Scuba Diving Tours in Portugal: The Best 9

1.Scuba Diving Experience for Beginners

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 715 reviews · 2 - 3 hours · from $53Our pick

Start at Madeira Divepoint inside the Pestana Carlton hotel with a safety lesson and pool practice. Then, if you choose the sea option, follow a PADI instructor to a private reef in Funchal. Small groups, multilingual staff, and patient guides such as Jorge, Rosa, Vivien, and Sarah make this a friendly first scuba experience.

“Brilliant kayak and snorkelling tour, equipment was really great quality and guide was fantastic. He made sure everyone was safe and explained everything really well which made it a great experience. The boats are equipped with their own mini bar which has water and red bull for the trip along with a water proof bag for other snacks, camera etc. You can leave anything else you have at the meeting point to be looked after, take some old shoes or water shoes for in the kayak and getting onto shore. Great snorkelling experience around the rocks with lots of fish on a good day. Highly recommended!”

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2.Diving in the Madeira Aquarium

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 215 reviews · 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $163Top rated

Spend about 2.5 hours with Lava Diving Center, learning scuba skills before entering Porto Moniz’s natural pools and Madeira Aquarium’s 6-meter tank. Guides including Abílio, Manuel, and Michael work with beginners and experienced divers. You’ll see sharks, rays, morays, and local fish in a small group of up to four.

“Une expérience géniale. Toute la famille a adoré. Merci à Manuel pour sa gentillesse et son professionnalisme. C'était notre première plongée et Manuel est vraiment rassurant et à l'écoute. Je recommande vraiment cette activité.”

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3.Porto Moniz: Diving with Sharks and Rays in Madeira Aquarium

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 192 reviews · 3 hours · from $159

Join instructor Abílio for a small-group scuba session at Madeira Aquarium. You’ll tour the exhibits and technical zone, learn in Madeira’s natural lava pools, then enter the main tank with sharks, rays, and mantas. No certification is required, and groups are limited to four people.

“It was awesome! Instructor was great and was really helpfull! I can’t believe this experience is this cheap! Got to see the fish up close and with good guidance! Awesome overal! Unforgetable!!!!”

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4.Guided Scuba Diving Trip for Beginners

★★★★★★★★★★4.3 · 131 reviews · 3 hours · from $135

Meet the Atlasdivertido team near Lagos Marina, learn the basics, and take a short boat ride to the coast. With an instructor such as Nuno, Melanie, Gui, or Tee nearby, you spend about 35 minutes underwater spotting fish, anemones, squid, sea stars, and octopus. The small group is limited to eight beginners.

“The instructors really sat there priority on safety what we really appreciated. My girlfriend got sick the same day and she couldn’t dive sadly but safety first. The instructions were clear and we saw a lot of fish and even an octopus. I would really recommend this”

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5.Scuba Diving Experience for Beginners

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 · 124 reviews · from $125

Start at Easydivers in Albufeira Marina for a beginner-friendly scuba session with theory, pool practice, and one guided sea swim to 12 meters. Instructors speak English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and small groups are limited to 10. The $125 price includes equipment, boat transport, insurance, and certification valid for six months.

“We went as a large group. For every pair of us we had one instructor. The practice session in the pool and the diving lesson beforehand were very informative and clear. The diving instructors were fantastic, funny and very well informed. I would recommend this experience to others trying to experience diving”

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6.Vila Franca Do Campo: Introduction to Scuba Diving Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 117 reviews · 3 hours · from $154

Meet the Azores Sub Dive Center at Vila Franca do Campo Marina for a 30-minute safety lesson, a 10-minute speedboat ride, snorkeling, and a 30-minute beginner scuba session near the volcanic islet. Guides such as Ivo, Ricardo, Rodrigo, Veronika, and Yanni provide close support in Portuguese, English, or Spanish.

“My instructor was Ivo and he was veeery patient with me as a first time diver. All of the guys from the scuba diving tour are amazing, very friendly, and safety focused. Thanks for the experience!”

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7.Scuba Diving Albufeira-Double Dive Trip

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 95 reviews · 4 hours (approx.) · from $101

Join Easydivers Portugal for two guided underwater sessions from Albufeira Marina, with a maximum of 10 participants. Fernando and Matias have helped guests at different skill levels, while Captain João handles the boat. Bring your own kit or rent the suit, regulator, mask, gloves, boots, and fins for €20.

“Una experiencia genial. Cuentan con un equipamiento de primera y el personal son profesionales. Repetiré con ellos.”

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8.Arrábida – Sesimbra: Eco-Friendly Beginner’s Scuba Diving

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 52 reviews · 4 hours · from $111

Spend four hours learning basic scuba skills before taking a boat to a historic site in the Professor Luiz Saldanha Marine Park. Your Portuguese, English, or Spanish-speaking instructors guide one beginner-friendly underwater session, help collect plastic, and provide SSI Blue Oceans e-learning afterward. Small groups are limited to 10 people.

“Awesome experience to try diving for first time. The guides are super professional but also very easygoing people. They explain you everything step by step and I felt very safe under care of Paulho. Super fun activity :)”

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9.3 days Open Water Course | Scuba Diving

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 43 reviews · 3 days (approx.) · from $527

Spend three focused days learning scuba skills in Funchal with Azul Diving Madeira. You’ll study, train in a pool, and complete three sea sessions with an SSI instructor. Guides such as Lupii, Esmeralda, Rafa, Sara, and Nico are known for calm, personal coaching. Equipment and certification fees are included.

“After doing more than 20 dives with Azul I can say only good things. I started with open water course with Esmeralda and then did a dive almost every Saturday. From relaxed shore dives to night dive. I dived with Esme, Guadalupe, Theo, Sam, Raffa, Roberto, Tony and Scott. And each one of them was fully professional and very nice. Their boat skippers Francisco and Vlad are always helpful and take care of you on the boat.”

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