Charter bases in Sardinia
Almost the whole charter fleet sits on the north-east corner of the island, in the Golfo di Cugnana and the Golfo di Arzachena. That is deliberate: it puts you 8 to 12 miles from the La Maddalena archipelago, which is why most crews come here.
Porto Cervo is the name everyone knows, and it is worth a lunch stop, but it is not where the boats are. On the first page of our listing there is not one yacht based there. The volume is at Portisco and Cala dei Sardi, and a night alongside in Porto Cervo in August costs several times what it costs two bays away.
| Base | Region | From Olbia airport (OLB) | Fleet focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marina di Portisco | Golfo di Cugnana | approx. 30 min | Largest base on the island, most of the fleet |
| Cala dei Sardi | Golfo di Cugnana | approx. 30 min | Second by volume, quieter check-in |
| Porto Rotondo (Punta Nuraghe) | Golfo di Cugnana | approx. 25 min | Monohulls and catamarans, town within walking distance |
| Cannigione | Golfo di Arzachena | approx. 40 min | Closest to the La Maddalena park, most sheltered corner |
| Porto Cervo | Costa Smeralda | approx. 40 min | Few charter boats, high berthing fees, better as a day stop |
| Marina di Olbia | Olbia | approx. 15 min | Convenient for late arrivals |
| Alghero | North-west coast | approx. 2 h by road, or fly into Alghero (AHO) | Small fleet, separate cruising ground, exposed to the Mistral |
| Carloforte | Isola di San Pietro, south-west | approx. 3 h by road, or fly into Cagliari (CAG) | Small fleet, pairs with the south-west coast |
Check the base on the boat card before you book. Alghero and Carloforte are good charters, but a different holiday: you cannot reach La Maddalena from either inside a week.
Bareboat, skippered, crewed or flotilla
Four formats, and the right one depends less on budget than on your logbook and who is coming with you.
Bareboat means you are the skipper. You need a licence and the logged experience described below, and you carry the boat, the crew and the deposit. Skippered adds a professional to a boat you have chartered, and you still choose the route and the anchorages. On a first visit that is worth taking even with a valid licence, because a local skipper knows which La Maddalena bays hold when the wind backs overnight. Crewed adds a hostess or cook as well, and you sail as a guest.
A flotilla puts you on your own boat in a group that follows the same route behind a lead yacht. It suits crews who hold a licence but want company and a radio call away from someone who has done the passage. Budget around €295 per person on top of the charter fee. That covers the lead yacht and its crew, route planning and fuel. It does not cover berthing, park permits or meals ashore, and over a week those are the costs that add up.
What the price includes, and what "mandatory costs" means
Every boat card shows a second figure, + mandatory costs, between €100 and €680 in Sardinia. The spread is wider than in Croatia because Italian bases charge the tourist tax and the cleaning by boat size, and catamarans sit at the top of the range.
| In the charter price | Mandatory, paid at the base | Optional extras |
|---|---|---|
| The yacht and its standard inventory | Final cleaning | Skipper |
| Safety equipment and liferaft | Tourist tax and crew registration | Hostess or cook |
| Berth in the home marina, first and last night | Bed linen and towels | Outboard engine for the dinghy |
| Dinghy | Security deposit, or deposit insurance instead of it | Wi-Fi router, SUP, early check-in, marina parking, airport transfer |
The security deposit catches people out. Either you block the full sum on a card at check-in and wait for its release after the boat comes back, or you take deposit insurance. With our Free Deposit Pack you pay 20% of the deposit value up front, non-refundable, instead of blocking the whole sum, or 25% if you book inside 30 days of departure.
What you spend while sailing is separate, and in Sardinia it is larger than in Greece or Croatia:
| Paid as you go | How it works |
|---|---|
| Diesel | Full tank at check-in, full tank on return |
| Berthing in other marinas | Per night by boat length. Costa Smeralda in August is the most expensive night of the trip. |
| La Maddalena park permit | Per boat, per day, priced by boat length and zone |
| Water | Metered on most quays |
| Mooring buoys | Used inside the park where anchoring is restricted |
Sardinia charter prices: what a week really costs
The cheapest bareboat sailing yacht in our Sardinia listing is €1,419 per week plus €375 in mandatory costs, and the price filter on this page starts at €1,400. If you have read elsewhere that a week in Italy runs "from €500", that figure does not describe Sardinia in any month of the charter season.
| What you are looking at | Low season, per week | Mandatory costs |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest bareboat sailing yacht, 30-35 ft | from €1,419 | from €375 |
| Larger monohulls, 36 ft to 48 ft and up | above that, by size and year | in the same range |
| Catamarans | the top of the range | up to €680 |
The listing above carries the live figure for every boat: filter by class from 30 ft upwards, monohull or catamaran, and by your dates. The price filter on this page starts at €1,400, which is the floor for the whole fleet rather than for one class.
Prices checked: August 2026, low season.
