanya. After reading online about Horizon, we decided to book there because of the pool. Our young kids love to swim and play in the water.

Most of the major hotels are all in a row on the same beach (except Crown Plaza - which was across the street). One morning I jogged down to check out the other hotels. I have to say the others might have been bit more stylish, but none compared to our pool and beach location. There were large grassy lawns and hammocks everywhere.

The pools are also connected, which was nice when you had to keep an eye on kids. The other hotels had lots of nooks and crannies which is hard to keep track of kids.

Our 6 year twins played in the pools everyday. We wanted to tour around the island, but it took 2 days just to explore the pools. There was current river, rope swing, slides, cave, upper pool with water fall, sea water pool and a large sport pool with sprays.

We had a couple of hard times with English, but could generally find someone who spoke English at each area.

We had lots of school friends stay at other hotels the same weekend (Mid-Autumn break) and they all reported the same language issues.

We found burgers, fries and pizza and the beach, but otherwise the food is more catered for asian tastes. Although, our kids did like the noodle restauarant. But we also found it was easy to try other restaurants in other hotels. Found a great BLT and hot dog at Crowne Plaza walking directly across the street.

I packed snacks thinking the kids might have a hard time with the food, but it was not necessary.

We also learned that it's sort of two hotels in one. We were in the older one, which was fine. It felt like a nice Hawaii resort. I think the new wing is more stylish. The new wing has the spa, which we went to.

The kids club was fine. Not as great as Shangra La in Cebu, but looked at the other hotels and it was as good if not better.

It was great with young kids and I would go back.

My husband and I along with our 10 month old, 3 year old and older sister, spent the best 8 days vacationing at this resort!

We are Americans and we found the service to be above average from all other resorts and hotels that we stayed at all over the world, including the U.S., Australia, Italy, Paris, Singapore, Carribean, Mexico, etc.

Every place we stayed I could have picked a few things that wasn't perfect including this place. However, what made the difference here is the time and thoughtfulness they put into this resort to cater to everyone's interest and needs was astounding!

Shelley is one of the Managers and she speaks great English! I would call her and ask about the different type of rooms they have. She gave us a tour and their are so many to choose from. Thanks again Shelley for your time and attention!

The resort is filled with Palm Trees, fruit trees and other magnificent plants! They have hammics nicely placed throughout the resort (some secluded and some out in the open). There are 5 different pools to choose from; one with slides (I saw more adults on them then the children). They have a Seawater pool for those that don't like the ocean, but want to enjoy the seawater for its purification. This pool is broken up into two sections, one that has sand at the bottom like the ocean for the children and the other part has smooth large rocks for the adults with a mini-waterfall.

They have more than enough lounge chairs with cusions all around the pools and beach. The beach is private so it never got too crowded. You can have great hamburgers and fries, freshly made fruit drinks and other drinks on the beach from the Beach Bar.

They have 8 different restaurants. They also make a great steak!! The food was delicious! The breakfast is delicious and bountiful! I insisted on having a Suite with a kitchen because I assumed that I would have to cook for my small children; I was wrong! They had so much food and many things that both my children enjoyed I never cooked once! The kitchen was only used to keep bottled water and hold all the Mangos we kept buying from the supermarket!

I heard the frogs and saw very little of them, we were all enjoying the scenic setting of the open restaurant with the beautiful lawn and backdrop of the aqua blue ocean!

I was quoted RMB300 for a massage, but decided to do the Massage Pool first. After experiencing that pool I didn't need a massage. That pool is one of a kind!

The Kids Club was the best I have ever seen. It opens early and closes late. It is a house on the grounds that is filled with so much enjoyment for the children! They even have a section for the adults with computer terminals w/Internet, a breastfeeding room, computer terminals for the older children, a reading section (I read the Cat In The Hat, my son's favorite), indoor playground and Arts & Craft section. The best part of it, it's was extremely clean! My youngest crawled around for more than 2 hours while my oldest ran around with the other children. They even have babysitting service inside the Club.

