Should I learn to dive, or just snorkel?
The Red Sea is one of the few places where snorkelling is genuinely world-class, which makes this a real question rather than an obvious one.
Most dive destinations make this easy: the good stuff is deep, so you learn or you miss it. The Red Sea is different. The reef starts in a metre of water and the top five metres are where the colour and most of the fish are, so a snorkeller here sees a great deal.
What follows is not an argument for taking a course. It is an honest account of what each one gets you, including the case for not bothering.
Side by side
What you see
Even- Learn to dive
- — Walls, wrecks, big animals, and the structure of the reef from below
- Snorkel
- — The reef top, which is where the colour and most of the fish life actually are
Time and cost commitment
Snorkel ↑- Learn to dive
- — Three to four days of your holiday and a real cost
- Snorkel
- — A mask and an hour. Often free from the hotel beach
Wrecks
Learn to dive ↑- Learn to dive
- — The whole point. Most sit well below snorkelling depth
- Snorkel
- — A handful are visible from the surface; the rest are not
Big animals
Even- Learn to dive
- — Better odds on sharks, rays and the deeper pelagics
- Snorkel
- — Genuinely good for turtles, dugongs and dolphins, which are shallow
Physical demand
Snorkel ↑- Learn to dive
- — Manageable for most, but kit is heavy and boats are early
- Snorkel
- — Very low. Anyone comfortable in water can do it
Flying home
Snorkel ↑- Learn to dive
- — Eighteen to twenty-four hours between the last dive and the flight
- Snorkel
- — No constraint at all
How it shapes the trip
Snorkel ↑- Learn to dive
- — Early starts, boat days, a structured week
- Snorkel
- — Fits around everything else with no planning
What it is worth afterwards
Learn to dive ↑- Learn to dive
- — A certification for life, usable anywhere in the world
- Snorkel
- — Nothing to carry forward, and nothing lost
So which one?
One week, first time here, unsure
Snorkel first
Snorkel for two days and do a try dive. If you love it, the course is still there — and you will have learned whether the water suits you before spending four days on it.
Wanting to see the Thistlegorm or the wrecks
Learn to dive
There is no snorkelling version of this. The wrecks are the reason the northern Red Sea is famous and they are all below eighteen metres.
Travelling with children under ten
Snorkel
Minimum ages and depth limits make diving marginal for young children, and the reef top is exactly where they want to be anyway.
A short trip of four days or fewer
Snorkel
A course would consume the whole trip and the no-fly interval would squeeze the end of it. Do the course on a longer visit.
Anyone anxious in water
Snorkel, with a vest
There is no obligation, the reef top is the best part, and a nervous diver is a less safe diver. Plenty of people snorkel here for twenty years and never regret it.
The most under-rated answer is "both, in that order". A snorkeller who has spent two days over the reef arrives at their first dive already comfortable with a mask, the water and the boat — which is most of what makes a first course hard.
Last reviewed 26 July 2026. No comparison here is tilted by who pays us — how we make money. Disagree with a call? Tell us why.