FAQ

Daniel Asmus
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

It is one of the best first charters in the Mediterranean. A Turkish Blue Cruise is gentle: short hops between sheltered bays, calm nights at anchor, warm water, and a heavy, stable gulet under you. Nothing about it feels intimidating.

The value makes it forgiving too. Turkey delivers more boat and more week per euro than almost anywhere, so a first-time family or group can charter generously without the top-end Med budget, and the famously warm gulet crews look after everything.

Our first-timer formula: a good crewed gulet, seven days, a relaxed Gulf of Fethiye or Göcek route. Start with when to go and tell us your group; the rest is our job.

Daniel Asmus
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

20% of the charter fee. Turkish VAT applies to the charter and is added on top of the base rate, due with the final payment. It is a real line to plan for, so a gulet listed at EUR 40,000 carries EUR 8,000 of VAT.

Turkey’s saving grace is how much the base rate already includes. On a typical gulet, crew, fuel and mooring within Turkish waters are often built into the rate, with food and drinks via a board package, so the VAT sits on a fee that already covers most of the trip, unlike a bare Med motor-yacht rate that then stacks APA and fuel on top.

We show the 20% and everything else in the first quote, so the number you approve is the number you pay. See why prices exclude VAT and APA.

Chris de Kock
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

For most Turkey trips, a gulet. These traditional wooden motor-sailers are the signature Turkish charter: wide, characterful, superb value, and built for the relaxed Blue Cruise rhythm of swimming, long lunches and quiet bays. They shine for families and larger groups, where the space and the per-person value are hard to beat.

A motor yacht makes sense when you want speed to cover more coast, a more contemporary interior, or a faster, more polished feel. You pay more per foot and often more in fuel, but you gain pace and modernity.

Most of our Turkey clients are happiest on a good gulet. Full comparison: gulet vs motor yacht in Turkey, and our top 10 gulets.

Daniel Asmus
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

A Blue Cruise, Mavi Yolculuk in Turkish, is the classic Turkey charter: a relaxed week aboard a gulet, drifting between the sheltered bays and coves of the Turquoise Coast. The rhythm is gentle, morning swim, a long lunch of fresh meze under way, an afternoon anchorage, dinner as the sun drops behind the pines.

It is less about covering distance and more about doing very little beautifully, which is exactly why people love it. The Gulf of Fethije and the coast around Göcek are the heartland, with countless bays reachable only by boat.

We build the route to your pace, busier or quieter, and match the gulet to your group. Sample route: our Fethiye to Bodrum itinerary.

John Boullin
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Turkey is the Mediterranean’s value destination, and gulets are why. A simple private gulet can start in the mid-teens per week; stronger luxury gulets for families and larger groups sit around EUR 30,000 to EUR 70,000+, and premium gulets or high-end motor yachts run EUR 60,000 to EUR 120,000 and up.

On top of the base you add 20% Turkish VAT and, depending on the boat, a per-person board package (gulets) or an APA (motor yachts). Because gulet rates often already include crew, fuel and mooring, the gap between headline and all-in is smaller here than on most coasts.

For a family of ten on a good gulet, Turkey delivers more week per euro than almost anywhere. Full breakdown: Turkey yacht charter prices.

William Mc Nally
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Around 5 to 15% of the charter fee is the usual range in Turkey, at your discretion and reflecting the service. Gulet crews are famously warm and hard-working, and on a good week most guests land toward the upper end. On a EUR 40,000 gulet that is roughly EUR 2,000 to EUR 6,000.

The practical side: the gratuity goes to the captain at the end of the charter, usually in cash, and is shared across the crew, the cook and deckhands included.

If anything falls short mid-trip, tell the captain or your broker then rather than at tip time; almost everything is fixable while you are still aboard.

Chris de Kock
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Most crewed gulets and motor yachts now carry onboard wifi over a 4G router, and Turkish coastal coverage is decent, so messaging, browsing and the occasional call work along most of the route. In the most remote Blue Cruise bays the signal can thin out, which is part of the charm.

Larger and newer yachts increasingly carry Starlink, which holds up even in the quiet coves. If working aboard is a requirement rather than a nice-to-have, tell us and we confirm the specific boat’s setup with the captain.

And if you want the opposite, a week genuinely off the grid, the Turkish coast still offers plenty of bays where the phone simply stops mattering.

Leonidas Marousos
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Turkey is the easygoing exception in the Mediterranean. Unlike Greece, France, Spain or Croatia, which all require a recognized license, Turkey generally has no specific jet ski license requirement, so guests can usually ride with far less red tape. A life jacket is required, and there are common-sense limits near swimmers and shore.

In practice the rules that matter are set by the boat and its insurance and by the captain’s judgment, so it comes down to which yacht you are on. Not every boat carries jet skis, so tell us early if they matter and we shortlist boats that do.

