Cheap Scuba Diving In Asia

Scuba diving is not the cheapest of sports to pursue, but if you’re diving in Asia, there are plenty of great dive spots that won’t break the bank to explore in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Under the arch, USAT Liberty shipwreck, Bali © [email protected]

I’ve dived a lot around South East Asia over the last 20 years, and I’ve often been surprised at how cheap the diving can be here. If, like me, you like to dive often and travel specifically for the chance to dive, then there are plenty of opportunities to do so without having to spend a huge amount of cash.

The benchmark I’ve used is the cost of a one or two fun dives (ie assuming you’re already certified to dive) including all scuba gear. Virtually all operators offer package deals which make dives cheaper, so this is just a rough benchmark to help comparisons.

🌎 Jump To A Destination

• 🇹🇭 Thailand: Koh Tao
• 🇹🇭 Thailand: Koh Lanta
• 🇹🇭 Thailand: Khao Lak / Similan Islands Liveaboard
• 🇮🇩 Indonesia: Bali – Tulamben
• 🇵🇭 Philippines: Sogod Bay
• 🇮🇩 Indonesia: Lembeh
• 🇮🇩 Indonesia: Pulau Weh
• 🇲🇾 Malaysia: Perhentian Islands
• 🇻🇳 Vietnam: Nha Trang
• 🇵🇭 Philippines: Anilao
• 🇵🇭 Philippines: Moalboal
• 🇵🇭 Philippines: Malapascua
• 🇵🇭 Philippines: Dumaguete and Apo Island
• 🇵🇭 Philippines: Davao

🇹🇭 Thailand: Koh Tao

Koh Tao is the most popular place to get certified as a diver in Asia Pacific outside of Cairns and it’s a well-known backpacker destination. The island is literally surrounded by more than 30 dive sites and runs a year-round dive season, which is one of the main reasons it’s so affordable – operators compete hard for business and the short boat trips keep costs down.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Two fun dives cost around 1,800-2,000 Baht at most operators – roughly $50-$55 USD. Single dives start from around 1,000 Baht. Buy a package of 10 or more dives and the price per dive can drop to 700 Baht or less. Sail Rock, being a longer trip, runs around 2,900 Baht for two dives with breakfast and lunch included.

See my article Koh Tao: An Introduction.

Yellow snapper engulfing the Kled Kaew Wreck, Koh Lanta © [email protected]

🇹🇭 Thailand: Koh Lanta

Located on the West Coast, Koh Lanta is Koh Phi Phi’s sleepy neighbour and much more relaxed as a result. Lanta has access to some of Thailand’s best dive sites – Koh Haa, Hin Daeng/Hin Muang and Koh Bida – and because those sites are further away than anything on Koh Tao, the trips are longer and the experience is a step up.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Two fun dives at the closer sites (Koh Haa, Koh Bida, Kled Kaew Wreck) start from around 3,150 Baht – roughly $88 USD – with gear rental, dive guide, lunch and soft drinks included when booked online. Trips to the more remote Hin Daeng and Hin Muang add a fuel surcharge and run closer to 3,950 Baht for two dives. Add around 600 Baht per day for national park fees, which are charged separately.

The diving here is a significant step up in terms of marine life compared to Koh Tao, and the full-day trip format – out at 8am, back around 4-5pm – makes it excellent value when you factor in the food and the quality of the sites. You can also do liveaboards from Koh Lanta that help you save on accommodation and food costs.

See my article on diving Koh Lanta.

Barracuda Tornado, Koh Tachai, Similan Islands, Thailand, February 2025 © [email protected]

🇹🇭 Thailand: Khao Lak – Similan Islands Liveaboard

The Similan Islands are widely regarded as Thailand’s best dive spot and are extremely popular. You can do day trips by speedboat but the best – and most cost-effective – way to see them is on a liveaboard.

💲 Price (2025-2026): A budget 4 day/4 night Similan Islands liveaboard now costs in the region of $700-$800 USD all-inclusive. You’ll typically get 14-16 dives, so that works out at around $45-$55 per dive – but crucially, you’re also getting 4 nights’ accommodation and all your food included in that price. When you strip out the lodging and food costs, the diving itself is extraordinary value.

