When you think of diving in southern Taiwan, Kenting is surely the first place that comes to mind — Kenting feels like it equals every kind of water sport, above and below the surface! Diving has taken off in Taiwan in recent years, and Kenting is one of the most iconic spots on Taiwan’s main island, with plenty of international visitors coming here to dive too! The water temperature in Kenting averages 25°C year-round, the coral is beautifully intact, and the water clarity is stunning! Here we’ve rounded up a few must-visit Kenting dive sites you can enjoy in any season, so you can come home with loads of gorgeous photos!
Getting to Kenting for diving: renting a car in Kenting or Kaohsiung is the way to go!
Kenting has no MRT or high-speed rail yet, so taking public transportation with a group of friends is a real hassle! Your routes are limited, your schedule is hard to control, and if you’re hauling bags of gear you really don’t want to be squeezed in with the crowds! The ride is long, a scooter isn’t convenient either, and carrying luggage on one just adds risk — it’s simply not worth it! That’s why renting a car in Kaohsiung or Kenting is the best choice for a Kenting diving trip! And booking with gogoout saves you even more time and effort!
🏖 Diving in Kenting: must-visit shore diving sites
📍 Wanlitong
Depth: 🌟
Navigation difficulty: 🌟
Difficulty: 🌟
Wanlitong is fairly shallow, so shore diving is the way to go! The natural terrain keeps the waves and wind here mild, making it great for beginners, and several snorkeling operators offer snorkeling trips from this spot. Wanlitong also has a wide, open sandy beach that’s perfect for freedivers to shoot photos! The slope is gentle, the first stretch has clownfish, and the back section is a large reef formation with rocky channels (the “Great Wall”), so scuba divers will enjoy it too!
⚠️ Quick reminder: visitor numbers have grown in recent years and human activity has damaged Wanlitong’s ecosystem, so when you dive please avoid touching the small creatures here — let’s protect Wanlitong together!
Address: No. 14-3, Wanli Rd., Hengchun Township, Pingtung County
Image source / IG: @freemind_freediving
📍 Chushuikou (the Outlet)
Depth: 🌟🌟
Navigation difficulty: 🌟
Difficulty: 🌟
Chushuikou is beginner-friendly, with a maximum depth of about 16 meters! Just search for Chushuikou on the map and you’ll find it (it’s on the right-hand side)! There’s a soft coral area nearby, so you’ll see a huge expanse of soft coral as soon as you get in the water! At around 8 meters there’s a big sandy patch. Head farther out and the temperature swings are bigger because of the underground spring water.
At less than 10 meters here you can already spot schools of barracuda, and a little farther out there’s a clownfish valley, so you can weave through the pretty holes and swim-throughs for beautiful photos!
Address: No. 79-15, Daguang Rd., Hengchun Township, Pingtung County
Image source / IG: @smallnew814
Image source / IG: @vicccsu
Image source / IG: @xeniahsuan
Image source / Blue Hole Diving
📍 Sand Island (Shadao)
Depth: 🌟
Navigation difficulty: 🌟🌟
Difficulty: 🌟
Shadao is a beginner site around 10 meters deep. You can enter from the viewing area, or take a boat from Houbihu, about 30 minutes away! Coral coverage here isn’t high and there are fewer fish, though small schools do show up now and then, so it suits freedivers looking for photos. Its underwater trench terrain is also great for anyone who loves exploring swim-throughs!
⚠️ Quick reminder: the beach above is a protected area, so be careful not to swim straight up onto it!
Address: a little south of Banana Bay
Image source / IG: @xeniahsuan
Image source / IG: @xeniahsuan
📍 Fish feeding area (Houbihu), left of Chushuikou
Depth: 🌟
Navigation difficulty: 🌟
Difficulty: 🌟
A beginner site about 10–13 meters deep, popular for both snorkeling and diving! Three little local stars live here, and you have to come see the giant trevally! They can grow to 1.6 meters and weigh around 15 kilograms, about as much as a small child — and these friendly fish love to photobomb your shots!
Address: left side of Chushuikou
Image source / Blue Hole Diving
📍 Batfish area
Depth: 🌟
Navigation difficulty: 🌟🌟
Difficulty: 🌟
Soft coral dominates here, so the water stays clear year-round and you’ll rarely run into low visibility caused by too many suspended particles!
Address: just in front of the Houbihu soft coral area
Image source / Blue Hole Diving
🚤 Diving in Kenting: must-visit boat diving sites
📍 Hejie
Depth: 🌟🌟🌟
Difficulty finding it: 🌟🌟🌟
Difficulty: 🌟🌟🌟
Hejie is best dived from a boat; if you want to shore dive, you can swim out on the surface to the right spot and then descend. The must-see check-in spot here is a shipwreck at 32 meters that has been reduced to its ribs — it looks so much like a rib cage that everyone calls it the “spare ribs”! There are bus stops on both sides of the entry point, so it’s easy to find. The maximum depth here is about 34 meters, and the current can be strong with big swells, so it suits intermediate and advanced divers! The wreck’s frame has become an artificial reef, so there’s plenty of marine life to see.
