Yachts, Catamarans, Sailboats & Motorboats
Boat Rental Benidorm — the Skyline From the Water
Rent a Boat in Benidorm
The most photographed skyline in Spain, seen the way it was meant to be seen.
Benidorm is a genuinely strange place from the water, in the best way. A wall of towers — 31 of them over 100 metres, for a town of about 75,000 people — stands directly on a curved sandy bay. Then, a few minutes north, the buildings simply stop and the cliffs of the Serra Gelada natural park fall hundreds of metres straight into the sea. Vertical city, vertical rock, one frame. You cannot get that view from the beach.
One honest thing before you book: boats do not leave from Benidorm itself. Benidorm's own harbour is a small club port — 110 berths, nothing over 8 metres, 2.5 metres of draft — so it physically cannot take a charter boat. Every Benidorm charter, ours included, departs from Marina Greenwich in Altea, about 11 km up the coast. It is a proper marina with fuel, a 60-tonne travelift and 24-hour staff, and we will tell you exactly how to get there when you book.
Why Take a Boat Out of Benidorm
What this stretch of coast gives you that the quieter ports do not.
A skyline you cannot see from land
Thirty-one buildings over 100 metres — including Intempo at 202 metres, the tallest residential building in Spain, and the Gran Hotel Bali at 186 — standing over a beach town of 74,663 residents. In August that number swells: the council's own mobile-data study counted about 365,000 people in town on 12 August 2023. From the water you see the whole improbable thing at once.
An island you can actually land on
Isla de Benidorm sits 1.85 nautical miles off the port — 350 metres by 260, rising to 73 metres, with a lighthouse on top and one restaurant that has been run by the same family since 1968. It is the only island in the Serra Gelada park open to the public; Illa Mitjana, La Galera and L'Olla are all restricted. You can tie up, swim, eat and go.
Cliffs five minutes from the towers
North of the last hotel the coast turns into the Serra Gelada natural park — declared in 2005, the first maritime-terrestrial park in the Valencian Community, and mostly sea: 4,920 of its 5,665 hectares are water. The cliffs drop sheer for hundreds of metres. Ten minutes from a beach bar and it looks like nowhere near a city.
It is set up for groups
Benidorm does big groups better than anywhere on this coast — that is what the town is built for. Stag and hen weekends, birthdays, work trips: the boats, the timings and the transfers all exist because the demand does. If your group is twelve people who each booked their own flight, this is the easy port.
Boat Rental Benidorm — Pick Your Vessel
Four fleet categories, every group size and budget.
Private Yacht Charter
Motor yachts with skipper or crew. The comfortable way to run the skyline, round the island and up the Serra Gelada cliffs in a day.
From €800/day
View yachtsCatamaran Charter
Twin hulls, room to spread out and barely any roll at anchor. The choice for families and for bigger groups doing the island run.
From €300/day
View catamaransSailboat Rental
Monohull sailing yachts for a real sailing day along the bay and up towards the cliffs, with the towers shrinking behind you.
From €150/day
View sailboatsMotorboat Rental
Speedboats and RIBs, including licence-free options you can drive yourself. Enough for the island and back in a morning.
From €100/hour
View motorboatsWhere You Can Go From Benidorm
Six places worth pointing the bow at.
Isla de Benidorm
The triangular island off the bay, 1.85 nautical miles out. Ferries run to it hourly and you are allowed ashore — the restaurant on the northwest slope has been in the same family since 1968. Swim off the boat, walk up to the lighthouse, then leave before the day-trippers do.
La Llosa reef
Three hundred metres south of the island, a reef rising to about seven metres. It is the reason divers and snorkellers come out here rather than staying on the beach — shallow enough to see everything, deep enough to hold real fish.
The Serra Gelada cliffs
The wall of rock running northeast from Benidorm, protected since 2005 as the Valencian Community's first maritime-terrestrial park. From the water you get the full height of it, and the hanging fossil dune on the face. Inside the park the rules are strict and we follow them: anchoring only at the designated buoys, 3 knots in the special marine protection zones and 12 elsewhere in the park.
Cala Tio Ximo
A sixty-metre pocket of sand and pebble under the cliffs at the north end of town, with good snorkelling off the rocks. You can walk to it — but cars are barred in summer, so arriving by boat is the quiet way to do it.
