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Explore the region
About Haikou
Qilou Old Street offers the most immediate introduction to its trading history, while the provincial museum adds island-wide context. The volcanic landscape west of the city and Dongzhai’s mangroves to the east deserve separate outings. Haikou is spread out: choose a neighbourhood before treating its coast, old town and airport as nearby stops.
Haikou began as Baisha Jin (白沙津), a Tang-dynasty landing with a ferry and postal station on the route between Qiongzhou and Leizhou. By the Southern Song the settlement was known as Haikou Pu (海口浦), a name that gradually replaced Baisha Jin. The Ming dynasty set up a defence post in 1368 and began building a city wall in 1395, and the port later opened to foreign trade during the Qing dynasty under the Treaty of Tianjin.
Haikou was separated from Qiongshan county to form its own municipal administration in 1926. It became Hainan's provincial capital when the province and special economic zone were established on 13 April 1988, and on 16 October 2002 it absorbed the county-level city of Qiongshan to form the present-day city. It is designated a National Historic and Cultural City (国家历史文化名城).
The city lies in Hainan's northeast on the coastal plain at the mouth of the Nandu River (南渡江), with generally flat terrain. Chengmai County borders it to the west, Ding'an County to the south and Wenchang to the east, and the Qiongzhou Strait separates it from the Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong to the north. Besides the main island area, the city includes Haidian Island (海甸岛) and Xinbu Island (新埠岛).
What to look for
- Qilou Old Street’s arcades and food-oriented historic centre.
- Provincial museum collections, with volcanic or mangrove landscapes on separate excursions.
The surrounding area
Northern city base for arcaded streets and an urban introduction to island food.
Location & getting there
Getting to Haikou
Use Haikou Meilan Airport or a rail station appropriate to your accommodation. Haikou East and the western Haikou railway station serve different parts of the city.
Combine your visit
Suggested order for a focused visit to this part of Hainan.
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Qilou Old Street骑楼老街
Start with trading streets and a local meal.
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Hainan Museum海南省博物馆
Add island history and culture by a separate urban transfer.
Confirm the opening of individual stops and the return connection. This is an editorial sequence, not a combined ticket.
Find Haikou overview
海口 · 海口
The pin marks the area, not the entrance.
More places nearby
Approximate straight-line distances between map pins, not travel distances.
Temple of the Five Lords 五公祠
1 km awayThe Temple of the Five Lords is a memorial complex in Haikou dedicated to officials exiled to Hainan during the Tang and Song periods. Statues of the five men give the principal hall its focus, while the surrounding palms, lily…
View guide →Haikou People's Park 海口人民公园
2 km awayHaikou People’s Park is built around a wooded hill in the otherwise largely flat centre of the city. Narrow winding paths rise beneath a tree canopy towards a broad upper area. This shaded, enclosed landscape feels different…
View guide →Qiongtai Academy 琼台书院
2 km awayQiongtai Academy is a historic educational site in Haikou’s Fucheng area, associated with the scholar Qiu Jun. Its principal two-storey building combines brick and timber, giving the academy a smaller and more intimate scale…
View guide →Sources & visit information
The linked encyclopedia sources support background and place descriptions. Current opening hours, ticket prices, booking rules and transport schedules have not been independently verified for this guide. Confirm them with the venue or operator before travelling.
Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikipedia contributors, “Haikou” · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 1371671049.
Background paragraphs translated and condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "海口市", Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 94239202.