Haikou City & Beach in Two Days

Five Officials Temple, museum & the old street. Morning: bus 1 or 11 to Five Officials Temple (¥19–20, 08:00–18:00) — "Hainan's first tower" with the Fusu Spring, the Song edict tablet and bronze bell; the Haikou City Museum sits inside the same gate. At the gate of the compound stands the Hainan Provincial Museum (free, Tue–Sun 09:00–17:00) if you want the 20,000-object version of island history. After lunch, the 20-minute walk to Qilou Old Street: Deshengsha, Zhongshan and Boai roads, then Shuixiangkou Lane for Hainan pickled noodles, beef-belly rice and fried zongzi. Late afternoon: the Clock Tower by the water and a laoban tea house. Evening: the Qilou Snack Street on Datong Road, with Qiong opera on stage.

The volcano & Holiday Beach. Morning: buses 7/16/24 to the Haiyu middle line, then the Xiuying–volcano shuttle to the Leiqiong Haikou Volcanic Geopark (¥45–60, 08:00–18:00) — walk the Fengluling crater rim, through rainforest and old lava channels. Lunch on Shishan slow-raised mutton, the volcanic-soil speciality. Afternoon: back to the coast for Holiday Beach — 6.2 km of coconut palms and white sand; swim, rent a surfboard, then the sunset and the open-air seafood barbecue plaza. If you time it before 20:30, the Impression · Hainan Island show fills the evening.