Yalong Bay is widely judged the best beach on Hainan — a seven-kilometre arc of fine white sand backed by international resort hotels and the tropical forest of the Linshan range behind. The water stays warm year-round (24–29°C), the sand is genuinely fine, and the headlands at either end shelter the bay from wind for most of the year.
Public access to the sand is straightforward — the resorts cannot fence off the beach itself — but the easiest entry points are the public plazas at the eastern and western ends, where there is parking and a string of cheap loungers, jet skis, and parasail operators. Swimming is generally safe, but watch the flags after typhoons in summer when the rip currents can be sharp.