Day, sunset or a week: choosing a charter

• The short answerOne free day: day charter. One free evening: sunset. A week: go west.

A day charter is the default and the one most guests should take first. Eight or nine hours buys three or four anchorages, a proper lunch at anchor and enough time in the water that nobody feels rushed. It also covers the distance to the good bays: Phaselis and the park coves from Kemer, or Kekova if you leave from Kas or Finike.

A sunset cruise is three hours and a different thing entirely. You are not going anywhere in particular; you leave two or three hours before the sun does, run out far enough that the coast becomes a silhouette, and stop. It suits an evening rather than a day, and it is the one to take if you have one free evening rather than one free day.

A week changes what is reachable rather than making the same day longer. Instead of returning each evening you keep going, sleeping in bays that day boats never see, and the anchorages get emptier the further west you go. It is the only way to reach the far Lycian coast properly from Antalya or Alanya.

The other options are the same day shaped differently. A swim and snorkel charter is chosen by water clarity rather than by sights. A private charter is any of the above with nobody else aboard, which on this coast is less an upgrade than the normal way to do it.

Guides

When to take a boat trip from AntalyaMay and October: warm water, empty bays, lower prices.The meltemi, and why the afternoon changes everythingFlat at eight, choppy by two, calm after six. Plan the day around it.What to bring on a day charterHat, reef safe cream, soft shoes, a layer for the evening. The rest is aboard.Avoiding seasickness on a day charterMorning departure, sheltered bays, low and central, eyes on the horizon.What you actually see at KekovaRead the ruins from the boat, swim at Gokkaya, climb the castle at Simena.

Ways to charter

Day charterbest for first time charterers and familiesSunset cruisethe short charter that still feels like an occasionPrivate charterfor anyone who wants the day unsharedSwim and snorkel charterplanned around visibility, not mileageWeekly charterreaches the bays a day charter cannot

Common questions

Included in every charter

• Licensed captain and crew
• Fuel, harbour fees and insurance
• Towels, snorkel sets and paddle boards
• Soft drinks, water, tea and Turkish coffee
• Hotel pickup across Antalya on request

From EUR 800 Per boat, not per person, for the whole yacht and your party only. The exact figure depends on the programme, the season and the number of guests, and you get it in one message.