5 Destinations for the Best Cenote, Cavern, and Cave Diving in the World

See the full list of the world’s best places to dive

Cave and cenote diving offer some of the most surreal and technically challenging experiences in the underwater world. Unlike open-water diving, where sunlight and currents dictate the environment, these dives take place in flooded caverns and subterranean tunnels, where visibility can be crystal clear but overhead environments demand precision and control. For divers with the necessary training, the rewards are unparalleled—otherworldly rock formations, shimmering light beams piercing through narrow entrances, and a silence unlike anything found in the open ocean.

While recreational cavern diving allows divers to remain in naturally lit zones with an easy exit, full cave diving requires specialized training, redundant air supply, and careful dive planning. The risks are higher, but for those prepared, cave diving provides access to some of the last truly unexplored frontiers on the planet, and places where only a tiny fraction of a percent of people have gone.

There are some key differences between cavern and cave diving, and if you don’t know what they are, then you’ve likely only done cavern diving. If you can see the sunlight and have a direct exit to the surface, it’s cavern diving. If you go beyond the light zone and need to navigate your way out, it’s cave diving. Cave divers have no natural light, need to follow a sometimes very narrow exit path to reach the surface again, and use specialized gear like sidemount setups and, often, rebreathers.

Cavern diving is generally more accessible and can be done on single tanks. Cavern divers are limited to “light zones” (always within sight of natural daylight) and can’t travel more than 200 feet from the entrance, whether that’s in depth or distance.

We’ve recommended below some of the most popular and most convenient places to stay (mostly dive resorts) in each destination. Just so you know, Matador may collect a small commission from the links on this page if you decide to book a stay.

Photo: Kichigin/Shutterstock

• Can’t-miss sites: Angelita cenote, Carwash cenote
• Where to stay: Stay in town at a place like Kimpton Resort Tulum to avoid the year-round traffic delays around Tulum Beach
• Recommended operators: The Cenote Guy or Koox Diving
• Best season: November to April

Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is home to the world’s most extensive underwater cave systems. Cenotes, or natural sinkholes formed by limestone collapses, provide divers with an entrance into a labyrinth of submerged passageways, some stretching for miles beneath the jungle. Tulum is home to the Sac Actun System, the longest underwater cave system on the planet at more than 230 miles long. It’s a labyrinth of flooded tunnels adorned with stalactites and stalagmites formed over millennia. At cenotes like Dos Ojos and Carwash, divers can navigate between light-filled chambers and dark, cavernous passages.

Tulum requires buoyancy precision to avoid stirring the fine silt that can reduce visibility to zero. Some cenotes, like The Pit and Angelita, have surreal hydrogen sulfide layers at roughly 100 feet deep, mimicking an eerie underwater river. It’s pitch-black beneath the layer, and lightweight items like leaves will sometimes float on top of it. It’s wildly unique and otherworldly to see, but you’ll need to be an advanced open water diver, and Nitrox is highly recommended.

Advanced certifications are always recommended for divers exploring cave systems, but the lack of currents (or wildlife) in Tulum means many sites are open to beginner divers, though they’ll need to stay in naturally lit areas fairly close to the entrances.

• Can’t-miss sites: Ginnie Springs is probably the most popular, as well as one of the prettiest
• Where to stay: Blue Grotto Dive Resort is basic, affordable, and steps from the Blue Grotto dive sites
• Recommended operators: Rent gear from Ginnie Springs Outdoors, or book guided cave dives with North Florida Cave Training
• Best season: Fall and winter

Northern Florida has the best cave diving in the US, with caves formed as the result of millions of years of geological transformation. Much of northern Florida is limestone, and over time, a vast underground aquifer (the Floridan Aquifer) dissolved the porous rock, creating an extensive network of tunnels, sinkholes, and submerged chambers. As the underground channels expanded, some collapsed to form sinkholes and springs, while others evolved into giant underwater chambers that divers can explore today. The whole area is collectively referred to as Florida’s “Cave Country.”

Ginnie Springs, just outside High Springs, is a well-known training site, known for its high-visibility water and the Devil’s Spring System, including Devil’s Eye, Devil’s Ear, and Little Devil. Beginners can find more approachable cavern systems around Morrison and Vortex Springs, near the town of Ponce de Leon.

