Malta as a Mediterranean charter base
The shortest hop to Sicily, and a summer that starts in April.
Malta sits in the middle of the Mediterranean, ninety nautical miles from Sicily and inside a week of the Aeolian islands, Lampedusa and the Tunisian coast. It has a longer settled season than the northern Med, an English-speaking marine industry and airline links across Europe — which is why more owners now base charter yachts here. This page explains the passages, the distances, the season and how Malta compares with the Balearics, Croatia and the Amalfi coast.
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Malta is the most central charter base in the Mediterranean. Pozzallo and Marina di Ragusa in south-east Sicily are around ninety nautical miles away, a single comfortable day on a yacht over 17m in settled conditions; Syracuse and Ortigia are roughly 110nm; Lampedusa about 110nm to the south-west; and the Aeolian islands, Taormina and the Straits of Messina are reachable within a one-week itinerary. The Maltese season runs from April to early November, longer than the northern Mediterranean, with sea temperatures of 26–28°C in July and August. Crewed weekly charters from Malta start at €34,800, and offshore passages are only offered on yachts over 17m with full crew and a settled forecast window.
Reviewed and updated by the Luxury Yacht Charter Malta charter office on .
At a glance
The questions guests ask before they enquire — price, inclusions, guest numbers, departure points and lead times.
| Why charter from Malta rather than Italy or Croatia? | Central position, a longer season, English as a working language, direct flights across Europe, and a marine industry built around superyacht refit and support. |
|---|---|
| How far is Sicily from Malta by yacht? | Around 90 nautical miles to Pozzallo or Marina di Ragusa — one comfortable day on a yacht over 17m in a settled forecast. |
| Can we reach the Aeolian islands in a week? | Yes, on a fast crewed yacht with a stable forecast: Sicily's south-east, the Straits of Messina, then Vulcano, Lipari and Panarea. |
| Is Lampedusa reachable? | About 110 nautical miles south-west. It is an Italian island and clearance is straightforward, but it needs a genuinely settled window. |
| Can we cruise to Tunisia? | Yachts do, and it requires advance clearance paperwork and a crew experienced in the passage. We arrange it only on suitable yachts. |
| When is the Mediterranean season in Malta? | April to early November for swimming charters, with July and August the hottest and busiest and June and September the best balance. |
| What size yacht is needed for offshore legs? | Over 17m with a full crew for the Sicily crossing; larger and better-stabilised yachts for the Aeolians or Lampedusa. |
| What does a Mediterranean week from Malta cost? | From €34,800 on the crewed Manhattan 66 and €50,000 on the Sunseeker 86; 30m+ superyachts from €98,000 plus APA. |
| What about paperwork for crossing borders? | Crew list, passports and clearance are handled by the captain and our office in advance; you simply bring your passports. |
| What if the weather closes the window? | Every itinerary carries a Malta-and-Gozo alternative so no day is lost if the crossing is postponed. |
Geography
Malta sits almost exactly in the middle of the Mediterranean, ninety kilometres south of Sicily and three hundred kilometres north of the African coast. For a charter guest that geography has a practical consequence: the archipelago itself gives you a complete week of cruising — Malta, Comino and Gozo have more good anchorages than most people expect — while a single settled day opens an entirely different country.
The islands also compress distances in a way the northern Mediterranean does not. Portomaso to Comino is forty minutes. Malta to Gozo is an hour. That means a week does not have to be spent transiting: you can anchor somewhere excellent every night without a five-hour passage between them, which suits families and anyone prone to seasickness far better than a Balearic or Croatian itinerary.
Practically, Malta is a working maritime nation rather than a resort with boats. English is an official language and the language of the marine trade, the yacht registry is one of the largest in Europe, and there is a genuine refit and support industry around Grand Harbour. When something needs fixing on a Sunday in August, that matters more than any brochure feature.
Access is the last piece. Malta International Airport has direct flights to most major European cities, the airport is twenty minutes from Portomaso and thirty from Grand Harbour, and there is no ferry leg or internal flight to coordinate. Guests can land at midday and be at anchor with a drink by three o'clock, which is not true of most Mediterranean charter bases.
Passage planning
Approximate distances and passage times from Portomaso or Grand Harbour, on a yacht cruising at 18–22 knots in settled conditions.
| Destination | Distance | Passage time | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comino, Blue Lagoon | 12 nm | 40 minutes | Half or full day |
| Mġarr, Gozo | 18 nm | 1 hour | Day or overnight |
| Dwejra, west Gozo | 27 nm | 1.5 hours | Full day, swell permitting |
| Pozzallo, Sicily | ≈ 90 nm | 4.5 – 6 hours | Weekly charter |
| Marina di Ragusa, Sicily | ≈ 95 nm | 5 – 6 hours | Weekly charter |
| Syracuse & Ortigia | ≈ 110 nm | 6 – 7 hours | Weekly charter |
| Lampedusa | ≈ 110 nm | 6 – 7 hours | Weekly, settled window |
| Taormina & Messina | ≈ 160 nm | 8 – 10 hours | 10 days or more |
| Aeolian islands (Lipari) | ≈ 210 nm | 2 legs | 10 days or more |
Routes
7 days · from €34,800
Comino, Santa Marija Bay, Mġarr ix-Xini, Hondoq ir-Rummien, Dwejra when the swell allows, the Malta south coast to St Peter's Pool and the Blue Grotto, and a final night berthed under the Valletta bastions.