Our room was very clean and large. We had the Superior Seaview Suite. Every room in the resort has a computer w/free Internet.

I love the Traditional Chinese music they played in the Lounge. It was soothing and romantic.

We all had so much fun, it took us 5 days before we decided to see what was beyond the resort!

I cut my trip short from 8 days to 6. It’s hard not to appreciate the location of the hotel, being that it’s on the beach. The grounds are meticulously kept, the pools are clean and cool, the food is very good (though expensive), and the rooms are nice. Beautiful young women play very nice, traditional Chinese instruments near the pools, restaurants and bars. Everyone is very nice. Just don’t expect great service from competent staff. It’s as if it’s everyone’s first day on the job. My check-in assistant tried to charge me 100 RMB per night more than what was quoted to me 20 minutes before. He also said that he would inform me when a better room became available, but he never did. It took talking to 5 different people for over 45 minutes to receive a full pot of coffee (they wanted to give me half for the same price). The lounge bar staff plays the same eight songs over and over again, every single day and night. The grounds crew cut a coconut off the top of palm tree within a few meters of my head. I ordered a shrimp and avocado plate; they substituted the avocado for Thousand Island dressing and wanted me to accept it and pay the same price. It took 30 minutes for room service to bring a drink to my room. My Thai massage was ridiculously overpriced (750 RMB), especially for such a mediocre, elementary massage (I used to live in Thailand; this massage was lacking in many fundamental ways). I counted more than 6 different frogs jumping all over the main lawn by the restaurant patio. A groundskeeper came along and started playing football/soccer with their jumping bodies. The travel desk staff works when they want to, instead of according to their posted working hours. The weather posted for each day does not usually reflect the updated forecast (I learned this lesson the hard way). A man selling ice cream wanted me to pay cash instead of simply signing for it (as I had several times before). The staff at the teahouse do not know much about tea. My check-out assistant, isn’t very competent with the credit card machine, lock-box procedures or wireless internet availability.

We were at the Resort Horizon during the last two weeks of August. We went on the 3 day/ 2 night Beijing trip and the 2 day/1night Hong Kong trip.

Like many before us my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this holiday.

I believe there were 119 British at this hotel during the past fortnight, and in all my years of holidaying abroad I have never before experienced the bond that formed between us as a group.

I should firstly like to thank all the people who have posted reviews about this hotel. I read them all before we left, and found the information they contained invaluable. I knew exactly what to expect and perhaps largely for that reason I was not dissappointed in any way.

So much has already been written that I shall try to avoid duplication and add only fresh news.

The first bit of news will affect those going out on or after 9th September. The much praised Restaurant Manager, Michael, is leaving. His English is excellent and his departure will leave a big gap to be filled. Michael has been teaching his staff English, and they are picking up the language extremely quickly. Only a few weeks ago one or two reviews bemoaned the lack of English speaking staff, but how that has changed!

I have read other reviews about the towel changes, supply of beach towels, flip flops and dressing gowns, etc but no-one has yet mentioned that a plug in mosquito killer is provided and the blue tablet is replaced each night; there is even one plug point in each room that will accept a British plug. Save space and luggage weight here.

All inclusive is a new concept to the Chinese, and the Resort Horizon is the only hotel on Hainan Island to take on the challenge. Beer, water, red & white wine flowed freely enough. I accept that gin & tonic drinkers, etc had to pay extra, but considering the cost of the whole holiday I still think it was very good value for money.

I have no hesitation in recommending China, and in particular this hotel, to anyone considering booking this holiday.

...so this is it, we're finally here.

We endured a 3 hour delay at Manchester (after driving up from the south coast)...then it took us to get from the U.K. to Bahrain 6.5 hours, a one-hour re-fuelling stop and then a further 9 hours to Sanya. Piece of cake :)

About an hour later after passing through customs (we had the trainee customs officer - take your time why don't you!) and then collecting baggage we were on the coach to the 'Resort Horizon'. You could feel everyone's apprehension at visting China for the first time - it was great!

