What Does Sailing in Greece Actually Cost Beyond the Charter Fee?

Written by Gediminas Vengrauskas, licensed Coastal Skipper · ICC · VHF · Updated September 2026

The short answer

Beyond the charter fee, a Greek sailing week costs about €15 per person per day in boat-related extras — and then whatever you decide to eat. End cleaning, bed linen, harbour dues and the fleet's small compulsory charges are the predictable part of the bill, and they are smaller than most people fear. Food and drink are the large, elastic part, and they are entirely in your hands. A skipper, if you want one, sits outside both at €180–220 a day, which is its own decision rather than a hidden extra.

What you will usually be told instead is to add a percentage to the boat price. The Moorings' own Greek cost guide suggests allowing "an additional 25–50% of the initial charter price". On the numbers further down, that rule is about right for a peak-August week and badly wrong for a May one — because almost nothing on the extras list moves when the charter price does.

Key takeaways

• The compulsory fleet extras on a 4-cabin monohull come to roughly €260 for the week, plus €15 per person for linen.

• Fuel, water and harbour dues run €200–400 a week on a normal island route — unless you sleep in private marinas.

• One Athens marina charges any yacht under 15 metres at the 15-metre rate: €104 a night with VAT, and €208 for a catamaran.

• Food is the biggest non-boat line. Budget €43–65 per person per day and decide how many dinners happen ashore.

• The security deposit is €2,500–3,000 on a typical monohull. It is blocked, not spent — but it has to be there.

• Cruising taxes sit inside the charter package. You do not pay them separately.

What is already in the charter price — and what quietly is not?

Fleets publish this, and it is worth reading before you budget anything. On Ionian Charter's 2026 Greek pricelist the weekly price includes the dinghy and outboard, autopilot, bow thruster and air conditioning where fitted, GPS and chart plotter, taxes, and the port fees at your embarkation and disembarkation port. They also send a diver down to check the hull at the end of every charter, at their cost.

What the same page lists as not included is short and expensive: crew, fuel, port fees in every port that is not your base, bed linen and towels, provisions, and transfers. That is the whole of this article in one line.

One myth worth killing here: Greek cruising taxes are not a surprise bill waiting at a harbour office. The Moorings state plainly that they are included in the charter package, and that matches how Greek fleets bill.

Which extras can you not decline?

Every Greek fleet has a short list of charges that are not optional, and they are unusually consistent between operators. Ionian Charter publish theirs as "obligatory extras":

• End cleaning: €200 for a monohull up to 3 cabins, €250 up to 4 cabins, €300 for 5 cabins and more. Catamarans €350 up to 42 ft, €400 for 42–45 ft, €450 above that.

• Linen and towels: €15 per person.

• Outboard fuel: €10 for the tank.

SailCurrent's published end-cleaning range for Greece is €150–250, set by whichever fleet the boat comes from, which sits neatly inside those figures. None of this is large. But notice which line scales: linen is charged per head, so it is €30 for a couple and €180 for a full boat of twelve. Every per-person charge on a charter behaves that way, and they add up quietly in a way the per-boat ones do not.

What does a skipper cost, and what does "plus food" mean?

My own rate is €180–220 a day. The fleet skippers on Ionian Charter's list are €200 a day "plus food". The Moorings quote $380 a night at either of their Greek bases, which is €328 at the European Central Bank reference rate of 11 September 2026 (€1 = $1.1592). So the honest market range runs from about €180 to about €330, and there is no mystery about where I sit in it.

"Plus food" is not a hidden fee, but it does catch people out. By Mediterranean custom the crew covers the skipper's meals, aboard or ashore — a plate of whatever everyone else is eating. In practice that is €20–30 a day, which is my own figure rather than a published one. Book through one of the big international operators and it is more formal: The Moorings require the skipper's provisioning to be pre-paid at booking, and note that online provisioning services are not available in Greece at all.

If you are still deciding whether you want a skipper, the comparison of skippered, bareboat and flotilla weeks works it through properly.

How much does the security deposit tie up, and can you reduce it?

This is the line that surprises people most, because it is not a cost at all — and it is still real money. Fleets block a security deposit on a credit card at check-in. Ionian Charter publish theirs next to every boat: €2,500 on their 30–39 ft monohulls, €2,500–3,000 across the 40–49 ft range, €3,000–3,500 on mid-size catamarans, €6,000 on the largest. It needs to be available on a card on embarkation day and is typically released some days after you fly home.

Then there is a detail on that same pricelist I have never seen anyone quote. For their two biggest catamarans the deposit column reads "€6,000 without skipper / €5,000 with skipper". That is a charter fleet pricing its own risk, in public, and concluding that a professional aboard reduces it. It is the clearest argument for hiring a captain I can point at, and I did not write it.

You have two ways to shrink the number: the operator's own damage waiver — The Moorings sell one specifically "to reduce your security deposit" — or third-party deposit insurance, which Ionian Charter actively recommend through EIS or Yacht Pool. Read the exclusions first: that same page notes deposit insurance is not available for catamarans built between 2015 and 2025.