• Can’t-miss sites: Colovri Cave for advanced divers, The Hole of Ha
• Where to stay: Ikos Dassia has high-end, brand-new rooms, plus a robust on-site dive center
• Recommended operators: Achilleon Diving Center
• Best season: May to October

Corfu is beautiful above the surface, but its underwater landscape is equally beautiful when it comes to diving. The island’s coastline is dotted with numerous caves and caverns, making it the best place to cave dive in Europe.

Visibility in Corfu’s waters is typically excellent, often reaching up to 90 feet. However, water temperatures can change quite a bit, ranging from 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer to the high 50s in winter. It’s a great place to dive if you want to do some cavern and cave diving, but don’t want that to be the whole focus of the trip. Many sites offer a mix of open water and cavern diving, with some caves accessible to less experienced divers and others requiring advanced certifications. One of the coolest sites is the Monastery, with an impressive underwater arch about 50 feet deep, and a 30-foot-long underwater tunnel filled with colorful fish. It’s suitable for all open water divers.

Photos: Suzie Dundas, PADI, and Kichigin/Shutterstock

• Can’t-miss sites: Garden of Eden and Chikin Ha cenotes
• Where to stay: Royal Hideaway Playacar is an adults-only all-inclusive with an on-site dive center
• Recommended operators: Deep Dark Diving, or Dive Paradise if you’re staying in Cozumel
• Best season: Year-round, depending on your goals

It’s not just Tulum that has great access to cenotes. Travelers staying around Playa del Carmen have plenty of options for cenotes that don’t require a long drive south. That makes them more accessible for quick trips, since there’s a large international airport in Cancun. Even divers in Cozumel can come to the mainland for a day, as many companies offer full-day trips from the island of Cozumel that include your ferry ride to the island and pick-up in Playa.

Chikin Ha is only about 30 minutes from downtown Playa del Carmen, and close to many dive shops. Cenote Jardín Del Eden is also pretty close, so it’s easy to dive both in one day. And about an hour north is Cenote Azul Ha, a beginner-friendly site. It’s relatively shallow, but features stunning limestone formations and crystal-clear water, making it an excellent introduction to cenote diving. Visibility is always better in the winter dry season.

Playa del Carmen may be a better pick than Tulum for visitors who want to cavern dive for a day or two, but don’t want it to be the entire focus of their trip. Certified divers can also get in the water with relatively docile bull sharks just off the shores of Playa del Carmen.

• Can’t-miss sites: Anywhere in Dan’s Cave or Ralph’s Cave
• Where to stay: Abaco Beach Resort is near dive shops and popular Mermaid Reef Beach
• Recommended operators: Bahamas Underground
• Best season: November to May

Diving in the Bahamas is usually associated with the same reefs, gentle currents, and colorful fish that define dive sites throughout most of the Caribbean. But Great Abaco and the other Abaco islands in the Bahamas is distinct for its intricate cave systems under the pretty island. Divers can go under the surface from the coast or from inland cave systems, like Dan’s Cave located in one of the island’s pine forests. It has more than 17,000 feet of mapped passages, exceptional visibility, and expansive rooms with crystal stalactites and stalagmites. In Dan’s Cave, rebreather and mixed-gas divers can explore a room called “Fangorn Forest,” named after an ancient forest in the Lord of the Rings books.

Great Abaco also has plenty of great coastal diving, including sites with swim-through and arched reef formations. There are lots of popular sites around Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park, a 2,100-acre marine preserve established in the 1970s.

Photo: Ethan Daniels/Shutterstock

Most underwater caves are formed in karst, where soluble rock (usually limestone) is slowly dissolved by the flow of groundwater over thousands or millions of years. As the rock dissolves, it creates voids that sometimes fill with water as sea levels change. In some cases, the roofs of those voids collapse, creating sinkholes (or cenotes). The remains of cave system may also exist underwater in the form of swim-throughs in open ocean environments, while areas with high volcanic activity may have underwater caves and tubes formed by ancient lava flow.

Diving in caves and caverns is one of the most specialized and advanced types of diving available, and requires a serious education component to get certified. If that doesn’t float your boat, you can find a similar experience in some coral reefs with tower or tube formations. They’ll give you a chance to feel what it’s like to dive in a narrow, tight area for only a few seconds, rather than committing to it for a full hour-long dive. Read more about how scientists discovered the world’s longest underwater cave system, explore 18 awesome cave tours open to the public, and read about the controversy over the Tren Maya through Mexico’s cenote country.