There’s nothing subtle about an Atlantis resort. The company’s properties in the Bahamas and Dubai are heavy on the wow factor. And last week, just in time for Chinese New Year, the company swung open the big doors on Atlantis Sanya on tropical Hainan Island in the South China Sea.
Like its sister properties, Atlantis Sanya, four years in the making, is all about the numbers. Dominated by a 742-foot-tall tower, the resort is spread out across 806 acres and encompasses 1,314 guest rooms—including 154 very posh suites, five of which are very posh underwater suites. There are 21 different restaurants, bars, and cafés, including the dramatic (and none too cheap) Ossiano underwater restaurant. Of course, there’s also the requisite celebrity restaurant, Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen; a the requisite ginormous spa, Ahava; and the requisite kid-amuser, the Aquaventure Waterpark.
Atlantis Sanya celebrated its grand opening (and Chinese New Year) with a suitably unsubtle fireworks display.
Courtesy of Atlantis Sanya
Naturally, Atlantis the lost city figures prominently at Atlantis the resort, and at Sanya the centerpiece of the running theme is the eye-popping Lost Chambers Aquarium. It spans two floors and there’s a sunny topside viewing area called the Ambassador Lagoon; with some 60,000 sea creatures of 2,600 species swimming around in 12.6 million gallons of water, it amounts to the world’s largest open-air aquarium.
You’re impressed: Admit it. Just wait until you get your bill.
