This was an easy choice for Dad as it was the one city in China which he has never been to, and due to my limited days, we figured 4D3N is a decent amount of time to check out this new city.

According to Wikivoyage, “Haikou (海口 Hǎikǒu) is the capital and largest city of Hainan Province in southern China and is at the north end of the Hainan Island. Haikou is a tropical coastal city that, as one of the least developed provincial capitals, has a somewhat laid-back atmosphere”. Very different from the Sanya vibe but

BUT to get there from Singapore was a different thing.

The only airline which flies direct from Singapore to Hainan is Hainan Airlines (but of course) so I thought it’ll be an easy choice – book us on economy for the short 3.5hour flight to and fro, all for under $550 per pax. And I admit I was curious about this 5-star Chinese Airline and looking forward to experiencing my first flight with them.

BUT alas, it was not meant to be.

But lets start with my original plan first.

FLIGHTS

We had planned to fly out via HU448 depart 0440 arrive 0815, and return via HU459 depart HAK 1140 arrive SIN 1510. Tickets booked. Not a fan of their cabin colors but ah wells, lets try it anyway. “5-star” meal on a 5-star airline at the ungodly departure time sounded soothing enough.

However, 1 week after booking, I reciveed a flight cancellation notice for my return flight due to ‘corporate reasons’ (whatever that is) and rebooking done on HU747 depart HAK 0740 arrive SIN 1110. That completely changed our last day’s plans of a leisurely breakfast and getting back to SIN at a decent enough timing.

After finding out that a full refund without penalty was an option if it was an involuntarily change not due to passengers themselves (official T&C on their website here), I started finding options for getting ourselves home with a layover and stumbled on Cathay Pacific selling a one-way ticket from HAK-HKG-SIN for RMB4,000 (SGD750) – and I thought it was a nice treat for the Dad for his first Cathay Pacific business class experience (and trying out 2x different aircraft type too), plus get to enjoy CX’s Business Lounges in HKIA during our layover. YAY.

So I decided to cancel the whole ticket (since cancelling only 1 sector was not an option the system showed), rebooked ourselves one-way, on the outbound, for SGD370, and made my Cathay Pacific Bookings. WOOHOO.

And suddenly we were scheduled to try these:

CX313 depart HAK 1645 arrive HKIA 1815 (Airbus A321neo) – SO PRETTY CANNOT WAIT.

CX715 depart HKIA 2015 arrive SIN 0020 (Airbus A330-300) – not Aria Suite but still a decent looking product!

HOTEL

So as I didn’t need to clock any more Marriott Bonvoy nights, I did a little research of the atas properties in Haikou and landed on Langham Haikou, which offered a very nice location beside a giant mall right smack in city centre. BUT then came the multiple confusing communications about lounge access top ups, day tour possibilities, and generally made to feel like my queries were annoying them – totally not welcoming.

So I decided to look for my trusty Marriott Bonvoy and so hello The Riz Carlton Haikou it is. It looks amazing in photos and I cannot wait to see the property in person.

AIRPORT LOUNGE(S)

There seems to be conflicting information about CX’s Business Class passengers’ lounge access at HAK so lets see how it turns out. If anyone has any experience let me know!

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[Hainan Dad Trip 2026]

Final Itenary:

• HU448 depart SIN 0440 arrive HAK 0815 (Economy)
• The Ritz Carlton Haikou
• Random Airport Lounge in Haikou Meilan International Airport
• CX313 depart HAK 1645 arrive HKIA 1815 (Business)
• CX715 depart HKIA 2015 arrive SIN 0020 (+1) (Business)