SPEEDBOAT TRAVELER · THROTTLE OPEN, SPRAY FLYING
Hit the islands at full throttle.
Reviews of the best speedboat and powerboat tours on earth, coast by coast. The James Bond karsts off Phuket, the Benagil sea caves of the Algarve, five Dalmatian islands before lunch and the Red Sea reefs off Hurghada. We read every review so you book the fast boat that actually delivers.
Runs with a signature
Three runs you can only do at speed.
Plenty of coastlines have a snorkel boat. But the dawn blast to the James Bond karsts before the longtails arrive, five Dalmatian islands chained together before lunch, and the Algarve sea caves that open only to a small boat belong to a fast hull and nothing else.
Phang Nga Bay, Thailand
The James Bond Karsts at Speed
Phang Nga Bay is a drowned mountain range, and a speedboat is the only way to see it before the longtail flotillas arrive. You blast out of Phuket at first light to the leaning limestone needle the films made famous, slide a canoe under low arches into hidden hongs that open to the sky, snorkel off Khai island, and beat the crowds back. Emerald water, sea caves and a fast boat that turns a full-day epic into a morning.
- 1 Phuket: James Bond Island Day Trip by Speed Boat with Lunch
- 2 Phuket: PhiPhi, Maya Bay & Khai Island Day Tour with Lunch
- 3 From Phuket: Similan Islands Snorkeling Trip by Speedboat
Dalmatian Coast, Croatia
Five Islands Before Lunch
The Adriatic packs its islands close, and a fast RIB chains them together the way a day boat never can. Out of Split you cross to the glowing Blue Cave on Bisevo, the green grotto and the Mamma Mia beach, then Hvar’s Pakleni islets, swimming somewhere new at every stop. Glassy water between bare white islands, the engine wide open on the legs in between.
- 1 Blue cave, Mamma Mia and Hvar, 5 islands speedboat tour
- 2 Split: Blue Lagoon and 3 Islands Speedboat Tour
- 3 Blue Cave & 6 Islands Speedboat Tour From Split or Podstrana
The Algarve, Portugal
Into the Benagil Caves
The Algarve’s sea caves only open to small boats, and the best of them you can reach no other way. A speedboat threads the gold cliffs out of Portimao and Albufeira into the domed cathedral of Benagil, where a shaft of light falls on a hidden beach, then runs the coast past arches and grottoes with dolphins riding the bow wave. Sheer cliffs, a cave with a skylight, and the throttle wide open between them.
- 1 Portimão: Benagil Caves Speed Boat Tour with Sunset Option
- 2 Portimão: Benagil Sea Caves Speedboat Adventure Tour
- 3 Albufeira: Benagil Caves & Dolphin Watching Speed Boat Tour
The one everyone books
If you only book one run.
More travellers reach for this trip than any other on the site. A safe first booking when you want spray in your face and aren’t sure which boat to trust yet.
The most-booked runs
The World’s Most Popular Speedboat Tours
Phuket, Krabi, Split, the Algarve, Cancun. The runs travellers reach for first, on the coastlines they most want to hit at speed.
Where to open it up
Pick a coast and hit the throttle.
Phuket for the James Bond karsts. Krabi for the hidden lagoons. Split for five islands and a blue cave. The Algarve for the Benagil grottoes, Hurghada for the Red Sea reefs, Cancun for the turquoise and the jungle channel. The best fast-boat water on earth, each with the runs worth booking.
First time booking a fast boat
Which kind of run are you after?
A speedboat day comes in three shapes. Pick the one that fits how far you want to go, how long you have, and what you came to see.
Split & the Dalmatian islands, Croatia
Five islands, one tank of fuel.
The Adriatic was made for a fast boat. The islands sit close together in glassy water, so a RIB out of Split can chain a whole string of them into a single day. You cross to the glowing Blue Cave on Bisevo first thing, then the green grotto and the Mamma Mia beach on Vis, swim off Budikovac, and finish among Hvar’s bare-white Pakleni islets, engine wide open on every leg between.
See the best Split speedboat tours →Phuket & Phang Nga Bay, Thailand
Beat the longtails to the karsts.
A longtail takes all morning to reach Phang Nga; a speedboat gets you there before anyone else is awake. The early run blasts out of Phuket while the bay is still glass, slips a canoe under the arches of the James Bond karst and into hidden hongs, snorkels the coral off Khai, and is back at the beach by the time the day boats arrive. Same islands, half the crowd, twice the spray.
See the best Phuket speedboat tours →The best part
Then the skipper opens it up.
There is a moment on every good run when the harbour falls behind, the bow lifts, and the skipper pushes the throttle all the way down. The hull starts to skip, the spray comes back over the rail, the coast turns into a green blur, and the next island is suddenly minutes away instead of hours. That is the whole point of a fast boat: it gets you to the good stuff before anyone else, and the ride there is half the fun.
Browse every speedboat tour →Caves & grottoes
The best caves only take a small boat.
The most spectacular stretches of coast hide their best bits in caves a big boat can never enter. A speedboat noses straight into the domed skylight of Benagil on the Algarve, the glowing Blue Cave off Vis, the sea grottoes under Dubrovnik’s walls and the Blue Lagoon at Comino. Low arches, water lit electric from below, and a hull small enough to slip inside.
- 1 Portimão: Benagil Caves Speed Boat Tour with Sunset Option
- 2 Blue cave, Mamma Mia and Hvar, 5 islands speedboat tour
- 3 Portimão: Benagil Sea Caves Speedboat Adventure Tour
How far out
How far do you want to run?
A fast boat is as good for a sharp lap of the harbour as it is for an all-day push to the far islands. Pick your range, and we will point you at the run that nails it.
Harbour blast
Stay close, open the throttle.A short sharp run along the waterfront: the skyline tearing past, a few jumps off the wake, salt in your face and back at the dock inside the hour.
Island hop
Chain the islands together.The half-day run that day boats stretch into a whole one: three, four, five islands, a blue cave, a swim stop, then back on the throttle to the next beach.
Open-sea run
Go where the road never reaches.The full-day blast to the far islands: an early start to beat the crowds, miles of open water, hidden lagoons and the coves only a fast boat can make before dark.
Island by island
The best coves have no road in.
The best swimming water is rarely the busy beach. It is the next island over: the Hong Islands lagoon off Krabi, Phang Nga’s hidden hongs, the Pakleni islets off Hvar, the sandbars off Comino. A fast boat weaves between them all afternoon, cuts the engine in a sheltered cove for a swim, and reaches the beaches the road never does.
See all 21 Krabi speedboat tours →By place
Pick a coast and hit the throttle.
Phuket for the Phang Nga karsts and the Andaman islands. Krabi for the hidden lagoons. Dubrovnik for the Elaphiti islands and the caves of Vis. Split for the Blue Cave and the Pakleni islets. Cancun for the reefs and Isla Mujeres. Koh Samui for Pig Island and the Ang Thong marine park.
By country & region
Where in the world are you running?
From the Andaman islands off Thailand to the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, the Algarve cliffs of Portugal and the turquoise off Mexico. Pick the part of the world you are headed for and see what is out there at speed.
Throttle down to last light
A day on the boat, start to finish.
Never done a fast-boat day and not sure how it runs? Here is the shape of the good ones, from the first push of the throttle to riding the wake back to the dock.
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