Yacht Charter Alicante — a Port That Takes Real Yachts

The yacht is exclusively yours for the booked period, with a licensed skipper, fuel for the agreed route, your berth in Alicante, safety equipment, insurance and snorkelling gear. Crewed yachts add a hostess or chef. Food, drink and optional extras are quoted separately so you can see exactly what you are paying for.

No. Every yacht charter we run in Alicante comes with a professional skipper, so no licence or experience is required from you. If you hold a valid licence and want to take the helm yourself, bareboat charter is possible on certain boats — send us your certification and we will tell you which of the fleet you can take. For Tabarca we would steer you towards a skipper regardless: it is a genuine open-water crossing, not a coastal potter.

Capacity is set by the individual boat and its certification. Sailing yachts and smaller motor yachts typically take up to 10 to 12 guests for a day charter; catamarans are usually the roomiest for the same number; larger crewed yachts take more — and unlike most ports on this coast, Alicante has the berths and the draft to host them. Tell us your group size and we will only show you boats that legally and comfortably fit everyone.

Either the Marina Deportiva de Alicante — 744 berths, vessels up to 60 metres, 12 metres of draft in the entrance channel, Blue Flag every year since 1997 — or the Real Club de Regatas de Alicante next door, with around 542 berths and 9 metres of draft. You will get the exact pontoon and berth with your confirmation. Both are at the foot of the old town, with the Explanada running parallel to the port, so most guests simply walk. Alicante–Elche airport is 9 km southwest of the city; it handled 18.38 million passengers in 2024, the busiest in southeast Spain.

Yes — it is the reason most people charter a yacht here. It is roughly 11.9 nautical miles from Alicante, so 50 minutes to an hour and three quarters depending on the boat, and it works as a full day. (If you see "8 miles from Alicante" quoted anywhere, that is a kilometre-to-nautical-mile mix-up — plan your day around 11.9.) It is the only inhabited island in the Valencian Community, with 51 residents, and it is 1,800 metres long by about 450 wide, so you can walk the whole thing between swims.

Tabarca was Spain's first marine reserve: the order was signed on 4 April 1986 and came into force on 10 May, protecting 1,754 hectares. It prohibits all fishing and any extraction of marine flora or fauna — no exceptions, no "just a couple". Diving requires express authorisation, arranged in advance, and there is a maximum-protection zone at the Bajo de la Nao. Anchoring is governed separately, by regional posidonia law rather than the 1986 order; the meadows there are officially described as extensive, dense and in optimal health, and our skippers work to those restrictions. Snorkelling off the boat is the easy way to see it.

The skipper makes the call, and safety comes before the schedule. If the forecast makes the day unsafe or simply unpleasant, we offer you an alternative date or a full refund. The Tabarca crossing is the part that is weather-dependent — it is open water — so on a marginal day the honest answer is often a coastal route instead, and we would rather tell you that in advance than turn back halfway.

June to October, when the sea holds above 20°C and peaks around 26°C in August. June and September are our favourites: warm water, more choice of boats, and Tabarca before or after the bulk of its 150,000 summer visitors. If you sail, January 2027 is worth a note in the diary for a different reason — the Ocean Race fleet starts from here on the 17th.