The Mediterranean reads better from a deck.
Which caldera cruise actually anchors long enough to swim. What the Elaphite islands cost out of Dubrovnik. Whether the Bosphorus is worth a dinner boat or a daytime ferry. Reviews of the boat trips you can book on every coast of this sea.
Four boat days that decide a Mediterranean summer.
One from the Cyclades, one from the Venetian lagoon, one off the Dalmatian coast, one out of a Balearic marina. What each costs and what the people on board said.
01The caldera dayVolcanic Islands Cruise with Hot Springs VisitOut to the volcano and the hot springs, sailing from Athinios. Book a morning slot and you get the water before the afternoon boats arrive.
02The lagoon dayBoat Trip: Glimpse of Murano, Torcello & Burano IslandsMurano, Burano and Torcello on one hull. The glass furnaces run in the morning, the painted houses photograph best after lunch.
03The Dalmatian dayFull-Day Dubrovnik Elaphite Islands Cruise with Lunch and DrinksThree Elaphite islands, lunch on board, swim stops between each one. No cars on any of them.
04The Balearic dayPalma de Mallorca: 5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & SwimFive hours off Palma with a swim ladder down and lunch grilled on deck. The day the rest of the week gets planned around.
The most-booked boat days on this sea.
The whole catalogue of reviews →Eight sailings more travellers take than anything else between Gibraltar and the Black Sea, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Istanbul: Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Show with Private Table
Spend three hours aboard a Mega Lüfer yacht, crossing between Europe and Asia while dining at a private table. You’ll pass Dolmabahçe Palace, Rumeli Fortress, the bridges, and Maiden’s Tower, with Turkish folk dance, dervishes, flamenco, belly dance, Sirtaki, music, and a DJ. Choose standard or VIP dining, window or stage seating, drinks, and hotel pickup.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Boat Trip: Glimpse of Murano, Torcello & Burano Islands
from $29
3
Istanbul: Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Turkish Night Show
from $28
4
Volcanic Islands Cruise with Hot Springs Visit
from $29
5
Split: Krka Waterfalls Trip with Boat Cruise and Swimming
from $31
6
Venice: Burano, Torcello & Murano Boat Tour w/Glassblowing
from $28
7
Palma de Mallorca: 5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & Swim
from $69
8
Blue Cave Small-Group Boat Tour from Dubrovnik
from $84
In Greece the decision is not where. It is which kind of hull.
Nearly every Greek island sells the same three days from the same quay. They cost different money and they are not the same day at all.
Six coasts, and the boat day that makes each one.
A volcano in the Cyclades, a lagoon behind Venice, a thousand Dalmatian islands, the Balearic calas, the Bosphorus between two continents and the clearest lagoon in the Maltese channel.
Island hopping is what this sea is actually for.
A boat leaves a mainland port, calls at two or three islands and brings you back by dark. It is the single most-booked shape of day on this coast, and it changes completely between the Adriatic, the Aegean and the Balearics.
Italy keeps its best addresses where the road stops.
Positano and Amalfi were harbours long before they were hairpins. Capri has a grotto you can only enter lying down. Behind Venice there is a lagoon of glass furnaces and painted houses, and off Sardinia an archipelago of granite and shallow water.
On the Bosphorus you change continents twice before dessert.
Everything on the Bosphorus →
The strait runs from the Golden Horn to the Black Sea between Europe and Asia, past wooden yalis, two fortresses and three bridges. Boats leave all day from Eminonu and Kabatas, and the difference between them is the hour and what is on the table.
A daytime sightseeing boat
Open-deck boats run the European shore up to the second bridge and back. Audio guide, no meal, no fuss. The best value hour on this list and the one that suits a tight day.
Dinner and a floor show
Four hours between the bridges with a private table, a set menu and Turkish folk dancing. Book a window seat or the show blocks the water you came for.
A small yacht at sunset
Sunset light hits the Asian shore first. A smaller boat gets you closer in to the yalis and away from the loudspeaker commentary the big decks run.
What a day on Mediterranean water actually costs.
Every boat trip on the site, grouped by the price of a seat. A good half of this sea comes in under the price of dinner ashore.
Harbour cruises, the Bosphorus ferries, short catamaran hops and the two-hour cave runs.
The full-day standards: Elaphite and Blue Lagoon cruises, island triples with lunch and drinks on board.
Private skippers, chartered sailing days and the yacht you split four ways and never regret.
Croatia sells a thousand islands and delivers on about fifty.
From Split the speedboats run to Vis and the cave at Bisevo; from Dubrovnik the slow boats go out to the Elaphites, where two of the three islands have no cars at all. Zadar adds the Kornati, which is national park and almost empty.
Every Croatian boat trip →
Spain does the short, cheap, everyday sail better than anyone.
