Yacht Charter Prices by Destination

For a crewed sailing catamaran, the median week runs from about €17,600 in Greece and €20,400 in Croatia to €28,000 in Italy and €32,000 on the French Riviera, while a Turkish gulet takes the whole boat for about €23,400, and about $31,000 in the Bahamas and $32,000 in both the Virgin Islands and the Leewards around St Barths. Motor yachts run roughly two to three times those figures. Mediterranean and Bahamas rates are base figures before APA and VAT; Virgin Islands rates are all-inclusive.

On like-for-like boats Greece has the lowest medians of the destinations we broker, with Croatia close behind. The French Riviera is the most expensive stretch of the Mediterranean and Italy is second, in both cases mainly because of berthing: a summer night in Monaco, Saint-Tropez or Porto Cervo costs a multiple of the same night in Greece, and it comes out of your APA rather than the charter fee. The Riviera fleet also leans heavily to motor yachts, which raises every median on that coast. But the comparison only holds once APA and VAT are added: an all-inclusive Caribbean week that looks dearer on paper can end up close to a Mediterranean one.

In the Virgin Islands, yes. In the Leeward Islands, around St Barths, no — that is the one cruising ground where both models are common, with a little over half the yachts all-inclusive or close to it and the rest quoted plus expenses. Two boats at the same headline rate there can differ by half again in what you finally pay, so the model has to be checked boat by boat.

APA is an advance provisioning allowance: 30 to 35% of the charter fee, paid to the captain before you board and spent on your behalf on food, drink, fuel, dockage and port fees. It is settled against receipts at the end of the week and anything unspent is returned. It applies in the Mediterranean and the Bahamas, not in the Virgin Islands.

In the Mediterranean, yes — at the rate of the country the charter starts in, charged on the charter fee. The rate differs between countries, so the same yacht can carry a different tax bill depending on where the week begins. In the Virgin Islands there is no APA and, on most islands, no charter tax. We state the exact figures for your dates before you sign anything.

Substantially. July and August are peak everywhere in the Mediterranean and carry rates often 20 to 30% above the shoulder months on the same boat; June and September are the value weeks. In the Caribbean the season runs the other way round, with the Christmas and New Year weeks the most expensive of the year.

No, and that is the single biggest lever you have. A four-cabin catamaran costs the same whether six or twelve people sail on it, so filling the cabins can halve the per-person figure. Tell us the budget and the number of people rather than the boat, and we will show you what it reaches.