9 of the Best Places Around the World To Learn How To Scuba Dive

Whether you opt for bustling, hotel-heavy Sharm el Sheikh or laid-back, backpackery Dahab, Sinai’s Red Sea coast has tons to offer. Dive sites run from world-class wreck dives such as the SS Thistlegorm to the dramatic walls of the Blue Hole with plenty of mellow coral gardens for beginners. Plus, clear waters make for excellent visibility, so expect to see for 100 feet (30 meters) all year round.

Insider tip: Sinai is one of the world’s best-value places to learn to dive, but safety standards can vary. Look for long-established schools with high ratings.

With 1,350 miles (2,150 kilometers) of coastline, Florida offers a whole world of diving—think: coral reef, wrecks, caves, and the magical Rainbow River drift dive. Safety standards are high—you’ll need months of rigorous training to access those world-famous caves—and prices are too. But Key Largo’s reef and wrecks sit just a 60-mile (95-kilometer) drive from Miami, a great choice for travelers who like their cities close and their travel times short.

Luxe lovers should look no further than this Indian Ocean archipelago, famed for private island resorts with overwater bungalows. With warm waters all year round—temperatures never drop below 79°F (26°C)—and tranquil lagoons for beginners to practice, learning to dive in the Maldives can be pure zen. Coral quality is not what it was, but many sites offer spectacular marine life, including mantas and whale sharks in season.

There’s more than surf to the laid-back hippie hangout of Byron Bay—it also offers some of Australia’s most fascinating diving, as tropical warm waters mix with cooler temperate waters. Weird and wonderful marine life includes wobbegong sharks, leopard sharks, and grey nurse sharks, as well as colorful tropical fish. Visibility is best late in the Australian summer (February to March), when the water is also warmer. But, as with so much else in Australia, dive courses here do not come cheap.

Insider tip: Conditions can be challenging, with currents and wave motion, so learning here will prepare you for diving in all sorts of destinations.

This chilled-out tropical island’s most famous attraction are the thresher sharks, gormless-looking creatures with enormous tails that hang out at depths you’ll need an advanced course to reach. However, there are plenty of cool critters for learners to admire, even if you don’t want to take two diving courses back to back. Look out for seahorses, scorpionfish, and bamboo “walking” sharks—as well as a couple of wrecks—along with all the rich coral life you’d expect to find in the Coral Triangle. Waters are warm all year round.

Make no mistake—diving the Galapagos can be very challenging, what with the cool water, wave action, and currents to contend with. Yet Academy Bay provides sheltered spots to learn the basics, and qualified divers will be rewarded with the likes of sharks, turtles, sea lions, and swimming iguanas, as well as spectacular underwater volcanic landscapes. Given the islands’ isolation, prices are relatively high, but learning to dive in the Galapagos will equip you to handle most any vacation dive.

Slap bang at the heart of the Coral Triangle, Indonesia offers some of the world’s most spectacular diving. A developed scene with a wide choice of locations and schools makes Bali the archipelago’s best island for learners. Amed/Tulamben has a world-class wreck dive at depths shallow enough for complete beginners; Menjangan and Padangbai feature some drop-dead gorgeous coral; and manta rays are the big draw on Nusa Penida, where the giant mola-mola sunfish favors depths too low for beginners. And waters are warm all year round.

Rock-bottom prices, year-round warm waters, and plenty of coral and marine life make Thailand’s Koh Tao a backpacker favorite when it comes to learning to dive. And with instruction on offer in languages from Chinese to Italian, it’s easy to see why. While some of the reef is bleached, dive sites such as Chumphon Pinnacle are world class. However, safety standards vary widely between schools and some can feel a bit like a production line, churning out divers en masse—check class sizes before you commit.

This island off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula is one of the Caribbean’s favorite scuba destinations. Shallow coral gardens with low or minimal current make learning a dream, with walls and drift dives to keep more advanced divers happy too. Once you’re qualified, a trip to the mainland offers some fascinating freshwater cenote (limestone sinkhole) diving opportunities, too.