What do berths and moorings actually cost in Greece?

The published bands are modest. The Moorings give €10–30 a night for a town quay and €10–20 for a small port or island, inside an overall range of €30–320. On a normal Saronic week you are mostly at the bottom of that, and several nights you are at anchor paying nothing at all.

Private marinas are a different animal, and here I would push back on the usual advice. Athens Marina publishes its berth tariff openly: a 15-metre yacht is €84 a day, and the same page states prices exclude 24% VAT, which makes it €104.16 a night. It also states that "yachts with Length Over All (LOA) less than 15m are charged for LOA 15m". So your 12-metre charter monohull does not get a 12-metre price — it pays the 15-metre minimum. Catamarans fare worse: The Moorings warn of "at least a 50–65% surcharge", while Athens Marina's published rule is an additional 100% for multihulls, taking the same night to €208.32 with VAT.

SailCurrent's published €200–400 a week for fuel, water and harbour dues assumes an island week spent on town quays and at anchor, which is how I plan routes anyway. Two nights in a private marina can consume most of that band on their own. That is not a reason to avoid marinas — sometimes the forecast decides for you — it is a reason to know what the decision costs before you make it at six in the evening. Diesel itself is the smaller half of that band: a sailing yacht on these routes motors an hour or two a day and sails the rest, so fuel is not a line worth optimising.

What should you budget for food and drink?

This is the biggest non-boat number on the page, and the only one you fully control. The Moorings suggest allocating $50–75 per person per day for provisioning, which is €43–65 at the 11 September 2026 reference rate.

Their own published Greek prices show where it goes. In a supermarket: bread €1.25, a dozen eggs €3.89, a litre of milk €1.50, a kilo of tomatoes €1.90, a kilo of local cheese €12.11, a half-litre of domestic beer €1.70. Ashore: a casual taverna meal €20 a head, fresh fish €30, a glass of decent local wine €3–6.

Run that for six people over a week and the shape is obvious. Dinner ashore every night is about €840 before drinks and closer to €1,100 once wine arrives; cook aboard four of the seven nights and you keep €400–500 while still eating out three times. So provision properly on day one for breakfasts and lunches, and let dinner be the decision you make each evening. Breakfast and lunch aboard is where the saving lives — cutting tavernas is cutting the part of Greece you flew in for.

What does it cost just to reach the boat?

Flights vary far too much to quote as a single figure, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. The Moorings quote $600–1,100 return from the United States, which is €518–949 — useful as a scale, useless if you are flying from Vilnius or Manchester, where it is a fraction of that.

Transfers are quotable. The Moorings publish €65–100 for a taxi from Athens International Airport to their Athens base and €35–45 from Corfu Airport. That is per car, not per person, so six people and their luggage means two cars in each direction.

Two timing details matter more than either. Embarkation on most Greek charters is 17:00 and disembarkation 08:00 — Ionian Charter publish exactly those hours and charge €200 for an early check-in at 14:00 or a late one after 18:00. In practice that means most crews need a hotel night at each end of the week, which almost nobody budgets for and which costs more than the linen, the cleaning and the outboard fuel combined. And one honest caveat about the Ionian: those weeks start in Lefkada, not Athens. It is the gentlest sailing area in Greece and I recommend it often for families, but you fly to Preveza or Aktion, and the road from Athens is four to five hours.

How much should you tip?

A gratuity is customary and entirely discretionary — The Moorings put it exactly that way, and suggest 15–20% of the charter price for a fully crewed yacht with a professional chef aboard. That percentage does not transfer to a single skipper on a bareboat-plus-skipper week, and I would be uncomfortable if it did. Nothing is owed. Most crews give something in cash at the end of the week, and the amount matters considerably less than saying out loud what you enjoyed. There is a fuller answer, with real numbers, in the guide to skipper etiquette and tipping.

So what does a real week add up to?

Six adults, a 4-cabin Beneteau Oceanis 45 from a licensed Greek fleet, one week in the Saronic. Boat prices are Ionian Charter's published 2026 figures for that exact model: €5,900 in peak season (25 July – 22 August), €5,100 in the mid period, €3,200 in the low period before 9 May or after 3 October. Everything else is the same whichever week you pick:

• End cleaning, 4-cabin monohull: €250

• Linen and towels, €15 × 6: €90

• Outboard fuel: €10

• Fuel, water and harbour dues: €300 (middle of the €200–400 band)

• Food and drink at €55 per person per day: €2,310

That is €2,960 of extras. Strip the food out and the boat-related extras are €650 — across six people and seven days, €15.48 per person per day. That is the number in the opening line, and the one I would actually plan around.

Add a skipper and you add €1,400 for the week plus roughly €175 of meals, so €1,575, or roughly €37.50 per person per day. All in, excluding flights, the week comes to about €7,700 in the low period, €9,600 in the mid period and €10,400 at peak — €184, €229 and €248 per person per day. Our breakdown of what a skippered week in Greece costs covers the boat-and-skipper half in more detail.

Is the "add 25–50%" rule any good?

