First Market Seafood Market (第一市场)

First Market (第一市场, Dìyī Shìchǎng) is downtown Sanya's signature wet market and its best-known dinner ritual: you pick live seafood from the tank, hand it to a street-side kitchen, and eat what you chose within the hour. It's the "pick it yourself" experience Sanya is famous for — and one of the few places a full feast costs less than a resort buffet.

The ritual, step by step. Walk the stalls and pick your catch — Hele crab (和乐蟹), whole prawns, mantis shrimp, clams, grouper, even lobster. Weigh your bag on the market's public scale (公平秤) and lock the per-catty price before paying; the vendor's own scale is where the games happen. Carry the bag into a processing kitchen on Xinmin Street (新民街, Xīnmín Jiē) next door — they cook it for about ¥15 ($2) per catty, garlic-steamed (蒜蓉, suànróng), salt-and-pepper (椒盐, jiāoyán) or spicy. Reliable kitchens: A Lang (阿浪), Xiao Huzi (小胡子), Lin Jie (林姐).

The honest catch: this works brilliantly if you watch the weigh-in. Ignore anyone who "helpfully" walks you to a vendor — the commission lands in your bill. Tally every dish before the kitchen starts, because unsolicited "extras" are common practice.

Prices: raw seafood ¥30-150 ($4-21) per catty depending on what you grab; cooked, the whole feast runs ¥150-250 ($21-35) per person. The street peaks 5-9 PM; go in the early morning for fresher, cheaper, calmer.