Guides & research · Planning a trip to Hainan

Planning a trip to Hainan

Flights, timing, and what to bring — the practical half of a longevity retreat.

Hainan is a tropical island off China’s southern coast, roughly the size of Belgium, sitting at the same latitude as Hawai’i. Boao Lecheng — the medical zone where the retreat takes place — is on its quiet eastern shore, about halfway between the capital, Haikou, and the resort city of Sanya. Most of the questions people ask before booking are not clinical at all. They are about getting there, about which month to choose, about how many days to block out, and about what actually happens in the first hour after landing. This guide answers those, in the order you will meet them.

What the four days contain is a separate question, answered in what happens on a longevity retreat, day by day. What the zone is and why a medical campus exists on a beach is answered in the Boao Lecheng guide.

Getting to Hainan: which airport to fly into

Hainan has two international gateways and one small local airport near the zone. There is no wrong choice; the difference is a couple of hours of ground time against the convenience of your connection.

Airport	Getting to Boao from there
Haikou Meilan (HAK) The main international gateway, at the island’s northern tip. The widest choice of long-haul connections through Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, Dubai and the mainland hubs.	About 90 minutes by car. The island’s ring high-speed railway also runs from a station inside the terminal to Boao station in roughly an hour.
Sanya Phoenix (SYX) The resort gateway on the south coast, with strong connections from Southeast Asia, Russia and the Gulf, and heavy seasonal charter traffic in winter.	About two hours by car, or a similar time on the ring railway. Sensible if your inbound flight lands here anyway, or if you are adding beach days at the southern end.
Qionghai Bo’ao (BAR) A small domestic airport built to serve the town and the zone, with flights from mainland Chinese cities rather than international ones.	About thirty minutes. The shortest transfer of the three, if a mainland connection suits you.

Whichever airport you use, the transfer is part of the retreat and not something you arrange yourself. A driver meets you at arrivals with your name; your care manager knows your flight number and tracks it, so a delayed landing does not mean an empty kerb at midnight. Boao station on the ring railway is a ten-minute drive from the accommodation, and the same driver collects you there if you choose the train.

Entry: the visa-free rule, briefly

Citizens of 61 countries enter Hainan visa-free for up to 30 days, and medical treatment is an approved purpose under the policy — which is unusual, and one of the reasons this island rather than another became China’s medical-tourism zone. Two conditions catch people out: you must arrive on a direct flight to Hainan rather than transit through another Chinese city first, and you must be registered by a travel agency before you fly. Both are administrative, both are handled for you, and neither costs anything. The full country list and the fine print are here.

If your nationality is not on the list, or if you want to combine the retreat with time in Beijing or Shanghai, a standard tourist visa covers the trip instead and your care manager will send the invitation documents the consulate asks for.

When to come: the island’s year

Nothing about the clinical programme changes with the season. It runs indoors, in air-conditioned hospital and hotel buildings, twelve months a year. The season changes what the rest of the day feels like, and how much slack you should leave around your flights.

Months	What to expect
November – April	The dry season, and the reason people move to Hainan. Warm days in the mid-twenties Celsius, low humidity, reliable sun. Also the island’s busiest stretch, particularly around Chinese New Year, so book further ahead.
May – July	Hot, green and humid, with short heavy rain most afternoons that clears by evening. Quieter, and the sea is at its warmest.
August – October	The typhoon window. Storms are forecast days ahead and rarely last long, but they do occasionally push flights by a day. If you travel in these months, leave a spare day before any onward commitment.

One scheduling note that has nothing to do with weather: the Boao Forum for Asia meets in the town most springs, and the local hotels fill. If your dates land in that week your care manager will say so and offer the week either side.

How long to stay

The retreat is four days and three nights. That is not a marketing round number — it is the shortest span in which the imaging, the laboratory work, the functional testing and the specialist panel can all happen in sequence, with each step informed by the last, and still end with a written plan in your hands rather than posted to you weeks later.

