Sixty seconds off the pontoon, and the beach is already small.
Which Dubai operator actually stops for the photo. What an hour on a ski costs in Mallorca. Whether the Langkawi run is worth three hours in the saddle. Reviews of every jet ski tour and rental you can book.
Four jet ski runs worth planning a week around.
The rides people come back talking about. What each one costs, how long you are on the water, and what riders say afterwards.
01The one that books outJetski to Burj Arab-Atlantis w Pic, Video & IcecreamThirty minutes to an hour out past the Burj Al Arab and Atlantis, with the photos handled for you.
02The Australian classicWhitsundays Guided Jet Ski TourA guided run through the Whitsundays, and the most popular ride on the whole Australian coast.
03The island crossingPremium Jet Ski Tour Including Dayang Bunting IslandOut through the Langkawi limestone to Dayang Bunting, with island stops along the way.
04The Polynesian lagoonMoorea Solo or Twin 3 hours Jet Ski TourThree hours around Moorea, solo or two-up, where the lagoon shelves off into open blue.
Six coastlines that hire out more jet skis than anywhere else.
Gulf marinas with a skyline on one side, Balearic coves, Florida flats, Whitsundays blue, Polynesian lagoons and the limestone islands off Phuket. Six places to ride, and the best day out in each.
Half an hour on your own ski beats two hours behind a guide.
A rental desk hands you the machine and a stretch of water to use it in. Three coasts where that is the better buy, what the going rate is, and what the desk will ask you for.
Spain puts more jet skis on the water than any coast in Europe.
Two island groups and a mainland coast, all of it set up for walk-up hire. The Balearics run sheltered coves and cathedral views, the Canaries give you Atlantic swell and winter water, and the Costa del Sol is wall-to-wall beach desks.
- 1Jet Ski Tour with Optional Quad Tripfrom $56
- 2Los Deltas Jet Ski Tourfrom $187 per ski, up to 2
- 3Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria: Jetski Tourfrom $82
In Dubai the jet ski is how you get a photograph of the skyline.
Every operator in the marina runs some version of the same loop: out past the Burj Al Arab, along the Palm, back with the whole waterfront behind you. What separates them is how long you are out, how many stops you get, and whether anyone is taking the picture.
Thirty minutes, straight to the Burj
Enough to get out past the hotel, hold station for the shot and come back. It is the cheapest way in and the one most riders actually book.
An hour round the Marina, JBR and the Palm
The extra half hour buys the Palm and the Dubai Eye rather than a straight out-and-back. Worth it if this is your only ride of the trip.
A guide, and nobody else in the convoy
No waiting on the slowest rider and no queue for the photo spot. Private is the format to pick if there are two or three of you and the wind is up.
The jet ski rides more people book than any others.
The full ride list →The machines that never sit on the trailer, wherever in the world they are parked.
1
Jetski to Burj Arab-Atlantis w Pic, Video & Icecream
Take a 30-minute guided jet ski ride from Umm Suqeim Marina past Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Burj Al Arab. Captains such as Rashid, Roshan, Fahad, Malik, and Chamindu help first-timers, take photos and videos, and keep the pace comfortable. Finish with ice cream or pizza and sea views at Lumiere Café.
From · $33 per ski, up to 2
Read our review →
2
Jet Ski Tour of Burj Al Arab with Photos
from $55 per ski, up to 2
3
Whitsundays Guided Jet Ski Tour
from $92
4
Jet Ski to Burj Al Arab included Photos and Videos
from $50 per ski, up to 2
5
Exclusive 1HR Jet Ski Tour- Burj al Arab & Atlantis
from $172
6
Jet Ski Tour with Optional Quad Trip
from $56
7
Dubai 1h Jet Ski, Burj Al Arab, Atlantis, Ice Cream, Photo, Video
from $151
8
Exclusive 30 Mins Jet Ski Adventure – Burj Al Arab
from $100
The best jet ski days end on an island nobody drove to.
A crossing changes what the machine is for. Instead of circling a bay you are covering ground, and the far end is a beach with a couple of skis pulled up on it and no road behind it.
Every island crossing →
What a jet ski costs once you are standing on the pontoon.
Every ride on the site, grouped by the price on the board. Most coasts will put you on a machine for less than the price of a dinner.
Twenty and thirty-minute slots, usually straight off a beach with an instructor watching from the sand.
