Chartering a boat or yacht in Monaco, what the harbours say and what the adverts don't

Search for yacht charter in Monaco and you’ll get pages of glossy adverts with prices nobody puts their name to. I went to what the harbour authority, the Yacht Club and the tourist board actually publish, and the result is less glamorous and a good deal more useful. There are precise rules on who may carry paying passengers, public berthing rates and a couple of named boats you can hire. On charter companies and rental prices the official side says nothing, and I’m not going to fill the gap with guesses.

Which named boats can you actually hire?

Everything the tourist board mentions leaves from Port Hercule, and most of it is run by Monaco Riviera Navigation, the firm behind the Bateau Bus. The nearest thing to a private charter is French Riviera, a vintage-looking launch with varnished wood and white upholstery that can be hired for one or more hours with up to 12 passengers aboard. Think a run along the coast, a drink at sunset or a transfer to a neighbouring port, always with a skipper.

If you’re not in a group, there are two simpler outings. Monaco by Sea is a 50-minute guided cruise along the shore on Atlantide 2, an electric boat with step-free access. For dolphins or pilot whales in the Pelagos Sanctuary, the tourist board names Monaco Riviera Navigation and Sustainable Whale Watching, the latter run with specialists and the Prince Albert II Foundation. None of these prices is published, so I’d get a fixed figure before booking.

Skippered or bareboat, the line the rules draw

Monaco’s general harbour regulations separate two things that charter adverts tend to blur. A boat for personal use is one used by its owner, someone lending it free, or a hirer who has it entirely at their disposal, and it can’t be used commercially. A pleasure boat for commercial use is one taking paying passengers under the responsibility of the owner or the captain, for sightseeing or sport.

For that second kind the rules set a ceiling, and for me it’s the most useful fact on this page. A motor boat may carry no more than 12 passengers and a sailing boat no more than 30. Only a historic sailing ship built before 1965, or a replica, goes up to 120. So if an advert offers a party of 20 on a skippered launch out of Monaco, you know what to make of it.

Where a yacht moors, and what the berth costs

Monaco’s two main harbours are run by the Société d’Exploitation des Ports de Monaco. Port Hercule has about 760 berths, around 30 of them kept for visitors, with the harbour office on +377 97 77 30 00 and VHF channel 12. Fontvieille is quieter, with 290 berths, 16 for visitors and a maximum draught of 3 metres. The Yacht Club’s marina adds 26 berths for superyachts of 28 to 60 metres.

The 2026 visitor rates are public and charged per day from noon to noon, VAT included. At Port Hercule a boat of 9.50 to 10.49 metres paid €54 a day in winter and €99.60 from May to September; a 50-metre yacht, €946.80 in summer. Fontvieille works out cheaper up to 14 metres and dearer beyond that. If you’re chartering from France, your skipper should have this built in, but I like knowing which part of the bill is the harbour.

What charter adverts leave out

Some weeks the harbour simply isn’t open to you. During the Monaco Yacht Show yachts can’t enter Port Hercule, and race weeks come with their own arrangements. The Yacht Club’s marina, for one, still hasn’t published its rates for the 2027 Grand Prix.

Nor can you drop anchor wherever you like. Off Larvotto lies the 1976 marine reserve, 33.6 hectares reaching 600 metres out, and below Monte-Carlo the Tombant des Spélugues reserve with its red coral. Fishing and mooring are banned in both, and the Maritime Police patrol them. And if you arrive by sea from outside, you have to report to the Police Maritime at 14 Quai Antoine Ier with the passports of everyone on board.

Can you get into the Yacht Club de Monaco?

The Yacht Club de Monaco was set up by Prince Rainier III in 1953, Albert II has been its president since 1984 and it has 2,500 members from 82 countries. Its Norman Foster building on Quai Louis II is a private club for owners and captains, so don’t plan on a drink on its terrace. What is open is the sailing school, with adult taster sessions on Saturdays from 09:00 to 12:00. If your idea of luxury at sea is learning to sail rather than being sailed, that’s the best way in, and other treats worth the money are gathered in luxury experiences in Monaco.