The captain always sets safe ride zones and keeps an eye on younger drivers, license or not. Tell us what your group wants on the water and we match the boat.

Chris de Kock
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

It is one of the best parts of a Turkey charter. The gulet cook prepares fresh food all week: mountains of Turkish meze, grilled fish straight from the market, local vegetables, olive oil and fruit, served on deck as you cruise or at anchor. Portions are famously generous.

On most gulets, dining runs through a board package priced per person per day, which covers the cook’s meals and usually soft drinks and water; alcohol is commonly extra or brought aboard. You set the tone on the preference sheet, from casual family food to something more refined, and dietary needs are routine.

When you want a night ashore, the coast has wonderful harbour restaurants, and the crew will help you plan it. Tell us how the week should balance eating aboard and going out.

Chris de Kock
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Short answer: sometimes for the first installment, but we almost never recommend it. The card company’s exchange rate plus processing surcharges, direct or hidden, usually cost more than any points are worth on amounts this size.

There is also a reason the industry runs on bank transfers: chargebacks. Card payments can be reversed months later, so owners price that risk in or refuse cards. A transfer clears cleanly, which is also why it gets you the better terms.

Our advice: send a bank transfer, and put the card points toward the flights instead.

William Mc Nally
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Yes. DMA Yachting carries professional indemnity insurance up to EUR 500,000 with ITIC, the International Transport Intermediaries Club, the specialist insurer for yacht brokers and other transport intermediaries.

This matters more than it sounds. Chartering runs on large wire transfers, so before you send a deposit to any broker, check that they are insured, reachable and working under a proper charter contract. We are happy to be checked.

This covers our work as your broker; trip cancellation insurance for you as the guest is separate, and we recommend arranging it when you book.

Leonidas Marousos
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Yes, day charters run from the main bases, Bodrum, Göcek and Fethiye, and cabin charters let you book a single cabin on a shared gulet if you want a taste without the whole boat. A day out to the nearby bays with lunch aboard is an easy Turkish classic.

That said, Turkey rewards time more than most places. The finest Blue Cruise bays, the ones you reach in the late afternoon after the day boats leave, are an overnight experience, and the rhythm of a full week on a gulet is the point.

The interesting threshold is a few days: enough to leave the base behind and wake up somewhere quiet. Tell us your dates and group and we will show you what fits.

Chris de Kock
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

In Turkey the crewed experience is the whole point. Gulets and crewed motor yachts come with a captain and cook as standard, so you are a guest, not the crew: meals cooked, cabins kept, tender and toys run for you, and a captain who knows the coast intimately.

Bareboat sailing does exist in Turkey for qualified skippers, but it is a small slice of the market and not what most people come here for. The magic of a Blue Cruise is being hosted on a beautiful wooden boat, not managing one.

If budget is the concern, the lever is boat size, age or dates rather than dropping the crew; talk to us and we find the version that works. More: gulet vs motor yacht.

Daniel Asmus
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Turkish summer weather is among the most reliable in the Med: long settled spells, warm water and no hurricane season. Weather rarely takes a day from a Turkey charter; it mostly decides which bay you enjoy it in.

When the meltemi does blow, it is the captain’s call, and that authority is written into every charter contract for good reason: on questions of safety the captain’s decision is final. In practice it means moving to the sheltered side of a headland or choosing a calmer cove, and this coast has protected options almost everywhere.

For protecting the charter fee itself against cancellation, that is an insurance matter; see cancellation insurance.

Leonidas Marousos
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Yes. The usual setup is rendezvous diving: a licensed local dive center meets the boat at the day’s bay with tanks and a divemaster, you dive, and the itinerary rolls on. The waters around Bodrum, Kas and the Gulf of Fethiye have reefs, walls and some good wrecks.

Some yachts carry their own gear, though fewer than in the Caribbean, so if diving is central to your week, say so up front and we shortlist accordingly.

No license? Uncertified guests can do an instructor-led discovery dive, shallow and supervised, and the warm, clear Turkish water makes snorkeling over the rocky points rewarding on its own.

William Mc Nally
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

No. Our service is free to you. Like a travel agent, we are paid a commission from the yacht’s side, and the charter fee is the same whether you book through us or approach the boat directly. There is no markup for using a broker.

What you get for that same price in Turkey specifically: we know the gulet fleet, which is huge and wildly variable in quality, and can steer you to the boats and crews that actually deliver rather than the tired ones that photograph well. We also handle the board package, the route and the paperwork.

The one thing we ask: pick one broker and work with them. The same inquiry sent to five brokers just means owners see your name five times, and nobody can negotiate well for you after that.

Daniel Asmus
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

The Turkish season runs May to October. July and August are the peak: hot, busy, and the priciest weeks, with the best gulets booked well ahead. June and September are the sweet spot most of our clients prefer, with warm sea, settled weather and noticeably fewer crowds.

