Greece Catamaran Charter: Costs & Routes

A catamaran charter in Greece is one of the few Mediterranean weeks that still feels like a private coast rather than a marina circuit. The islands sit close together, the water is clear from late spring, and a twin-hulled yacht can tuck into bays that a deep-draft motor yacht leaves to the day boats. For US guests the decision is rarely "Greece or not." It is which Greece: the short Saronic hops out of Athens, the windier Cyclades between Mykonos and Santorini, or the greener Ionian out of Lefkada.

This guide is written for that choice. It covers the season US travellers actually fly, the three money lines on a weekly quote — base rate, APA and VAT — and three sample routes that use real ports, marinas and airports. It sits beside the Greece yacht charter hub and the longer Greek islands charter guide. Prices below are planning bands for a crewed week. The figure on a contract is the one that counts.

When to charter a catamaran in Greece

Greece has a long season and a short peak. Crewed catamarans are busiest from late June through early September. July and August are the weeks that sell out first, especially anything that can take a Tourlos berth in Mykonos or a clean Saturday turn in Athens.

Peak summer and the meltemi

The meltemi is the seasonal north wind of the central Aegean. It is most reliable from mid-July into August, often building through the afternoon and easing overnight. A catamaran's beam and twin hulls make the motion kinder than a light monohull, and the week is still a wind plan. Captains leave early, keep a lee-shore option, and will drop a Santorini leg if the channel is ugly. US guests who want every postcard bay on a fixed set of dates should hear that before they buy flights.

Peak weeks also change the money. Berths at Tourlos Marina Mykonos are held weeks ahead. Beach-club tables around Psarou follow the same calendar. A July Saturday embarkation is a planning exercise that starts in winter, particularly for a 18-metre-plus catamaran with a full guest list.

The months US families usually prefer

June and September are the sweet spot for guests flying from the East Coast or California. The sea is warm enough for long swims, the days are still long, and the quay is less crowded than Ferragosto week. Airfares into ATH and JMK are often kinder than the first two weeks of August, and the yacht's weekly rate usually sits below the August card.

Late May and early October are real charter months, with a caveat. Evenings cool down, some tavernas shorten their week, and a north-facing Cyclades anchorage can feel exposed. They suit a couple or a group that wants empty coves and will take a fleece on deck after dinner. They are a poor fit for a family that measures the trip by hours in the water.

The Ionian follows a softer wind pattern than the Cyclades. July and August are still busy around Lefkada and Fiskardo, and the sea state is usually the easier one. Guests who want Greece in high summer, with children aboard and no interest in a meltemi crossing, should start the brief in the Ionian and treat Mykonos as a different week.

Weekly cost: base rate, APA and VAT

A Greece catamaran quote is three numbers, plus a fourth that guests choose. Confusing them is how a week that "looked like €30,000" becomes a very different wire.

Base charter fee

The base rate is the yacht, the professional crew, the insurance and the toys already on board for the charter week. It is the number in the listing. It does not buy the fuel, the food, the berths or the tax.

Use these as 2026 planning bands for a crewed catamaran on a Greek itinerary, before APA and before VAT:

One published data point sits inside that table. MAJESTY OF GREECE is a 20-metre Fountaine Pajot power catamaran in the East Mediterranean fleet: multihull, 9.8-metre beam, five cabins, ten guests, four crew, listed from €34,000 a week. That figure is a base rate. It is the right anchor for a US group pricing a 65-foot power cat, and it is not a promise that every 20-metre catamaran on the same dates matches it.

A motor yacht is a different product and a different band. AQUA LIBRA, a 40-metre Sunseeker based in Athens, lists from €145,000 a week for up to eleven guests. Guests who want Mykonos for dinner and Athens for breakfast on the same day are usually in that motor-yacht conversation. Guests who want to swim from the stern all afternoon are usually in the catamaran conversation. The sailing, motor and catamaran comparison sets the layout choice out in more detail, and the yacht charter cost guide puts Greece next to the Caribbean and the Balearics.

APA, the float the captain spends

APA means advance provisioning allowance. It is a working float, wired before the charter, spent by the captain, and reconciled against receipts. Fuel, provisioning, marina nights, water, shore power and the port charges that vary with the route all come out of it. Money left at the end is returned. A shortfall is settled before you leave.

On a Greek catamaran week, budget 25–35% of the base fee.

A sailing catamaran that motors for an hour in the morning and sits at anchor in the afternoon can land near 25%, sometimes a touch under if the group eats simply and takes few marina nights. A power catamaran running between Athens and Mykonos, with two or three quay nights and a stocked bar, belongs at 30–35%. Mykonos berths and held beach-club tables are the lines that move the percentage. They are also the lines you can decide before you fly.

A planning illustration, using the published €34,000 base on MAJESTY OF GREECE and a 30% APA assumption:

• Base charter fee: €34,000
• APA float at 30%: €10,200, reconciled, with any remainder returned
• Greek VAT at the standard 24% on the base fee: €8,160, if that is the treatment on the contract
• Crew gratuity, discretionary, customarily 10–15% of the base: about €3,400–€5,100

The all-in planning envelope for that one yacht, on that assumption, sits around €56,000–€58,000 before flights and before anything the group buys ashore on a personal card. Change the APA to 25% and the envelope drops. Add a second Mykonos night and it rises. The illustration is a way to read a quote. It becomes a price only when the contract names the yacht, the week and the VAT line.

