Some coastlines only open up at forty knots.
Which Krabi boat reaches Maya Bay before the crowd. What a Shotover jet ride actually costs. Whether a RIB beats a big catamaran round the Dalmatian islands. Reviews of every fast-boat trip you can book.
Benagil at first light, the Shotover at full throttle, Maya Bay before the ferries.
Four rides that show what a fast hull is for, and what a seat on each one costs.
01The sea-cave archBenagil Caves Speed Boat Tour with Sunset OptionThe Algarve cliffs are hollow. A small boat gets inside Benagil; the big ones idle outside and photograph the entrance.
02Full throttleShotover River Extreme Jet Boat Ride in QueenstownCanyon walls a metre off the hull on the Shotover, then a spin in water barely deep enough to float in.
03The early Phi Phi runPhi Phi Islands Speedboat Day TourLeave Krabi first and Maya Bay is nearly empty for twenty minutes. Leave late and you queue for the beach.
04The marina lapMarina, Atlantis, Palm & Burj Al Arab Speedboat TourDubai Marina, the Palm and the Burj Al Arab from the water in ninety minutes, which is faster than the traffic.
Six coasts built for a fast hull: Thailand, Dalmatia, the Algarve, Otago and two more.
Limestone stacks off Krabi, a hundred islands between Split and Dubrovnik, Atlantic sea caves in the Algarve, a glacier-fed river in Otago. Six places where the boat is the point, and the best ride in each.
Speedboat, RIB or jet boat: the hull decides the whole day.
Every hull we have reviewed →
A rigid boat with bench seats and a canopy is a different day out from an inflatable you sit astride, and both are a different day again from a river jet boat. Pick the hull first, then pick the coast.
Hard hull, bench seats, a ladder off the back
Bench seats, a canopy, a cool box and a swim ladder. This is the boat behind almost every island-hopping day: quick between stops and comfortable enough to sit in for six hours.
A RIB gets in where a rigid boat will not go
An inflatable collar, no roof, saddle seats and a hull that draws almost nothing. It goes through gaps a bigger boat will not risk, and in any chop the front row takes the spray.
A jet boat spins where it stands
Water is pushed through a jet unit rather than a propeller, so the boat runs in ten centimetres of river. Canyons rather than islands, half an hour rather than half a day, and at least one full spin.
Phuket, Krabi and Samui sell the same islands as three different days.
More fast boats leave Thai beaches than any other coast on this site. The pier you sail from decides which islands you see, how long you sit in the boat and what the seat costs.
The fast-boat rides more travellers book than any others.
Every speedboat review →The trips that sit at the top across every coast, and what earns each one its slot.
1
Benagil Caves Speed Boat Tour with Sunset Option
Explore the Algarve coast, Ferragudo, Carvoeiro, and Benagil Caves by speedboat, with a sunset option and flexible booking.
From · $20
Read our review →
2
Marina, Atlantis, Palm & Burj Al Arab Speedboat Tour
from $25
3
Blue cave, Mamma Mia and Hvar, 5 islands speedboat tour
from $111
4
Benagil Sea Caves Speedboat Adventure Tour
from $20
5
Benagil Caves & Dolphin Watching Speed Boat Tour
from $40
6
Captain Bob Speed Boat, Snorkeling, Beach Tour & Lunch St Maarten
from $139
7
Speedboat Trip to Symi with Free Time to Explore
from $35
8
Circle Line “The Beast” Midtown/Downtown Speedboat Ride
from $34
Jet boats do not sightsee. They spin.
A jet boat pushes water through a jet unit instead of a propeller, so it runs the shallow braids of the Shotover and the Kawarau, brushes the rock, then puts you through a 360 on the spot. Most of these are under an hour and none of them are quiet.
The Blue Cave opens for about two hours, and only when the sea lies flat.
The cave on Biševo lights up from underneath when the sun is high, and the only way in is a hole about the size of a doorway. Miss the window, or find any swell, and the skipper turns for Vis instead. That is why almost every Split departure leaves at seven in the morning.
Every Croatian fast-boat day →
The reefs a speedboat reaches before the day boats wake up.
A fast hull gets you to the Similans, Giftun and the Hong Islands early, while the water is still clear and the mooring buoys are empty. Book the boat, not the reef.
What a seat on a fast boat actually costs.
Every priced trip on the site, grouped by what you pay per seat. A half-hour harbour blast and a full-day island run are nowhere near the same bracket.
Half-hour city blasts, single-reef snorkel runs and the short island hops out of Krabi and Vlore.