Test it against those figures. The same €2,960 of extras is 50% of a peak-season boat, 58% of a mid-season one and 93% of a low-season one. The rule is calibrated to the most expensive week of the year and quietly falls apart everywhere else — not because the extras grow, but because the boat shrinks underneath them while cleaning, linen, harbours and dinner carry on costing exactly what they cost.

That is the same arithmetic that makes a cheaper week less of a saving than it looks, which I worked through for September and early October. The practical conclusion is simple: budget your extras in euros per person per day, not as a percentage of the boat. The percentage will mislead you in both directions.

What can you cut without spoiling the week?

• Fill the cabins. Every per-boat cost divides; only linen and food scale with heads. Six people on a 4-cabin boat pay far less each than four do.

• Move the week, not the boat. A low-period week on the same yacht is €2,700 cheaper than peak. The weather trade-off is real and worth reading about before you commit.

• Eat breakfast and lunch aboard. Four home dinners out of seven is worth €400–500 for six people.

• Anchor more, marina less. One private-marina night can cost more than three town quays.

• Skip the paid extras you will not use. On Ionian Charter's list a stand-up paddleboard is €150 a week and unlimited on-board wifi is €90 — both fair prices, and both things some crews never touch.

What I would not cut: the deposit cover, and the skipper if nobody aboard holds a licence. Greek port authorities are strict about what they accept, and the rules on chartering a boat in Greece are worth ten minutes before you book anything.

FAQ

What is not included in a Greek yacht charter price?
Crew, fuel, port fees away from your base, bed linen and towels, provisions and transfers. That is the not-included list published by Ionian Charter for 2026, and it is typical of Greek fleets. The dinghy, outboard, autopilot, plotter, taxes and the port fees at your embarkation and disembarkation port are included.

How much should I budget beyond the charter fee?
About €15 per person per day for boat-related extras — cleaning, linen, fuel, water and harbour dues — plus €43–65 per person per day for food and drink. A skipper is separate at €180–220 a day. Budgeting as a percentage of the boat price is unreliable, because the extras barely change between seasons while the boat price nearly doubles.

Do I have to pay cruising taxes in Greece?
No, not separately. The Moorings state that cruising taxes are included in the price of the charter package, and that matches how Greek fleets bill: taxes and the port fees at your base sit inside the weekly price. You will not be handed a tax bill at a harbour office.

How big is the security deposit for a yacht charter in Greece?
€2,500 to €3,000 on a typical 30–49 ft monohull, €3,000–3,500 on a mid-size catamaran, and up to €6,000 on the largest boats, based on Ionian Charter's published 2026 deposits. It is blocked on a credit card at check-in and released after the charter, not spent.

Can I reduce the security deposit?
Yes, in three ways. Buy the operator's damage waiver, which The Moorings sell specifically to reduce the deposit. Buy third-party deposit insurance, which Ionian Charter recommend through EIS or Yacht Pool — though they note it is not available for catamarans built 2015–2025. Or take a skipper: on the two largest catamarans in that fleet the published deposit is €6,000 without a skipper and €5,000 with one.

What does mooring cost in Greece?
Town quays typically €10–30 a night and small island ports €10–20, according to The Moorings' published bands. Private marinas are much higher: Athens Marina charges €84 a day before 24% VAT and charges any yacht under 15 metres at the 15-metre rate, so a 12-metre charter boat pays €104 a night. Catamarans pay an additional 100% there.

How much does food cost on a sailing holiday in Greece?
Allow €43–65 per person per day, which is The Moorings' $50–75 guidance converted at the ECB reference rate of 11 September 2026. A casual taverna meal is about €20 a head and fresh fish about €30; supermarket staples are cheap, with bread at €1.25 and a half-litre of local beer at €1.70. The difference between eating ashore every night and four nights aboard is €400–500 a week for six people.

Do I need to tip the skipper?
No. A gratuity is customary and entirely at your discretion. The 15–20% figure you will see quoted applies to fully crewed yachts with a chef aboard, not to a single skipper on a bareboat-plus-skipper week. Most crews give something in cash at the end of the week, and what you say matters more than what you give.

About the author

I am Gediminas Vengrauskas, a Lithuanian licensed captain — Coastal Skipper (internationally valid), ICC and VHF — sailing sail and motor vessels up to 24 m with up to 12 guests aboard. I have been sailing for six years and I run SailCurrent's skippered weeks in Greece and Croatia myself. I own no fleet: the boats come from licensed partner charter companies, which is exactly why I can tell you what their pricelists say without needing to sell you one.

If you want the real number for your crew, your dates and your islands, tell me who is coming and when and I will put the whole bill on one page — boat, skipper, cleaning, linen, harbours, the lot, with nothing hidden at the bottom. The skippered sailing charters in Greece page carries a price estimator and the routes I run. I reply within 24 hours.

Sources checked 14 September 2026: Ionian Charter's 2026 Greece pricelist, The Moorings' guide to Greek charter costs and Athens Marina's published berth tariffs. Prices change without notice — check them before you budget.