The most popular budget boats include Dolphin Queen, which I did numerous trips on back when I first started diving the Similans. When looking for the cheapest prices, it’s important to check guest reviews carefully before booking – staff, food and safety standards matter far more than shaving a few dollars off the price.

These days I regularly dive the Similan Islands on the Blue Dolphin liveaboard which is a bit more expensive than Dolphin Queen but is very well run and worth the extra cash.

I’ve also written up a quick guide to diving the Similan Islands from a liveaboard if you want a better idea of what a liveaboard trip actually involves.

In the hold of the USAT Liberty shipwreck, Bali © [email protected]

🌋 Indonesia: Bali – Tulamben

The world-famous wreck of the USAT Liberty lies just off Tulamben Beach, a sleepy village in northern Bali that has some remarkable diving. It’s a shore entry dive on a ship that’s been in the water since 1963, now absolutely encrusted with coral and fish life. Great place for beginners to get lots of dives in, and for more experienced divers to rack up easy dives on an iconic wreck.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Around $30 USD per single dive with gear included at local Tulamben dive centres. Two dives runs around $55 USD and three dives around $80 USD. Some operators offer unlimited dives for a day rate – Tulamben Wreck Divers have run their all-day unlimited package at $115 USD a day, which is extraordinary value if you can manage 4-5 dives in a day.

See also my overview to diving the USAT Liberty and Tulamben.

🇮🇩 Indonesia – Scuba Diving Komodo and Raja Ampat on a budget

Two other absolutely essential diving destinations in Indonesia are Komodo and Raja Ampat. Unfortunately, neither of these are budget destinations, but there are now several lower priced liveaboards in both locations. If you’re already in Bali, it’s a short flight to Komodo – check the availability of cheaper Komodo liveaboards and Komodo last minute deals. Similarly, check availability of budget Raja Ampat liveaboards – the quickest way to fly to Raja Ampat is via Jakarta to Sorong. See How To Get To Raja Ampat for more info. Both these areas are truly spectacular destinations – widely regarded as some of the best scuba diving in the world – and if you’re planning to go to Indonesia they are absolutely worth abusing your credit card to visit if you can. (Not financial advice).

Sea snake on the reef, Max Climax, Sogod Bay, Philippines © [email protected]

🇵🇭 Philippines: Sogod Bay

Sogod is a hidden gem in the Philippines – pristine reefs, annual visits by whale sharks, and virtually no crowds. It’s a long journey from Manila but absolutely worth it if you want excellent diving without fighting other dive boats for space at the site. The resort limits itself to 24 guests maximum, which makes a real difference to the experience.

💲 Price (2025-2026): 2,100 Pesos per dive with your own gear ($37 USD), or 2,350 Pesos per dive with rental gear ($41 USD) at Sogod Bay Scuba Resort. Add 150-200 Pesos per dive for marine park fees at sanctuary sites. Night dives are an extra 250 Pesos.

Read my rundown of diving in Sogod Bay from 2024 – I go back there pretty much every year as I like it so much. See also my trip report from Sogod about being In The Water With The Biggest Fish In The World.

🇮🇩 Indonesia: Lembeh

Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi is muck diving central – if you’re into macro photography and rare critters, it’s one of the best places on the planet. This is where flamboyant cuttlefish, mimic octopus, hairy frogfish and bizarre pipe fish are routine sightings. You need to pick your resort carefully as quality varies enormously, but at the top end the dive guides are extraordinarily good at finding things you’d never locate yourself.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Lembeh is best done as part of a resort package. NAD Lembeh runs at around $399 for 8 dives including 4 nights’ accommodation and full board – which works out at roughly $50 per dive with everything thrown in. Budget resorts run cheaper but the standard of guiding is generally lower. Worth spending a bit more here as finding the rarer critters is almost entirely dependent on guide quality.

See also my Lembeh trip report.

