Motor yachts for charter

A motor yacht covers ground a sailing yacht cannot. Cruising speeds of 20 knots and up turn a week-long route into three days, which changes what you can fit into a holiday: two island groups instead of one, or a one-way passage that a sailboat would need a fortnight for. That speed costs fuel, and on a 15-metre yacht the fuel bill is the line item people underestimate. Everything below assumes you already know that trade-off and want to know where a motor yacht charter earns it back.

What a motor yacht gives you

Speed and range

Most charter motor yachts run three to four times faster than a comparable sailboat. In practice that means you leave after breakfast and are anchored somewhere new by lunch, and you can reach places a sailing itinerary writes off: the outer Cyclades, Anegada in the BVI, the far Exumas. Long weekends become worth doing.

Comfort at anchor and under way

The deck space on a motor yacht is flat and stays flat. Air-conditioned saloons, en-suite cabins and a shaded flybridge are standard from about 14 metres up, and stabilisers on the larger boats cut the roll at anchor, which is what actually spoils a night on board. Nobody is winching anything.

Handling and draught

Twin engines and a bow thruster make berthing straightforward, so a Med mooring in a crosswind stops being the day's main event. A shallower draught than a keelboat also lets you anchor closer in, which matters in the Bahamas, the Kornati and anywhere the good bay is the shallow one.

Independence from the wind

A flat calm or a headwind does not change your plan. For a fixed one-week window with flights booked at both ends, that predictability is worth more than most people expect.

Bareboat, skippered or crewed

Bareboat

A bareboat motor yacht charter puts you at the helm. You plan the route, berth the boat and run the safety checks, and you need a licence the base recognises. Two things catch people out: refuelling stops need planning on a longer route, and local traffic rules differ more than you would think between Croatia, Greece and Turkey.

Skippered

A skippered motor yacht charter adds a professional captain. He runs the boat and takes one cabin, and his day rate is the smaller half of what he is worth in unfamiliar water. A local skipper knows which bays hold in which wind, which is information no chartplotter gives you.

Crewed

A crewed yacht adds a chef, a stewardess or deckhands depending on size. Usually 20 metres and up, often sold as a package with meals and route planning included. Read what the package covers before comparing prices: fuel and port fees are inside some quotes and outside others, and on a motor yacht that gap is large.

Where to go

Mediterranean

A Mediterranean motor yacht charter runs roughly April to October.

• Croatia. A week out of Split reaches Hvar, Vis, Korčula and the Kornati and still ends in Dubrovnik. Over a thousand islands and islets, short legs, and marinas every few miles. Start with motor yacht charter Croatia.

• Greece. From Athens you can take in Mykonos, Paros and Santorini inside a week, which is ambitious under sail and routine under power. The Ionian is the calmer alternative. See motor yacht charter Greece.

• Italy. Naples down the Amalfi Coast covers Capri, Positano and Amalfi in a few days. Further south, the Aeolian Islands off Sicily give you Stromboli glowing after dark. Browse motor yacht charter Italy.

• Sardinia. The Costa Smeralda and the La Maddalena archipelago, with southern Corsica an hour away. Shallow draught pays here: the good anchorages are the ones close to the beach. See motor yacht charter Sardinia.

• Balearics. Mallorca has bays reachable only by boat, plus Cabrera National Park to the south and Menorca within a week's range. Formentera is a short hop from Ibiza. Start at motor yacht charter Mallorca.

• Turkey. Bodrum to Marmaris or Göcek to Antalya, through the Gulf of Fethiye and Ölüdeniz. Good marinas, cheap provisioning, and Rhodes or Kos close enough to add a second country. See motor yacht charter Turkey.

Caribbean

December to May. Legs are longer than in Greece, which is exactly where the extra speed pays. Browse motor yacht charter Caribbean.

• British Virgin Islands. Around sixty islands close together, line-of-sight passages and plenty of moorings. Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, The Baths on Virgin Gorda, and Anegada, which slower boats often skip. See British Virgin Islands.

• Bahamas. Shallow banks and cays where draught decides the itinerary. Nassau to Staniel Cay and on into the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park takes days rather than a week. Plan the fuel stops. See the Bahamas.

• Windward and Leeward Islands. From St Martin you can add Anguilla, St Barths and Saba in a long weekend. From St Lucia, the Grenadines as far as the Tobago Cays in a week.

Booking on Boataround

Before you book, check three things: whether the base accepts your licence, what the price includes besides the boat, and how the fuel is settled at the end. Ask for a realistic consumption figure for the model you are looking at, not a brochure number. On Boataround you filter by size, cabins, equipment and crew, read verified reviews from people who chartered that boat, and pay no booking fee. 

Motor yachts for charter

Motor yachts, powered by strong engines and designed for luxury, provide comfort on board with multiple crew members and no sail or keel.

Sizes range from 6 to 108 meters, with super-luxury variants exceeding 100 meters. With the ability to sail smoothly at 25 knots and more, they function as independent, fully self-sufficient homes on water, boasting powerful diesel generators.

Experience the ultimate adventure with our fleet, which includes motor yachts from the most popular yards like Custom Built, Azimut and Sunseeker.

These are some of the best places to charter motor yacht:
• Motor yacht rental Croatia
• Motor yacht rental Turkey
• Motor yacht rental Spain