What boat hire costs on the French Riviera.

Most boat hire on this coast is priced the way hotel minibars are: a headline figure, and then the rest. This page is the opposite. It is every number involved in hiring a boat with a captain on the French Riviera, from the day rate to the deposit, and what a day actually works out at for the people aboard.

The boat: from €1,400 a day

The day rate is for the boat itself, for a full day of eight hours on the water. In this fleet it runs from €1,400 for Ace, a Saxdor 320 GTO out of Nice for eight guests, to €2,900 for Andiamo, a Cranchi coupé with a sea pool, and €3,200 for Queen of Hearts, a SACS Rebel 47 for ten. A half day of four hours is priced at sixty percent of the day rate, so from €850. Hourly charters run from two hours.

The captain: €350

Every charter comes with a professional captain, and the captain is €350 for the day on top of the boat. That is the whole reason nobody aboard needs a licence, and it is also what turns a boat into a day: the captain knows which cove is calm for the morning’s wind, where the water is clearest, and which table on the coast is worth the tender ride.

Fuel: at cost, for the route you take

Fuel is charged at cost for the route you actually run, not as a flat fee. A lazy day in Villefranche and Cap Ferrat, twenty minutes from the berth, uses very little. A run to Saint-Tropez, two hours each way at a proper pace, uses a great deal more. The crew price the fuel with you around the route you would love before the day, so there is no surprise at the quay.

What is already included

Towels, snorkelling gear, shade, a fridge with ice and iced water, and a chilled bottle of rosé are aboard before you are. Food and drink beyond that is arranged to order and quoted plainly when you book, or bring your own. Lunch ashore is paid at the restaurant, and the crew hold the table.

The deposit and the cancellation terms

A €300 deposit confirms the booking; the balance is settled before the day. Dates can be moved free of charge up to fourteen days before. If the captain calls off a day for weather, you choose a new date or a full refund, and the captain decides early rather than on the quay.

What a day works out at per guest

Take the boat most people book: a full day on Ace out of Nice at €1,400, the captain at €350, and a Villefranche-and-Cap-Ferrat route with modest fuel. For eight guests that is a little over €220 each for a private boat, a captain and eight hours on the water, before lunch. A shared cruise seat and a restaurant lunch on the Promenade is not far off that per person, and it does not include a cove to yourselves.

Queen of Hearts for ten, at €3,200 plus the captain, is about €355 each before fuel and lunch, for a boat most people on the coast would recognise.

When it costs less

The price does not change with the season, but the value does. June and September give you the same water as August with half the boats on it, longer availability and the best light of the year. Weekdays are quieter than weekends. And a half day, four hours of the same boat and captain, is the right shape for a first time on the water, at just over half the price.