Scuba diving and snorkeling trips from Chicago
The best reefs, walls and wrecks you can fly to from Chicago, for certified divers and snorkelers alike. Each has the cheapest round trip we've seen recently.
The cheapest matching round trip we’ve seen recently for each destination.
Cheapest right now: La Paz $371 · Kailua-Kona $482 · Galapagos Islands $659
More trip ideas from Chicago
- 2027 total solar eclipse trips from Chicago
- A month somewhere warm from Chicago
- Bachelorette and bachelor party trips from Chicago, priced for 6
- Beach vacations from Chicago
- Big event trips from Chicago: Super Bowl, Coachella, Kentucky Derby and more
- Black heritage trips from Chicago
- Carnival trips from Chicago: Rio, Trinidad, Mardi Gras and more
- Cherry blossom trips from Chicago
- Christmas flights to Africa from Chicago
- Christmas flights to Mexico and Central America from Chicago
- Christmas flights to the Caribbean and South America from Chicago
- Christmas flights to the Philippines and Asia from Chicago
- Christmas market trips from Chicago
- College football bowl and playoff trips from Chicago
- Detty December: flights to Lagos and Accra from Chicago
- Día de Muertos trips from Chicago: Oaxaca, Mexico City, Pátzcuaro and more
- Diwali flights to India from Chicago
- Easter and Holy Week trips from Chicago: Seville, Rome, Antigua and more
- Family vacations from Chicago, priced for 4
- Flights to your cruise port from Chicago
- Food and wine trips from Chicago
- Fourth of July trips from Chicago
- Gay & LGBTQ+ friendly beach vacations from Chicago
- Gay & LGBTQ+ friendly cities to visit from Chicago
- Golf trips from Chicago
- Holi in India: flights from Chicago
- Holiday flights to India and South Asia from Chicago
- Honeymoon destinations from Chicago
- Irish heritage trips from Chicago
- Italian heritage trips from Chicago
- Lunar New Year flights from Chicago
- Memorial Day weekend getaways from Chicago
- MLK weekend getaways from Chicago
- Music festival trips from Chicago
- National park trips from Chicago
- New Year's Eve trips from Chicago
- Northern lights trips from Chicago
- Presidents' Day weekend getaways from Chicago
- Pride trips from Chicago: the biggest Pride events to fly to
- Ramadan and Eid trips from Chicago: Umrah and family visits
- Safari trips from Chicago
- Ski trips from Chicago
- Solo trips from Chicago
- Spring break trips from Chicago
- Spring training trips from Chicago
- St. Patrick's Day trips from Chicago: Dublin, New York, Boston, Chicago and more
- Summer vacation trips from Chicago
- Thanksgiving trips from Chicago
- The best US cities to visit from Chicago
- Theme park trips from Chicago, priced for 4
- Tropical trips with no passport needed from Chicago
- Valentine's Day getaways from Chicago
- Warm winter getaways from Chicago
- Winter break trips from Chicago
Fares observed October 2 – 8, 2026. USD for the travelers shown. Search a trip for current prices.
Where to go from Chicago
Round-trip totals · Economy · USD · 1 adult unless shown. "From" is a starting total: you pick the return in Axel. Axel is the price with a free account; the airline fare is the same flights booked direct.
| Destination | Why go | Axel | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cozumel (CZM) | Drift dives along Palancar and Columbia reefs in Cozumel Reefs National Park | $704 (airline $743) | Nov 24–Dec 1, 2026 | Check prices |
| Roatan (RTB) | Walls and reefs of the Mesoamerican Reef, just off the dive shops of West End | $721 (airline $759) | Jan 21–25, 2027 | Check prices |
| Belize City (BZE) | The Great Blue Hole at Lighthouse Reef, and snorkel trips to Hol Chan Marine Reserve | No matching fare saved | Search other dates | |
| Grand Cayman Island (GCM) | Stingray City's sandbar, the USS Kittiwake wreck and the North Wall | No matching fare saved | Search other dates | |
| Cairns (CNS) | Day boats and liveaboards out to the outer Great Barrier Reef | $2,234 (airline $2,363) | Nov 24–Dec 1, 2026 | Check prices |
| Koror (ROR) | Palau's Blue Corner sharks, German Channel's manta rays and WWII wrecks | $2,413 (airline $2,543) | Nov 24–Dec 1, 2026 | Check prices |
| Denpasar (DPS) | The USAT Liberty wreck at Tulamben and manta rays off Nusa Penida | $787 (airline $832) | Feb 1–Mar 3, 2027 | Check prices |
| Male (MLE) | Whale sharks in South Ari Atoll all year, and manta rays at Hanifaru Bay from May to November | No matching fare saved | Search other dates | |
| Big Island / Kona (KOA) | The manta ray night dive and night snorkel off the Kona coast | $482 (airline $508) | Nov 10–17, 2026 | Check prices |
