ISLAND HOPPING GUIDE · THE WORLD BY BOAT
Some places are only good from the water.
Reviews of the best island-hopping trips on earth, archipelago by archipelago. The hidden lagoons of El Nido, the five-island run out of Split, the Phi Phi karsts off Phuket, the Cyclades and the Gilis. We sort through the listings so you book the right boat to the right islands.
Worth the airfare
Three island days you fly across the world for.
You can take a boat trip almost anywhere. But the hidden lagoons of El Nido, the turquoise five-island run out of Split, and the karst towers off Phuket belong to these archipelagos and nowhere else on earth.
Palawan
The Hidden Lagoons of El Nido
Bacuit Bay is a maze of limestone islands, and the best of them hide lagoons you can only paddle into through a gap in the rock. A banca drops you at the Big and Small Lagoons, the Secret Beach behind a crack in a cliff, a sandbar that surfaces at low tide. The water is the green you came for, you snorkel reef straight off the bow, and Tour A links four or five of these in a single unforgettable day.
- 1 El Nido: Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and Beaches
- 2 El Nido: Island Hopping Adventure by Haqqy Life
- 3 El Nido: Island Hopping Tour B Cudognong Cave & More
Dalmatia
The Blue Lagoon & Five Islands off Split
Out of Split the islands come thick and fast: the Blue Lagoon at Drvenik where the shallows glow turquoise, the green inlet at Vis, the Pakleni chain off Hvar with its empty coves and a long lunch in a fishing harbour between swims. The five-island day runs all summer and the Adriatic is so clear you can count the stones below the hull.
- 1 Blue Lagoon & 3 Islands Cruise with Lunch from Split
- 2 Split: Blue Lagoon and 3 Islands Speedboat Tour
- 3 Blue Lagoon & 3 Islands Small-Group Speedboat Tour
The Andaman Sea
Phi Phi & James Bond Island by Speedboat
From Phuket and Krabi the Andaman opens onto the most photographed islands in Thailand: the cliffs of Maya Bay, the leaning karst of James Bond Island in Phang Nga, the lagoon at Phi Phi Leh. A speedboat strings them together with snorkel stops over the reef and a beach lunch, or a longtail takes it slower through the limestone towers and sea caves.
- 1 Phi Phi , Khai & Maya : Unforgettable Island Hopping by Speedboat
- 2 Phuket Khai Islands Half-Day Tour: White Sands & Crystal Waters
- 3 The Best Phuket 3 Islands Snorkeling Tour By Speedboat
The trip everyone books
If you only book one island day.
More travellers reach for this one than any other on the site. A safe first booking in an archipelago you are still getting to know.
The classics
The World’s Most Popular Island Hopping Tours
El Nido, Split, Phi Phi, Coron, the Cyclades. The lagoon days and island circuits travellers reach for first, in the archipelagos they most want to swim.
Where to set off
Pick your archipelago.
The Philippines for hidden lagoons. The Dalmatian islands for the clearest water in the Adriatic. Thailand for limestone karsts, Greece for caldera swims, Vietnam for junks among the towers, Indonesia for the Gilis. Each one, with the island days it does best.
Which kind of day
How to spend a day in the islands.
The kind of boat matters as much as the archipelago. Three ways to spend a day on the water, depending on the time you have and what you want from it.
Palawan & the Visayas
Nowhere does islands like the Philippines.
Seven thousand islands, and the best of them you can only reach by boat. The hidden lagoons of El Nido behind cracks in the limestone, the wrecks and the jade lake at Coron, the white sand and reef off Boracay, the sandbars that surface at low tide. You paddle into water the colour of glass, snorkel straight off the bow, and beach-hop until the light goes gold.
See the best island hopping in the Philippines →Dalmatia
The clearest water in the Adriatic.
Out of Split, Zadar and Trogir the islands come thick and fast: the Blue Cave lit from below on Bisevo, the green lagoon at Vis, the turquoise shallows of the Blue Lagoon at Drvenik, the Pakleni coves off Hvar. Five islands in a day, the water so clear you can count the stones on the seabed, and a long lunch in a fishing harbour between swims.
See the best island hopping in Croatia →The best part
Everyone ends up on the same boat.
A good island day is never just the scenery. It is the dozen strangers who boarded as strangers, the boatman who knows which lagoon is empty at this hour and exactly when to drop anchor, and the moment someone jumps off the bow and the whole deck follows. You come back sun-warm and salt-dried, knowing the islands a little, and a few people on them.
Browse every island hopping tour →The bays of Vietnam
Vietnam hides its islands in jade water.
A speedboat skipping out to the An Thoi islands off Phu Quoc, a junk gliding between the limestone towers of Halong and Lan Ha Bay, a day boat to the reefs and beaches off Nha Trang. These are island days with a different rhythm: greener, framed by karst and jungle, with cave swims and floating villages between snorkel stops. A local at the tiller knows the channels and the quiet corners.
- 1 Trip 3 : 3 Islands by boat
- 2 Phu Quoc: Cable Car Ride and 3 Islands Boat Tour with Lunch
- 3 Hoi An/Da Nang: Snorkeling and Island Hopping Speedboat Tour
By time on the water
How long do you want to be out there?
Some days you want a short circuit and a sunset. Some days you want a couple of islands, a reef and a swim stop. And some days you want to be out from breakfast to dusk, hopping lagoons. Pick the day, we will point you at the boat.
An hour or two
Just get out between the islands.A short island circuit or sunset cruise: a snorkel stop off a reef, a quick swim at a cove with no road to it, back on the sand before the heat goes.
Half a day
Two or three islands and a snorkel.A longtail or speedboat run out to a cluster of islands: snorkel gear over the side, a swim where the water turns that colour, and a skipper who knows the quiet beaches.
A full day island hopping
Hop the lagoons until sundown.Four or five islands, hidden lagoons and lunch on a beach you reach only by boat: the long days on deck you plan a whole trip around and talk about for years.
Limestone and longtails
Thailand keeps its best beaches offshore.
Out of Phuket and Krabi the Andaman opens onto Phi Phi, the Khai islands and the leaning karst of James Bond Island in Phang Nga; over on the Gulf side, Ko Samui and Ko Lanta have their own quiet runs. A speedboat strings the famous ones together with snorkel stops and a beach lunch, or a longtail takes it slower through the towers and sea caves. Half-day hop or a full day on the water.
See all 32 island hopping tours in Thailand →By base
Pick a base and cast off.
El Nido for the hidden lagoons of Bacuit Bay. Split for the Blue Lagoon and the Pakleni islands. Boracay for the island circuit. Phuket for Phi Phi and James Bond Island. Coron for the wrecks and Kayangan Lake. Kos for the three-island Aegean run.
By country
Every archipelago worth the trip.
From the Philippines to the Adriatic, the Andaman to the Aegean, the Gilis to the bays of Vietnam. Browse by the country whose islands you want to wake up between.
Cast off to sundown
A perfect day hopping islands.
First time in the islands and want a full day on the water? Here is how it flows, from the glassy morning lagoon to a last swim as the sun goes down.
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