How long is the Haikou to Sanya train, and what does a ticket cost?
The fastest Haikou to Sanya trains take 1h25m from Haikou East (海口东) or 1h14m from Meilan (美兰). Most trains fall into two groups: a fast group at ¥119 second class and a slower group at ¥152 from Haikou East. Both numbers are from the 12306 English-site search for Thursday 15 October 2026, looked up on 6 October. Other days can differ.
| Group (to Sanya station) | Trains | Time | Second class | First class | Business |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast, from Haikou East | 46 | 1h25m to 1h55m | ¥119 | ¥191 | ¥417 where sold |
| Slower, from Haikou East | 22 | 2h28m to 3h5m | ¥152; C7246 and C7240 list standing tickets only | ¥244 where sold | ¥534 where sold |
| Fast, from Meilan | 46 | 1h14m to 1h43m | ¥113 | ¥181 | ¥397 where sold |
| Slower, from Meilan | 9 | 2h45m to 3h17m | ¥158 | ¥253 | ¥554 where sold |
These are the prices 12306 showed for 15 October. No result carried a "% off" label, and fares can differ by train and date. The fastest trains are D7477 (Haikou East 13:10, Sanya 14:35), D7475 (19:25, 20:50) and D7471 (07:50, 09:16, 1h26m). China's national railway operator says the same in a February 2026 feature on the Hainan ring railway: Haikou to Sanya in "only 1.5 hours" at the fastest. Treat that as the best case, not the usual trip.
Five trains in the search show only a standing ticket: C7233, C7235 and C7241 from Haikou station (¥145 to Sanya, 2h19m to 2h36m), and C7246 and C7240 from Haikou East (¥152). If you want a seat, read the seat classes on the train's row before you book.
How many trains a day, and when are the first and last?
The 15 October search lists 74 different trains from Haikou to Sanya: 68 C trains, 3 D trains (D7471, D7477, D7475), 2 Z trains and 1 K train. Every one of them reaches Sanya station. Count trains by the train ID, not by rows: 12306 prints one row per train and station pair, so one train appears several times.
- First train: C7871 leaves Haikou East at 06:30 (Meilan 06:41) and reaches Sanya at 08:23.
- Last train: C7339 leaves Haikou East at 22:40 (Meilan 22:51) and reaches Sanya at 00:21 the next day.
- From Haikou station: C7301 leaves at 06:35 and reaches Sanya at 08:42, calling at Haikou East and Meilan on the way; second class is ¥129.
- Lowest fares: the sleeper trains Z501 (07:35, Sanya 10:50), Z8007 (09:38, 13:10) and K457 (18:25, 22:17) from Haikou station. Hard seat is ¥79.5, hard sleeper ¥143.5, soft sleeper ¥224.5, and the Z trains also sell a deluxe soft sleeper.
One more listing, C7231, shows "ticketing temporarily closed" because of a timetable adjustment. It is not a train you can book, so it is not in the 74.
Haikou East, Meilan or Haikou station: where do I board?
Take Haikou East or Meilan unless you want a sleeper. Of the 74 trains, 68 can be boarded at Haikou East, 55 at Meilan and only 7 at Haikou station. Most trains stop at both Haikou East and Meilan, so the three figures overlap and add up to more than 74. On fast-group trains, Meilan comes about 10 minutes after Haikou East (C7871: 06:30 and 06:41) and is a few yuan cheaper. On the slower west-side trains that stop at both, the order flips: Meilan comes first (C7802: Meilan 08:19, Haikou East 08:35) and costs more (¥158 against ¥152 second class).
Haikou station is on the other ring, in the west. The Meilan airport page also lists city trains running both ways between Meilan (airport), Haikou East, Chengxi, Xiuying, Changliu and Haikou. That is how to get between the east-side stations and Haikou station inside the city. The page gives no fares or frequency for them, and it doesn't say how to get from Haikou East or Haikou station into downtown Haikou.
On 12306's English site the stations are spelled Haikoudong, Meilan and Haikou.
Eastern ring or western ring: which is faster?
The eastern side is faster. The Sanya airport page gives the two lines of the Hainan ring high-speed railway, and both end at Sanya station:
- Eastern ring (东环线): Haikou East, Meilan, Wenchang, Qionghai, Boao, Wanning, Shenzhou, Lingshui, Yalong Bay, Sanya.
- Western ring (西环线): Haikou, Laochengzhen, Fushan Town, Lin'gao South, Yintan, Baimajing, Qiziwan, Dongfang, Jianfeng, Huangliu, Ledong, Yazhou, Fenghuangjichang (Phoenix Airport), Sanya.
