We stayed at the Horizon during the last two weeks of July. The flight on the way out was okay with the seven hour trip to Bahrain being straight forward. At Bahrain we were off the plane for just 50 min before we were called back in readiness for the onward flight to Sanya. Their was a sigh around the cabin when the pilot identified that the expected flight time was to be 9h10min but fortunately their were more than 50 unoccupied seats on the plane so were able to stretch out. Note – with the plane being one of the 2 My Travel 767’s, entertainment is tv’s in the roof with a system that’s prone to failure and it had to be reset a few times. Their were 60 of us destined for the Horizon, although as we left on the 30th July, 115 My Travel guests were replacing us.

Upon arrival at Sanya, having completed 3 forms per person, 2 of which are given out on the plane, the 3rd (yellow) you have to complete at the airport, the transfer to the Horizon lasted about 40 min and gave us our first sight of China. We arrived at 13:30 to find our cases were already in our rooms and then went down to the meeting with the rep David in the Coffee Bar. Although everyone is tired, it’s good to get this out the way so you can then start enjoying your break.

The hotel is fantastic, rooms are clean, air conditioning works fine, broadband computers were a big hit with our kids, tv’s provided BBC World and CNN if you want to keep track of news at home. We also had dressing gowns, slippers & beach shoes in the room. The safe’s are also free and the mini bar can be opened via reception for a deposit of 500rmb (33 quid), that you get back at the end of your stay providing you pay your bill, although the drinks and food within are expensive – so we opened the fridge just to store our drinks brought up from the bars or from the local supermarket!

The swimming pools are excellent & huge; the main pool has basketball nets and volleyball nets in, with the water park having 3 slides, a swing rope and many Jacuzzis as well as the lazy river. The beach was very clean and life guards are always on hand. There are limited water sports on the beach, with the jet skis – the rules dictate you have to take one of the staff on the back with you??. For paragliding you have to go towards the Hilton or the Holiday Inn up the beach. During our stay we only saw 20 min worth of rain and that was during the evening. There are full size snooker tables & pool tables underneath the Coffee bar if you need to get out of that sun for an hour.

You eat your lunch & evening meals in the All seasons restaurant, we were the first group (due to the increased numbers) to use this as all previous My Travel parties had used the Jazz bar that’s now closed, that’s smaller. The food is good, plenty of variety and fresh. Michael is the main man and anyone visiting the Horizon will meet with him within the first 48hrs. His English is excellent and he’s extremely helpful, a real asset to the hotel and all the English guests.

As part of the All Inc, of which My travel are the only one’s in the hotel, all others, Russians, Koreans, Japanese and the Chinese pay as they go, you get to use four locations for drinks / snacks. The pool bar open 10:00 – 18:00 & Beach Bar again 10:00 – 18:00 both offer drinks and the My Travel snack menu – burgers, chicken, fries, spring rolls, etc, the Lobby Bar 10:00 – 23:30 is the main place of a night where the house band play and finally you have the Coffee Bar where breakfast is served. Little known secret about the Coffee Bar is that this is the location where you can get 24hr service – ie late night drinks as the Lobby bar closes. A group of us questioned this on our second night and after a few phone calls were made by the Coffee Bar staff to reception, the locks came off the doors and the drinks flowed. We repeated this on several occasions during our stay.

We tried a few of the trips, Sanya by night with the rep was good and offered value for money. We also went to the Nanshan Temple and Monkey Island during our stay but did these via one of the mini buses outside reception for half the price of going with the rep. 450 rmb (30 quid) to have the driver all day and then approx 10 quid each into the various parks.

There are couple of clubs over the road in the plaza, a Cuban place with a band on each night and also a club called the Red Pepper club that during our stay, became the late night place for some of the English guests. On at least 2 occasions about 20 of us ended up in there until the early hours. The club was very quiet and we were the only ones in but had a great time as this allowed us to choose the music and have a dance / party.

Sanya is a nice place, takes about 25 min in a taxi that can cost between 40rmb – 60rmb. People tell you to haggle to get a good price but at the end of the day you haggling over a pound – for a half hour journey for 4! The market behind MacDonald’s is ideal for all those gifts you have to take home, you have to barter and this can be great fun passing the calculator around.

