The reef is free. Getting to the good bit is the part you book.
Which Molokini boat leaves early enough to beat the chop. What a Gili day trip costs with the gear thrown in. Whether Hurghada in August is worth the heat. Reviews of snorkelling trips in 38 countries, with prices.
Four swims that talk people into buying a mask.
Manta rays under a boat light, turtles in a metre of water, karst islands and a reef you can stand up in. What each one costs and what the water is actually like.
01After darkBig Island Manta Ray Night SnorkelBoat lights pull plankton up, mantas come to feed, and you float on a lit raft while they barrel-roll a metre under you.
02Paddle and swimKayak and Snorkel with Turtles, Wetsuits IncludedKayak out along the Tenerife cliffs, then slip in over a turtle-grazing ground. Wetsuits come with it, which matters in February.
03Red Sea day3 Islands, Dolphins & Snorkel Yacht Trip w/ LunchThree island stops out of Hurghada, lunch on board and reef so shallow the fish are in the first two metres.
04The WhitsundaysOcean Rafting: Whitehaven Beach, Snorkelling & Hill Inlet LookoutA rigid inflatable to Whitehaven, then straight off the back into the fringing reef at Hill Inlet.
A morning in the water, priced three ways.
Every trip on the site sorted by what you pay per person. Gear is usually included; the difference is the boat, the crossing and how many people share the reef with you.
Shore-entry mornings, longtail and speedboat hops in Thailand, Indonesia and the Red Sea. Mask, fins and a guide in the water.
The standard day out: catamaran or dive boat, two or three stops, lunch on deck and a crew who know where the turtles feed.
Molokini at dawn, outer-reef pontoons on the Great Barrier Reef, and the small-group boats that stay out after everyone else has gone in.
Six coastlines that carry most of the good snorkelling.
Warm, clear and shallow is a rarer combination than it sounds. These six deliver it for most of the year, between them cover the reefs, the cenotes, the volcanic drop-offs and the sandbars, and every trip in them is reviewed and priced.
Molokini, Turtle Canyon, Looe Key, Crystal River.
Four very different swims under one flag: a sunken crater, a turtle cleaning station ten minutes off Waikiki, a living reef in the Florida Keys and a spring where manatees come to sit out the winter. What each coast costs to get into.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Grand Tour Around Island 16 Locations plus Snorkeling
MauiMolokini crater at first light, before the trade wind gets up.
The Big IslandManta rays after dark and the Captain Cook bay by catamaran.
OahuTurtle Canyon is a short ride out of Waikiki and rarely deeper than ten metres.
Key WestLooe Key and the reef line, usually with a sail and a drink on the way back.
All 272 trips in American water →
The snorkelling trips more people book than any others.
See what else made the list →What everybody books, in the order they book it. Prices are per person unless a row says otherwise.
1
San Juan Guided Snorkel With Turtles Tour and Videos
Meet at Escambrón Beach for a 90-minute, shore-entry snorkel led by a professional diver. Beginners receive instruction, equipment is included, and guides such as Jill, Lily, Rey, and Jili have helped guests spot turtles, rays, coral, and tropical fish. The tour accepts children age 8 and up and includes GoPro video.
From · $42
Read our review →2
Grand Tour Around Island 16 Locations plus Snorkeling
from $109
3
Kayak and Snorkel with Turtles, Wetsuits Included
from $35
4
️Nusa Penida by Private Boat – Snorkeling 4 spots, Swim with Mantas + Land Tour
from $100
5
Big Island Manta Ray Night Snorkel
from $84
6
Oahu’s Ultimate Tour: Dole, Turtle Snorkel, Pali Lookout & More
from $108
7
Oahu Circle Island Tour with Turtle Snorkeling— Small-Groups
from $149
8
Silfra: Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on Location
from $154
The boat day: two reefs, lunch on deck, back by four.
The format that sells more than any other. You pay for the boat and the crossing, the reef stops come free, and somebody grills lunch while you dry off between swims.
Mexico gives you two kinds of water on one peninsula.