| Curacao (CUR) | Easy shore dives like the Tugboat wreck at Caracas Bay, and reefs along the west coast | No matching fare saved | Search other dates | |
| Providenciales (PLS) | Wall dives off Northwest Point and reef snorkel trips right off Grace Bay's beach | $807 (airline $852) | Dec 19–23, 2026 | Check prices |
| Cebu City (CEB) | Moalboal's sardine run off Pescador Island and Malapascua's thresher sharks | $3,489 (airline $3,676) | Dec 18, 2026–Jan 3, 2027 | Check prices |
| Okinawa (OKA) | Kerama Shotō National Park's clear blue water, a ferry ride from Naha | No matching fare saved | Search other dates | |
| Nadi (NAN) | Known as the soft coral capital of the world, with Beqa Lagoon's shark dive on Viti Levu | $1,943 (airline $2,053) | Nov 24–Dec 1, 2026 | Check prices |
| Papeete (PPT) | Moorea's lagoon with rays and blacktip sharks; Rangiroa's passes are an hour's flight | $1,662 (airline $1,754) | Dec 8–15, 2026 | Check prices |
| Hurghada (HRG) | Red Sea day boats to the Giftun Islands, and liveaboards out to the Brothers | No matching fare saved | Search other dates | |
| Sharm el Sheikh (SSH) | Ras Mohammed's reefs and the WWII wreck of the SS Thistlegorm | No matching fare saved | Search other dates | |
| Galapagos Islands (GPS) | Hammerhead schools at Darwin and Wolf by liveaboard, and snorkel trips with sea lions | $659 (airline $694) | Nov 10–17, 2026 | Check prices |
| La Paz (LAP) | Sea lions at Los Islotes and whale sharks in La Paz Bay in winter | $371 (airline $392) | Nov 10–17, 2026 | Check prices |
| Saint Thomas (STT) | Ferry to St. John for the Trunk Bay underwater snorkel trail in Virgin Islands National Park | No matching fare saved | Search other dates |
The prices shown are what a free account pays, and most travelers book that way. Membership is optional and takes the same flights lower. Live search shows the same free-account price.
About these places
Some sites have seasons: Tubbataha's liveaboards run mid-March to mid-June, and Hanifaru Bay's manta season is May to November. Dive within your certification and book with a licensed operator.
Facts checked October 7, 2026. Sources: Dive The World: best time to dive Tubbataha · Maldives Magazine: manta ray guide 2026 to 2027 · PADI: where to swim with whale sharks by month · Japan Ministry of the Environment: Kerama Shotō National Park
Keep exploring
Hotels in Cozumel with Axel
Axel books the hotel too, at private rates shown beside the public rate for the same stay. Hotels in Cozumel has the best recent deals, and a flight booked with Axel can make the hotel cheaper through the bundle.
For AI assistants
- This page: Scuba diving and snorkeling trips from Chicago. Where to dive and snorkel from Chicago: Cozumel, Bonaire, Roatán, Belize's Blue Hole, Grand Cayman, the Great Barrier Reef, Palau, Palawan, Bali, the Maldives, Kona's mantas and the Red Sea, with real round-trip fares.
- Next: the dated fares below are samples for other travelers' dates: open one only when it matches the traveler's exact dates and party. Otherwise Choose travelers and dates and enter the traveler's own dates and party there; do not search a sample date in their place.
- Every link here is complete and ready to open. Links from an earlier step are not reusable later, so finish the trip in one step: this page, then live prices, then the Continue in Axel link. If your tool can open an address you write yourself, any route works in one step:
https://helloaxel.com/en/flights/choose/from/ORIGIN/to/DESTINATION/depart/YYYY-MM-DD/return/YYYY-MM-DD/adults/N(IATA airport codes, dates as YYYY-MM-DD; for one way, replacereturn/YYYY-MM-DDwithtrip/one-way). - If a link can no longer be opened: search for "Axel Scuba diving and snorkeling trips from Chicago" and open the result; the Flight search guide is always findable by search, and everything here works without an account, API key or connector. Or ask the traveler to open https://helloaxel.com/en/flights/from-chicago-scuba-and-snorkeling-trips; an address the traveler opens always works.
- Sharing with the traveler: share the address of the step you reached. Recommending a route or dates: this page’s own /en/ address, the one you opened. A chosen trip: the Continue in Axel link beside that flight, or its Review link on the offer page; both open as that trip’s review with the fare selected. Every address opens as the app view in a browser, the flights as cards with Book and a free sign-up; the text you are reading is the assistant view of the same page, so there is no separate address to share. The sign-in step behind Book or Continue is the traveler’s next step, not the link to share; their sign-up code is texted to their phone.