The star of the hotel for us was Leah who runs the Lobby Bar from afternoon til close! She’s a real diamond, English is excellent (and self taught) a lovely lady who was incredible helpful and sweet, not to mention very good at her job.

In summary, this was the best holiday my kids, wife and myself have had, beating Barbados last year hands down. The place, location, hotel, facilities, accommodation and most of all the English & Chinese people & staff that we met during our stay, have given us many happy memories that will stay with us along time.

If your going to the Horizon soon – lucky you!

We stayed at the Horizon Resort Hotel in july 2007. The hotel is very well kept , the Gardens are stunning , The pool is amazing and host s a lazy river not to mention the 7 Jacuzzis some of which are in door if you aren t great with the sun.
The hotel is right on the beach front. The beaches are really beautiful with fluffy golden sand and loads of sun bed s (as has the pool area ) plenty of space so you can find your own spot and be left alone.
The food isn t all that, we couldn t wait to get back and have a chinese as we know it, They use all kinds of cuts of meat so don t expect a la carte as we know it. Im a bit fussy so i struggled, although you wouldn t stare there is enough to keep you going. If all else fails the bar menu has burgers etc .
If you go on the all inclusive package be warned it isn t all inclusive as we know it :( The a la carte resturant menu for all inclusive customers is smaller than normal menu for customer paying per meal . Once the staff saw our wrist band the bigger menu was taken away from us ! which i wasn t impressed with.
The soft drink options are diet coke and water if you want Sprite you will be charged for this. Their are certain bars where drinks can only be obtained for the all inclusive customer s make sure you know which ones they are or else you will be charged for your drink. We did question the rep about both of these issues but we were told welcome to China, I personally felt they were issues that could and should be easily resolved.
The staff were freindly most of the time, although the bars try to close at 11.00 and on several occassions we were asked to leave as the workers had to go home. We had booked a holiday that stated 24 hour bar and so we went to bed when we were ready and not before.
All in all the hotel was amazing, remeber they really aren t used to the English and our ways so it s a learning Curve for them. Their English isn t great and prepare to get the wrong food on occassion - I think it all added to the fun.
Entertainment was limited we had a group from the Phillipines signing Oasis etc, it became rather tiresome. Theres a club across the way from the hotel as well as a Japenese & a brazillian Resturant which i would highly recommend we went there twice - it was spot on
We did the trip to Bejing which was amazing and i would say a must. The great wall was amazing but we only had 4 hours there so it was a bit rushed, bring lots of water and sun cream you ll need it. No matter how much you expect the Great wall to be a challenge it will beat all your expectations - it s tough going.
We saw the silk factory and Silk Market which was ace and all i can say is Barter , Barter Barter and you ll get some right bargains.
Forbidden City , Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven all amazing but after a while they all end up looking the same :)
Bejing was very rushed if you get offered to go out in the evening with the rep do it , otherwise you could end up inMacdonald like we did. They have hadly any english menus in the resturants which we found a little frustrating.