⚠️ Quick tip: because this site is deep, keep an eye on your residual pressure and remaining air at all times.
Address: next to the Hejie bus stop
Photo source / IG: @kaicheng938
Photo source / IG: @ccom1959
Photo source / IG: @lucidblue_dive
Photo source / IG: @smile_albee
📍Duli Reef
Depth: 🌟🌟🌟
Difficulty finding it: 🌟
Difficulty: 🌟🌟🌟
Duli Reef is an intermediate-to-advanced site averaging 20–30 meters and best suited to boat diving. On the south side there’s a rock shaped like a dinosaur’s head, known as “Dragon King Rock,” and at about 22 meters right beside it you can spot tiny pygmy seahorses! You might also meet wide-eyed sea turtles. The terrain slopes gently downward and there’s a slight current, so beginners can stay around 10 meters to enjoy the reef.
If you’re lucky, you may get a close encounter with a whale shark cruising near the surface!
⚠️ Quick tip: beginners should watch their depth here — it’s easy to drift down too far without noticing.
Photo source / IG: @jim1426
Photo source / Blue Hole Diving
Photo source / IG: @coolptz
📍Twin Peaks Blue Hole
Depth: 🌟🌟🌟
Difficulty finding it: 🌟🌟🌟
Difficulty: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Twin Peaks Blue Hole is a 10-meter-long cave and an advanced site next to the Xiaolaogu Fault. The average depth is 15–28 meters and the current is fairly strong, so beginners shouldn’t go without a guide.
There’s a big sea fan at the cave entrance, plus schools of anthias and filefish to watch nearby!
Address: next to the Xiaolaogu Fault
Photo source / IG: @tseyung1031
Photo source / IG: @taiwandivecenter
Photo source / IG: @taiwandivecenter
📍North Shore Garden
Depth: 🌟
Difficulty finding it: 🌟🌟
Difficulty: 🌟
Just like the Batfish Area, this site is dominated by soft corals! Its signature feature is the white sand dotted with porites corals shaped like mushrooms, which is why the site is also called the North Side Mushrooms. Bluespotted ribbontail rays often hide in the sand, so keep an eye on the bottom if that interests you! Because North Shore Garden is relatively shallow, the coral colors here look even more vivid.
Address: next to the Batfish Area
Photo source / Blue Hole Diving
📍Sanjiaoding
Depth: 🌟🌟
Difficulty finding it: 🌟
Difficulty: 🌟🌟
An intermediate site at about 13–20 meters. If you love sea turtles, come here to see plenty of them 🐢 — and you’ll often spot stingrays in the sand too!
Address: next to Tiaoshi
📍Tiaoshi
Depth: 🌟
Difficulty finding it: 🌟
Difficulty: 🌟
A beginner site at about 8–11 meters, with many kinds of fish and horned helmet conchs, plus a large patch of wild garden eels on the sand.
Address: next to Sanjiaoding
🏝 Map of Kenting dive sites
If you want to know exactly where each site is, or you still haven’t seen enough, here’s a rundown of every dive site’s location, level and depth.
Image source / CTDiver
Here are a few organizations that issue diving certifications for your reference.
PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors)
SSI (Scuba School International)
NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors)
ADS (Association of Diving School International)
CMAS (Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques)
SDI (Scuba Diving International) / TDI (Technical Diving International)
How do you get to Kenting?
No matter whether you travel by train, high speed rail, or plane, you’ll need to get to Kaohsiung first and then transfer to another form of transportation to reach any attraction in Kenting.
Route: Kaohsiung → Pingtung → Hengchun → Kenting
(The drive from Kaohsiung to Kenting takes roughly 2–3 hours.)
| Kenting Express bus | Private car charter (one day) | Kaohsiung car rental | |
| Pros | Great for travelers without a driver’s license | Just pick the attractions; no need to worry about the route | Maximum flexibility |
| Cons | You have to work around the departure times, and you’ll need to find other transportation once you reach Kenting | Expensive, and quality varies
Inaccurate pickup times can waste your time | Driving yourself is tiring, and you need to look up routes and do your homework in advance |
| Price | NT$600 per person round trip | NT$3,150 for 4 people (driver not included) = NT$788 per person per day | NT$1,499 for 5 people = NT$300 each |
Driving from Kaohsiung all the way to Hengchun Township in Pingtung County, the road gets more and more pleasant, and you can watch the scenery shift from city to ocean views as the vacation excitement builds. It’s perfect for a drive with friends or family, and once you arrive in Kenting you won’t have to worry about transportation anymore!
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This article was translated by AI from the original Chinese version.
