Like any seaside town in the world, Zhoushan needs good weather to make it shine.
A day of bad weather makes any seaside resort feel drab and horrible, but in the sunshine, you can trick yourself into thinking that you have taken a plan to the south of China.
Zhoushan is a 3.5 hour drive from Shanghai.
The Hilton Zhoushan has a shuttle bus, or you could hire a 25-person bus from Jinjiang Travel for around 300 RMB each.
Zhoushan is a place that people always think about going to, but never do.
I think that this is because it’s around four hours drive away. So people think about places like Moganshan, Hangzhou, or even Huangshan, as they are more well known.
But if the weather is good, Zhoushan is somewhere you have to go to.
If the weather isn’t good, seaside places don’t look charming, they look dull and sad.
But in the sunshine, Zhoushan makes me feel as though I am driving in Sanya or somewhere tropical.
While the beach can never compare to Thailand, or even Sanya, the point is that you can jump in the car and in 3.5 hours you can have a ‘resort’ feel. It’s better than staying in the dirty city and going to a concrete shopping mall for the weekend!
The sea water is very clear, and kids will love the beach.
There are a few hotels in Zhoushan, but I recommend the Hilton.
The Westin is around 3000 RMB a night.
The Hilton is more like 1000 RMB, and while the Hilton decoration is very dull, the service is really good, earnest and friendly.
The food in the Hilton, like the Westin, is also really bad, but, the location of the Hilton is really good.
You can ask the hotel how to get a taxi to the beach area, which takes around 40 minutes, or better, drive a car in China and get there directly using GPS.