Worth saying plainly, because no competitor page will: Sardinia costs more than Croatia or Greece for the same boat in the same week. Our Zadar listing starts at €1,031 with mandatory costs from €150, against €1,419 and €375 here, and the gap widens once you add Costa Smeralda berthing. What the difference buys is the La Maddalena archipelago, water quality the northern Adriatic cannot match, and an eight-mile hop to Corsica.
Booking, payment and cancellation
You pay 50% when the booking is confirmed and the balance 90 days before the charter starts. Book inside 90 days and the full amount falls due at once.
| You cancel | You pay |
|---|---|
| 275 days or more before the charter | 10% |
| 274 to 181 days before | 25% |
| 180 to 91 days before | 50% |
| Fewer than 90 days before | 100% |
This is the part of a Sardinian booking that costs people money, so read it before you commit rather than after. Cancellation insurance is usually cheaper than the exposure, particularly on a summer catamaran.
Our own service is free to you: the charter company pays our commission. If the boat you booked breaks down or becomes unavailable, we deal with the operator and find the replacement.
What experience you need for a bareboat charter
An ICC, issued under UNECE Resolution No. 40, or an equivalent recognised certificate is the legal minimum for bareboat charter in Italian waters. It is not the whole story, because Sardinian operators also screen your logged experience before they hand over a 45-foot yacht in Mistral season.
Requirements vary by operator, from roughly 10 days or 200 nautical miles as skipper on a similar-sized yacht up to 20 days or 400 miles. Expect to fill in a sailing CV, and expect the questions to be about time spent handling a yacht in 25 knots and above rather than about total miles logged.
If your logbook is thin, take a skipper for the first days or the whole week. It costs less than a damaged saildrive, and it turns the Mistral into someone else's problem.
The Mistral: what 30 to 40 knots means for your week
The Mistral, Maestrale in Italian, is the wind that decides your itinerary. It comes from the north-west, funnels through the Strait of Bonifacio and regularly blows 30 to 40 knots (Force 7 to 8) there, with more than 35 knots common in May and October. Forecasts come from the Italian Air Force Meteorological Service. It builds fast, lasts one to three days, and turns a 12-mile hop into a beat.
Three things follow. Do not fix the Bonifacio crossing to a particular day: leave a spare day and take the window when it appears. When a Mistral is forecast, work the eastern side of the archipelago or run into Cannigione. And stay off the west coast of the islands and the stretch off Alghero, both of which become a lee shore.
| Wind | Direction | When | What it means for your route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scirocco | SE | Spring and autumn mainly | Saharan dust, haze and a long swell onto the south-east coast. Skip the night entry, cover the sails you are not using. |
| Libeccio | SW | Any season, felt most on the west coast | Heavy sea against the west coast. Postpone the run to Carloforte and shelter on the east side. |
| Ponente | W | Summer, moderate | Usually settled weather. Fine for a west-facing anchorage, but expect an evening chop. |
| Grecale | NE | Occasional, mostly outside high summer | Turns north-facing La Maddalena bays into a lee shore. Move to the south side of Caprera before dark. |
| Tramontana | N | Short-lived, behind a front | Cold and gusty for a day. Sit it out rather than crossing the strait. |
Best time to charter in Sardinia
The main season runs from June to the middle of September, with air temperatures around 25 °C (77 °F) and typical winds of 6 to 15 knots (Force 2 to 4). Sardegna Turismo describes the summer pattern: sun, almost no rain, and the sea breeze that takes the edge off the heat on the coast. Outside that window you get cheaper boats and a harder Mistral, which is a fair trade for an experienced crew and a poor one for a family with small children.
| Month | Air temperature | Typical wind | Crowds | Price level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May | Cooler, sea still cold for swimming | Variable, Mistral can exceed 35 knots | Few boats | Lowest |
| June | Around 25 °C | 6-15 knots | Filling up | Mid |
| July | Around 25 °C and above | 6-15 knots with Mistral spells | Busy | High |
| August | Hottest | 6-15 knots with Mistral spells | Peak, book anchorages early | Highest |
| Early September | Around 25 °C | 6-15 knots | Thinning out | Mid to high |
| Mid September to October | Cooling | Mistral over 35 knots more often | Quiet | Low |
June and early September are the value months: the same water and wind as high summer, with room in the bays and a lower rate. May and October suit crews who are comfortable sitting out three days of Mistral in a marina.
Where to sail: La Maddalena, Costa Smeralda and Bonifacio
The La Maddalena archipelago is a national park and the reason the fleet is where it is. Access is ticketed: a permit per boat per day, priced by length, and the park regulations divide the water into zones with different rules. Anchoring is restricted or banned in parts of it, buoys are laid in some bays, and everywhere else you drop the hook on sand rather than seagrass.
The bays worth planning around are Cala Coticcio on the east side of Caprera, Cala Corsara on Spargi, and Porto della Madonna between Budelli, Razzoli and Santa Maria. The pink beach on Budelli is protected and landing is banned, so look at it from the water and keep your guests off it.