VAT on a Greek embarkation

Greece's standard VAT rate is 24%. A charter that starts in Greece is normally quoted with VAT on the charter fee as its own line, separate from the base and separate from APA. Invoices inside the APA — fuel, a marina night, a provisioner — can carry their own VAT already. That is why a tidy quote shows the charter-fee VAT once, and then lets the APA reconciliation show the tax that was inside each receipt.

Do not import a rate from another coast. A Balearic week is often discussed at Spain's 21%. A French embarkation follows French rules. A Greek embarkation follows Greek rules. If a quote shows a reduced rate, the paperwork should say why. Blue Ocean Club will not treat a verbal "it's included" as a VAT answer.

Crew gratuity is customary and discretionary. It is paid to the captain at the end of the week for the crew, and it is not a tax. US guests should put 10–15% of the base fee in the budget on day one so the last evening is a thank-you, not a surprise.

Three sample routes

Each route below is a seven-night shape that catamarans actually run. Distances are short by Caribbean standards. The constraint is weather, berth size and the airport you have already booked.

Route 1 — Athens and the Saronic

Fly into Athens International (ATH). The embarkation marinas are on the Attica coast: Alimos Marina, Flisvos Marina and Athens Marina. Door to deck is typically 35–55 minutes by car. Build a buffer for afternoon traffic if the flight lands after 15:00, and spend the first night on the quay so provisioning and the safety brief happen before the first swim.

A clean week then runs south into the Saronic, which is the right introduction for a first Greek catamaran:

1. Night 1 on the Athens quay, APA opened, menus agreed. 2. Cape Sounion for a morning swim under the temple, then on to Poros. Poros is a narrow channel and an easy walk-ashore evening. 3. Hydra. The harbour is small and the island is car-free. Many catamarans anchor and tender in. Hold a quay only when the length and the draft are confirmed. 4. Spetses, with a long lunch and a short hop back toward the mainland if the afternoon breeze fills in. 5. A quiet bay on the Peloponnese side or a return toward Aegina. 6. Aegina or a final Saronic anchorage, early dinner, a last swim. 7. Back to Alimos, Flisvos or Athens Marina in time for an ATH departure the same afternoon or the next morning.

This route is the one to choose when the group includes children, first-time yacht guests, or anyone who has a hard stop at an Athens flight. The miles are short. The meltemi is a rumour rather than the day's main character. The Athens yacht charter page is the embarkation brief; keep the Greece hub open for the island map around it.

Route 2 — Mykonos, Paros and Santorini

This is the photograph week, and it is the one that needs the most honesty about wind. Fly into Mykonos (JMK). Tourlos Marina is 15–25 minutes from the airport and is the berth that can take a serious catamaran. The old harbour is a tender story for a larger hull, not a default overnight.

A week that respects the meltemi looks like this:

1. Embark Tourlos. If the group wants a beach-club afternoon, book it before the flights, not from the passerelle. 2. Delos by tender in the morning, while the wind is down, then a night still in Mykonos or a short move to Rhenia if the quay is the wrong mood. 3. South to Paros. Naoussa is the pretty harbour; Parikia and Marina of Paros are the practical ones when the northerly is up. Pick the lee, not the postcard. 4. Naxos, either the town quay or a bay on the southwest coast. The town is the best provisioning stop of the week if the Athens shops were skipped. 5. Ios, used as a swimming day and as the shelter that makes Santorini optional. 6. Santorini in settled weather. Spend the day in the caldera if the captain is content, and sleep at Vlychada Marina on the south coast. Vlychada is the yacht marina. The caldera is a day stop. 7. Disembark at Vlychada for a Santorini (JTR) flight, or run back north and fly JMK if the group is returning through Mykonos. Do not assume a same-day JTR-to-JMK connection is a relaxed ending.

Read the Mykonos yacht charter and Santorini yacht charter pages before you freeze the airports. The two islands are a famous pair and a real body of water apart. A catamaran does the passage comfortably on the right morning. It does not do it to rescue a missed ferry.

Route 3 — The Ionian from Lefkas

Fly into Aktion, Preveza (PVK), for Lefkas Marina. Zakynthos (ZTH) is the airport when the week is designed to finish in the south. The Ionian is the green, sheltered Greece: shorter fetches, swimmable mornings, and harbours scaled to a 15- to 20-metre catamaran.