Around that core, most guests add days at both ends:

One day before. If you are arriving from Europe, the Gulf or the Americas, the time change is substantial and the first morning is a fasting blood draw. A night’s sleep before day one measurably improves what the tests see, and it is the single most common piece of advice our care managers give.

One or two days after. The panel consultation falls on the final day. It is a lot of information at once, and people find they want a night to sit with it and a second conversation the next morning with their questions written down.

Longer, if something is found and you decide to act on it. If the assessment identifies a condition and a licensed programme is indicated, beginning it on the same visit adds days to the trip rather than replacing them. Nobody is asked to decide that in the corridor; you can also fly home, think, and come back.

A week is the comfortable shape. Two weeks is what people who are combining the retreat with a holiday or with business in Asia tend to book.

What to bring

Very little, is the honest answer. Everything clinical is provided, and the dress code is a resort’s rather than a hospital’s. What matters is the paperwork.

Your passport, with the entry conditions above already arranged.

Prior imaging and laboratory reports. Send them ahead through the secure channel your care manager opens — never plain email — and carry a copy too. A CT from two years ago is not redundant with a CT taken on day two: the comparison between them is often the most informative thing in the file. Records are held by the treating hospital under Chinese medical-privacy law; our privacy page sets out how we handle them.

A complete medication list, with doses, ideally in the original packaging. This includes supplements, hormone therapy and anything taken occasionally. Several of the day-one tests are affected by what you took the night before, and the panel needs the real list rather than the tidy one. Carrying the medicines themselves is a customs question rather than a packing one: bringing prescription medication into China through customs sets out the limits, which are specific for controlled drugs.

Glasses, hearing aids, and any device you depend on — including a CPAP machine if you use one; the villas take 220V and the sleep programme will want to see it.

Comfortable clothing you can be examined in, plus swimwear and light layers. The wellness rooms — the hydrotherapy court, the salt room, the oxygen island — want the first; the aggressively air-conditioned interiors want the second.

Nothing formal. There is no evening at which a jacket is required.

Arriving: the first hours

You land, clear immigration on the visa-free registration, and are met at arrivals. The drive is along the coast. You check in at the accommodation, not at a hospital reception — the villa is where the retreat is based, and the medical buildings are a short drive from it.

Your care manager meets you the same evening for an hour: a conversation rather than an intake form, going through the history you sent ahead, the questions you arrived with, and what the next morning looks like. You will be asked to fast from around ten at night. Then the retreat proper begins the next morning, early, because the blood work sets up everything after it.

English is the working language throughout. An English-speaking care manager stays with you across the whole stay; consultations with the specialists are interpreted live; and your report and plan are written in English, not translated from a Chinese template. Arabic and Russian support can be arranged with notice.

Money, phones and everyday practicalities

Payment. China runs on mobile payment, and the two major apps now accept international cards for everyday spending. Cash in renminbi is still accepted everywhere. Foreign credit cards work at the hotels and the airport but are unreliable in small shops, so carry some cash for the first day.

Connectivity. International roaming works on the island and the accommodation has Wi-Fi. A local eSIM is cheaper if you are staying more than a few days. Some apps and services familiar at home are not available in mainland China; email and the major messaging platforms your care manager uses are, and they will tell you before you fly which channel to keep open.

Power and time. 220V, with the flat two-pin and angled three-pin sockets used across China; most modern chargers need only the plug shape. The whole country runs on a single time zone, UTC+8 — the same as Singapore and Hong Kong.

Insurance. Ordinary travel insurance is worth having for the journey. It will not reimburse an elective assessment, and we do not bill insurers; the retreat is paid directly. What you receive is a full English report you can take to your own physician and, if you choose, to your insurer.

Coming with someone

A companion shares your villa, and can either take a full work-up of their own or simply be there. Couples booking two assessments is the most common pattern we see — the logistics are identical, the schedules run in parallel with staggered slots, and the evenings are free. Adult children accompanying a parent is the second most common. Children are welcome as companions; the assessment is built for adults.

