Anybody can rent a boat. The good days go out under sail.
Which catamaran actually cuts the engine and hoists something. How long the swim stop really lasts. Whether the open bar is worth the extra forty dollars, and what the afternoon wind does to a flat morning bay. Reviews of the sailing trips you can book, port by port.
Four sailing days that show what the money buys.
A lunch catamaran in the Balearics, a Santorini caldera boat with the barbecue lit, a whale yacht off Tenerife and a river sail out of Lisbon. What each one costs and what the people on board said afterwards.
01The long lunch5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & SwimFive hours out of Palma, anchored in a cove while lunch comes up from the galley. The day everyone books first and talks about longest.
02The caldera dayPremium Small-Group Catamaran Cruise with BBQ, Open Bar, TransferSmall group, Santorini, barbecue on the stern and the open bar running. Sails up between the hot springs and Red Beach.
03The wildlife sailEco-Yacht Whale and Dolphin Watching and SwimmingOff the south of Tenerife the pilot whales sit in the same water all year. Engines down, and you drift with them before the swim stop.
04The cheap oneSailing Tour on the Tagus RiverTwo hours on the Tagus with the sails out and Lisbon going past. Under thirty dollars, and the best introduction to sailing on the site.
Catamaran, monohull or motor yacht: the choice decides your day.
A catamaran sits flat, stays dry and carries a swim ladder. A monohull heels over and actually sails. A yacht buys you a cabin, a crew and shade. The six kinds of trip below cover almost everything bookable on the water.
Spain has more sailing days for sale than any other coastline.
Every Spanish sailing trip →The Balearics do the long lunch cruise, the Costa del Sol does the two-hour sunset run for the price of a paella, the Canaries do whales in flat winter water and Barcelona does the party deck. Four different days, four different budgets, one coastline.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 15,619 travellers on the most-booked Spanish sailEco-Yacht Whale and Dolphin Watching and Swimming
Catamaran daysPalma, Ibiza and the Costa del Sol, anchored for a swim by noon.
Lunch on boardPaella or a barbecue at anchor, usually four hours end to end.
Open bar sailsDrinks included from the moment the lines come off.
Sunset runsThe cheapest way onto the water anywhere in the country.
All 136 Spanish sailing trips →
Half the sailing trips people book are catamarans, and here is why.
Two hulls means no heel, so nobody goes green, the drinks stay on the table and there is a trampoline to lie on at the bow. They are wide enough to carry a proper galley and a boarding ladder, which is how the lunch-and-swim day became the standard sail.
The sailing trips more travellers take than any others.
Every sailing trip we have reviewed →Dubai marina yachts, Canary whale boats and Mallorcan lunch catamarans, in the order the bookings actually fall.
1
Luxury Yacht Tour with Breakfast or BBQ Option
Cruise from Dubai Marina past Ain Dubai, JBR, Palm Jumeirah, Atlantis, and Burj Al Arab on a shared yacht. Choose a morning breakfast sail or a longer sunset trip with BBQ, soft drinks, guide commentary, WiFi, and open-air deck seating.
From · $15
Read our review →
2
Eco-Yacht Whale and Dolphin Watching and Swimming
from $13
3
The Luxury Yacht Tour with Live BBQ Option
from $19
4
5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & Swim
from $69
5
Catamaran Sailing Trip with Sunset Option
from $16
6
Ecological Catamaran Dolphin Whale Watching
from $41
7
Dubai Marina Yacht Tour with Optional Breakfast or BBQ
from $25
8
Daytime or Sunset Catamaran Cruise with Music
from $15
A sunset sail is the cheapest good decision on any coast.
Two hours, a following breeze and the town going gold behind you. It costs less than dinner in most ports, it needs no swimming and it is the one sail that works on a travel day. Check the listed departure against actual sunset: the good operators leave ninety minutes before it.
Every sunset sailing cruise →
What the wind does to a sailing day, and how to book around it.