May and October are the value shoulders, mild and quiet, ideal for a relaxed Blue Cruise rather than swimming every hour. The Aegean coast around Bodrum sees the summer meltemi breeze, which keeps things comfortable in the heat but favours a well-found boat on the open legs.

Rates swing with the calendar, so the same gulet costs far less in June than in August. If your dates flex a week or two, that often buys a better boat for the money. Month-by-month: Best Time for a Turkey Yacht Charter.

Daniel Asmus
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Rarely, by charter standards. A Turkish Blue Cruise is built around short hops between sheltered bays, with most nights spent calmly at anchor rather than pushing across open water. The Gulf of Fethiye in particular is a string of protected coves.

Gulets help too: they are heavy, beamy wooden boats that sit steadily in the water, and larger motor yachts carry stabilizers. If anyone is prone to motion, tell us and we keep the route gentle.

The honest caveat is the Aegean meltemi, the summer northerly that can freshen around Bodrum and the more exposed stretches. A good captain times the open legs for calm windows and tucks into the lee when it blows, which the coast makes easy.

Leonidas Marousos
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

After the charter agreement is signed, not before. It is far easier to move a flight than a yacht: the boat you want has to be free, in the right base, on your exact dates, and that is the hard part of the puzzle.

For Turkey the airport follows your base: Bodrum (BJV) for a Bodrum start, and Dalaman (DLM) for Göcek, Fethiye or Marmaris, each roughly 20 to 60 minutes from the marinas. Both have good summer connections through Istanbul and direct European charter flights.

Send us your flight times once booked and the crew plans boarding, provisioning and the first anchorage around your arrival.

Daniel Asmus
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Six to nine months ahead for July and August, and the most-loved gulets and larger crewed boats go earlier still. Turkey has the strongest private-gulet market in the Med, but the genuinely good ones, the boats with great crews and recent refits, are a limited set that repeat clients rebook early.

For June, September and the shoulder months, three to five months usually gives a real choice, and late availability does appear. Peak August without flexibility is the hardest combination.

Not sure yet? Inquire anyway. If the trip is even half likely, it is the right time to look, and asking costs nothing.

Leonidas Marousos
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Yes, we can arrange bareboat for qualified skippers; Turkey has a bareboat sailing scene, and charter companies will ask for a sailing CV and often an ICC. Tell us your experience, dates and group and we line up options.

That said, our specialty and Turkey’s signature is the crewed gulet. The gap between managing a boat and being hosted on a Blue Cruise, with a cook turning out fresh meze and a crew running the day, is bigger than the price difference suggests.

Many groups who ask about bareboat end up happiest on a crewed gulet with the whole trip to themselves. See crewed vs bareboat.

John Boullin
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Turkey is unusual here: its large gulets are built for groups, and many carry 12, 16 or more guests on a single boat, so staying together is more often possible than almost anywhere in the Med. For a big family or friends’ trip, that is a real advantage in both cost and togetherness.

Beyond a big gulet’s limit, two boats cruising together, a tandem charter, is the answer, and the short Turkish hops make it easy: the boats share the same bays and the group mixes freely. See what is a tandem charter?

Tell us your headcount and dates and we price both. Our picks for big groups: best gulets for 12 guests.

Chris de Kock
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

On Turkish gulets, often yes, and it is one of the best-value features in the Med. Gulet rates commonly include the crew, fuel and mooring within Turkish waters, with food and drinks handled through a board package priced per person per day. That is why a Turkey week can deliver so much per euro.

Motor yachts follow the classic model: base rate plus an APA of roughly 25 to 35% for provisioning, fuel and dockage, refunded where unspent. Alcohol and premium requests are usually extra in both cases, and the contract lists what is in and out.

We translate every quote into the same all-in language so a gulet board package and a motor-yacht APA compare fairly. Full picture: gulet vs motor yacht in Turkey.

Leonidas Marousos
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Most Turkish charters start from one of four bases, and which one you choose shapes the whole trip. Bodrum opens the Aegean and its lively scene; Göcek and Fethiye open the sheltered Gulf of Fethiye and the classic Blue Cruise bays; Marmaris sits between the two worlds.

Starting somewhere other than the yacht’s home base is possible but means a delivery fee for the fuel and crew time, and with the coast this rich it rarely buys much. Usually the smarter move is choosing the base that matches the coastline you want.

We match the base to your group and route. Compare them here: Bodrum vs Göcek vs Marmaris vs Fethiye.

Chris de Kock
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

First we confirm reality: whether the boat you asked about is free on your dates and at what price, and, on the gulet side especially, what its crew and condition are actually like this season, because gulet quality varies enormously. At the same time we shortlist comparable boats so you choose from real options.