The heat and humidity were pressing after such a long journey but keep your pecker up because it's all part of the fun, right? Course it is!

The 40 minutes to the coast was an easy ride (although leg room in the coach was less than I had on the plane!) My personals were beyond crushed! The 'My Travel' rep on the coach (I think it was Lisa) gave a fairly good commentary during the drive. She gave you quite a nice feel for what you could expect although she should really have asked us if we had any questions.

Check in was a bit frenetic but pretty efficient. We'd collected our own bags from the coach but then a bell boy took us and them up to our room.

The room (on the 4th floor of building 1) was very nice; we had a lovely balcony with a great sea/gardens/pool view (which we later found out meant that our room size was a little smaller) but this is preferable since sitting outside is so nice. There was plenty of room for the 3 of us. Building 2 seems to be for the Chinese - I think - and it's newer than building 1.

The room: Hardwood flooring, stone clad/marble bathroom, free in-room safe, lovely (although quite hard) beds, excellent bed linen, towels, in-room broadband (about 1meg on some searches - dial up on others!) tea making facility (bring your own tea and coffee/coffeemate/sugar perhaps) a decent shower, and the overall feel of the room was very nice. We are travelling with our 14-year-old Son who has his own 'put-up' bed but he say's it's quite comfortable. A word of warning though - my wife and I have 2 separate beds which were laid out as 2 singles.

We removed the bedside table and placed that on the balcony so we could push the beds together - BUT - they are still 2 beds and not one double. Room service have not put them back as they were and it's no trouble at all. There's plenty of space for 3.

We have been here for three day's now and as very seasoned travellers - formerly backpackers - we are very happy. Overall, I rate this a 85 from 100 holiday so far.

So, a quick checklist:

Swimming pools - rate a 10 for variety as there are 4 or 5 to choose from. One of them is in the shade and under - yes, underneath the infinty pool if the sun is too intense for you. There are jacuzzi's dotted everywhere although they are cold water so feel a little odd (?) There is one 4-metre deep pool but only to jump in via rope - not to actually swim.

There are about 3 slides - bring a blow-up rubber ring thing to enhance your fun. There is loads of room in the other pools if you want to fool around with splash balls or frisbee, etc. They have a couple of basketball rings if you are into hoops. There is a net for water volleyball.

The gardens are exceptional and exactly what you'd expect for a resort on the same latitude as Hawaii - you can walk around here and almost expect a small raptor to jump out as the feel is a bit 'Jurassic Park' in places. In the evening the frogs all chat away at you and you know you're in the tropics.

At dinner time in the 'All Seasons' restaurant, Michael is THE MAN! He speaks great English (learnt in Malaysia where he was born) and he knows everything. If you really want the inside info, gain his confidence and speak quietly and diplomatically for accurate answers to your questions.

The food rating is GREAT! Very tasty, not a huge variation but what you get is very nice, very fresh-tasting and it's not a cattle market walking around when loading up your (quite small) plate. You'll go back for more. The deserts are a bit iffy - but hey, you're in China, so please don't expect Ben and Jerry's.

Weather on the first full day was 80-85% overcast, 10% sun and 5% in between. I was already quite tanned when I got here and I still burnt. Even in cloudy conditions, USE YOUR SUNSCREEN - factor 8 at least. Day 2 was rainy on and off so a bit of a break from the ray's - but I'll be very disappointed if we don't see anymore sun.

Yesterday we took a cab to Sanya -ask for McDonalds as from there you can walk around and see the (sort of) up-market shops selling Nike/Adidas etc, but also the lower end markets and of course, plenty of street vendors. We bought a phone memory card for 60% less than in England. I know you know this but make sure you barter, barter and barter! Be polite and smile and fake a heart attack to get the price down - have some fun and use the calculator to show what you want to pay.

Do yourself a favour - walk for 2 minutes around the back of the McDonalds and find the food market. It was incredible. We saw quintessential sights and sounds that will make you shudder, squint, squeal, squirm and chuckle to your hearts content.

