Do you want feel of Mexico near Hong Kong?

  

Hong Kong has always surprised me with its tiny size but not so tiny landmass filed with varied activities for both nature lovers and party goers. Very much nearby from Hong Kong is twin city of China named - Shenzhen. Which has seen its glory from past decade. Its rising, most fastest growing city for economic development and which has boosted tourism as well. Shenzhen comes in Guangdong region of China which is located in southern most China. Guangdong region has many such huge towns and one of it is - Huizhou, located in central Guangdong. It has astonishing prefecture and beautiful coastline. However it has many huge up-scale five star properties and Resorts for perfect weekend getaway from Hong Kong. You name it and they have it, you want affordable luxury then this is your destination. From Wyndham, Sheraton, Hyatt to Dusit Thani, Intercontinental, and many more. You name it they have it and best is, its pretty much affordable!

Recently we ventured into this lesser known territory with just Baidu at our rescue and it was all risk worth it. It is unexplored territory for many Hong Kongers so will try and brief with as much detail as possible and for more queries, feel free to post a comment. 

Which property did we visit?

We visited Howard Johnson Sandalwood Resort by Wyndham in Huizhou. Its a beach resort and its architecture and positioning replicates a bit of Dubai but its inhouse feel totally gives you replica of Mexico. This resort is well know for its varied hot springs and infinity pool which offers foam party time as well. Providing an ideal mix of value, comfort and luxury, its an amazing family friendly resort with an array of amenities offered for each age to have fun filled mini-vacation. With massive 5 towers and 1000+ rooms this is a giant property with lot of inhouse activities and amenities to do. We thoroughly enjoyed our 2N3D vacation here and packed it back with lot of pleasant memories.

Rooms are huge and comfortable with Hot spring bath tubs in the balcony overviewing beach and ocean. Absolutely pay bit extra for East Wing Tower 2 for view of Sun rise coming out from the ocean and winning your hearts from dawn and let you enjoy crackers on the beach by the dusk. This room promises perfect memorable vacation.

They also have beach villas if you are ready to splurge. It looked nice and beautiful from outside but cant say about its interior as didnt get chance to see it.

Pro Tip: Contact Mr Rajan, General manager for best room rates all inclusive of Breakfast and most of activities. We paid tad bit extra for long weekend but if you plan to head during weekday, the rates may be lesser by 200-300 RMB per night. 

Deluxe room with Beach view and Hot spring bath tub in balcony

The property is so huge that maintenance must be giant task so i would rate it 8/10 for the fact that it was not spik and span property but rooms were super clean and hygienic. Just from the outdoor, property looked bit run down. But once you enter room, no complaints at all!

Sunrise View from the room balcony

Salt Pan view from other side of resort

Here are the list of amenities inhouse:

1. Excellent Beautiful Water park for kids and biggies alike- 

2. There are varied range of outdoor pools like sports swimming pool with various activities, foam setup, infinity swimming pool and big centre swimming pool with paddle boats for

As seen there are 4-5 outdoor swimming pools 

3. Within resort they have huge ball pit and game zone for kids with electric cars, karaoke rooms, fun kids club, yoga & Gym room and Oscar cinema.  

Pose tho banta hai bhai! 

Table Tennis and Billiards room

Car racing games

Electric cars for kids (Paid)

Bike racing video game

Ball Pit with slides

Some KTV Time!

Bouncing Bouncing

Had some ball war time here! ;)

4. Soothing Hot Springs and Hot pool - This is must must visit and it was absolutely soothing and delightful especially when weather out was breezy and cold. Offcourse this is good to visit during winters but when you go around spring when its breezy and bit colder at evenings you can enjoy hot spring and in daytime swimming pools are warm enough for swimming and water parks are bearable.

There were 7 hot spring baths with different essence. I could not translate much but i assume some were hot tea flavored some were wine or something like that and then is also temperature controlled indoor pool with jacuzzi and shower.

5. Beach activities & water sports - Best part is the resort is just by the beach. Whilst the infinity pool views are one to sit and adore from dawn to dusk, the beach gives complete feel of being around best the nature could offer. There are varied water sports activities like banana boat rides, motor boat, water sofa, water parasail (we could locate only few and not sure if they were operational). It is all additionally charged. And there is ATV bike ride on beach as well. At night the beach comes to life with fire crackers. Yes, fire cracker! Felt like Diwali (Indian festival of lights) with bustling sound of crackers crackling in night. You have to just head on the beach and you will find many vendors selling crackers, buy what you like from range of smaller to bigger crackers options and get going. 

Crackers time!

Fire crackers and light show at night

Daddy hold me tight! I am scared!

Diwali Vibes right here!

Swing in the breeze!

Enjoying sand play!

while we enjoy some "Us" time!

Photoshoot time!

6. Last but not least there is Photoshoot shop which you can hire to get yourself immersed in experience of professional photoshoot around this picture perfect property. Offcourse i wished i could ;) but time didnt permit as it demands at least half a day or more!

7. Spa and Sauna - When we visited it was closed so nothing much to say about it!

Pro Tip: Dont forget to bargain while buying anything in China. Its absolutely acceptable to offer 20 when they ask 100 and you will be surprised to settle at 20! From Resort to beach though connected is long walk so if you are going with kids, dont forget to use stroller!

How many days are enough here?

Honestly even if you take high speed train and reach within 2 hours. Journey, immigration, border crossing can be bit overwhelming with kids and luggage so 1N weekend getaway though may be touch and go but certainly not enough. You need minimum 2Nights and if you have luxury of time and good food even 4N are good to spend here. You are guarantied no boredom!

