The area around Sanya rewards day trips. Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone (40 km west) and Tianya Haijiao (26 km west) can be combined into a single day along the coast road. Yazhou Ancient Town, beyond Nanshan, makes a good third stop for anyone interested in the area's pre-tourism history. To the east, Wuzhizhou Island is a half-day trip from Haitang Bay and worth the effort for the snorkelling.
For something different from the beach, the Yanoda Rainforest Cultural Tourist Zone, about an hour inland in Baoting county, is a managed rainforest park with canopy walks, suspension bridges, and a series of waterfalls. The Nantian Hot Springs in the same area have a long list of themed pools (coconut, coffee, herbal, doctor-fish) and are a reasonable spa day. The Nanwan Monkey Island in Lingshui county to the northeast is reached by cable car and supports over 2,000 free-ranging Indian rhesus macaques.
Further afield, Wuzhi Mountain — the highest peak in Hainan — sits in the centre of the island and rewards a long day if you have a car (about three hours each way) with rainforest hiking and Li culture villages around its base.
