37 waterfalls worldwide
Swimming at waterfalls
Plunge pools, natural infinity pools and the occasional lip pool you can legally sit in.
Where it runs
Waterfalls with swimming
Every destination in our index where swimming genuinely operates at or immediately around the falls. If an operator has closed, we take the entry down rather than leave a dead booking link.
Wallaman Falls
Australia's tallest permanent single-drop waterfall plunges off the edge of the Girringun rainforest into a deep gorge, reached by …
Jim Jim Falls
A sheer sandstone escarpment towers over a plunge pool that, in the dry season when the falls themselves often stop flowing, become…
Twin Falls
Two streams split around a central sandstone pillar and fall together into a sandy-beached gorge, reached via a 4WD track, a creek …
Victoria Falls
The Zambezi drops as a single curtain into a narrow slot chasm cut into basalt, throwing spray visible for 20 km that locals call '…
Vernal Fall
A clean, wide sheet drops over a sheer granite lip into a broad pool, reached by granite steps carved directly into the cliff that …
Josephine Falls
Smooth granite chutes at the base of Queensland's tallest mountain, Mount Bartle Frere, double as a natural waterslide, one of the …
Gocta Falls
Hidden by cloud forest above the Utcubamba valley, this two-tiered giant remained unmapped by outsiders until a German-led survey i…
Dudhsagar Falls
Named the 'sea of milk' for the white froth it churns up, this four-tiered giant straddles a working railway line, with trains cros…
Itiquira Falls
A wide sheet of water drops off the Cerrado plateau into a deep swimmable pool, one of the tallest waterfalls in Brazil's central s…
Tumpak Sewu
Dozens of separate streams fan out across a vast horseshoe amphitheatre at the base of Mount Semeru, an active volcano whose runoff…
Ouzoud Falls
The El-Abid River tumbles over red ochre cliffs in a series of steps into the Atlas foothills, framed by hundreds of resident Barba…
Tamul Falls
Two rivers, one running clear turquoise and one silt-laden, merge just above the lip and plunge together over a broad limestone cli…
Tinuy-an Falls
Nearly as wide as it is tall, this multi-tiered curtain in a remote corner of Surigao del Sur has earned comparisons to Niagara for…
Wli Falls
West Africa's tallest waterfall drops into a natural amphitheatre shared with thousands of straw-coloured fruit bats roosting on th…
Sekumpul Falls
Seven separate streams fall together into one lush green valley in northern Bali, often ranked among the most beautiful waterfalls …
La Fortuna Waterfall
A single vertical drop off the flank of Arenal Volcano's foothills falls into a cold, boulder-strewn pool reached by a steep stairc…
Taughannock Falls
Free-falling from a rock amphitheatre higher than Niagara, this Finger Lakes drop sits within a gorge whose walls climb 120 metres …
Kuang Si Falls
Turquoise, mineral-tinted water cascades down a tiered limestone staircase into a series of pools popular for swimming, with a resc…
Nungnung Falls
One of Bali tallest waterfalls drops into a deep ravine reached by a long, steep concrete staircase through rice terraces and jungl…
Nauyaca Falls
A two-tiered cascade on the Barú River drops into one of the Costa Rican Pacific coast's most popular swimming holes, reached by a …
Pulhapanzak Falls
A broad curtain on the Río Lindo drops into a jungle canyon that guides lead visitors behind and even partway down via a canyoning …
Kawasan Falls
Bright turquoise, mineral-rich pools step down through limestone in southwest Cebu, the finishing point of one of the Philippines m…
Salto del Laja
The Laja River fans out across a broad basalt shelf south of Concepción, splitting into multiple channels that reunite in a wide, l…
Gitgit Falls
A modest, easily reached curtain surrounded by clove trees and thick jungle a short walk off the main road between Bedugul and Lovi…
Wangi Falls
Twin streams drop into one of the Northern Territory's largest and most popular natural swimming holes, ringed by monsoon rainfores…
Boti Falls
Two separate streams, said locally to represent a male and female spirit, fall side by side into one pool near the town of Boti in …
Havasu Falls
Mineral-rich travertine dissolved from the canyon walls tints the plunge pool a surreal turquoise-blue, a color that persists year-…
Agua Azul
A staircase of travertine terraces turns the river a milky turquoise-blue as calcium carbonate precipitates out of solution, formin…
Pagsanjan Falls
Reached only by dugout canoe paddled upstream against the current by two boatmen through a series of rapids, the falls themselves a…
Salto Ventana
A modest but scenic drop in the granite hills of Uruguay's Lavalleja department, reached via a rolling hike through one of the coun…
Kravica Falls
The Trebizat River fans out across a wide travertine amphitheatre in a horseshoe of small parallel cascades, ringed by a popular pe…
Tavoro Falls
Three separate waterfalls linked by a rainforest trail climb progressively higher into the hills of Taveuni, known as Fiji's Garden…
Krka Falls
A chain of travertine cascades along the Krka River culminates at Roški Slap's braided, fan-shaped drop, upstream from the park's m…
Millaa Millaa Falls
A perfectly circular curtain drops into a fern-ringed pool that has appeared in numerous shampoo and skincare commercials for its p…
Florence Falls
A steep staircase of more than 130 steps descends to a monsoon-forest plunge pool fed by twin parallel drops, one of Litchfield Nat…
Erawan Falls
Seven distinct tiers step down through the forest, each with its own emerald swimming pool, and small fish that nibble at bathers f…
Pha Charoen Falls
Multiple broad limestone shelves step the Mae Charoen stream down a forested hillside near the remote Thai-Myanmar border town of U…