Costa Smeralda, the coast between Porto Rotondo and Cala di Volpe, works better as a day stop than an overnight. Anchor off Liscia Ruja, go ashore by dinghy, then sleep somewhere cheaper.
Bonifacio lies 8 nautical miles from the northern islands, and the entrance through the cliffs is the best arrival in the western Mediterranean. It is also France, so French customs rules apply on arrival. Take passports, the crew list and the boat papers, and ask the charter company when you book, because many require written permission before the yacht leaves Italian waters.
Getting from Olbia airport to your marina
Olbia airport is 25 to 30 minutes by road from the Golfo di Cugnana bases and about 40 minutes from Cannigione.
| Transfer | Price |
|---|---|
| Private transfer, 1 to 4 people | €120 |
| Private transfer, 5 to 8 people | €200 |
| Private transfer, 9 to 12 people | €240 |
| Taxi, up to 4 people | approx. €55 |
A taxi is cheaper for a small crew travelling light. For eight people with a week of provisions, book the transfer: the rank at Olbia empties fast on a Saturday in July, and a supermarket stop is easier with a driver you have booked.
Check-in and check-out
Check-in is Saturday afternoon at most Sardinian bases, once the boat is cleaned and the previous crew has left. Handover and the inventory check take an hour or two, so plan to spend the first night in the home marina and provision that evening.
Coming back, the base expects you alongside by 17:00 on Friday with a full tank, and you disembark by 09:00 on Saturday. That gives five full sailing days: enough for the archipelago and Bonifacio, not enough to sail round the island.
FAQ
Can I charter a yacht in Sardinia without a licence?
Not bareboat. Italian waters require the skipper to hold an ICC or an equivalent recognised certificate, and the base will ask for the original at check-in. You can take any boat in this listing with a professional skipper instead, and you still choose the route and the anchorages.
How much sailing experience do I need for a bareboat charter?
More than the licence alone. Sardinian operators ask for roughly 10 days or 200 nautical miles as skipper on a similar-sized yacht, and some want 20 days or 400 miles. You will fill in a sailing CV, and what matters is your time in 25 knots and above.
What are "mandatory costs" and how much should I budget?
Fixed extras paid at the base, from €100 to €680 in Sardinia depending on boat size, covering final cleaning, tourist tax and crew registration, and bed linen and towels. Fuel, berthing in other marinas and the La Maddalena permit are separate and paid as you go.
What does a week's charter in Sardinia cost?
The cheapest bareboat sailing yacht in our listing is €1,419 per week plus €375 in mandatory costs, and the price filter on this page starts at €1,400. Add diesel, berths outside the home marina and the park permit. Ranges quoting "from €500" describe mainland Italy, not Sardinia.
When do I pay, and what happens if I cancel?
You pay 50% at booking and the balance 90 days before the charter starts. Cancellation charges rise as the date approaches: 10% at 275 days or more, 25% between 274 and 181 days, 50% between 180 and 91 days, and 100% inside 90 days.
How strong is the Mistral, and when does it blow?
It regularly reaches 30 to 40 knots in the Strait of Bonifacio, and above 35 knots is common in May and October. It builds quickly and lasts one to three days. Plan exposed legs with a spare day, and shelter east of the archipelago or in Cannigione.
Can I sail from Sardinia to Corsica?
Yes. Bonifacio is about 8 nautical miles from the northern islands of the archipelago. It is a border crossing into France, so carry passports, the crew list and the boat papers, and check with the charter company first, because many require written permission to leave Italian waters.
Are there anchoring restrictions in the La Maddalena park?
Yes. The park is ticketed, priced per boat per day by length, and divided into zones with different rules. Anchoring is restricted or banned in parts of it, buoys are laid in some bays, and elsewhere anchor on sand rather than seagrass. Landing on Budelli is banned.
How do I get from Olbia airport to the marina?
A private transfer costs €120 for one to four people, €200 for five to eight and €240 for nine to twelve. A taxi is around €55 and takes about 30 minutes to the Golfo di Cugnana bases. Cannigione is roughly 40 minutes from the airport.
Is Sardinia more expensive than Greece or Croatia?
Yes, for the same boat in the same week. Our Zadar listing starts at €1,031 with €150 in mandatory costs, against €1,419 and €375 here, and Costa Smeralda berthing widens the gap. The archipelago and the short crossing to Corsica are what the difference buys.
What is a flotilla charter and what does it cost?
You sail your own boat in a group following the same route behind a lead yacht. Budget around €295 per person on top of the charter fee, which typically covers the lead yacht and its crew, route planning and fuel. Berthing, park permits and meals ashore are yours.
When is the best month to sail in Sardinia?
June and early September. You get main season conditions, air around 25 °C and 6 to 15 knots of wind, without August prices or August crowds in the anchorages. May and October are cheaper, but the Mistral blows harder and more often, sometimes above 35 knots.