7 days
Two days in Maltese waters, the crossing to Pozzallo or Marina di Ragusa, then Syracuse and Ortigia, the Vendicari reserve and Marzamemi, returning to Malta with the forecast window.
10 – 14 days
Up the Sicilian east coast past Taormina and Etna, through the Straits of Messina, then Vulcano, Lipari, Panarea and Salina. A larger, well-stabilised yacht and full crew are essential.
7 – 10 days
South-west to Lampedusa and Linosa for some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean, with a genuinely settled forecast and a conservative plan for the return leg.
5 – 7 days
No offshore legs at all: short hops, a different bay each night, long lunches and swim stops. The itinerary we recommend most often for families with young children.
On request
One-way charters that finish in Sicily, or start in Sicily and end in Malta, using a yacht already repositioning. Occasionally excellent value when the timing lines up.
Malta versus elsewhere
| Malta | Balearics | Croatia | Amalfi & Capri | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season length | April – early November | May – October | May – early October | May – October |
| Sea temperature, August | 26 – 28°C | 25 – 27°C | 24 – 26°C | 25 – 27°C |
| Typical passage between anchorages | 20 – 60 minutes | 1 – 3 hours | 1 – 3 hours | 30 – 90 minutes |
| Crowding at peak | Comino only, and only midday | Very high | High in the islands | Extremely high |
| Working language | English | Spanish | Croatian | Italian |
| Airport to marina | 20 – 30 minutes | 20 – 40 minutes | Often a ferry or transfer | 1 – 2 hours from Naples |
| Second country within a day | Sicily, Italy | Mainland Spain | Montenegro or Italy | Within Italy only |
Weather
Sea 17–19°C, air 21–25°C. Excellent for cruising and coastal exploring rather than long swims, with the lowest rates of the year and empty anchorages.
The strongest month overall: warm water, settled north-westerlies, the longest daylight of the year and pricing below the peak. Offshore windows are frequent.
Sea 26–28°C, air 32–36°C. Hot, busy and the season for shade and air conditioning. Crossings are usually easy; Comino needs an early start.
August water with softer light and far fewer boats. Our favourite month for a week, and reliable for a Sicily crossing in the first three weeks.
Still swimmable, dramatically cheaper and quiet, but the first autumn fronts arrive. Build a flexible day into any offshore plan.
Grand Harbour cruising, corporate days and photo shoots on settled days with heated interiors. Offshore passages are planned individually rather than offered as standard.
Passages
The crossing to Sicily is straightforward in the right conditions and unpleasant in the wrong ones. Ninety nautical miles of open water with no shelter in between means the decision is made on the forecast, not the calendar: we look for a settled window with wind under 15 knots and a sea state that will not build through the afternoon, and we plan the departure early so the arrival is comfortably in daylight.
We only offer the passage on yachts over 17m with a full crew, and for the Aeolians or Lampedusa we want a larger, better-stabilised yacht again. This is not a size snobbery — it is that a 13.9m day cruiser is a superb Comino boat and the wrong tool for six hours of open water with guests aboard who are not sailors.
Paperwork is handled before you arrive: crew and guest lists, passport details, and clearance formalities with the Italian authorities on arrival. You simply bring your passports. If you plan to cruise to Tunisia, the requirements are more involved and we start that process several weeks ahead.
Every offshore itinerary we write carries a Malta-and-Gozo alternative of equal quality. If the window closes — and in October it sometimes does — nobody loses a day. The captain makes the call twenty-four to forty-eight hours out, and we would always rather change a plan than sell six hours of discomfort as an adventure.
Good to know
Choose a yacht, a length of charter and a route to see what it costs, what the fee already covers and whether the route stays inside the included fuel allowance. Figures are our current published rates in euro — your written quote confirms them for your exact date.
11.5m luxury day boat · skipper included
Maltese commercially licensed yachts carry a maximum of 12 guests under way.
About 24 nautical miles there and back.
Estimated charter fee
€1,900
Published full-day charter fee.
