Nan'ao County, Shantou City, Guangdong Province, China – A 4-Day 3-Night Trip to Nan'ao Island
A 4-day 3-night trip on the island costs less than 3,000 RMB in total! (Including round-trip transportation fees of just over 1,000 RMB), and the expenses for food and accommodation on the island over the 4 days are only more than 1,000 RMB!
1. First, why choose Nan'ao Island?
Since my travel companions and kids get carsick, we chose Nan'ao Island because we could take the subway → high-speed rail → bus to get there. Moreover, we only needed to take buses to get around the island, which was absolutely perfect!
2. Affordable Accommodation
We chose a sea-view homestay in Houzhai Town – crossing the road right outside the homestay leads you to the seaside. We first booked one night online for 218 RMB (after using a coupon), and then got a 20% discount when extending the stay for another day. As a result, the total accommodation cost for 3 days was only 598 RMB!
3. Food Expenses & Recommendations
During the 4-day 3-night trip, we ordered takeout three times – it was fast and cheap! When we ate at restaurants, we didn’t order much seafood because my travel companion and the kids don’t like it. So our food choices were relatively limited.
Surprisingly, one of the delicious dishes we recommend from these days is laver fried rice – we ordered it twice in a row. The other one was sea urchin fried rice, which I personally didn’t like because it was very fishy; I suspect the sea urchin wasn’t fresh.
The absolute best dish to recommend is mussels. It’s said that this is the season when mussels are plump, so they were extremely fresh and delicious! I used to dislike mussels and thought they tasted bad. But after coming to Nan'ao Island, I realized what terrible "mussels" I had eaten before – they were so unappetizing! I regret not ordering them earlier; I only got to try them on the night before we left!
4. Tourist Attractions
We visited two lighthouse photo spots. If you’re not going there to take photos, there’s no need to visit – the weather was swelteringly hot, and you could only take photos from a distance. Besides, there were no other places to explore nearby.
Our main activity was playing at the beach! We spent 2 days at Qing'ao Bay. The tidal flat there is quite long, the sea sand is very fine, and the water quality is good too – we had a great time. It’s also relatively safe, with several designated areas where you can go into the sea to swim.
5. Local People
The local people we met during our stay on the island were all very hospitable and warm. The several islanders we encountered at the homestay would greet us warmly and ask if we were having a good time here.
The bus driver was also very kind. When he found out we were going to visit the lighthouse, he told us to get off the bus in advance, explaining that the next stop would be a long walk away. Oh my goodness! We were really touched by the driver’s kind gesture!
In conclusion, the overall travel experience was great. We would definitely come back again if we have the chance – and next time, we’ll make sure to eat more seafood!