What it costs, and what that covers

The retreat starts from $2,700, and that figure includes the accommodation, the meals, the transfers, the assessment itself and the panel — it is not a consultation fee with the rest added later. For scale, the Alpine longevity clinics that pioneered this format run from roughly $36,000 to $58,000 (2026 rates) for a comparable week. The gap is not a difference in the machines; it is the difference between Swiss and Chinese cost bases, and between a private clinic and a hospital campus built under a state pilot programme.

If the assessment finds something and a licensed treatment programme is indicated, that is quoted separately and only after there is something to quote. The licensed programmes, and what they cost, are described here, and the question of whether they are safe is answered at length in is it safe.

How far ahead to book

Four to six weeks is the usual lead time, and the constraint is not the calendar — it is the panel. Your records go to the specialists before you arrive so that day one starts from your actual history rather than from a blank form, and that review takes time. Shorter notice is often possible; peak dry-season weeks and the Chinese New Year period are the ones that fill.

Write with rough dates and where you are travelling from. A care manager replies within one working day, usually with two or three questions rather than a brochure.

Six things worth settling before you book

1. Which airport your best connection actually uses — it changes your transfer by ninety minutes, and nothing else.

2. Whether your dates fall in the typhoon window, and whether you have a hard commitment on the other side of the flight home.

3. Whether you are coming alone. A companion assessment is easier to schedule at the time of booking than to add later.

4. Which prior records you can actually lay hands on. The imaging matters more than the letters; if it is on a disc in a drawer, find the disc.

5. Whether you want the extra day before day one. Almost everyone who skipped it says they would take it next time.

6. What you would want to happen if something is found. Not a decision — just a sense of whether you would want to act on the same trip or go home first. It changes how the last day is planned.

Frequently asked

How do I get to Boao Lecheng from outside China?

Fly into Haikou Meilan (HAK) or Sanya Phoenix (SYX) — Hainan's two international gateways — and continue by car or by the island's ring high-speed railway to Boao, about 90 minutes from Haikou and about two hours from Sanya. Qionghai Bo'ao airport (BAR) sits roughly thirty minutes from the zone and is served by domestic flights from mainland hubs. Whichever you choose, the transfer is arranged for you and a driver meets you at arrivals.

Do I need a visa to visit Hainan?

Citizens of 61 countries enter Hainan visa-free for up to 30 days, and medical treatment is an approved purpose under the policy. You must arrive on a direct flight to the island and register through a travel agency before you fly; the requirement is administrative and your care manager handles it.

When is the best time of year to visit Hainan?

November through April is the dry season — warm, low humidity, and the island's busiest months, so book earlier. May through July is hot and green with short afternoon rain. August through October is the typhoon window: flights are occasionally delayed by a day, so leave slack in your return plans if you travel then. Nothing about the clinical programme changes with the season; it runs indoors year-round.

How long should I stay?

The retreat itself is four days and three nights, which is the minimum that produces a complete assessment and a written plan. Most guests add two to three days on either side — one for the flight and time change before day one, and one or two afterwards, because the panel consultation lands on the final day and people want a night to absorb it. If a programme is indicated and you decide to begin it on the same visit, that adds days rather than replacing them.

What should I bring to a longevity retreat?

Your passport, any prior imaging and laboratory reports (sent ahead as well as carried), a full list of your current medications with doses in their original packaging, your glasses or hearing aids, comfortable clothing you can be examined in, and swimwear and light layers for the wellness rooms. Leave the formal wardrobe at home. Everything clinical is provided.

Can I bring my spouse or family?

Yes. A companion shares your villa — many couples travel together — with the option of a full work-up of their own or a stay-only arrangement. Children are welcome as companions; the assessment itself is designed for adults.

Write to us →Tell us where you’re starting from — a care manager replies within one working day.

Or download the Retreat Dossier (PDF) → — itinerary, inclusions, programs, practicalities.

Keep reading: What happens on a longevity retreat · Wellness retreats in China · Hainan visa-free entry · Sleep retreats in China · Write to us