An hour out of Barcelona port on a catamaran costs less than lunch. Off Mallorca and Ibiza the boats run longer, with paddleboards and a cook, and along the Andalusian coast the dolphins come up beside the hull most mornings.
- 1Palma de Mallorca: 5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & Swimfrom $69
- 2Malaga: Catamaran Sailing Trip with Sunset Optionfrom $16
- 3Barcelona: Daytime or Sunset Catamaran Cruise with Musicfrom $15
This sea has three winds, and they cancel boats.
The meltemi blows down the Aegean from June to September and takes the small Cycladic boats off the water at short notice. The bora drops off the Dinaric mountains onto the Adriatic and shuts the cave trips. The mistral runs at the Gulf of Lion and the Balearics. None of them are rare and none of them are forecast far ahead, so leave the boat day early in the trip and keep sheltered water in reserve: the Bosphorus, the lagoons, the harbour cruises and anything with a roof over the deck.
Three pieces of water with no equivalent anywhere else.
Warm sea and a boat exist everywhere. A lagoon the colour of antifreeze, a cave that lights itself from below, and a city built on a mudflat behind a lagoon do not.
The Blue Lagoon at Comino
Comino has a permanent population you could seat at one table, and a shallow channel between it and Cominotto where white sand under three metres of water turns the whole inlet a colour that reads as artificial in photographs. Boats come from Sliema, Bugibba and Gozo. Everything hinges on the hour: by eleven the anchorage is full, and the lagoon is at its best before nine or after four.
- 1Sliema: Cruise to Comino, Crystal Lagoon, and Blue Lagoon★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 6,855 reviews
- 2Malta: Gozo, Comino & Blue Lagoon Cruise – swim & sightsee★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 6,564 reviews
- 3Blue Lagoon & 3 Islands Cruise with Lunch from Split★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,756 reviews
The blue caves
The Dalmatian coast is undercut limestone, and at Bisevo and on Kolocep the sea forces light up through a submerged opening until the inside of the cave glows from below rather than above. Entry is by small boat and only when the swell allows, which is why these trips cancel more often than any other kind. Mid-morning is the window; by late afternoon the angle has gone.
- 1Blue Cave Small-Group Boat Tour from Dubrovnik★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 9,360 reviews
- 2Blue cave, Mamma Mia and Hvar, 5 islands speedboat tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 7,150 reviews
- 3Day Cruise to Paxos, Antipaxos, & the Blue Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 4,800 reviews
Murano, Burano and Torcello
Venice is the famous part of a lagoon that also holds a glassmaking island, a fishing island painted so the crews could find their own houses through fog, and a near-empty island with a cathedral older than the city. The three sit in a line north-east of the Fondamente Nove, and a single boat does all of them in a morning if it leaves early enough for the furnaces.
- 1Boat Trip: Glimpse of Murano, Torcello & Burano Islands★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 15,699 reviews
- 2Venice: Burano, Torcello & Murano Boat Tour w/Glassblowing★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 10,245 reviews
- 3Murano & Burano Islands Guided Small-Group Tour by Private Boat★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 7,580 reviews
Four Mediterranean sailings that will not wait.
Most of this coast can be arranged at a harbour kiosk the night before. These four run on small boats, fixed departures and calendars that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Blue Cave Small-Group Boat Tour from DubrovnikSmall boats only, and the cave shuts whenever the swell is up. The permitted daily entries sell out days ahead in August.
- 02Full-Day Dubrovnik Elaphite Islands Cruise with Lunch and DrinksOne full-day departure from Dubrovnik and a hull that holds a few dozen people. It goes weeks ahead in high season.
- 03Sliema: Cruise to Comino, Crystal Lagoon, and Blue LagoonThe anchorage is legally capped and the good departures are the early ones. Late bookings get the eleven o'clock crush.
- 04Volcanic Islands Cruise with Hot Springs VisitThe volcano cruise runs to a fixed timetable off Athinios and the afternoon sailings fill first.
By port and island
Split to Dubrovnik, and a different hull every other day.
Five islands
The ElaphitesFresh off the quayside.
The rest of the new ones →
Boat tour from Avola to Portopalo with visit of Marzamemi
Read our review →
Roses: Cap de Creus & Port Lligat Boat Tour w/ Cadaqués Stop
Read our review →
Boat rental without a license in Malaga city for 1-6 people.
Read our review →
Boat Party al Tramonto nelle acque del Salento con Drink
Read our review →
Taormina: Boat Tour to Taormina & Giardini Naxos with Drink
Read our review →
Boat Excursions in Cefalù with Snorkeling & Aperitif
Read our review →
Cala Rajada: Boat Excursion with Drinks and Food
Read our review →
Anthony Quinn Bay & Sea Caves Snorkeling Cruise
Read our review →
From Benitses/Lefkimmi: Blue Lagoon & Papanikolis Cruise
Read our review →
From Split: Blue Lagoon and Trogir Half-Day Speedboat Tour
Read our review →