Practical information on our skippered charters

Let me just point out some of the main characteristics of a skippered charter in Greece. Your yacht will be waiting in our home port, in Athens (Alimos marina) and will be ready for departure at your signal. For those of you that are visiting Greece for the first time we provide the ability to have a daily city tour in the city of Athens and visit the Acropolis and many other interesting sightseeing which have brought Athens in the first place of the global ranking in terms of historical interest. You captain will be on standby to serve you in the best possible way and sail you to the most efficient locations in accordance to the weather.

All of our skippers are licensed and fully trained to provide, professional and high standard services to all of our guests. Most of the times the skipper acts as a guide not only for the sailing part but also in the Greek islands. He will be heading you to choices known only to locals rather than the most touristic ones usually found in the front window of the islands. In most cases all of our guests invite our captains to share stories, moments and experiences together, while having dinner in various traditional tavernas. Meet our skippers in our separate detailed page with our crew profile information along with photos and comments.

In most of the cases our guests select to have onboard one of our hostesses. A hostess can prepare breakfast and dinner according to your taste preferences while she could be helping you in keeping the boat clean and in order. A hostess is also a great help if you are having young children onboard and you like to spend some time of free moments. She would be sharing some of the time to keep the kids occupied while you will be having a swim and enjoying your free time.

Most of our departures take place on Saturdays and operate on a weekly basis. This means practically that you can sail on Saturday and you will be returning on Friday afternoon, spending the time onboard having a cocktail or visiting the city center (check here how to explore athens sightseeing) while the next Saturday morning you would have to disembark (if we are talking for a one week cruise).

People wonder if a week is enough.. Well this depends on two main principles:

a) Where you plan to go and what you have in mind in exploring: To my opinion when you are on sailing vacation you need to consider various factors to have the best sailing experience. One would be to take under consideration how much would you like to sail per day. And when I mean you, I am talking about all of the crew. Many times women and children are less experienced and would not prefer to sail more than 2 hours per day-at least the first days of their vacation. This is something you need to take under consideration in order to prepare a successful route. The second would be the weather. You need to understand that the best vacation is a combination of weather and location. The most beautiful bay combined with an unpleasant weather does not add up to the best result. RELAX! That is the strong advantage when sailing from Athens. That is, you have the possibility, according to the weather, to plan a route that will be compatible with the nature conditions at the time of your arrival. In case of very strong winds you can sail in the marvelous Saronic gulf that is always calm and fully protected, while your skipper will take you to calm and isolated bays. On the other hand if you enjoy sailing you have the possibility to sail to the Cyclades and visit this complex of islands among which are, Mykonos, Paros and Santorini. If you are planning to visit Santorini, I would suggest that you would need a two week sailing skippered charter since you will need to cover a lot of miles for a one week trip.

b) The number of islands you want to explore: Again, my idea is that you are on vacation! Greece has approximately 2500 islands. There is no way that you will be visiting all the islands in just a single trip. Our suggestion is to enjoy the moment and spend as much time as you feel like it in every place. There is no harm done if you are having a great time in Milos, to leave ‘because the program says so’.. This is why a skippered charter in Greece is the ultimate vacation option. You have the freedom to sail, to stay anchored, to swim or to do as you please depending on your desire. Therefore, seize the moment and look around you. This is what vacation is all about! To lose the track of time and enjoy pure emotions and heartbeats.

Normally in a weekly sailing cruise you should be visiting aprox 6 islands during your trip. For some of you this is not sufficient, however this depends on the time that you have available for vacation. It is logical that the more time you have available the more islands you could explore. Moreover the weekly sailing charter is perfect for those of you visiting Greece for 10 days where you can still have some time to visit Athens and the suburbs nearby. For us the ideal length of a skippered sailing cruise in the Greek islands is a period of 2 weeks. This is simply because you may have more options in terms of more islands to visit-more than 12, flexibility according to the weather, availability to relax in an island for more than 1 day and many others. If you are one of the lucky ones who will get the chance to have 3 weeks available for their vacation then we can guarantee you will losing the track of time and you will have a great experience to remember.

As mentioned previously the key concept of our private skippered charters is that we will spend time with you to choose exactly the itinerary that matches to your expectations. It is not just a fixed route to follow with predefined stops. Of course we know the ‘must see’ locations and we will put them on the table during our sail planning, but one thing is certain. You will experience the island hopping (click to see how to do island hopping in Greece), a lot of swimming and diving in different bays and crystal waters will yacht will provide you with all the amenities of a hotel. Furthermore during your island hopping you will have the chance to discover why each of the Greek islands, is unique. Most of you may be familiar with Mykonos and Santorini but trust our word, there are equally beautiful islands such as the famous ones, such as Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos, Milos, Paros, Antiparos, Kimolos and many others. Each with unique history and places to visit as well as different cuisine recipes.

According to the above we will determine the best route for your preferences and will be sailing to the first island shortly. A good tip is to have a shopping list, which we offer as a free service, this way you will be having all of your shopping onboard when you arrive and you will save energy not waiting in the lines of the local supermarkets.

In addition you have the possibility to ask for some of our optional extras. Among those you will find internet connection to have onboard during your trip, stand up paddles for those of you that are more active or you wish to keep your younger kids occupied, two-seated canoes that we guarantee that will cause a lot of laughter and action or underwater cameras to capture your adventurous moments.

Once you set sail, this is it. You are on sailing vacation. Your captain will be glad, for those of you that want to acquire some knowledge, to show the basics around sailing and navigating. This is mainly interesting for children but for adults as well that would like slowly to get familiar with what sailing is all about. Moreover in just about couple of hours you will be relaxing in the middle of a beautiful bay making plans on where to have dinner or walk in the little white stripped alleys throughout the islands.

Since we mentioned dinner, with a skippered sailing cruise you have the choice whether to have lunch or dinner onboard or in every island you may reach. In the islands there are the typical local restaurants called ‘tavernas’ where you will taste traditional food (check this article for greek food you are going to taste in greek islands - videos included) based on local ingredients and cooked with different recipes in each island. Each location is famous for a specific ingredient and product while there are famous recipes for different islands. A tavern is not a must if you are looking for something super fancy but we highly recommend trying this type of restaurant during your trip. Most of them are placed right beside the sea so you will most probably tasting the delicious meals while the little waves will be passing by next to you. The other choice is to cook onboard-your yacht is equipped with a fully functional galley which operates with gas and has 2-3 burners available plus an oven with a grill. If you have a hostess onboard then most probably in the morning you will decide what type of ingredients you would prefer for the day’s dinner and she would prepare everything to be ready for the day. In the islands there are super markets with super fresh material so we are quite certain that you will be more than happy with the result.

All of the above consist a super-premium vacation type. The type that you would probably pay a fortune to have as a result. But still, the skippered charter we offer in Greece is the most affordable vacation type someone could ask for. The value you will be getting for your money is incomparable to any other vacation type. If you compare the price of a skippered charter to a typical stay in one local hotel for a week you will notice that there is a huge difference to the service and experience you will be getting compared to the amount you will be paying. Moreover, you need to appreciate there is no other vacation that would allow you to wake up and dive into the most immaculate clear blue waters in just seconds.

For those of you wondering how easy it is to book a skippered charter in Greece with Yachtsailing.gr we answer at once. VERY EASY! Just select the dates (you will find at the top bar on your browser) you will be visiting, let us know the number of guests on board, add the skipper and that’s it. Your sailing dream has just started. We encourage you to contact us via email in case you would like some clarifications and suggestion on possible questions you may have. We expect to see you onboard soon.