🇮🇩 Indonesia: Pulau Weh

A remote spot at the north-western tip of Sumatra, Pulau Weh is a superb location for doing lots of cheap dives on the house reef right in front of the resort, as well as taking a boat to explore further afield. Off the main tourist routes, this island has a laidback charm and some outstanding diving just a few minutes from shore. Full details in the Palau Weh trip report.

🇲🇾 Malaysia: Perhentian Islands

The Perhentians have long been a backpacker haven – two small islands with nothing but beach, no roads, no traffic. There’s some good diving around the area with a nice variety of fish life, two shipwrecks, and enough sites to keep you entertained for three or four days. Turtles are reliably spotted here too.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Around 85-100 Malaysian Ringgit per dive ($18-22 USD) at most operators, including all gear, boat and divemaster. The price drops to around 60-70 RM a dive if you’re doing several days. An Open Water certification course runs around 1,100 RM. Turtle Bay Divers, Bubbles and Monkey Dives are among the best-established operators on the islands.

See also my Scuba Diving the Perhentian Islands: A Quick Guide and my Perhentian Islands article for Asian Diver.

🇻🇳 Vietnam: Nha Trang

Despite having a huge coastline, Vietnam doesn’t get much dive attention. There are some interesting spots to explore but the main dive hub is Nha Trang – it’s convenient if you’re already travelling through Vietnam, though it wouldn’t be my first choice as a dedicated dive destination.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Around $40 USD for one dive, $60 for two dives. You can read my Nha Trang report for more info.

Hairy frogfish, Anilao, Philippines © [email protected]

🇵🇭 Philippines: Anilao

Just three hours drive from Manila Airport, Anilao is a macro diving paradise – the Philippines’ equivalent of Lembeh, with a scrubby mix of reef and sand that harbours a staggering variety of weird and wonderful marine life. It’s particularly famous for frogfish – painted, hairy, velvet, outsize, tiny – you’ll find them on almost every dive. One site, Mato Point, has been nicknamed “Too Many Frogfish” for good reason. I stayed at Crystal Blue Resort, which is dedicated to macro diving and photography and run by underwater photographer Mike Bartick – the guides are excellent at finding the otherwise expertly hidden wildlife, give them a wish list and they’ll usually deliver. Stand-out sites include Coconut Bay, the Town Pier night dive (dead flat sand at 6 metres, but somehow extraordinary), Secret Bay and the Daryl Laot wreck. Bottom times of 90 minutes are routine thanks to the shallow depth of most dives. Full write-up at my Diving Anilao guide.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Fun dives run around 1,500-2,000 Pesos per dive ($26-$35 USD) depending on the resort, plus a government environmental fee of 200-300 Pesos per day. Most resorts operate on a package basis – accommodation, full board and 3 guided dives per day – which is the most practical way to visit as Anilao is spread out along a stretch of coastline with no obvious centre. Crystal Blue, Solitude Acacia and Blue Ribbon are among the well-regarded dedicated dive resorts. Be aware that Anilao resorts are generally pricey for what you get in terms of facilities and food – read reviews carefully before you book.

Sardines, Moalboal, Philippines © [email protected]

🇵🇭 Philippines: Moalboal

Moalboal on Cebu’s west coast is famous for one of the most spectacular underwater sights in the Philippines – a vast school of sardines, millions strong, that lives year-round just off Panagsama beach. You walk straight into the water from the beach, drop below the surface and they’re right there, swirling around you in a shimmering, shape-shifting mass. It’s mesmerising and endlessly photogenic, and equally rewarding for snorkellers and freedivers as for scuba divers. Beyond the sardines, Pescador Island – ten minutes by boat – has steep walls with healthy coral, frogfish and reliably present turtles. There’s also a deliberately sunk Cessna plane wreck at Ronda Bay with some massive gorgonian fans at 30 metres. I spent four days there and wished I’d had more. My one caveat: Moalboal is a very busy backpacker destination and the sardine house reef gets genuinely swarmed on the surface – low season (June to October) is noticeably more pleasant. Full details at my Diving Moalboal guide.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Around 1,200-1,500 Pesos per dive ($21-$26 USD) including guide, tank and weights, plus a municipal conservation fee of 100 Pesos per dive on top. Boat dives to Pescador Island run 1,400-1,600 Pesos. Night dives are typically 1,500-2,000 Pesos. There are a lot of dive centres on and around Panagsama beach – prices are broadly competitive so it’s worth a quick walk-around. Moalboal is also one of the cheaper places in the Philippines to do your Open Water certification, with courses running from around 14,000-22,000 Pesos.