The Health and Safety guy's would have a field day. We saw a 'live' chicken cull - I won't go into any detail as our friends at Trip Advisor will tell me off. Whatever you do, go see this (free) spectacle but please check your tolerances and ego's at the door.

We found a FANTASTIC massage place that was a really great experience. The three of us had a 2-hour total pampering - all over body massage for U.S $50. You could shower and get ready ahead of time at your own pace, take your massage - I'm sure it was more like 2.5 hours - and it was bliss. We had iced Tea and ginger drinks and plenty of cold water melon. The language barrier made it somewhat awkward at times but again, it was all part of the fun. The girls at this particular place were obviously used to working on oriental men so my hirsute body gave them a great thrill ;)

...Ok, it's 06:30 Thursday. My GMT +8 hours lag is lingering so later it'll be 'nap-time'...assuming Trip Advisor are happy, I'll do chapter 2 soon.

Best regards

Dave_C

We stayed at the Horizon Resort Hotel in july 2007. The hotel is very well kept , the Gardens are stunning , The pool is amazing and host s a lazy river not to mention the 7 Jacuzzis some of which are in door if you aren t great with the sun.

The hotel is right on the beach front. The beaches are really beautiful with fluffy golden sand and loads of sun bed s (as has the pool area ) plenty of space so you can find your own spot and be left alone.

The food isn t all that, we couldn t wait to get back and have a chinese as we know it, They use all kinds of cuts of meat so don t expect a la carte as we know it. Im a bit fussy so i struggled, although you wouldn t stare there is enough to keep you going. If all else fails the bar menu has burgers etc .

If you go on the all inclusive package be warned it isn t all inclusive as we know it :( The a la carte resturant menu for all inclusive customers is smaller than normal menu for customer paying per meal . Once the staff saw our wrist band the bigger menu was taken away from us ! which i wasn t impressed with.

The soft drink options are diet coke and water if you want Sprite you will be charged for this. Their are certain bars where drinks can only be obtained for the all inclusive customer s make sure you know which ones they are or else you will be charged for your drink. We did question the rep about both of these issues but we were told welcome to China, I personally felt they were issues that could and should be easily resolved.

The staff were freindly most of the time, although the bars try to close at 11.00 and on several occassions we were asked to leave as the workers had to go home. We had booked a holiday that stated 24 hour bar and so we went to bed when we were ready and not before.

All in all the hotel was amazing, remeber they really aren t used to the English and our ways so it s a learning Curve for them. Their English isn t great and prepare to get the wrong food on occassion - I think it all added to the fun.

Entertainment was limited we had a group from the Phillipines signing Oasis etc, it became rather tiresome. Theres a club across the way from the hotel as well as a Japenese & a brazillian Resturant which i would highly recommend we went there twice - it was spot on

We did the trip to Bejing which was amazing and i would say a must. The great wall was amazing but we only had 4 hours there so it was a bit rushed, bring lots of water and sun cream you ll need it. No matter how much you expect the Great wall to be a challenge it will beat all your expectations - it s tough going.

We saw the silk factory and Silk Market which was ace and all i can say is Barter , Barter Barter and you ll get some right bargains.

Forbidden City , Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven all amazing but after a while they all end up looking the same :)

Bejing was very rushed if you get offered to go out in the evening with the rep do it , otherwise you could end up inMacdonald like we did. They have hadly any english menus in the resturants which we found a little frustrating.