What is best time to visit?

Honestly in resorts like this with giant list of amenities and do to lists, any weather is perfect weather.  Like in winters you can just dip in hot pools and in summers you wont come out of your swimming pools and water park. Offcourse there is a beach too but waters are not meant for swimming. We went recently in spring like weather when days were hot and sunny and evenings were pleasant, breezy and cold so we could take benefit of both hot pools and outdoor swimming pools.  

How is the food scene and will we get vegetarian food?

This resort have Chinese and Western Restaurant. However, Mr Rajan Karruppanan who has Indian origin and speaks excellent English will come to your rescue. (His whatsapp number is - 008615631167613 . Please message me for his WeChat ID) He understood Vegetarian and Jain requirement and assigned us Ms. Cindy from Restaurant who interreacted well with us and with the chefs to fulfil our requirement. 

Luckily we had around us big group who had requested for vegetarian food so we got couple of options. But if you are travelling alone, you may just have few options in A la carte for vegetarian food. They also went out of way to keep good spread for Jain food. In all would rate food 6/10. Breakfast they had few options as well for Jain / vegetarians. 

I would like to rate food at 6/10 since there were too too many guests and I think they were not equipped to attend all. But full marks for their efforts to try. Cant complaint much on taste since they at least tried to attempt making Jain food inhouse. 

As Jains, we also had varied option of fruits to eat and for some time Theplas and dried snacks came to our rescue. 

I was thoroughly impressed by their hospitality since they managed to make Tiramisu for hubby dear's birthday without egg. It was too good and it was absolute delight to savor it! 

Dimsum table in chinese restaurant

Chinese Breakfast be like!

Beautiful Western Restaurant scene

Yuhhuuu, looked who learnt to use chopsticks!

Vegetarian breads - Sourdough. Extremely yum!

Welcome fruit basket with Eggless dessert!

Italian Dinner

Range of Breads! Got few Eggless options

Pleasant and scenic Lounge area

Beautiful onlooking scenic lounge

Look who enjoyed having Fruits here!

Where is it located and how to travel? 

Well this is little bit tricky. So in a way it’s super convenient if you have China Visa. Just take either Bullet train or High speed train from West Kowloon and you are there within an hour. There are 10 high speed and 8 bullet trains between Huizhou and Hong Kong. It covers 96 kms journey within 1 or 1.5hours. And from Huidong south or Huidong station, this property is 38Kms drive. You can take Cab from train station.

Pro Tip: Tricky part is when you don't have China Visa and you opt for "144 hours paper visa" (this is available for Indian passport holders). Other passport holder can check with agent. ( If  you need agent contact please drop your email id in comment, I will send separately) As Paper visa holder, you can cross border only through LoWu and enter Luohu Port. So from here, the resort is approximately 120 Kms away. And you need to hire long distance cab or taxi which will cost approximately 600-700 RMB. If you are two couples with kids, would recommend to book a car in advance, which will be good 6-7 seater car and will cost around 700 RMB. 

Unfortunately, the hotel has not yet been providing any pickup and drop service. But you may want to check with them once. The best way to travel here is in large group size of friends and you can straight away book a bus from Shenzhen, its very economical and easy.

Pro Most Tip: Google Maps never works properly. So please dont rely on it. Baidu is the app you need to travel like a pro in China. Also please take sim card from Hong Kong or if you buy locally then you will be stuck without google! Not even google translate. And yes, language is bit of a barrier there! 

Click here for direct Train Details 

Is language huge barrier? 

We learnt this hard way, let me make it simpler for you :) Take a Hong Kong Sim card with good data. (CMHK does good job). For communicating there, open google translate, use speak feature which will translate your or their words and you will end up having smooth conversation.. For reaching the resort dont forget to take a Chinese name printout or screenshot of this resort and you are sorted. 

Pro Tip: travel with some younger folks studying in school here :p they do amazing job of speaking mandarin :) or some business traveler. If you dont know any, you will still be fine. Just have bit of confidence :)

Must Know while travelling Huizhou:

1. You need China visa, you can opt for Paper visa which is valid for 144 hours. (Check about nationality and its visa requirements)

2. Book Hotel in advance. Take RMB/CNY along (or you can convert on Luohu border as well)

3. Dont forget to buy China Sim card from Hong Kong or you will be major stuck! CMHK or 3 is highly recommended.

4. Must Must Must download and activate WeChat. WeChat is like oxygen there. You must have it to communicate with all.

5. Carry some good amount of snacks, just in case if you are vegetarians and dont find any option. Your toddler may need it for sure!

6. Carry your medical kit, you are in mid of nowhere there. So in case if needed, keep along.

All Smiles after our perfect smallcation!

On concluding note, this is a must must visit place for its One roof has it all feel surrounded by beautiful prefecture. I mean imagine waking up with sun rise and dipping yourself in hot bathtub on breezy morning whilst you enjoy cup of coffee and view the sun rise just above the sea. Its definition of perfect holiday! 

Special Thanks to Mr Rajan who could communicate in clear English and made our lives much much easier and holidays super happier. So apart from the fact that this Resort is nice, and there might be many other upscale resorts there which are cheaper than Howard Johnson Sandalwood resort but for the fact that Mr Rajan is gem of a guy who ensures best hospitality, we would highly recommend this resort. 

Overall with 10/10 rating for experience and feel. We wish if transport would have been much easier we would not hesitate to go again and again here! Its super affordable luxury right at our doorstep in Hong Kong!

Eggless Tiramisu made by inhouse chef for Jimit Birthday!