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.
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 25 July 2026. We take no commission from either side — how we make money. Disagree with a call? Tell us why.