Once you pick, the steps are: charter agreement, payment per the contract terms, then the preference sheet where the trip gets personal: food (and how you want the gulet board package handled), drinks, celebration plans and the pace of the route.

From inquiry to signed contract can take a day or a month; it moves at your pace, and asking questions costs nothing.

Chris de Kock
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Yes. On a crewed gulet or motor yacht the captain, cook and deckhands live aboard for the whole trip, in their own crew quarters separate from the guest cabins. A gulet listed with 6 guest cabins genuinely sleeps 12 guests; the crew occupies none of them.

They are also the heart of the experience: the cook turns out fresh Turkish meze and grilled fish all week, the deckhands run the tender and toys, and the captain knows which cove is glassy at breakfast and which fills with day boats by noon.

Gulet crews in particular are known for warm, attentive service, and a good one is what turns a Blue Cruise into the trip people talk about for years.

John Boullin
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

The balance of your charter fee, plus the APA if your yacht uses one, is due about six weeks before the charter starts; your agreement shows the exact date.

On a gulet, there is often no APA at all: food and drinks run through a board package, and fuel and mooring inside Turkish waters are frequently included in the rate, so there is little to reconcile. On a motor yacht you more often have a classic APA of roughly 25 to 35%, spent and accounted for by the captain, with the unspent balance refunded.

Either way we confirm up front exactly what sits inside the price and what does not, so a gulet board package and a motor-yacht APA can be compared like for like.

William Mc Nally
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Sometimes. Outside July and August, and especially in May, early June and October, owners will consider a serious offer, and larger boats have more room to move. The way to do it is through your broker: we know which owners negotiate and what number is worth putting on the table.

Two things before you offer. An offer is treated as binding, so be ready to sign quickly if accepted. And shopping the same gulet through several brokers creates no leverage; owners see every inquiry arrive under your name.

One Turkey-specific caution when comparing quotes: check what the price includes. A gulet with a full board package can look pricier than a bare motor-yacht rate that then adds VAT, APA, food and fuel. Compare the real all-in number, not the headline.

John Boullin
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

The standard structure: 50% of the charter fee is due when you sign the charter agreement, and the remaining 50% about six weeks before you step aboard. Far-in-advance bookings can sometimes split 25/25/50 with the owner’s agreement.

Turkey has a pleasant difference on the gulet side: many gulets run board packages rather than a full APA, so food and drinks are handled through a per-person package and there is often no separate provisioning fund to manage. Motor yachts more often use the classic base-rate-plus-APA model.

Payment is by bank transfer, the industry standard for amounts this size. Every deadline is in the agreement, so the money side holds no surprises. See how Turkish VAT works.

John Boullin
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Usually not, and it is worth knowing why: every boat has licensed limits for day and overnight guests, set by its registration and insurance rather than the crew’s goodwill. Owners hold that line even for small children, with occasional case-by-case flexibility for infants.

Turkey does give you more room to solve it, because gulets tend to be large and cabin layouts are often flexible: a boat with an extra cabin, a Pullman berth or a convertible saloon is easier to find here than on smaller-boat coasts.

Tell us the real headcount, including the little ones, and we shortlist boats that fit it legally. If the group is genuinely large, see one yacht or two?

Daniel Asmus
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

Because the add-ons differ by yacht, so building them into the listed rate would make every price wrong for someone. The predictable part is Turkish VAT, currently 20% on the charter fee, added on top of the base rate.

The variable part is the running cost: on a gulet that is a per-person board package, on a motor yacht an APA of roughly 25 to 35%. Both are money spent on your trip rather than a hidden fee, and APA is refunded where unspent.

What we promise instead: the first quote we send shows the full all-in number, charter fee, 20% VAT, board or APA, and gratuity, so you compare real costs, not headline rates. More on the tax: what is the VAT on a Turkey charter?

John Boullin
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

A tandem charter is one vacation spread across two boats that cruise together: shared route and anchorages, one lead captain, and the group mixing freely between them. Three or more is a flotilla, the same idea with more logistics.

In Turkey it usually only comes up for very large groups, because the big gulets already carry 12 to 16-plus on one boat. When you go beyond that, two boats in the same sheltered bay each evening works beautifully given the short distances.

The pairing matters: matched boats, compatible crews, and both owners agreeing the plan. We sort that before you sign, not on the water.

William Mc Nally
Yacht charter broker, DMA Yachting

We recommend it. Cancellation and curtailment insurance protects your charter fee if illness, travel disruption or other events force you to cancel or cut the trip short, and charter contracts have firm cancellation terms because the owner holds the yacht exclusively for you.

It costs a small fraction of the charter fee and is simply sensible on a booking this size. Your broker can point you to suitable trip cover when you book.

This is separate from our professional insurance as your broker and from the yacht’s own insurance; those protect the transaction and the vessel, while cancellation cover protects your plans.