Diving courses in Nha Trang: how many days, how much, and what you get

A diving certificate earned in Nha Trang costs between 370 and 420 US dollars and takes three days. That is the whole answer, and the rest of this page is about what makes the difference between those two numbers — the agency, the number of dives in the water, and what the centre includes without saying so on the price line.

Four operators in the bay publish course prices. One centre shows both agencies in the same price list — divenhatrang.ru, at 370 USD for SSI Open Water against 420 for PADI. The others publish a single agency: SSI at VictorDivePro, PADI at Vietnam Active and DIVE FOR YOU.

What does an Open Water course cost?

PADI or SSI — what does the extra 50 dollars buy?

The cleanest comparison in the bay is divenhatrang.ru, because it sells both: 370 USD for SSI Open Water against 420 for PADI, and 350 against 370 at the Advanced level. Same instructor, same boat, same bay. What changes is the agency behind the card and the price of its materials.

The cheapest PADI course published in Nha Trang is Vietnam Active's at 395 USD, and it is the only one that names e-learning as included — which is the part people otherwise pay for separately and do on a phone in the evening.

How many days does it take?

Three for Open Water, and VictorDivePro is the operator that publishes the structure: three days with four dives in open water. Advanced is shorter and denser at the same centre — two days and five dives — and the Stress & Rescue course runs three days and six dives.

Read those numbers as a planning constraint. An Open Water course eats three of your mornings, and the last dive has to sit a day away from your flight home.

From what age can you take a course?

Ten for Open Water, with a Junior certification for ages ten to fourteen — the same rule at Sailing Club Divers and at DIVE FOR YOU. Advanced Open Water starts at twelve at both. Sailing Club Divers also runs the PADI Bubblemaker programme from eight years, which is a pool-level introduction rather than a certification.

What comes after the card?

Depth, gas and darkness, in that order of price. DIVE FOR YOU sells the PADI Enriched Air Nitrox specialty at 250 USD and a night dive for certified divers at 90 USD. VictorDivePro prices its specialties — nitrox, deep and night — from 200 USD. Vietnam Active offers a Try Freediving session at 120 USD for people who would rather leave the tank behind.

What does diving cost once you are certified?

Less than the course, and immediately. Vietnam Active charges 70 USD for two dives and 90 for three; Vietnam Fantastic charges 50 USD per pax for one dive and 70 for two; divenhatrang.ru drops from 85 to 75 once you hold a card, and DIVE FOR YOU from 90 to 80.

If you plan to keep diving in the same week, the Sailing Club Divers packages run, on the operator’s dive-trips page, 100 USD for one day and three dives, then 130, 180 and 240 for two, three and four days. The home page of the same site lists a different ladder for the same package names, so confirm the current one with the centre.

Questions before you sign up

Is equipment included in the course price?

None of the centres publishes what a course includes. Equipment is inside their day prices; for a course it is worth confirming in writing.

Can I start the theory before I arrive?

With Vietnam Active, yes: its 395-USD PADI Open Water price is published as including e-learning.

Do I need to be able to swim?

For a try dive, no — Sailing Club Divers says so plainly. A certification course is a different matter, and the medical questionnaire that divenhatrang.ru makes compulsory applies to course students as much as to beginners.

Which agency card is accepted abroad?

Both PADI and SSI are taught in this bay by centres that carry the respective ratings, and the operators price them side by side rather than presenting one as the real one.

When should I schedule the course inside a holiday?

At the start. Three days of course plus a day before flying means an Open Water course needs the first half of the week, not the last.

Updated 4 September 2026. Course prices, durations, dive counts and age limits are quoted from the operators' own pages as published on that date.