my husband & i have just returned from a 2 week stay at the horizon .we travelled with mytravel on 17 june . we had a fantastic time , meeting some great people . the hotel is something special as the staff were amazing ,they just couldn't do enough for us. the grounds around the hotel were well looked after ,and the pool areas were amazing , so quiet and relaxing , in fact for most of the time we had the pool to ourselves, it was like getting into a warm bath.( heaven). the food at the jazz bar was very good with a good selection everyday. michael who was in charge of the restaurant spoke excellent english and everyday he would ask us if we would like any particular meal on the menu , and if we said we would like a particular meal it would be in the restaurant the next day . jilly & monica who also worked in the jazz restaurant were very pleasant and helpful and looked after us so well . leah who worked at the lobby bar was a very friendly girl , i think she made a friend with all the guests , she also spoke excellent english. the only fault i could find with the all inclusive package was the drinks that we were allowed ,there was not much of a selection, and the bottles of beer would get warm before we had chance to finish them .the bottles were so big that we'd have to share one so we could drink them quicker. the drinks at the beach bar were even warmer as they only had a small fridge and they couldn't keep topping up quick enough .we done the trip to beijing which was amazing , the three days that we had there was hectic but well worth every minute. i can't describe the feeling we had when we were actually on the great wall of china . there were two sides of the wall which you could take , our rep warned us there was a hard way up or an even harder way up. we decided to take the even harder way because it looked as if there wasn't so many people on that side , but believe me it was real hard work trying to walk up hill , it was so steep i was getting out of breath every few feet , i'm ashamed to say i must be so out of condition.the other sights to see were tianaman square and the forbidden city , summer palace and the silk factory which were all good .in beijing we stayed at the novotel , but we were very dissapointed with the service . the location though was excellent . i can garuantee you if you stay at the horizon hotel in sanya you will come back home with great memories and great friends. i'd like to thank a few special friends that we made while we were there. ann & john from swansea , sue & mal from bridgend & ann from liverpool. you all made our holiday very special. so if there's anyone out there thinking about going to china , especially sanya the horizon resort is the place to stay "HAPPY HOLIDAY"

10th July 2007-

Have just returned from the most fantastic holiday in China.

Hotel Horizon is superb – right on a white sandy beach, with palm trees and beautiful gardens. Three swimming pools – with water over 90 degrees, and jacuzzi’s!. The grounds were always quiet and plenty of room for everyone.

Staff are brilliant, expecially Michael in the Jazz Bar (My Travel All Inclusive Restaurant), who speaks perfect English, having trained in Switzerland, and was very attentive to everyone in the Restaurant. Also Jilly and Monica deserve a special mention for looking after us all so well. They were so sweet. We certainly had 5 star service. Food was excellent, just right amount of spicy dishes, and some plain, with Soups, Salad Bar and a Dessert Bar, with lots of little cakes. Leah in the lobby bar was also lovely, and spoke very good English, with other staff we just pointed at the menu for what we wanted, and laughed a lot. They are so helpful and nothing is too much trouble.

Breakfast has everything to offer from eggs, bacon, waffles, bread and toast, to traditional Chinese food, and cereals, and it is fascinating watching the Chinese families in the mornings.

Only downside was the variety of alcoholic drinks available all inclusive, which were Beer, Wine (Red and White) and Rice Wine (local drink, bit scented, best drunk with Sprite, and an acquired taste). I know all inclusive usually only serves local drinks, but we managed to buy Brandy at £1.00 per bottle in Sanya which was perfectly OK, and Dave the local rep said he is going to ask the management to make this available. (If a shop can sell for £1.00 the Hotel must be able to buy it very cheap!). Not sure if it was Chinese or from Taiwan, but who cares, it was perfectly acceptable with Coke and made a welcome change.

You cannot go to China without ‘doing the sights’. We booked the 3 day trip to Beijing, and saw the Forbidden City, Emperor’s Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven, but the highlight was the Great Wall of China! This is a MUST. We then flew back to Hainan for 2 days on the beach.

Next we flew to Hong Kong for 2 days. Again this was a fantastic experience, even though it did involve an early start on the first day and a late finish on the second. (You don’t actually fly into Hong Kong, but to Shenzhen, just over the border from Hong Kong) and then a 2 hour transfer by coach involving Border Controls (it took us longer going in as there was a festival on, and a lot of Chinese about). It was worth it. Then back to Yalong Bay for the last 3 days

There are also plenty of day trips on Hainan if you don’t fancy travelling so far.. There are some good tips from reports from other people, so I won’t repeat them.

