Haikou Marathon: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Haikou)

A winter race on the Qiongzhou Strait

The Haikou Marathon (海口马拉松) runs on December 27, 2026. The start is in Xiuying District, the western half of Hainan’s capital, where the city faces the Qiongzhou Strait and mainland Guangdong beyond it.

Two distances are on offer: the full marathon and the half marathon. Late December is why runners from northern China make the trip. Beijing and Harbin are frozen then, while Haikou’s tropical winter usually brings mild mornings and humid air off the sea.

Entries, bibs and the race-day crowd

The organiser runs registration, and there are no event tickets as such. A race entry is your ticket to the start line. Chinese city marathons commonly hand out places by ballot when demand outstrips the field. They also usually tie each bib to the runner’s ID, so a passport is the document foreign entrants use.

Bib collection at Chinese races normally happens at a pre-race expo in the days before the start. Runners collect in person with that same ID. Spectators need nothing: the roadside is open, and families tend to gather near the start and finish areas.

Reaching Xiuying

Xiuying is the side of the city most visitors pass through on the way in.

• By air: Haikou Meilan International Airport sits in Meilan District to the east. Getting to Xiuying means a taxi or ride-hail across the city.
• By rail: Haikou Railway Station is in Xiuying itself and sits on the ring line around the island. Haikou East Station handles more high-speed services from Sanya and the east coast.
• By sea: Ferries from Hai’an and Xuwen in Guangdong dock at Xiuying Port and Xinhai Port. Some trains are carried across the strait on board.

Out-of-town runners usually stay in Xiuying or around the Binhai Avenue seafront. Holiday Beach (假日海滩) lies along that stretch on the city’s western coast. Staying there keeps race morning to a short ride.

Race-week habits in Haikou

These are the habits that make the week easier.

• Payment: Alipay and WeChat Pay cover almost everything, from taxis to street stalls. International cards can be linked to Alipay. Cash is the fallback, not the norm.
• Getting around: DiDi is the standard ride-hail app. Taxi drivers rarely speak English, so runners carry their hotel’s name in Chinese characters.
• Cheering: The roadside shout is “加油” (jiāyóu), literally “add oil”. You will hear it at every water station.
• Carb-loading, local style: Hainan fen (海南粉) is the island’s thin rice noodle dish, served with peanuts and crispy shallots. It is a standard Haikou breakfast. Wenchang chicken, poached and served with rice, is the island’s signature meal.
• Recovery: Qingbuliang (清补凉) is a cold coconut-milk dessert full of beans, fruit and jelly. Locals eat it after a hot day.

Most finishers spend an extra day in town. The arcaded Qilou Old Street (骑楼老街) is in old Haikou, and its colonnaded shophouses date from the early 20th century. Wugong Ci (五公祠), a memorial temple to exiled Tang and Song officials, is also within easy reach in the city.