This coconut farming community takes up a big chunk of Wenchang County on the northeast coast. Cool, palm-lined lanes wind through traditional villages where locals harvest coconuts and snooze in hammocks. The beach is less spectacular, thanks to construction on the marina. You’ll have to travel far from the entry point, at the Hainan Prima Resort, to find a more scenic stretch.
For a very intrepid solo traveller, a few days of biking through the plantation would be a fine adventure. For the rest of us, the easiest way to get there is to take a bus from Haikou’s east bus station to Dongjiao (¥24, 1½ hours, 10 daily), and then transfer to a minibus bound for Dōngjiāo Yēlín (¥4, 10 minutes, regular).
Besides the restaurants at the resort, you won’t find much else to subsist on other than coconuts. Note that this part of the coast is in the shipping lane and gets a fair amount of sea traffic, so the water isn’t the cleanest.