No tank. No course. Just the right boat.
Which trips actually reach living coral, and which anchor over sand. Where the turtles are a near-certainty rather than a maybe. What gets included, how strong a swimmer you need to be, and what a morning in the water costs. Reviews of every snorkeling trip you can book.
Four snorkels worth crossing an ocean for.
Not the reef nearest your hotel. The four days people build a trip around, what each costs, and how much swimming each one really asks of you.
01Turtles, most morningsSan Juan Guided Snorkel With Turtles Tour and VideosWarm, shallow water off San Juan where green turtles graze the seagrass. The guide films it, so your hands stay free.
02Kona, after darkBig Island Manta Ray Night SnorkelLights go into the black water and manta rays come up to feed under them. You hold a floating board and barely swim at all.
03Between two continentsSilfra: Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on LocationSilfra, filled with glacial meltwater at two degrees. A drysuit keeps you dry and the current does the moving. Visibility runs to a hundred metres.
04The outer reefCairns: Great Barrier Reef Half-Day Snorkelling TourHalf a day out of Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef, gear on board and a guide in the water with you. Back in time to keep the afternoon.
Turtles, dolphins and mantas, and how close you actually get.
A green turtle grazing seagrass will let you hover above it for as long as you keep your fins still. Dolphins decide for themselves and the good boats say so. Manta rays need lights and a season. These are the trips where the animal is the point, not a maybe on the way back to the harbour.
- 1San Juan Guided Snorkel With Turtles Tour and Videosfrom $42
- 2Tenerife: Kayak and Snorkel with Turtles, Wetsuits Includedfrom $35
- 3️Nusa Penida by Private Boat – Snorkeling 4 spots, Swim with Mantas + Land Tourfrom $100
Six countries where the snorkeling is the reason you go.
Caribbean reef an hour off Cancun, green turtles a mile from Waikiki, cold clear coves along the Spanish coast, limestone islands in the Andaman, Red Sea coral you can reach before breakfast, and the outer Great Barrier Reef. Where each one is best, and the best day in the water in each.
Caribbean reef, a freshwater cenote, or the Sea of Cortez.
The Riviera Maya faces the second-largest barrier reef on earth. Inland, the same limestone is drilled through with flooded caves you swim into from the jungle floor. Round on the Pacific side, Baja has sea lions and whale sharks in cold green water. Three coasts, three completely different mornings.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Viator Exclusive: Tulum Ruins, Reef Snorkeling, Cenote and Caves
Cancun and Isla MujeresBarrier reef, an underwater sculpture park, catamarans with a ladder.
CozumelDrift snorkeling on Palancar, the clearest water in the country.
Playa del Carmen and TulumTurtles on the seagrass, then a cenote in the afternoon.
Los Cabos and La PazSea lions on the rocks, whale sharks in the bay in season.
All 304 Mexican snorkel days →
The hull decides the reef you swim over.
A kayak reaches the cove no tour boat can enter. A catamaran buys shade, a swim ladder and lunch. A speedboat buys distance, and the far sites are where the water clears. A glass-bottom hull lets the people who will not get in still see it.
The snorkel trips more travellers get in the water on than any others.
Every snorkel trip we have reviewed →What earns each of them the slot: reliable water, gear that fits, and a crew who put you in over something alive.
1
San Juan Guided Snorkel With Turtles Tour and Videos
Walk into the sea at Escambron Beach for a 1 to 1.5-hour guided snorkel with a local professional such as Lily, Jill, or Rey. You receive instruction, all gear, small-group attention, and a GoPro video. Turtles are possible, not guaranteed, and sea conditions can change the plan.
From · $42
Read our review →
2
Tenerife: Kayak and Snorkel with Turtles, Wetsuits Included
from $35
3
️Nusa Penida by Private Boat – Snorkeling 4 spots, Swim with Mantas + Land Tour
from $100
4
Big Island Manta Ray Night Snorkel
from $84
5
Oahu’s Ultimate Tour: Dole, Turtle Snorkel, Pali Lookout & More
from $108
6
Oahu Circle Island Tour with Turtle Snorkeling— Small-Groups
from $149
7
Silfra: Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on Location
from $154
8
Ocean Rafting: Whitehaven Beach, Snorkelling & Hill Inlet Lookout
from $149
American snorkeling is turtles by nine and mantas after dark.
Turtle canyons a mile off Waikiki, Molokini crater before the trade wind gets up, Kona manta lights at dusk, and the only living barrier reef in the continental United States sitting off Key Largo. All of it warm, all of it close to a harbour.
