Sardinia & Corsica Frequently Asked Questions

We recommend a week. Mediterranean charters operate Saturday to Saturday, and the seven-day window is the country's standard charter unit — built around marina turnaround logistics and the way the inventory is offered. Each of the four Sardinia & Corsica routes is designed to fit comfortably into seven days; pace varies but the unit is the same. Longer charters (10–14 days) are possible by chaining two consecutive weeks. The most natural pairing is the Sardinia + Bonifacio Loop combined with a Corsica West Coast leg — letting the captain run the strait crossing once, base in Bonifacio for two or three nights, and push north to Calvi or even Saint-Florent on Cap Corse. Cross-region transitions add a positioning day; we walk through which combinations work before booking. Shorter charters (4–5 days) are uncommon — most operators don't break the Saturday-to-Saturday week.

Sardinia & Corsica operate on the Mediterranean plus-expenses model — different from the Caribbean's all-inclusive default. The base weekly rate covers the yacht and the professional crew (typically captain, chef, and stewardess on catamarans and small motor yachts; larger motor yachts run a full crew of five or more), plus standard yacht-side equipment — water sports gear, snorkel kit, paddleboards, kayaks, linens, and towels. A typical Sardinia & Corsica charter runs two meals a day on board. Most weeks shake out as breakfast and lunch with the chef and dinner ashore at one of the harbor restaurants — the Sardinian and Corsican harbor restaurants are part of the experience, not an exception to it. Phi Beach and the Costa Smeralda places, the stone-walled taverns inside Bonifacio's haute ville, the seafront restaurants in Calvi and Saint-Tropez. Your chef and captain build the rhythm around the route and your group's preferences; lunches occasionally end up ashore in town and dinners occasionally stay aboard on quieter anchorage nights. There's no fixed structure. Not included in the base rate, paid through APA: food and provisioning for the week (which covers both the chef's cooking and any meals taken ashore), beverages (wine, spirits, beer), fuel, marina dockage, harbor and port fees, water and electric, the La Maddalena National Park per-yacht fee on the Italian side, and any tourist tax. Crew gratuities — customary at 10–15% of the base rate in the Mediterranean — are paid directly to the captain on disembarkation. Charter VAT is added at booking: 22% Italian VAT for charters embarking from an Italian port (Olbia, Cagliari) or 20% French VAT for charters embarking from a French port (Ajaccio, Calvi). One VAT, not both, regardless of how many borders the route crosses. Charters run Saturday to Saturday as standard.

APA stands for Advance Provisioning Allowance — a pre-paid fund (typically 30–35% of the base charter rate in Sardinia & Corsica) that covers food, beverages, fuel, marina dockage, harbor fees, and the day-to-day running costs of the week. Your captain keeps an itemized account, and any unused balance is refunded at the end of your charter; if costs exceed the APA, the difference is settled at trip end. For planning purposes, the APA is realistic — most weeks consume 80–100% of the funded amount, depending on how many nights guests dine ashore at the harbor restaurants, how many marina nights vs. anchorages, and how much premium wine is on the bar. Costa Smeralda dockage runs higher than the Maddalena anchorages, and the French Riviera marinas (Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Monaco's Port Hercule) are among the more expensive in the Mediterranean. Before booking we walk through provisioning preferences with you so the chef and captain stock to your group.

The Sardinia & Corsica charter season runs May through October. The trade-offs across the season: June and September are the best balance of the year — warm enough to swim daily, the Mistral fills in reliably, the harbor restaurants have tables, and rates run 20–30% below peak. Most western-Mediterranean regulars charter in these two months. July and August are peak — the highest temperatures, the largest fleets at the islands, the most reliable wind, and the highest rates (25–40% above shoulder). Costa Smeralda's restaurants book weeks ahead, the Maddalena anchorages can hold a hundred yachts on the right Saturday, and Ferragosto (August 15) is the European-charter equivalent of New Year's Eve. The best yachts and crews go 9–12 months in advance. Late May and early October work for guests with calendar flexibility — slightly cooler water, lower rates, occasional Maestrale (a NW frontal system) but the captain plans the route around the forecast. November through April is off-season; most of the fleet hauls out for refit.

Four distinct one-week routes work the cruising ground, and the right one depends on what you want from the trip and the yacht you're on. **Sardinia + Bonifacio Loop** (Olbia round-trip, ~100nm). The bread-and-butter week. Costa Smeralda granite coast, the Maddalena Archipelago, a Strait of Bonifacio crossing into Corsica for the medieval haute ville, and a return south through the northern Maddalena cluster. Comfortable on a sailing yacht with the Mistral on the quarter and equally comfortable on a motor yacht. Most groups doing Sardinia & Corsica for the first time book this one. **North Sardinia / Costa Smeralda only** (Olbia round-trip, ~80nm). Pure Sardinia, no strait crossing. Tavolara MPA, Costa Smeralda, the full Maddalena archipelago. Slower pace and more time at the marquee anchorages. For groups who want to stay inside Italy or who prefer to skip the half-day spent on the strait crossing. **Corsica West Coast** (Ajaccio round-trip, ~150nm). The wilder side. Sanguinaires, the Calanques de Piana, the UNESCO Scandola Nature Reserve, Girolata's roadless village, Calvi's Genoese citadel, and the Patrimonio vineyards on Cap Corse. Rugged coastline, less polished anchorage culture, and the only UNESCO World Heritage marine reserve in the western Mediterranean. Sailing or motor yacht; the captain calls the open-coast headlands around the Maestrale forecast. **Two Islands + the Côte d'Azur** (Olbia → Monaco, ~250nm, motor only). The do-it-all premium week. Costa Smeralda, Bonifacio, Calvi, Saint-Tropez, Cannes, the Lerins Islands, Cap Ferrat, and a final night at Monaco's Port Hercule. Two seventy-plus-nautical-mile days at sea — only a planing motor yacht handles the routing comfortably; a sailing yacht cannot. The premium one-way for guests who want a passage week with marquee stops at every port. We walk through your group, your travel dates, and the yacht options before booking — the right week is the intersection of all three.

No. Italy and France are both EU and Schengen members, so there is no customs clearance between Sardinia and Corsica — the Strait of Bonifacio is treated as an internal border for yacht-charter purposes. US, UK, Canadian, and Australian passports require no visa for stays under 90 days; EU passports clear with no border check. The captain handles cruising logs, transit logs at marina entry/exit, and any tax documentation as part of the standard charter setup. Two practical notes the captain handles without involving guests: the La Maddalena National Park (Italian side) charges a per-yacht park fee paid online before the boat enters the park boundary, and the Lavezzi Islands marine reserve (French side) restricts anchoring on seagrass beds. Both are routine. On the VAT side, the rule is clean: charter VAT is paid where the charter starts, and only there. Charters embarking from an Italian port pay 22% Italian VAT on the base rate; charters embarking from a French port (Ajaccio, Calvi) pay 20% French VAT. One VAT, not both, regardless of how many borders the route crosses. The Olbia → Monaco one-way starts in Italy and pays 22% Italian VAT, even though it ends in France.