This really was the trip of a lifetime and apparently we were only the 4th party of British people to go to Hainan, so I feel we were a bit like pioneers - Yalong Bay is beautiful and I would recommend this Hotel to anyone.

There is a duo playing live music in the bar every night, which is very pleasant, but always the same music!

Take a mac/umbrella - as this is the start of the rainy season, having said that the weather as superb apart from our 2nd day in Hong Kong and 2 days back on Hainan, and then it was sunny again.

We upgraded to Premier Cabin for the flight, which although expensive gave us much more leg room, and wider seats grouped in two’s, with own portable TV’s and free drinks. All this was much appreciated on a long flight.

Everyone at the hotel got very friendly, because of joining in the trips etc. and there was a really great atmosphere.

Best wishes to all.

Pam and Derek and Rita and Kath.

Just returned from Yalong Bay staying at the Horizon Resort with Airtours one of if not the most fantastic holiday we have had.

Hotel - Fantastic location, through well maintained grounds to the beach, the sea was so warm and the 3 pools also warmer than I have ever known before, swimming around the lazy river and under the cave to cool down in the 3 jacquzzis. The rooms were of a large size and were very comfortable. Food was wonderful always a large selection to choose from, and we received tickets to try other restaurants in the hotel Korean, Chinese and BBQ well worth going to them all. Tea House whilst this is not included in the All Inc it is well worth going to check it out and have a cup of flower tea. Definately a high class hotel and in a much better location than some of the larger well known chain hotels. Staff very friendly and some spoke good English.

Flight - Could have been better but not the worst one we have been on, stopping at Bahrain tip take either us$ or Bahrain money to get something to eat and a drink, also take plenty of change on the plane to purchase drinks and snacks as 15 hours both ways it can become quite expensive for the small cans of pop, we took some water bought in the departures and this was a god send.

Weather - it was supposed to be the rainy season and we only had 3 days of bad weather and it was still warm and you could burn through the clouds when the rain stopped.

Trips -

We did Hong Kong, definately stay over as the immigration process from China to Hong Kong can be lengthy, Hotel again very good standard and fabulous location, the guide was very well informed and it was interesting although our top tip is take waterproofs with you as when we visited it was torrencial rain.

Nanshan Buddhism Park - another fantastic day out on the island and an experience visiting the temples you would never forget

Sanya By Night - Visiting the Deer Turning Back Mountain, a wonderful view over Sanya City, chinese meal and then a foot massage, this is not without a slight bit of discomfort but the benefits and how you feel the next day are tremendous.

Shopping in Sanya - we didn`t go on the organised tour, during the 1 cloudy / rainy day we went, would recommend the free bus from the hotel and a taxi back at your leisure, if you get the free bus turn back along the road you have come down and at the main road turn left keep walking until MacDonalds and the main shopping is there, very safe.

Shopping - Bargains we picked up you definately need to barter and go for the best price, prescription glasses in Sanya 2 pairs £58 and very different to those back home, alot of people got these, in the Sanya shops watches of various styles, we also bought bedding and Crocs, in Bahrain Airport these are about £14 a pair also in Yalong Bay at the Crown Plaza Shopping Centre over the road. Bags from the ladys market in Hong Kong.

Other Tips - Take with you high factor sun protection it is very hard to buy out there and is only in very little tubes lasting one day at the most.

When checking in you are asked for a credit card £250 deposit to open the mini bar if you are not bothered don`t do this as any extras spa, or different drinks from the bar can be paid for cash, they just lock the mini bar which is no hassle anyway.

Chinese massage - walk up the beach left towards the holiday inn and in 15 mins you will come across some huts at the end of this and past the pier is a tent where a very good and cheap massage can be had.

Beach Towels to save on the weight of luggage we didn`t use our beach towels as the hotel provided clean ones every day.

Malaria Tablets, you do need them and they are prescription only due to the island,

Mosquito bites yes there are mosquitos so just buy any protection.

