The cost of a yacht charter in Saint-Tropez: what to understand

The first thing I tell my clients: the price of a yacht charter in Saint-Tropez varies enormously, and the range isn’t a sales line. Our own fleet runs from €2,450 a day for a fast day-boat to over a million euros a week for the largest units. In between, everything depends on the boat, the season and the duration, and on a few lines worth knowing before you sign.

Rates from our own catalogue, noted in August 2026 and to be revalidated before booking, they shift from season to season and tighten sharply over the first fortnight of August.

• The charter, the hire of the boat itself, by the day or by the week. It’s the only line most people look at, and it isn’t the total.
• The APA, Advance Provisioning Allowance, often around 30% of the charter on crewed yachts. It isn’t a surcharge but a deposit: it covers fuel, food, drinks and port fees, and the unused balance is returned to you. Fuel is by far the largest item, and it depends directly on your itinerary.
• The crew, included on crewed yachts. The tip, 5 to 15% of the charter, remains customary and is given at the end of the stay.
• Extras, jet skis, seabob, paddleboards, chef on board, specific anchorages, transfers. They add up quickly and are decided in advance.
• VAT, included in the weekly rates we publish. Always check this point on an outside quote: it’s the number-one source of discrepancy between two proposals that looked comparable.

For day charters, boats go up to forty or fifty metres. Beyond that, for the largest units, owners and captains prefer the week, for reasons of logistics and wear. It isn’t a question of money: some vessels simply aren’t available by the day.

For a day at the capes or the islands, a fast day-boat is amply enough and remains by far the most accessible. To entertain, sleep on board and string anchorages together over several days, a crewed yacht changes everything, but the budget changes order of magnitude, not by a few percent.

• The date, above all. The first fortnight of August costs markedly more than June or September, on the same boat, with the same crew.
• Speed. A fast boat costs more per hour and burns more fuel, but it opens itineraries (Porquerolles, Cannes, Monaco) that a slow vessel makes absurd.
• The itinerary, through fuel. A day at the capes burns a fraction of a day to Porquerolles. It’s the variable nobody connects to the budget.
• The boat’s position. A unit already in Saint-Tropez costs less than one that has to be brought in, exactly as with a jet.
• Duration. On weekly charters there is room to negotiate; on a single day in August, far less.

A classic day charter runs from 10am to 6 or 7pm. Departure from the port, heading for the 3 Capes or the Lérins islands, lunch booked on an island: La Guérite books early, and never after the boat. If, once there, you want to extend and stay until the restaurant closes, our captains are flexible: the extension is generally negotiated at around 10% of the charter price per additional hour.

A point many people miss and that sometimes decides an entire plan: in France, whatever the size of the boat, you don’t exceed twelve people on board under way, barring a particular vessel status. Once back in port in the evening, however, you can welcome more people aboard, enough to rethink the organisation of a birthday or a reception entirely.

• Booking the boat without booking the island table the same day, the best ones go before the boats.
• Forgetting the APA in the budget and discovering it at signature.
• Comparing two quotes without checking whether VAT is included in one and not the other.
• Underestimating high season: in August, the good boats are locked weeks ahead.
• Choosing size by guest count without thinking about comfort on board. Twelve people fit on a fifteen-metre boat; they don’t have a good day on it.