Coastal wind builds through the afternoon almost everywhere, so a glassy nine o'clock bay can be a metre of chop by three. That is fine on a catamaran and miserable on a small monohull if you are prone to seasickness. Book the morning departure when the forecast is above fifteen knots, take the two hulls over one, sit aft and outside, and pick a sheltered bay or harbour sail over an open crossing. Strong wind also cancels: the good operators say so the night before and rebook you.
What a day under sail actually costs, by the berth.
Every trip on the site, grouped by the per-person price. A surprising number of the best days on the water come in under the price of a harbour-front lunch.
Two-hour harbour and bay sails, river runs and the sunset departure with one drink thrown in.
The full day: catamaran with lunch at anchor, snorkel stops, open bar and a transfer from your hotel.
Small-group premium decks, crewed yachts and private charters where the boat is yours for the day.
Three things that only happen once the engine goes off.
Motor boats get you there faster. None of this happens on one.
The boat is yours for the day
A skippered charter means a licensed sailor drives and you decide where the day goes. Most crews will hand you the wheel on a steady beam reach and let you hold a course for an hour, which is the closest thing to learning to sail that a holiday allows. Groups are small by definition and the price divides by however many of you turn up.
- 12 Hour Private Yacht Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 899 reviews
- 2Dubai 3 Hour Private Luxury Yacht Charter with Jet Ski Option★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 886 reviews
- 3Private Day Sailing Boat Charter★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 662 reviews
Island hopping the slow way
The ferry takes forty minutes and shows you a car deck. Under sail the crossing is the point: you leave at nine, drop anchor off a beach with no road to it, eat, sail on, and come back into the harbour with the light going. Croatia, the Cyclades, the Whitsundays and the Virgin Islands are all built for it.
- 13 Islands, Dolphins & Snorkel Yacht Trip w/ Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 4,609 reviews
- 2Catamaran Boat to Saona Island with Buffet Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,822 reviews
- 3Adults Only or Family Friendly★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,418 reviews
Whales from a sailing deck
A sailing hull under canvas makes almost no noise underwater, so pilot whales and dolphins hold their line instead of scattering. Tenerife, Madeira and the Azores keep resident pods within an hour of the marina, which is why those boats run all year while the whale-watch fleets elsewhere shut down in winter.
- 1Eco-Yacht Whale and Dolphin Watching and Swimming★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 15,619 reviews
- 2Ecological Catamaran Dolphin Whale Watching★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 8,204 reviews
- 3Dolphin and Whale Watching Catamaran Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,697 reviews
Open bar, barbecue at anchor, or bring your own bag.
What is included changes the price more than the boat does. An open bar adds roughly forty dollars a head and pays for itself by the third drink. A cooked lunch means the boat has a galley and will anchor for an hour to serve it. Anything advertised as a party sail means a DJ and a full deck, so read the hour it sails.
Four sailing days that sell out before you land.
A big catamaran carries sixty people and a good one carries twelve. The small-group boats fill weeks out in season, and no amount of standing on the quay at nine in the morning conjures a spare berth.
- 01Premium Small-Group Catamaran Cruise with BBQ, Open Bar, TransferSmall-group boats cap the deck at a dozen or so. That is the whole reason to book one, and the reason it goes first.
- 02Blue Lagoon, Beaches & Bays Trip by CatamaranEvery operator on the island runs to the same anchorage on the same tide. The morning departures fill first and the late ones arrive to a crowded bay.
- 03Dolphin and Whale Watching Catamaran CruiseSailings are set by the pods and the sea state, so there are only a few departures a day and they are cancelled on a rough forecast.
- 04Dubai 3 Hour Private Luxury Yacht Charter with Jet Ski OptionOne boat, one party, one day. There is no second sailing to move you to when the date is taken.
Sailing trips by coastline
The sailing year moves, and so should you.
The Virgin Islands
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