Poniente and Levante beaches
The two big beaches, both Blue Flag since 1987: Levante is 2,084 metres of it, Poniente 3,100. Running the length of them a few hundred metres out, with the towers stacked up behind, is the single most Benidorm thing you can do on a boat.
Altea, where you actually start
Since you are leaving from Marina Greenwich anyway, Altea is worth the extra half hour: a whitewashed old town on a hill above the bay, and a quieter, rockier coast than Benidorm's. It is the calm bookend to a loud day.
How Boat Rental in Benidorm Works
From first message to leaving the dock.
1. Tell Us Your Day
Send us your dates, your group size and what you want — the island and a swim, the cliffs, or a long lazy run along the beaches. We come back with the boats that fit and real prices.
2. Confirm Your Booking
Reserve with a deposit and we lock in the boat and the skipper. You get the full brief: where Marina Greenwich is, how to get there from Benidorm, what to bring, and what happens if the weather turns.
3. Meet at Marina Greenwich
It is in Altea, about 11 km from Benidorm — a short taxi or drive, and there is parking. Safety briefing on the pontoon, then you are out, and the skyline comes into view about ten minutes later.
Boat Rental Benidorm — Price Snapshot
Indicative rates. Your exact quote depends on boat, date and duration.
| Motorboat (no licence) | €100-150/hour | Small groups, hourly rentals |
| Sailboat (skippered) | €150-300/day | Half-day or full-day options |
| Catamaran | €300-700/day | Families and larger groups |
| Private yacht | €800-2,800/day | Motor yachts with skipper |
| Luxury yacht | €1,500-3,500/day | Larger yachts with full crew |
More Ways to Get on the Water
Dedicated pages for every kind of charter.
Boat Rental Benidorm — Frequently Asked Questions
No, and anyone who tells you otherwise is glossing over something. Benidorm's own port is a small club harbour: 110 berths, nothing longer than 8 metres, 2.5 metres of draft. A charter yacht simply does not fit. Benidorm charters depart from Marina Greenwich in Altea, roughly 11 km up the coast — a short taxi, and there is parking if you drive. We give you the exact meeting point when you book, and the extra fifteen minutes buys you a marina that can actually service a boat.
Not always. Spanish rules allow licence-free rental of boats up to 5 metres with engines up to 15 HP, for up to 6 people, if you are over 18 — you stay near the coast and we brief you first. For anything bigger, or if you would rather enjoy the day than drive, you take a skipper. Most Benidorm bookings are skippered, partly because of the park rules north of town.
It depends on the boat, the season and the hours. A licence-free motorboat starts around €100 an hour. A skippered sailboat or catamaran for a day runs roughly €150 to €700 depending on size. Private motor yachts with a skipper start around €800 a day. July and August cost more than May or October. Send your dates and group size and we will give you a firm number.
Yes. It is the only island in the Serra Gelada park with public access — Illa Mitjana, La Galera and L'Olla are restricted. There are hourly ferries from the port, a restaurant that the same family has run since 1968, and a walk up to the lighthouse. From a boat you can swim off the back, go ashore, and still be somewhere else by the afternoon.
They are real and we keep to them. Anchoring is only permitted at the designated buoys and zones — two of them, on sandy bottom, chosen specifically to keep anchors off the posidonia. Speed is limited to 3 knots inside the special marine protection zones and 12 knots elsewhere in the park. Diving needs authorisation in advance — 48 hours for individuals, longer for dive centres. Anchoring on posidonia is prohibited outright under regional law; the regional Fondea app shows exactly where you cannot drop.
Yes. The party-boat ban people have read about — the one-mile rule — is Balearic law and does not apply here on the Costa Blanca. That said, "legal" is not the same as "anything goes": inside the Serra Gelada park the speed and anchoring rules bind every boat, party or not, and our skippers keep to them. Outside the park you are free to enjoy yourselves.
We do not sail if it is not safe or not enjoyable. If the skipper or the marina calls it off, you choose: another date, or a full refund. The bay is fairly sheltered and the island gives you somewhere to duck behind, so a marginal day is often just a different route rather than a cancellation.
June to October, when the sea holds above 20°C — August peaks around 26°C, and it is also when the town is fullest. June and September are the sweet spot: warm water, more boats free, and the anchorage off the island actually has room in it.
Ready to See Benidorm From the Water?
Tell us your dates, your group size and the kind of day you want. We will send real boats with real prices — usually the same day.