To tell which way your train goes, look at its stops in the 12306 results. Fast-group trains that list Yalong Bay reach it before Sanya, so they run down the east side. The slower group lists Yazhou and Fenghuangjichang before Sanya (for example C7822: Yazhou 09:11, Fenghuangjichang 09:25, Sanya 09:35), so it comes down the west side. Don't assume more about a train's route than its own rows show.
Some trains carry on round the island after Sanya. On 17 others, the last stop in the results has no station name; these are round-island trains that start at Sanya and finish back at Sanya station, and they are counted among the trains that reach Sanya. The train number can also change at Sanya, for example C7871 becomes C7872.
Go by your ticket
Your ticket shows your train number, departure station and time. Board by that, not by a number you saw in an earlier search.
Which Sanya station: Sanya, Yalong Bay or Phoenix Airport?
Sanya station is the safe default: all 74 trains reach it, and both rings end there. The other two depend on the ring.
- Yalong Bay (亚龙湾): an eastern-ring stop, named for the bay. 21 of the 74 trains show a Yalong Bay stop. On C7871 it is 1h43m from Haikou East at ¥114 second class, and 1h32m from Meilan at ¥108.
- Phoenix Airport (凤凰机场): a western-ring stop, and the station is connected to the terminals' drop-off platform; its main gate is on the west side of Terminal 1. 36 trains from Haikou show it. On the slower west-side trains it comes about 10 minutes before Sanya station. On some fast trains the results list it after Sanya (D7477: Sanya 14:35, Phoenix Airport 14:53), so it is not always the quicker stop. Second class from Haikou East is ¥123 on C7871 and ¥149 on C7822.
The Sanya airport and railway pages don't say how far Sanya, Yalong Bay or Phoenix Airport station is from any hotel or beach, or which bus or taxi to take from the station. Distances depend on your hotel, so check it on a map. For the airport side, see Sanya airport to the city.
12306 may also show trains on the Sanya–Ledong tourist line, which opened on 16 November 2024 and runs Sanya to Yazhou in as little as 32 minutes, per the Hainan government site. It is a local line for Yazhou, Tianya Haijiao (天涯海角) and Nanshan; neither the Sanya airport's high-speed rail page nor the Hainan government's opening announcement says Haikou to Sanya trains use it.
From Haikou Meilan airport to the train
Yes, Meilan station is built into Haikou Meilan airport, and you reach it on foot, with no bus. The airport page labels it "美兰站(美兰机场乘车站点)" and gives three ways in:
- Terminal 1 departure hall, Gate 2.
- The Ground Transportation Centre (GTC), opposite the Terminal 1 arrivals hall.
- The high-speed rail passage on basement level 1 (B1) of Terminal 2.
From Terminals 1 and 2 the station is about 400 m away in a straight line, about a 5-minute walk, "subject to on-site signs". Ticket counters are at the B1 station entrances of both terminals. The ticket machines work in Chinese and English and take cash, WeChat, Alipay and UnionPay. The booking line is 95105105 (24 hours) and customer service is 12306. The page doesn't say whether the counters and machines take foreign passports; buy online ahead of time if you want that settled. It points passengers to 12306 for timetables and tickets.
Can I buy a Haikou to Sanya train ticket with a foreign passport?
Yes, on 12306, the official railway site and app (hotline 12306; English site at 12306.cn/en). The steps are in our guides to buying 12306 train tickets and 12306 passport verification. For refunds and changes, see 12306 refund and change fees.
Train, plane or bus from Haikou to Sanya?
The railway and airport pages here give no Haikou to Sanya flight or coach times, fares or frequency, so this page doesn't compare them. What the train side shows: 74 trains from Haikou to Sanya on 15 October, including 68 from Haikou East between 06:30 and 22:40, 1h25m at the fastest from Haikou East, and a station inside Haikou Meilan airport. If you land at Haikou Meilan, you can walk underground to the train. China Railway calls this air-rail service "board as soon as you land".
Sanya to Haikou by train
The reverse trip looks much the same in the 15 October search: 74 trains, all boardable at Sanya station, 42 also at Fenghuangjichang, 27 at Yazhou and 24 at Yalong Bay. To Haikou East, 45 trains take 1h25m to 2h8m at ¥119 second class and 23 take 2h33m to 3h5m at ¥152. To Meilan, 45 trains cost ¥113 and 8 cost ¥158. The fastest are D7474, D7480 and D7476 (Sanya 12:50, 16:00 and 20:50): 1h14m to Meilan and 1h25m to 1h27m to Haikou East. The first train is C7302 at 06:15 (Haikou East 07:50) and the last is C7426 at 22:10 (Haikou East 23:52). Six trains go to Haikou station, and C7232 shows ticketing closed.