The standard full day: four or five islands, lunch on a beach, a cave window to hit.
Private charters, Similan long-hauls and the boat you get to yourself for an afternoon.
Dolphins outrun a ferry. They come and play with a RIB.
Spinner pods off Hurghada, bottlenose along the Algarve, humpbacks in the St Lawrence. A small fast boat can reposition in seconds when a fin shows, which is why the wildlife trips run RIBs rather than cruisers, and why the deck is standing room only.
- 1Benagil Caves & Dolphin Watching Speed Boat Tourfrom $40
- 2Whale Watching Zodiac Tourfrom $98
- 3Speedboat Dolphin Watching & Snorkeling with Lunchfrom $40
Three things a slow hull never gets you to.
Ferries and catamarans go where the water is deep and the timetable is fixed. A speedboat goes through the gap in the rock, and gets there before anyone else.
Sea caves
Limestone gets undercut by the sea and the arches that survive are usually too low and too narrow for anything with a keel. The Blue Cave on Biševo needs a doorway-sized entrance and a flat sea; Benagil needs a boat that can turn inside a chamber; the Zakynthos caves need a skipper who will nose in and reverse out. All three run to a light window rather than a timetable.
- 1Benagil Caves Speed Boat Tour with Sunset Option★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 11,663 reviews
- 2Blue cave, Mamma Mia and Hvar, 5 islands speedboat tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 7,150 reviews
- 3Benagil Sea Caves Speedboat Adventure Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 6,546 reviews
The stacks at Khao Phing Kan
The bay north of Phuket is a field of limestone towers standing in shallow, milky-green water, and the famous leaning stack has been on screen since 1974. Fast boats leave Phuket and Krabi and reach it in about an hour, which is why they can add Hong Island or a sea-canoe stop on the way back while the long-tail boats are still crossing.
- 1Hong Islands Day Trip by Speedboat with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,952 reviews
- 2James Bond Island Day Trip by Speed Boat with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 2,081 reviews
- 3James Bond Island with Canoeing and Lunch by Speedboat★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,202 reviews
Jet boats
A jet unit has no propeller hanging below the hull, so a jet boat can run a braided river that would strand any other powered craft. That is what makes the Shotover trip a rock-wall slalom rather than a cruise, and why the same boats work on the Kawarau, the Dart and half a dozen rivers in Iceland and Canada.
- 1Shotover River Extreme Jet Boat Ride in Queenstown★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,540 reviews
- 2Shotover River and Kawarau River Jet Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,682 reviews
- 3Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast Jet Boat Ride: 55 Minutes★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,499 reviews
Six harbours that send out more fast boats than anywhere else.
Phuket
Hurghada
Split
Dubrovnik
Cancun
A speedboat cancels for swell, not for rain.
Open RIBs and jet boats go out in drizzle and stop for wind, so the forecast that matters is the sea state, not the sky. Most operators turn away under-fives and late pregnancy, some cap passenger weight, and the front row gets wet whatever the sun is doing. When the swell is up, the sheltered runs still sail: lakes, rivers, harbours and the lagoon boats.
Four fast-boat trips that will not wait for you.
Most of these boats can be booked the night before from a beach bar. These four run on national-park seasons, daily visitor caps and a light window nobody can move.
- 01Similan Islands Snorkeling Trip by SpeedboatThe Similan park shuts from mid-May to mid-October. Inside the season the boats fill weeks ahead.
- 02PhiPhi, Maya Bay & Khai Island Day Tour with LunchMaya Bay runs on a daily visitor cap and swimming is not allowed. The early slots go first.
- 03Shotover River Extreme Jet Boat Ride in QueenstownOne narrow canyon, one operator, fixed departures. In summer the afternoon runs are gone by lunchtime.
- 04Blue cave, Mamma Mia and Hvar, 5 islands speedboat tourThe cave only lights up around midday and only in flat water, so the boats leave early to be there for it.
The newest fast-boat reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Bavaro: Saona Island Speedboat Tour with Open Bar
Read our review →
Belgrade: Iron Gate Park, Speedboat Ride, and 2 Viewpoints
Read our review →
Banana Beach at Koh Hey: Phuket’s Speedboat Paradise
Read our review →
Bali: Nusa Penida: Snorkeling, West trip, lunch & speed boat
Read our review →
Angthong Marine Park: Speedboat Day Tour with Activities
Read our review →
Angra dos Reis: 5-Stop Ilha Grande Speedboat Tour
Read our review →