Thresher Shark, Malapascua, Philippines © [email protected]

🦈 Philippines: Malapascua

Malapascua is a tiny island off the north tip of Cebu with one extraordinary claim: it’s the only place in the world where you can practically guarantee seeing thresher sharks on every dive, year-round. The sharks visit cleaning stations at Kimud Shoal in the early morning, which means a 4:00am start, an hour-long boat ride out in the dark, and then the reward of watching these remarkable animals – those impossibly long tails, those huge eyes – materialise out of the blue. Since around 2020 the threshers shifted their main base from Monad Shoal to Kimud after tiger sharks moved in, which means there’s now also the (less reliable but thrilling) possibility of tiger shark encounters at Monad too. Beyond the pelagics, Malapascua has good reef diving, macro, walls and wrecks – it’s a well-rounded destination, not purely a shark trip. See my Diving Malapascua Quick Guide for the full rundown.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Around $30 USD per single dive (roughly 1,700-1,800 Pesos) including equipment rental. The standard 3-dive thresher shark trip – two dives at Kimud Shoal plus one at Monad – runs 6,000-7,000 Pesos ($105-$120 USD) all-in, including gear and conservation fees. Add a marine park fee of 150-450 Pesos per day. Note that since December 2025, Kimud Shoal has additional conservation rules – Open Water divers need a buoyancy assessment before the thresher dive, so factor in an orientation dive the day before if you haven’t been in the water recently.

🇵🇭 Philippines: Dumaguete and Apo Island

Diving Apo Island and the Dumaguete coastline gives you the best of both Philippine diving worlds: outstanding macro and muck diving along the Dauin coast south of Dumaguete city, combined with lush protected coral reefs around nearby Apo Island. The Dauin coastline acts as a nursery for an extraordinary range of critters – if you arrive with a wish list, a good guide will find most of it. Ghost pipefish, flamboyant cuttlefish, frogfish of all types, jawfish with eggs, blue-ringed octopus, sea horses, sea snakes – they’re all here. Meanwhile, Apo Island is a complete contrast: steep walls carpeted in sponges and bommies, schools of barracuda and jacks, and lush coral gardens in the shallows. The combination is ideal for divers who want to mix serious critter hunting with more conventional wide-angle reef diving. Budget at least a week for serious macro photographers – and even casually, four or five days split between Dauin and Apo is very satisfying. Full guide at Diving Apo Island and Dumaguete.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Dauin shore dives run 1,500-2,500 Pesos ($26-$44 USD) per dive including guide, tank and weights – it can feel high given they’re all shore dives, but the critter density justifies it. Apo Island boat trips add a marine park fee on top. Most divers stay at one of the dedicated resorts – Atmosphere, Atlantis, Bongo Bongo, Mike’s Dauin and Liquid Dive are among the well-established options – and book diving as part of a package. Dumaguete has its own airport with direct flights from Manila and Cebu, making it one of the more accessible dive destinations in the Philippines.

🇵🇭 Philippines: Davao

In Davao in the southern Philippines, you get serious macro diving at very competitive prices. It’s a little-known destination that punches well above its weight – I wrote a full article about Davao for Scuba Diver AustralAsia magazine a while ago and it’s still well worth investigating.

💲 Price (2025-2026): Check current rates directly at WindAndWaveDavao.com – Davao remains one of the more affordable places to dive in the Philippines.

That’s a quick rundown of places I’ve been that are cheap to dive. I know there are many more – Tioman and Redang in Malaysia, Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Coron in the Philippines and plenty of others. If you have suggestions of other cheap places to dive, please leave a comment and include a specific dive operator you recommend so I can check their prices.