The standard hour: an escorted run with photo stops, or a hire long enough to reach somewhere.
Half-day safaris, island crossings and a private ski with a guide to yourself.
Three things a jet ski does that no other boat can.
Boats go to the same coastlines. They do not hold station under a hotel for a photograph, thread a limestone gap at speed, or run a convoy onto a beach with no jetty.
The landmark loop
Dubai turned the jet ski into a camera platform. The route is more or less fixed by where the marine authority lets small craft go, so every operator runs out past the Burj Al Arab and along the Palm, cuts the engines at the same two or three spots, and a guide on a fourth machine takes the photographs. Book the earliest slot: the Gulf goes glassy overnight and chops up as the day heats.
- 1Jetski to Burj Arab-Atlantis w Pic, Video & Icecream★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 22,260 reviews
- 2Jet Ski Tour of Burj Al Arab with Photos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 3,505 reviews
- 3Jet Ski to Burj Al Arab included Photos and Videos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,888 reviews
Threading the limestone
Off Langkawi and Phuket the islands are karst towers with undercut bases and gaps between them a metre or two wider than a ski. Guides run in single file, drop to idle inside the gaps and open up again in the channel. Nothing with a keel can follow that line, which is the whole reason these tours exist and why they run three and four hours rather than one.
- 1Key West Island Adventure Jet Ski Tour: Bring a Partner for Free★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,362 reviews
- 2Premium Jet Ski Tour Including Dayang Bunting Island★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 704 reviews
- 3Phuket Jet Ski Tour to 5-8 Islands with Pickup and Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 621 reviews
The safari format
A safari is a convoy: a lead guide, a sweep rider at the back and everyone else strung out between them, covering thirty or forty kilometres of coast with a beach landing and a fuel stop somewhere in the middle. The pace is set by the slowest rider and the route by the swell, so the same booking can be a cruise one morning and a wet fight the next.
- 1Jet Ski Safari Hour of Power and Marine Life★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 481 reviews
- 2Koh Samui: Jetski Safari, Snorkeling to Pig & Virgin Islands★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 364 reviews
- 3Morro Jable: Guided Jet Ski Safari (without license)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 343 reviews
Jet ski rules change every time you cross a border.
Four things decide whether you actually get on the machine. Whether the country wants a licence or accepts a briefing. How old the rider has to be, and whether a passenger can be younger. What the desk holds as a deposit, in cash or on a card. And the wind, which cancels more rides than anything else. Guided and escorted formats sidestep most of it, because the licence sits with the guide.
- 1Dubai 3 Hour Private Luxury Yacht Charter with Jet Ski Option
- 2Jet Ski Rentalfrom $94
- 3Private Self-Drive SeaKart Jet Ski Boat Tourfrom $149 per ski, up to 3
Florida keeps a jet ski season open all year.
Biscayne Bay is flat, shallow and warm in February, which is why Miami rents more machines than anywhere else on the American coast. South of it the Keys turn the ride into a crossing, and on the Gulf side the sandbars make the whole thing feel like a swimming pool with a throttle.
- 1Key West Island Adventure Jet Ski Tour: Bring a Partner for Freefrom $155
- 2Avi’s Premium Dolphin Tour by Jet Ski
- 3Jet Ski Island Tour with Sandbar Stopfrom $182 per ski, up to 2
By coast
Where the sea is warm enough to ride when you are free to travel.
Dubai
Miami
Mallorca
Gold CoastThe jet ski reviews that went up most recently.
The rest of this month’s additions →
Watersport Bali: Banana Boat, Parasailing, JetSki + Spa Bali
Read our review →
Magnetic Island Snorkel Jet Ski Tour
Read our review →
Traganou Beach: Yamaha Jet Ski Rental
Read our review →
Jet Ski Experience from Kendwa Beach
Read our review →
Jet Ski Tour at Lake Osborne – Guided Adventure, West Palm Beach
Read our review →
1-Hour Guided Jet Ski Rental & Eco Tour in Chincoteague Island
Read our review →
Vancouver Jet Ski Tour to Bowen Island (4 Hours)
Read our review →
Bali Watersport Package: Parasailing Adventure, Jet Ski, Banana and Donut Boat
Read our review →
Jetski in Valencia for 30 minutes for 1 or 2 people
Read our review →