Sanya Nanshan Treehouse Resort and Beach Club, Sanya, China

For the most tranquil holiday imaginable, picture treehouses nesting in beautiful tamarind trees, in the midst of 5000 acres of Buddhist parkland. Surrounded by peaceful gardens, pagodas and temples and encircled by miles of white sandy beaches, this isle of calm is the perfect place for romance and relaxation. The luxurious treehouses are all near the beach.

There probably isn't any place in China that resembles an Ewok settlement more than Sanya Nanshan Treehouse Resort and Beach Club.

But rather than being home to the pint-sized, bear-like buddies of the Star Wars heroes, these rustic structures in Hainan province's Nanshan Cultural Tourist Zone are meant for habitation by tourists.

Nestled in a tropical thicket just a skipping stone's throw from a virgin beach, some of these dwellings offer vistas of the 108-m-tall bronze Guanyin Buddha. Built in the tourism zone's Buddhism Culture Park in 2005, the bronze likeness, which is 15 m taller than the Statue of Liberty, has the extraordinarily particular distinction of being the world's largest Buddha statue standing in the sea.

Each of the houses, which are made mostly of planking and raw timber, is as unique as the trees in which they're built.

Cradled in the branches of a knotted tamarind tree above a sand dune leading to the seaside, Big Beach in the Sky Treehouse can only be accessed via a rope-and-plank suspension bridge. The two-story structure accommodates six.

The grounds also feature a barbecue pit and rope swing. But just beyond the woods are the three parks of the 5,000-acre tourism zone, and the tree house compound makes for a great base camp - camp being the operative word here - for exploring them.

In addition to the Buddhism Culture Park, there''s the Hainan Cultural Customs Park, and the Felicity and Longevity Culture Park.

Presented By:
Rawhide Travel and Tours Inc
6008 West Bell Rd # F105
Glendale, Arizona  85308-3793
(602) 843-5100