Mandarin Oriental Sanya

The arrival road for Mandarin Oriental, Sanya, skirts around Yalong Bay next to a naval base. At the hotel’s single-height, flat-topped welcome door a posse of greeters waited (all wore loose-fit camel trousers and white overshirts). A deep maroon buggy went up and down what seemed like over the hills and far away, to Villa 13.

Add one more travel segment that Forbes Travel Guide (“FTG”) is now affording its star rating: river cruises.