The Mediterranean is the home of the superyacht charter — the summer half of the yachting year, when the fleet moves to the warm, settled waters between the Côte d’Azur and the Aegean. A charter here is taken by the week on a crewed motor yacht or sailing yacht: the captain plots the route, the chef provisions, and you wake each morning in a new harbour. The grounds run east in a long arc — the French and Italian Rivieras, the Amalfi Coast and Capri, Sardinia and Corsica, the Balearics, and on to Greece and Croatia — each a short hop from the last. This is the complete guide to a Mediterranean yacht charter: where to cruise, the season, the fleet and how to book.
The classic superyacht season
The Mediterranean season runs May to September, with July and August the height. Charters are taken by the week, the whole yacht and her crew held for your party, with a chef aboard and a tender for the beach clubs and anchorages. Most of the fleet are large motor yachts built for the Riviera — flybridges, sun decks, a beach platform at the stern — alongside sailing yachts and performance catamarans for those who want the wind. Beyond the charter fee, Mediterranean yachts run on an APA (Advance Provisioning Allowance) covering fuel, food, berths and the rest; your broker sets it out clearly before you commit. The base ports are Nice, Antibes and Monaco in the west, Naples and Olbia in the middle, and Athens for Greece.
You wake each morning in a new harbour, the whole yacht and her crew held for your party.
The French & Italian Riviera
The Côte d’Azur is where the season begins — Monaco and the Grand Prix, the film festival at Cannes, the cafés and superyacht quay of Saint-Tropez, and the perched village of Èze above Cap Ferrat. Across the border the Italian Riviera curls round to Portofino, the most photographed harbour on the coast, and the cliffs of the Cinque Terre. It is the busiest, most glamorous cruising in the Mediterranean, and the easiest — short hops between marquee ports, each with its own anchorage and shore scene. See our French Riviera guide for the route from Saint-Tropez to Monaco.
The Amalfi Coast & Capri
South of Naples, the Amalfi Coast strings pastel towns along a vertical shore — Positano tumbling to the sea, the cathedral steps of Amalfi, Ravello high above. Offshore lies Capri, with the Faraglioni stacks and the Blue Grotto, and beyond it the volcanic Aeolian Islands and Stromboli’s nightly fireworks. It is the most dramatic coastline in the Mediterranean, best seen from the water where the towns reveal their full height. See our Amalfi Coast & Capri guide for the anchorages.
Sardinia & Corsica
In the middle of the sea, Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda is the Mediterranean’s most exclusive cruising — Porto Cervo’s marina, the pink-granite islands of the Maddalena archipelago, and water that turns an improbable emerald over white sand. Across the strait, Corsica adds the fortified port of Bonifacio on its limestone cliff and a wilder, greener coast. Together they make the quietest, clearest cruising of the western Mediterranean. See our Costa Smeralda guide for the route.
Greece & the Cyclades
To the east, Greece is the other great charter ground — whitewashed Cyclades scattered across the Aegean, with Mykonos for its harbour town and beach clubs and Santorini’s caldera at sunset, and the calmer, greener Ionian on the west coast. The sailing is open and the islands close-set, and the meltemi wind gives the summer Aegean its bite. See our Mykonos & the Cyclades guide for the islands.
The fleet, and how to charter
The Mediterranean fleet is the largest and most varied in the world — motor yachts from twenty-five metres to well over eighty, classic and performance sailing yachts, and luxury catamarans, all crewed and chartered by the week. Rates are quoted in euros, plus the APA and local tax. You join the yacht at a base port — Nice or Antibes for the Riviera, Naples for the Amalfi Coast, Olbia for Sardinia, Athens for Greece — and the captain tailors the week to the weather. To charter, choose a yacht and send an inquiry: our desk confirms availability, the route and the price, and arranges everything before you commit.