Every US snorkel day →
Can you snorkel it? Swimming, season and what the reef asks of you.
You do not have to be a strong swimmer. Most boats hand out a float belt or a noodle, plenty run a guided tow line, and a wetsuit floats you whether you want it to or not. Season matters more: wind flattens visibility and the calm months differ coast to coast. Reef-safe sunscreen, fins clear of the coral, nothing touched and nothing taken.
What a morning over the reef actually costs.
Every trip on the site grouped by price. A lot of the best water comes in under the price of a hire car for the day.
Red Sea boat mornings, shore-entry guides with gear, lagoon trips and the short island hops.
Full-day catamarans, turtle-and-reef combinations, kayak-and-snorkel days with lunch on a beach.
Private charters, the outer Great Barrier Reef, drysuit fissure swims and the long boat days.
Three snorkels that exist nowhere else on earth.
Warm reef is everywhere. Freshwater held between two tectonic plates, a flooded cave system entered through a hole in the jungle floor, and five-metre rays feeding under lights are not.
The Silfra Fissure
Silfra is the gap between the North American and Eurasian plates, filled with meltwater that has spent decades filtering through lava rock. It runs at two degrees all year and the visibility is measured in the high tens of metres, which is why people describe flying rather than swimming. You are sealed into a drysuit on the bank, and a gentle current carries you the length of it. Hands are the only part that gets cold.
- 1Silfra: Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on Location★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 5,001 reviews
- 2Silfra Snorkeling Between Continents Photos Included- Self Drive★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,427 reviews
- 3Reykjavík: Silfra Fissure Snorkeling between Two Continents★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,712 reviews
Cenotes and the Manatee Run
The Yucatan has no rivers. Rain drains straight through the limestone into a flooded cave network, and the cenotes are the places where the roof has fallen in. You swim in fresh water between stalactites, with shafts of daylight coming down through the hole you climbed in by. Winter mornings on Florida's Crystal River are the freshwater version with manatees in it, gathered in the warm springs while the gulf turns cold.
- 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
The Manta Ray Night Snorkel
Boats out of Keauhou anchor over a shallow patch and put bright lights into the water. Plankton stacks up in the beam, and the mantas arrive to feed on it, barrel-rolling a hand span beneath the surface. You hold on to a floating light board and keep still. It is the least swimming any serious wildlife encounter asks of you, and the animals are five metres across.
- 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
- 3Big Island: Kona Manta Ray Snorkel Tour in Keauhou Harbor★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,465 reviews
Four snorkels that run out of seats, not water.
Most reef mornings can be arranged at the hotel desk the night before. These four cannot. They run on seasons, on one departure a day, and on boats with a fixed number of wetsuits on board.
- 01Big Island Manta Ray Night SnorkelOne dusk departure a day, and each boat carries a set number of people. The lights go in at sunset whether you are on board or not.
- 02Silfra: Snorkeling Between Tectonic Plates – Meet on LocationDrysuits are fitted to you on the bank and the site caps how many people are in the fissure at once. Winter has fewer slots again.
- 03La Paz Whale Shark Snorkeling Tour and Lunch From Los CabosWhale sharks are seasonal. Outside the months they are in the bay there is no trip to book, at any price.
- 04Maui Snorkeling Adventure to Molokini and Turtle TownThe crater is glass early and blown out by mid-morning, so every boat leaves at dawn and the dawn boats go first.
By coastline
The newest snorkel trip reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Blue Grotto and Capri Boat Tour with Aperitivo Swim and Snorkel
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Land & Sea Adventure to Soufriere/Snorkelling/Mudbath/Lunch
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Cancun Whale Shark Experience with Snorkel & Transportation
Read our review →
Lérins Islands sailing discovery, snorkeling and paddle SUP
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Xelha Snorkel Adventure! Gorgeous & Natural From Playa Del Carmen
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Snorkel, Breakfast, Buffet, Drinks, Xel-ha All Included!
Read our review →
Tulum Akumal Snorkel Tour and 4 Cenotes Small Group All Fees Incl
Read our review →
The great snorkeling adventure at the Riviera Maya private tour
Read our review →
Speedboat across the Mangroves & Snorkel with Jet Ski Rental
Read our review →
Snorkeling Adventure at Isla Mujeres Includes Lunch and Open Bar
Read our review →
Snorkeling the Coral Reef Puerto Morelos Adventure
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Snorkeling Adventure in Puerto Morelos Includes snack, Water and Round Trip.
Read our review →