How many days do you need for diving in Koh Tao?

Plan about 5 days to dive the highlights.

How warm is the water in Koh Tao?

Warmest in May at about 31 °C at the surface.

Updated 47 minutes ago

Koh Tao

Best months: Mar-May
Water: 28–31 °C
Visibility: 18–30 m
Level: Beginner+
Days needed: 5 days

Koh Tao from Sentinel-2, 1 December 2025 · Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025; depth contours approximate (NOAA ETOPO 2022)

When to go

Best from Mar-May.

Month grade from logged dives across 23 sites: visibility, sea state and sightings. Tap a month for the full picture.

Divegrade month grade, 0 to 10Best monthsOther months

This month · NovemberOutside the best months (Mar-May)

Expect visibility around 20 m and water about 29 °C. Koh Tao in November

Year-roundDivers log dives here every month

The best months are Mar-May, but there is diving all year.

Where to dive

23 dive sites, ranked.

For beginners Open Water Advanced Open Water

Interactive map loads here. Every site on it is also listed on this page.

Site list photos: (c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY), via iNaturalist (CC BY) · Leonard Low from Australia, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0), Moon wrasse, taken elsewhere · (c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) · (c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) · (c) Jean Jacques Godon, some rights reserved (CC BY), via iNaturalist (CC BY) · (c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY), via iNaturalist (CC BY) · (c) Kat Lim, some rights reserved (CC BY), via iNaturalist (CC BY) · Amada44, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY SA 3.0) · (c) ig: underwater.logs, some rights reserved (CC BY), via iNaturalist (CC BY) · H. Schlegel, via Wikimedia Commons (PD), Doublebar Rabbitfish, taken elsewhere · (c) Shane Austin, some rights reserved (CC BY), via iNaturalist (CC BY) · (c) luluchouette, some rights reserved (CC BY), via iNaturalist (CC BY) · (c) Gonzalo Ganda Álvarez, some rights reserved (CC BY), via iNaturalist (CC BY).

By dive type:Wreck Wall Macro Drift Cave and cavern Coral Big animals

What you'll see in November

Redbarred Roccod on 16% of dives.

Chance per dive this month across all sites here, from sightings in logged dives.

Chance of seeing it on a dive, by monthShare of all sampled dive days at Koh Tao sites that recorded the species that month. 0 means divers were there but did not record it; a dash means no sampled dives that month.

Marine life in Koh Tao: percent chance per dive, by month
Species	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Moon wrasse	7	5	4	5	6	11	17	14	14	20	16	10
Yellow Scale Parrotfish	7	6	6	6	6	10	15	16	15	15	12	9
Doublebar Rabbitfish	8	7	6	6	5	9	15	19	18	13	8	8
Redbarred Roccod	6	6	6	5	5	8	13	12	15	18	16	9
Hongkong Butterflyfish	9	7	5	7	7	10	15	15	12	12	8	9
Wimple Fish	7	8	6	5	4	10	18	13	13	13	8	6
Pearly Monocle Bream	7	5	5	5	7	9	14	15	13	13	10	8
Thicklip wrasse	5	4	4	6	6	9	13	14	10	9	11	7
Vielle Chocolat	5	4	3	5	5	8	13	11	15	13	9	6
Tattooed Parrotfish	6	4	4	6	7	8	10	12	11	11	10	9
White-dotted maori wrasse	4	4	5	4	5	10	13	8	10	12	10	5
Sling-jaw wrasse	5	4	3	4	4	7	10	14	10	10	9	8

Also seen: Yellow Scale Parrotfish · Neon Damselfish · Cheeklined wrasse · Thicklip wrasse · Violet Zoanthids · 509 species recorded

Dive centers

32 dive centers in Koh Tao.

Dive centers in Koh Tao
Dive center	Agencies	Nitrox	Sites they run
Apnea Total	Not listed	Not known	--
Big Blue Diving	SSI	Not known	20
Black Turtle Dive	Not listed	Not known	--
Calypso Diving	Not listed	Not known	--
Coral Grand Divers	Not listed	Not known	--
Crystal Dive	SSI	Yes	13
Dive Center "Scuba Birds"	PADI	Not known	6
Dive Poin Koh Tao	SSI	Yes	6
Dive Supply	Not listed	Not known	--
Flow Divers	PADI	Yes	2
Freedive Koh Tao	Not listed	Not known	--
French Kiss Divers - Chalok	SSI	Yes	8
Golden Divers	Not listed	Not known	--
Goodtime Adventures	SSI	Yes	13
Hydronauts Diving Resort	RAID	Not known	21
Ihasia Diving Koh Tao	SSI	Yes	--
KTD - Koh Tao Divers	SSI · TDI	Not known	2
Master Divers	PADI	Yes	--
Nang Yuan Easy Divers	Not listed	Not known	--
Nava Scuba Diving	PADI	Yes	13
New Heaven Dive School	SSI	Not known	9
New Way Diving	Not listed	Not known	--
Ocean Republic Diving	Not listed	Not known	--
Ocean Store	Not listed	Not known	--
Pearl Diving	Not listed	Not known	--
Pura Vida Diving	Not listed	Not known	--
Rainbow Fish Divers	Not listed	Not known	--
Siam Scuba Dive Center	BSAC · CMAS · NAUI · PADI · RAID · SSI	Not known	11
The Dearly Dive Koh Tao	PADI · RAID · SSI	Not known	10
The Diver's Boat	Not listed	Not known	--
The Funky Turtle	Not listed	Not known	--
U&I Place	Not listed	Not known	--

Listed by name. Nobody pays to be listed or to be higher on this page.

More places to dive

Pair it, or trade up.

All of Thailand

Best dive sites in Thailand

Citizen science

Turn every dive into ocean science

The ocean covers 70% of the planet but is the least-recorded place on Earth. Scientists can't be on every reef. Divers are.

Make your dives count Log a dive

Free to join
Works with your dive computer

What happens to one sighting

A mobula ray swimming in open blue water, a remora on its back — **Mobula ray***Mobula sp.*15 m · Princess Alice Bank, Azores

You log itWhat you saw, from your dive computer file or by hand.
We check itPinned to the dive site and matched to a scientific name.
Scientists can use itKept with its date, depth and place, in the format the big open species databases like GBIF use.

What scientists need, and how you help

More places
Most ocean records come from a few coasts. Log every dive, even quiet sites.
What wasn't there
Full dive logs show when a species goes missing. Log every animal, not just the highlights.
Same reefs, every year
Change only shows up over years. Keep logging your home reef.
Names they can trust
Lookalike species trip up records. Tag animals and add a photo.