Four-star Lingshui, outside Sanya, Sanya
Capella Tufu Bay
One hundred and ninety rooms and villas on a bay east of Sanya, built by Jean-Michel Gathy round the story of the Maritime Silk Road, with gardens by Bill Bensley.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Rooms
- 190 rooms, suites and villas
- Opened
- Late 2018
- Design
- Jean-Michel Gathy and Bill Bensley
- From the airport
- About an hour from Sanya Phoenix, our estimate
The hotel
Blessed Bay.
The story goes that in the fourteenth century Persian traders sheltered here from a typhoon and named the place Blessed Bay, which is what Tufu means. Capella opened its resort on the bay at the end of 2018 and took the Maritime Silk Road as its theme, from the spice books in the library to the name of the main restaurant.
Jean-Michel Gathy designed the buildings and suites; Bill Bensley laid out the gardens, filling them with mythical creatures. The lobby is a circle around an ornamental pool, the Dream Odyssey Pool. Every room has a terrace or a balcony, and the villas, from one to four bedrooms, each come with a private pool. A Mansion and the Chairman's Penthouse sit at the top of the range.
- The lobby pool A circular lobby built around the Dream Odyssey Pool, the first thing you see on arrival.
- Bensley's gardens Paths through planting full of mythical beasts and abstract sculpture, between the villas and the sea.
- The Library A living room with a red Steinway grand piano, cocktails and a cigar list.
Rooms & suites
Rooms, villas and a mansion.
All 190 rooms, suites and villas have a private terrace or balcony. The largest have pools of their own.
- Rooms and suites Oceanfront rooms and suites In the main buildings, each with a terrace or balcony.
- Villas One to four bedroom villas Each with a private pool and in-villa dining; the four-bedroom Ocean Front Villa adds a butler round the clock.
- Largest The Mansion and the Chairman's Penthouse The Mansion has an oversized pool; the Penthouse has a lap pool.
Dining
Cantonese cooking and the Silk Road.
Venues as listed by the resort and its partners. Shown for information.
- Lan Ting Cantonese Dim sum afternoon tea with a gongfu tea ceremony
- Silk Road International, all day Under a glass dome; hot pot on weekend nights
- The Dempsey Tropical dishes and island cocktails In the resort
- Living Room and The Bar Cocktails The Evening Ritual from 6 to 7 pm
Recognition
Awards and listings.
- One MICHELIN Key 2025
- Condé Nast Traveler China Readers' Choice Best Hotels of the Year, 2025
- Condé Nast Traveler China Gold List Best Resort of the Year 2022, Top 10 Hotels 2023
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon.
- Children Welcome at any age, with a kids' club. Under-twelves stay free in existing beds.
- Pets Not accepted.
Getting there
Flying to Sanya.
Sanya Phoenix International is the nearest airport for scheduled flights and private jets, and the resort can send a car. Tufu Bay lies east of Sanya in Lingshui; allow about an hour on the road, our estimate.
- Hong Kong 1 h 10
- Shanghai 2 h 50
- Singapore 2 h 55
- Beijing 3 h 40
- London 13 h 10 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Where is Capella Tufu Bay?
- On Tufu Bay in Lingshui County, on the south coast of Hainan, east of Sanya.
- Who designed Capella Tufu Bay?
- Jean-Michel Gathy designed the architecture and suites, and Bill Bensley the gardens.
- Do the villas have private pools?
- Yes. The villas, from one to four bedrooms, each have their own pool.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Sanya?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Sanya, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Sanya
Other hotels worth the trip.
- The Sanya EDITION Fifty acres of waterfront around a man-made lagoon, every room facing the sea; one MICHELIN Key and a Forbes Four-Star.
- Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort Most of its rooms look over the South China Sea, and the villas have their own pools; one MICHELIN Key.
-
Sunshine Yi Hotel, Haitang Bay The former 1 Hotel Haitang Bay, now under its new name, with raw natural materials, five pools and a turn towards wellness.
- Mandarin Oriental Sanya Stone villas on the beach and the hillside in some thirty acres, and a spa village of wooden pavilions; Forbes Four-Star.
- Atlantis Sanya A sail-shaped tower over 130 acres, with suites set below the waterline of its aquarium; Forbes Four-Star.
- The Ritz-Carlton Sanya, Yalong Bay Four hundred and forty-six rooms of more than 65 square metres, and 33 villas that each have a plunge pool.
- Banyan Tree Sanya Forty-nine pool villas set along a lagoon on a 13-hectare estate, about ten minutes by car from the city centre.
- Raffles Hainan Clear Water Bay Even the standard rooms measure about 80 square metres, and the Long Bar takes its cue from the Singapore Sling.
- JW Marriott Hotel Sanya Dadonghai Bay On the shore beside the Luhuitou headland, with 435 rooms and Man Ho for Cantonese cooking and dim sum.
- Fairmont Sanya Haitang Bay Rooms begin at 65 square metres; Yuen Court cooks Cantonese and Hainanese dishes and has fourteen private dining rooms.
- Sofitel Sanya Leeman Resort Its 475 rooms, suites and sky villas stand in 19 hectares of tropical gardens around a main pool of 2,300 square metres.
- Sanya Marriott Yalong Bay Resort & Spa A beach hotel of 452 rooms, renovated in 2020, whose Quan Spa occupies a villa complex in the gardens.
- Hilton Sanya Yalong Bay Resort & Spa Hilton's first resort in China, given five stars by the national rating committee in 2008, with eight outdoor pools.
- Pullman Sanya Yalong Bay Villas & Resort One hundred and fifteen standalone villas with their own pools, next to Yalong Bay Golf Club and a few minutes from the beach.
- Sheraton Sanya Resort Built for families on the Yalong Bay shore, with Cantonese, pan-Asian and local cooking among its restaurants.
Staying at Capella Tufu Bay?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Sanya, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.