Have a wonderful time.

We arrived on the 4th June 2007 after a terrible flight with my travel. We flew 16 hours with no entertainment, no wash bag and many other things missing, the good thing about the flight were the staff .(my travel are not prepared for a 16hour flight it was very basic.) But when we arrived at the hotel we were very pleased with the room and the view of the sea we had recieved. The rep insisted on having a meeting that very afternoon we arrived9everyody was shattered) and i think it was so he could gain some comission, all he was interested in was selling the trip to Beijing or Hong kong, He never told us about the hotel,its history or anything about our allinclusive deal and what we could find on the Island of Hainan.

Horizon resort and spa hotel was excellent, all its grounds were very clean many swimming pools, lovely beach, waterpark for us adults and kids many restrauants to eat at if you want a change from the all inclusive. a lovely Spa centre with little fish in the water that nibble the muck off your feet worth a go. Our thanks go out to all the staff especially leah from the Lobby bar who assisted us on our night out at the karaoke. She spoke great english and after a disaster of one our party falling over and cutting his arm open she was there to take us to the hospital so he could have it stitched. She was a Angel. Micheal was a great help also because he was also a great speaker in English. The trip to Beijing was fantastic and the site of the great wall in unbelievable. This hotel is one of the best we have ever stopped in. we made some great friends from liverpool,wales , newcastle. everybody got on. The island of Hainan is worth a visit but wait till another airline takes it on or until My Travel improve there facilities and Representitves.

This hotel has the best pool and grounds of any other hotel in the bay. It was simply fantastic. We checked out of our other hotel and into this one just to be at this awsome pool. The beach side services are amazing too. Overall I cannot believe some of the other hotels rate higher than this one, it's simply wonderful. The only area where I could find fault are the restaurants. I didn't really find much appealing to my picky tastes. As to the other reviews who complaint about the lack of English, you need to understand this is China. You shouldn't expect everyone to be fluent in your language. As it is they need to speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, and English.

Resort Horizon is a great hotel, with everything you can expect from a five star resort. The only downside is that staff in the hotel speak very little or no english. However travelling through china its not a surprise and I hope they will improve soon with Olympics 2008 not too far away. Chinese restaurant is the best in the whole hotel, and to be honest if I was to come back I would only dine in chinese restaurant and manager Andy speaks very reasonable english. Rooms are very spacious and clean, room service is good too. I agree with two previuos reviews but to extent, the hotel is geeting better and you won't find better beach in the whole china then the one in Resort Horizon. I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone, at the end of the day we have to respect the its china and not everyone has to speak english. Good Luck with your choice.

I was at Resort Horizon for a conference. I hope to convey some of the things which, at current, prevent it from getting more than two stars.

First, let me say that the place is absolutely beautiful. It truly looks like an Hawaii styled resort, with lush grounds, several flowing pools, a beautiful beach, and the complimentary palm trees all over. The rooms are well appointed with many balconies facing the ocean. So, what's the problem?

Service.

The biggest problem at the resort is that although they truly want to be a world-class place, the language barrier simply blocks them out. Simple things like getting cold beer at the pool (if they run out of beer in the fridge they just give you a warm one), and reaching another guest's room from your room phone (this is an exercise in futility) are what makes this potential diamond simply a flawed gem.

The hotel restaurants are extremely average, with the exception of the noodle bar and the chinese restaurant (shock and surprise!). It's a 15 minute taxi ride to the nearest village, so going off-site for food without someone who knows the language could be an adventure. My colleagues had many interesting stories to tell.

There was scuba gear and many water sports for rental, relatively cheap, and the staff at the water sports rental spoke enough English to make that experience passable.

I also couldn't figure out why we would walk over to a bar and find lots of well uniformed hotel folks standing around apparently confused with what to do with us.

All this being said, the staff really tried to be helpful, and with a few good english speakers on staff this place will turn around in a few years. While it is a bargain, I would take my money and go to the resorts of Thailand where they understand service. Come back here in a few years when they get their act together.