The freefall lasts a minute. Picking the drop zone takes longer.
What a tandem costs over Queenstown against the Palm in Dubai. Whether the extra 5,000 feet is worth the money. Where the wind tunnels are for the mornings the sky is shut. Reviews of every skydive and indoor flight you can book.
Four skydives that decide the rest of the trip.
The jumps people build a fortnight around. What each one costs, how high the aircraft climbs, and what the last few hundred passengers made of it.
01The one everybody namesNZONE Skydive QueenstownOut over Queenstown with the Remarkables filling the window. One aircraft, four slots a day, and the first slot is the one that flies.
02The beach landingTandem Skydiving Experience with Beach LandingAirlie Beach, out over the Whitsundays and down onto sand. The reason half the Queensland coast books a jump at all.
03The expensive oneSkydive at The Palm with Photos, Video & Yacht TourThe Palm laid out underneath you, then the photo and video package and a yacht afterwards. It costs what a week of hostels costs.
04No aircraft requiredBasingstoke iFLY Indoor Skydiving Experience – 2 Flights & CertificateA vertical wind tunnel in Basingstoke, two flights and a certificate. Flies in any weather, takes children, and costs a fifth of a jump.
Six countries that put you out of an aircraft all year round.
Sand landings on the Whitsundays, glacier air off Franz Josef, the Palm from 13,000 feet, and a tunnel in almost every large American city. Where to start, and the jump that leads each place.
A tandem skydive is one decision and about a minute of freefall.
You choose the altitude and the view. The instructor on your back handles everything else. Ten thousand feet buys roughly thirty seconds of freefall, eighteen thousand buys close to eighty and puts oxygen on the climb.
Australia, New Zealand or the USA. The country moves the price more than the altitude does.
Three countries carry most of the skydiving here. What it costs to leave the aircraft in each, and what you spend the descent looking at.
The jumps that fill their slots before anything else.
Every skydive we have reviewed →The jumps that fill their slots first, and what earns each of them the place.
1
Skydive Auckland
Review of Skydive Auckland, with freefall from up to 20,000 feet, coastal views, pricing, safety details, transport, and booking advice.
From · $214
Read our review →
2
Skydive at The Palm with Photos, Video & Yacht Tour
from $680
3
NZONE Skydive Queenstown
from $222
4
Skydive Zanzibar | Tandem Skydive
from $545
5
Tandem Skydive over the Whitsundays
from $218
6
Tandem Skydive Experience
from $214
7
Gold Coast Tandem Skydive
from $355
8
Basingstoke iFLY Indoor Skydiving Experience – 2 Flights & Certificate
from $110
Altitude, a beach to land on, or a tunnel with no aircraft at all.
Skydiving splits into a short list of products and the difference between them is bigger than the price gap. Altitude buys freefall seconds. A beach landing buys the photograph. A tunnel buys certainty.
What a skydive costs, from a tunnel session to 18,000 feet.
Every jump and flight on the site, grouped by what it costs a head. Indoor flights start under a hundred dollars. The altitude and private slots run to ten times that.
Wind tunnel flights and the short indoor sessions. No aircraft, no weather hold, and children fly.
The standard tandem at 10,000 to 15,000 feet. Photo and video packages are almost always extra.
- 1Skydive Aucklandfrom $214
- 2NZONE Skydive Queenstownfrom $222
- 3Tandem Skydive over the Whitsundaysfrom $218
High altitude, private slots, glacier and island air, and the packages that collect you from the hotel.
- 1Skydive at The Palm with Photos, Video & Yacht Tourfrom $680
- 2Skydive Zanzibar | Tandem Skydivefrom $545
- 3Gold Coast Tandem Skydivefrom $355
Three things a skydive does that nothing else does.
Every adventure activity promises a view. This one hands you eighty seconds of it at 120 miles an hour, a beach to land on, and an indoor version for the days nothing flies.
Eighteen Thousand Feet
A standard tandem leaves the aircraft somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 feet, which is thirty to forty-five seconds of freefall. Go to 16,500 or 18,000 and the aircraft needs a longer climb, the crew go on oxygen for the last few thousand feet, and the freefall roughly doubles. New Zealand sells more of these than anywhere, because the Alps are worth the extra minute of looking.
- 115,000ft Tandem Skydive in Tauranga – Bay of Plenty★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 305 reviews
- 215,000ft Tandem Skydive in Bay of Plenty★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 180 reviews
- 313,000ft, 16,500ft or 18,000ft Skydive★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 113 reviews
The Beach Landing
Most drop zones sit next to an airstrip in a paddock. A handful land on sand, and it changes the whole shape of the day: the canopy ride runs down a coastline instead of over stubble, and the last ten feet are onto a beach with people on it. Airlie Beach, the Gold Coast and Rottnest Island are the ones people fly for.
- 1Tandem Skydiving Experience with Beach Landing★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 382 reviews
- 2Airlie Beach Tandem Skydive Over the Whitsunday Islands★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 255 reviews
- 3Tandem Skydive Experience over Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 234 reviews
The Wind Tunnel
A vertical wind tunnel pushes air up a glass column at around 120 miles an hour, which is terminal velocity for a body in freefall. Two one-minute flights cost about a fifth of a tandem jump, run to a schedule no weather can touch, and take children from three or four years old depending on the site. It is not a substitute for a jump. It is the only thing that is honestly close.
- 1Manchester iFLY Indoor Skydiving Experience – 2 Flights & Certificate★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 387 reviews
- 2iFLY Indoor Skydiving Queenstown★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 245 reviews
- 3Milton Keynes iFLY Indoor Skydiving Experience – 2 Flights & Certificate★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 219 reviews
Weight limits, low cloud, and the wind that stands a skydive down.
Most drop zones cap a tandem passenger somewhere between 95 and 110 kilos, and every one of them stops flying for low cloud or high wind. A stood-down booking usually rolls to the next available slot rather than refunding, so leave a spare morning near the end of the trip rather than jumping on the last day. When the sky closes for a week, the tunnel is still open.
Four jumps you cannot leave to the morning.
Most drop zones can fit you in tomorrow morning. These four run on one aircraft, a short season, or a ferry timetable, and a single weather day fills every slot behind it.
- 01NZONE Skydive QueenstownOne aircraft, a handful of slots a day, and a stand-down pushes everybody back. Take the first slot of the morning.
- 0213,000ft, 16,500ft or 18,000ft SkydiveGlacier air shuts for cloud more often than it opens, and the West Coast clags in by lunchtime. Morning, or not at all.
- 03Skydive at The Palm with Photos, Video & Yacht TourThe Palm sells its weekend slots weeks out, and the packages with the photo and video attached go first.
- 04Rottnest Island Tandem SkydiveThe seat you actually need is on the ferry. Jump times are built around the boat, and the boat sells out in summer.
By country
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