Beyond Koh Tao
Koh Tao is one of the busiest dive hubs in the world. These destinations dive in a similar way, with the same good months, marine life and kind of diving, and see far fewer divers.
If you're new to diving
Destinations with at least 4 documented Open Water sites.
WakatobiIndonesiaBest Mar–Dec17 Open Water sitesGood in the same months (Jan–Oct)Also rays, turtles, big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs69match- Dumaguete, Dauin & Apo IslandPhilippinesBest Jan–May5 Open Water sitesMostly calm waterGood in the same months (Jan–Jun, Oct)Also turtles, big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs, artificial reefs66match
CoronPhilippinesBest Dec–Apr4 Open Water sitesMostly calm waterGood in the same months (Jan–Jun, Oct)Also turtles, big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs63match- Nha TrangVietnamBest Apr–Aug4 Open Water sitesMostly calm waterGood in the same months (Feb–Sep)Also big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs62match
MalapascuaPhilippinesBest Dec–May9 Open Water sitesMostly calm waterGood in the same months (Jan–Oct)Same kind of diving: reefs62match- AnilaoPhilippinesBest Nov–Dec, Apr–May13 Open Water sitesGood in the same months (Jan–Jun, Oct)Also turtlesSame kind of diving: reefs57match
For certified divers
Some of these need Advanced certification or more: check each site's level.
- Southern Leyte (Sogod Bay)PhilippinesBest Apr–May, OctGood in the same months (Jan–Oct)Also rays, turtles, big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs77match
- SiquijorPhilippinesBest Feb–MayGood in the same months (Jan–Oct)Also turtles, big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs73match
Sipadan & SempornaMalaysiaBest Apr–OctGood in the same months (Jan–Oct)Also turtles, big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs70match
KomodoIndonesiaBest Apr–OctGood in the same months (Jan–Oct)Also rays, turtles, big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs69match- RomblonPhilippinesDiveable all yearGood in the same months (Jan–Oct)Also turtlesSame kind of diving: reefs69match
- El NidoPhilippinesBest Nov–MayGood in the same months (Jan–May, Oct)Also rays, turtles, big schoolsSame kind of diving: reefs66match
How we match: share of the good months in common (up to 25 points), same region (25), marine life seen regularly (20), kinds of diving (15), how many sites suit Open Water divers (10) and water temperature (5). We only suggest destinations in the same region of the world that share at least one kind of diving, and that are not among the busiest dive hubs we identified from dive volumes, dive-centre counts and marine-park visitor numbers.
Photo credits
- Beach in Wakatobi National Park, Jenny from Taipei, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Lagoons and karst cliffs of Coron Island, Nicko Melendres, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Beach and lagoon on Malapascua Island, Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sipadan Island seen from the sea, Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Pink Beach on Padar Island, Komodo National Park, Devagonal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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