1. Embark Lefkas Marina and clear the first night there. The marina is the working hub for Meganisi and Ithaca. 2. Meganisi. Vathy and Spartochori are small, and a catamaran often anchors off and tenders in for dinner. The water is the point. 3. Ithaca, into Vathy, with a long lunch and a walk. This is a harbour day, not a passage day. 4. North Kefalonia. Fiskardo is the celebrated quay and it is small. Have an anchorage in the same bay ready so a full quay does not rewrite the evening. 5. A west-coast swim if the forecast is kind, or a return toward the Lefkada channel if it is not. The Kefalonia yacht charter page is the local note for this stretch. 6. Either a quiet Lefkada bay or, on a longer-feeling week, a push south toward Zakynthos. 7. Disembark Lefkas for PVK, or Zakynthos for ZTH. Corfu is a different embarkation, up the coast, and belongs on a second week rather than a last-day dash.

US groups with teenagers, or with anyone who gets restless in a meltemi, tend to remember this route more fondly than a forced Cyclades crossing. The trade is nightlife. Mykonos has the scene. The Ionian has the swim.

What to ask before you wire a deposit

A useful quote for a Greece catamaran week names five things in writing.

• The yacht, the week, and the embarkation and disembarkation marinas.
• The base fee, the APA percentage, and what the APA is expected to cover on this route.
• The VAT rate and the amount, on their own line.
• Which nights are marina nights and which are anchor nights, including the Santorini plan if Santorini is on the list.
• The airport that matches night one and night seven, so the group is not crossing an island on embarkation day.

High season is still a Saturday-to-Saturday market on the yachts people want. Shoulder weeks can sometimes move by a day. A deposit is paid to hold the week; the balance and the APA are due before you board. Put the gratuity in the same budget and decide it on board.

If the group is comparing Greece with a Caribbean catamaran winter, read the cost guide alongside this page. The Caribbean week is often a mooring-ball pattern with a short hop between islands. The Greek week is a harbour-and-anchorage pattern with a wind that has a name. Both are crewed catamaran holidays. They are not the same invoice.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a catamaran charter in Greece cost per week?

Plan three separate lines. Crewed sailing catamarans of about 14–16 metres often fall around €12,000–€22,000 a week in July and August, and lower in June and September. A published East Mediterranean power catamaran in the Blue Ocean Club fleet, the 20-metre MAJESTY OF GREECE, lists from €34,000 a week before APA and VAT. Larger crewed catamarans commonly move into the €45,000–€90,000 band in peak Cyclades weeks. These are planning bands, confirmed in writing for the yacht and the dates.

What is APA on a Greece catamaran charter, and how much should I budget?

APA is the advance provisioning allowance, a float the captain spends on fuel, food, berths, water toys consumables and port charges, then reconciles at the end of the week. Unspent money is returned. On a Greece catamaran week, budget about 25–35% of the base charter fee. A sailing catamaran that anchors most nights sits toward the lower end. A power catamaran with Mykonos or Athens marina nights sits toward the upper end.

Is VAT included in a Greece yacht charter price?

Usually the advertised weekly figure is the base charter fee before VAT and before APA. Greece's standard VAT rate is 24%. A week that embarks in Greece should show that treatment as its own line. If a different rate is offered, the contract should state the reason. Spanish or French rates from another itinerary do not transfer to a Greek embarkation.

When is the best time for a US family to charter a catamaran in Greece?

June and September are the months most US families prefer: warm water, long days, and more room on the quay than July and August. July and August are the peak charter months and the strongest meltemi window in the Cyclades. The Ionian is the calmer choice in those weeks. Late May and early October can be excellent if the group accepts cooler evenings and a shorter swimming day.

Which airport should I fly into for a Greece catamaran charter?

Athens (ATH) is the gateway for Alimos Marina, Flisvos Marina and Athens Marina, typically 35–55 minutes by car. Mykonos (JMK) is 15–25 minutes from Tourlos Marina. Santorini (JTR) serves a Vlychada Marina disembarkation. Aktion/Preveza (PVK) is the usual airport for Lefkas Marina in the Ionian, and Zakynthos (ZTH) fits a southern Ionian ending. Match the airport to the first night, and avoid a same-day island hop between embarkation ports.

Can a catamaran overnight in the Santorini caldera?

Treat the caldera as a day stop in settled weather. The usual overnight berth is Vlychada Marina on the south coast. The caldera is deep and open to swell, and a catamaran with a tender plan is more comfortable sleeping in a proper marina or in the lee of Ios or Anafi. Build the Santorini night into the contract as Vlychada unless a specific caldera plan has been confirmed for that hull.

How does a Greece catamaran week compare with a motor yacht week?

A crewed catamaran spends more of the week at anchor, burns less fuel on a sailing hull, and gives a broad deck for a family. A motor yacht such as the 40-metre AQUA LIBRA, listed from €145,000 a week and based in Athens, covers more miles and carries a larger interior. Many US groups start on a catamaran in the Saronic or Ionian and step up to a motor yacht when the brief needs speed between Mykonos and the mainland.

Plan the week with Blue Ocean Club

Tell us the month, the airport you can actually use, and whether the week is a swim or a scene. We will match a crewed catamaran, hold the first and last marina against those flights, and send the base fee, APA and VAT as separate lines before anyone wires a deposit.

Contact Blue Ocean Club or request a charter proposal. If Greece is one of two coasts you are weighing, start with the Greece destination hub and the cost guide, then come back to the route that fits the group you are actually travelling with.