We flew out to China on 1st July - being the 5th group from My Travel to arrive. The flight is very long and exhausting but let me tell you the 'Warmth of Hospitality ' when you arrive will soon revive you. On arriving at our hotel (Horizon Resort & Spa) we had the Welcome Meeting with David. I don't know if this was a good thing or not.....a few people fell asleep as he was talking but to be fair as least the 'meet 'n' greet' was over and we could get onto our holiday. The all-inclusive that My Travel offer is the strangest we have ever known and we ended up drinking beer and our own spirits (which we bought in Bahrain - you will get some great bargains their), Leah would crush ice and squeeze lemons for the G&T - her English is brilliant and she is great to talk too and has a very good sense of humour. Her boyfriend Melvin runs the beach bar, his English was not so good but no big deal - we can cope. Your main meals are in 'Jazz Bar' and the food was amazing with such varity and the desserts are fab! You will get vouchers for Chinese, BBQ, and Korean. The Chinese was Chinese and not 'Western Chinese' - that we get at home but was very good and a great experience. The BBQ was amazing.....the food was out of this world and the choice was endless, their was singing, chinese circus and a brilliant fire works display which left everyone with smiles on their faces. The Korean restaurant was an experience and we ate their a few times....we did use the My Travel ticket but you are limited to what you can eat, which we thought was appauling so decided to pay.....Our waiter was called 'Colin' and he truely went out of his way to make us feel at home and welcome and went into the kitchen to bring dishes out so we could look before ordering and explained what everything was. The Noodle House is out of this world - another experience you must try, you will have to pay but it wasn't much and is only open until 5pm ish. so make sure you go for lunch - it's a great experience as we were the only English their. The hotel is so clean and the gardens are amazing, at the beach - you will be amazed ..... we were told it was like Hawaii but it was more like Heaven.....the sea was so warm and the waves were great fun but be aware it was so so hot - almost 130-140 degress. The hotel is all about relaxing and taking it easy, their are orchards everwhere and the smell of aromatherapy was everywhere - ever the loo's! The evening entertainment was with 'May' singing - she has a fabulous voice and her English is great. Michael who runs the restaurant 'Jazz Bar' must be commended for his help with the English guests - he is the rock of the hotel and we all became great friends, Monica and Jilly also in the Jazz Bar were very helpfull and friendly. We visited Beijing and what an amazing place, our memories of The Great Wall will last forever - it has to be one of the high lights of our holiday. The flight their was a little different, especially the decompression exercises - Oh, how we laughed!!! You can get some great bargains at the Mall at Silk Street which was an experience we argued for 45 minutes to get 'Prada' Handbags but must admit they were worth it - for around £17 each. The rep in Beijing is Nancy - and her knowledge was overpowering....we will never forget her 'Melon Tai-chi'.....we used to practice it in the pool....which again must be the best pools we have ever swam in, we used to use the 'infinity pool' which also had the water park at the side and the lazy river.

This has to be the best holiday we have ever experienced and we look forward to going back in the next few years. We have made some great friends in other guests and hotel staff - If you are visiting soon I would like to say that you are in for a special treat.....ENJOY.

my husband & i have just returned from a 2 week stay at the horizon .we travelled with mytravel on 17 june . we had a fantastic time , meeting some great people . the hotel is something special as the staff were amazing ,they just couldn't do enough for us. the grounds around the hotel were well looked after ,and the pool areas were amazing , so quiet and relaxing , in fact for most of the time we had the pool to ourselves, it was like getting into a warm bath.( heaven). the food at the jazz bar was very good with a good selection everyday. michael who was in charge of the restaurant spoke excellent english and everyday he would ask us if we would like any particular meal on the menu , and if we said we would like a particular meal it would be in the restaurant the next day . jilly & monica who also worked in the jazz restaurant were very pleasant and helpful and looked after us so well . leah who worked at the lobby bar was a very friendly girl , i think she made a friend with all the guests , she also spoke excellent english. the only fault i could find with the all inclusive package was the drinks that we were allowed ,there was not much of a selection, and the bottles of beer would get warm before we had chance to finish them .the bottles were so big that we'd have to share one so we could drink them quicker. the drinks at the beach bar were even warmer as they only had a small fridge and they couldn't keep topping up quick enough .we done the trip to beijing which was amazing , the three days that we had there was hectic but well worth every minute. i can't describe the feeling we had when we were actually on the great wall of china . there were two sides of the wall which you could take , our rep warned us there was a hard way up or an even harder way up. we decided to take the even harder way because it looked as if there wasn't so many people on that side , but believe me it was real hard work trying to walk up hill , it was so steep i was getting out of breath every few feet , i'm ashamed to say i must be so out of condition.the other sights to see were tianaman square and the forbidden city , summer palace and the silk factory which were all good .in beijing we stayed at the novotel , but we were very dissapointed with the service . the location though was excellent . i can garuantee you if you stay at the horizon hotel in sanya you will come back home with great memories and great friends. i'd like to thank a few special friends that we made while we were there. ann & john from swansea , sue & mal from bridgend & ann from liverpool. you all made our holiday very special. so if there's anyone out there thinking about going to china , especially sanya the horizon resort is the place to stay "HAPPY HOLIDAY"