Clearwater Bay Ulan Resort

The resort beside Hainan’s quietest ranked sea-course — a bay with real sand, and golf without Sanya’s crowds.

Clearwater Bay on Lingshui’s coast is what Sanya looked like twenty years ago: a long white bay, a ranked sea-course (the A Course, China No.92), and resorts at half the Sanya price. The Ulan resort is the closest stay to the clubhouse — walk out of breakfast and onto the practice green.

We use Lingshui as the southern extension of a Sanya week: two nights here for Clearwater Bay, then forty minutes back up the expressway to Yalong Bay or Haitang Bay.

The bay itself earns its name — swimmable in February, which keeps the non-golfing half of the group genuinely happy.