Off Cancun and Cozumel it is Caribbean reef, warm and busy with sergeant majors. Twenty minutes inland it is a cenote: fresh, cold, lit through the roof, and quiet enough to hear your own breathing.
Every Mexican trip →
Three swims with nothing else like them.
Most snorkelling is a reef and a sunny afternoon. These three are the ones people still describe years later, and each runs on a season or a light that is not negotiable.
Manta rays by torchlight
Boats anchor over the same two sites off the Kona coast every night and point lights down into the water. Plankton rises to the light, the mantas come up to eat it, and you hold a float at the surface while animals with four-metre wingspans roll over underneath you. It runs year round and it is over in about forty-five minutes.
- 1Big Island Manta Ray Night Snorkel★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,656 reviews
- 2KONA Manta Ray Night Snorkel – FREE re-ride if no Sightings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,212 reviews
- 3Krabi 4 Island Sunset Snorkeling Cruise + Bioluminescent Swim★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,861 reviews
Fresh water, cold and clear
Cenotes are collapsed limestone caves filled with rainwater, and the visibility in them is measured in tens of metres. Crystal River in Florida runs on the same idea with a warm spring and several hundred manatees, who come inland when the Gulf drops below twenty degrees and tolerate swimmers who keep their hands to themselves.
- 1Viator Exclusive: Tulum Ruins, Reef Snorkeling, Cenote and Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,242 reviews
- 2The ‘OG’ Manatee Snorkel Tour with In-Water Guide/Photographer★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,539 reviews
- 3Half-Day Sea Turtle and Cenote Snorkeling Tour from Cancun & Riviera Maya★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,039 reviews
Alongside a whale shark
The biggest fish in the sea eats plankton and moves at about walking pace, which is the only reason this is possible at all. Isla Mujeres runs June to September, Ningaloo and the Philippines on their own calendars. Boats spot from the surface, you go in ahead of the animal, and you get a few minutes before it outswims you.
- 1️Nusa Penida by Private Boat – Snorkeling 4 spots, Swim with Mantas + Land Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,424 reviews
- 2Big Island Manta Ray Night Snorkel★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,656 reviews
- 3Kona Manta Ray Snorkel Tour in Keauhou Harbor★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,465 reviews
Four swims that only work in the right month.
Water clarity, wind and animal seasons decide more of a snorkelling trip than the operator does. These four are worth planning a flight around, and worth skipping entirely in the wrong week.
- 01Maui Snorkeling Adventure to Molokini and Turtle TownThe crater fills with trade wind by late morning. The early boats get flat water and twenty metres of visibility; the afternoon ones get chop.
- 02Big Island Manta Ray Night SnorkelRuns every night of the year, but the boats are small and the Kona sites take a fixed number of floats. Weekends go first.
- 03La Paz Whale Shark Snorkeling Tour and Lunch From Los CabosA summer animal in most places it can be swum with. Outside the season the boats still run and the sightings do not.
- 04Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling and Diving Cruise from CairnsStinger season is roughly November to May and the outer-reef operators hand out suits. Winter is cooler, clearer and quieter.
How much swimming a snorkelling trip actually asks of you.
Most boats hand out a mask, a snorkel, fins and a flotation vest, and most reefs sit in three to eight metres of water. What varies is whether you enter from a beach or a moving boat, whether there is current, and whether anyone is watching you. Shore entries and lagoon trips suit weak swimmers; open-water crossings and drift sites do not. Reef-safe sunscreen is now a rule rather than a courtesy in Hawaii, Mexico and Palau, and a rash vest does the same job better.
By country
Where the water is clear while somewhere else is blown out.
The newest snorkelling reviews on the site.
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Boat Tour in Cagliari Saddle of the Devil Stops Swimming Snorkeling
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Catamaran tour stops bathing and snorkeling toast with prosecco
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Multimillion Yacht Cabo Cruise Sunset or Snorkel Optional PICKUP!
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Whale Watching & Snorkeling Combo in Los Cabos with Photos Included
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Treasure Hunt Snorkeling Lunch Cruise from Cabo San Lucas
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