Roughly €238 per guest at 8 on board.
| Yacht | Guests | Half day | Full day | Week | Fuel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Axopar 37ST Brabus Line | 10 | €1,430 | €1,900 | On request | Fuel charged on consumption at the end of the day |
| Axopar 45 Cross Top | 11 | — | €2,500 | On request | Fuel charged on consumption at the end of the day |
| Sunseeker Manhattan 66 | 12 | — | €6,500 | €34,800 | First 30 nautical miles included, further miles charged on consumption |
| Sunseeker 86 JUPJU | 12 | — | €10,900 | €50,000 | First 30 nautical miles included, further miles charged on consumption |
| 30m+ superyacht | 12 | — | €14,500 | €98,000 | Fuel, dockage and provisioning billed through an advance provisioning allowance (APA) |
Rates are per yacht, not per guest, and include VAT unless the quote states otherwise. Superyacht charters are billed with an advance provisioning allowance for fuel, dockage and provisioning on top of the charter fee.
Charter in Malta is regulated. Every yacht we place guests on is commercially registered and licensed for charter under Malta's commercial yacht framework, administered by Transport Malta's Merchant Shipping Directorate. That distinction matters more than any marketing claim on this page, so here is how to check it and what it changes for you.
Ask any operator in Malta — including us — for the yacht's name and registration before you pay a deposit. It takes one question and settles the point.
Your confirmation names the marina, the pontoon and a boarding time, with the crew's number for the morning. Charter office hours are Mon–Sun 08:00–21:00 CET.
| Line | How we treat it | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Charter fee | Fixed per yacht for the agreed hours | Quoted in euro and confirmed in writing before any payment is taken. |
| VAT | Included in day and half-day charter fees | Weekly and superyacht charters are quoted plus VAT; your quote states which applies. |
| Fuel — day boats | Charged on consumption | Gauges are read before and after; you pay for what the day actually used. |
| Fuel — crewed motor yachts | First 30 nautical miles included | Longer routes such as Gozo and Comino combined go beyond this; the extra is itemised. |
| Superyacht running costs | Advance provisioning allowance (APA) | Fuel, dockage, provisioning and crew expenses drawn from a pre-funded balance, reconciled after the charter with receipts. |
| Marina fees at base | Included | No berthing surcharge at the departure marina. Overnight berths away from base are itemised. |
| Crew gratuity | Discretionary | Never added automatically to an invoice. |
Questions
Answered by the charter office that will handle your booking.
Malta is the most central base in the Mediterranean: ninety nautical miles from Sicily, with anchorages twenty to sixty minutes apart rather than hours, a season running April to early November, English as the working language of the marine industry, and an airport twenty minutes from the marina with direct flights across Europe.
Around ninety nautical miles to Pozzallo or Marina di Ragusa, which is four and a half to six hours at 18–22 knots — one comfortable day in a settled forecast. Syracuse and Ortigia are roughly 110 nautical miles.
Yes, on a ten-day to two-week itinerary: up the Sicilian east coast past Taormina and Etna, through the Straits of Messina, then Vulcano, Lipari, Panarea and Salina. It requires a larger, well-stabilised yacht and a full crew.
Yes, about 110 nautical miles south-west, six to seven hours in settled conditions. The water is among the clearest in the Mediterranean, and it is Italian territory so clearance is straightforward, but it needs a genuinely stable weather window in both directions.
Over 17m with full crew for the Sicily crossing, and a larger, better-stabilised yacht for the Aeolians or Lampedusa. A 13.9m day cruiser is ideal for Comino and the wrong choice for six hours of open water with non-sailing guests aboard.
April to early November for swimming charters, which is longer than the northern Mediterranean. June and September offer the best balance of warm water, settled wind and pricing; July and August are hottest and busiest; winter charters run for Grand Harbour cruising and events.
From €34,800 on the crewed 20.8m Sunseeker Manhattan 66 and €50,000 on the 26m Sunseeker 86, plus an Advance Provisioning Allowance of 25–35% covering fuel, food, drink, berths and port fees. Superyachts over 30m start at €98,000 a week plus APA.
A crew and guest list with passport details, prepared by the captain and our office in advance, plus clearance formalities with the Italian authorities on arrival. You bring your passports; everything else is handled before you board.
Sometimes, when a yacht is already repositioning. One-way charters that start in Sicily and finish in Malta, or the reverse, can be excellent value if your dates match the delivery schedule — ask us what is moving in your window.
Every offshore itinerary carries a Malta-and-Gozo alternative of equal quality, so no day is lost. The captain makes the call twenty-four to forty-eight hours out on the forecast, and we would always change the plan rather than push into a bad sea.
Far less. The only genuinely congested spot is Comino's Blue Lagoon between about 11:00 and 16:00 in July and August, and an early departure avoids it completely. Compared with Capri, Ibiza or the Croatian islands at peak, Maltese anchorages are quiet.
Yachts do make the passage, and it requires advance clearance paperwork and a crew experienced in the route. We arrange it only on suitable yachts with a settled forecast, and the process starts several weeks before departure.
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Enquire
Send your dates and guest numbers. A charter manager replies within four working hours with live availability, photographs, an all-in price and a suggested route.
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