Every season, guests ask me whether the motor yacht premium is worth it against a sailing week. The honest answer is a question back: how do you want to spend your hours? A motor yacht does not buy you a better Greece. It buys you more of it, faster, with the passage time converted into swim time. For some groups that is everything. For others it misses the point of being under way at all.
This is the working answer I give clients, with every figure quoted from our own fleet and the Greek Charter Index, the weeks we actually price and book. Sixteen crewed motor yachts, from a 60 foot weekender to a 50 metre flagship.
What does a crewed motor yacht week in Greece cost in 2026?
The crewed tier opens lower than most guests expect. Lady L, an Altamar 64 with a crew of three, charters at €17,500 to €20,000 per week for eight guests; the Ferretti 68 Mary holds the same band, and N.ICE, a 2024 built Omikron 60, runs €18,900 to €22,900 with a captain and cook. A serious crewed motor week in Greece starts under €20,000, before APA and VAT.
The heart of the book runs €31,000 to €75,000: the Sunseeker 75 M FIVE at €31,000 to €33,000, the Falcon 90 Star Link at €40,000 to €45,000, the Pershing 90 ONE at €45,000 to €49,000, the Admiral 101 Summer Fun at €45,000 to €65,000 sleeping the legal maximum of twelve, the 2021 Ferretti Shero at €60,000, and the 37 metre Brooklyn at €60,000 to €75,000 with six crew.
Above 35 metres the tier changes: the Tecnomar 116 at €80,000 to €90,000, the Maiora 128 Pareaki II at €98,000 to €115,000, Ottawa and the CRN Ariela at €100,000 to €120,000 with crews of seven and eight. Our flagship, La Pellegrina 1, a 50 metre Couach with nine crew, charters at €180,000 to €235,000. What that upper tier actually buys is its own article.
On top of the base sit the APA, typically 30 to 40 percent on a motor yacht because fuel is the dominant line, Greek VAT at the yacht's certified rate, in practice 6.5 or 12 percent for most motor yachts with a statutory cap of 13, and a discretionary crew gratuity. Live rate bands for the whole fleet sit on our motor yacht charter page.
How fast is fast, and what does the speed actually buy?
Most of our crewed motor yachts cruise between 20 and 25 knots. The Pershing 90 ONE cruises at 33 and tops out at 41. A sailing yacht or catamaran makes roughly 10 knots on passage. That single number rewrites the map: the 65 nautical mile leg from Koufonisia to Santorini is a six and a half hour passage under sail, and under two hours on the Pershing. The difference is a whole afternoon at anchor, every travel day, all week.
Speed also buys weather freedom. When the Meltemi fills in after lunch, a 22 knot motor yacht makes the sheltered anchorage before the sea builds; a sailing boat reads the forecast and plans around it. In August, that flexibility is often the difference between the itinerary you dreamed of and the itinerary the wind allows.
How many islands fit in one motor yacht week?
Here is a route we actually run on ONE, not a brochure sketch: Athens to Ornos on Mykonos, then Apollonas on Naxos, Pori beach on Koufonisia, an evening below the caldera cliffs of Santorini, the moonscape of Sarakiniko on Milos, Vathy on Sifnos, and home to Athens. Six islands, 320 nautical miles, seven days. At her cruise speed the entire week holds under ten hours of total passage time. The same 320 miles under sail is more than thirty hours under way. That is the whole argument in two numbers.
What a motor yacht week feels like aboard
The rhythm is different from sail. Mornings start at anchor, not on passage. The crossing happens while lunch is being laid, and by the time coffee is served the next island is already off the bow. Crews run from two on the 60 footers to nine on the flagship, with a genuine chef from about 85 feet up. We have written the hour by hour of a crewed week separately, and the weekly motor yacht guide walks the full all-in arithmetic.
How many guests can a motor yacht take in Greece?
Greek commercial charter rules cap any charter yacht at twelve guests, however long the boat. In our motor book, the 60 to 75 footers sleep six to eight, the 90 to 100 footers eight to twelve, and five of the fleet, Summer Fun, Ariela, Ottawa, Pareaki II and La Pellegrina 1, carry the full twelve. Beyond twelve there is a lawful multi yacht answer we have detailed separately.
When a motor yacht is the wrong boat
The same honesty that recommends the engines for island collectors argues against them for other briefs. If the week is about the rhythm of the sea rather than the count of harbours, sail will make you happier, and if the group is six to twelve with children, the crewed catamaran usually wins on space and stability per euro. Fuel is also real money: the faster you run a planing hull, the faster the APA burns, which is why our own N.ICE, a brand new 2024 motor yacht, deliberately cruises at 8 knots for guests who want engines without the fuel bill. The four way comparison is here when you want it.
Where to take this next
If the fast week has started to form while you read, the working pages are the motor yacht fleet with live rate bands and the crewed charter guide. Or simply write to me with the month, the group and the islands you refuse to miss, and I will answer with three boats, honestly ranked, usually within a few hours.
