Destination comparison
Greek Yacht Charter vs Italy: Amalfi, Sardinia, and the Choice
Greece's island archipelagos against Italy's twin yachting capitals, compared honestly.
Last updated September 2026
Italian yacht chartering is really two products.
Amalfi, with Capri, Positano and Ischia, is the short, celebrated coast.
Sardinia, with the Costa Smeralda and the Maddalena archipelago, is the longer cruising ground with the grander harbour scene.
Both are spectacular, both are expensive, both are crowded in July and August.
Greece offers three different grounds from one country and a different economy.
This house works in Greek waters only, so the Italian half of this page is what we tell a client who asks; the Greek half is sourced.
Head-to-head
Greece vs Italy (Amalfi & Sardinia)
Data: George Yachts client analysis 2025-2026. "Edge" reflects typical UHNW priority, not absolute superiority.
Amalfi: concentrated, celebrated, short
The Amalfi week is the most recognisable image in Mediterranean chartering: the yacht off Positano, lunch by tender, a swim off Capri.
The Italian provenance in food, wine and design is genuinely world class and the coast earns its photographs.
It is also short.
The classic run from Capri to Ischia and along the Amalfi coast is a few days of cruising, and the rest of the week goes to the Aeolians or back to Naples.
For the charterer who wants to be in the icon, that concentration is the point.
For the one who wants a week that keeps changing, it is the limit.
Sardinia and the Costa Smeralda
Sardinia is Italy's other yachting capital and the grander of the two: Porto Cervo's harbour, the Maddalena archipelago to the north, and the largest gathering of big yachts on the Italian coast in August.
The cruising covers more water than Amalfi and the beaches are better.
The premium is the most pronounced on the Italian coast, and the berth is the constraint.
A Greek equivalent to Porto Cervo does not exist and this house does not pretend one does; the Greek pattern is dispersed across three grounds rather than concentrated in one harbour.
Tax: the line to read twice
Italian charter VAT is charged at the standard rate, with reductions tied to time the yacht spends outside EU waters, and Italian quotes are often presented net of tax.
The charterer who does not ask whether a figure is gross or net can meet a large surprise at the second invoice.
We do not advise on Italian tax and do not publish a rate for it.
The Greek regime is simpler because the rate belongs to the yacht: 5.2, 6.5, 7.8 or 12 per cent by her certification, 13 per cent the statutory ceiling, stated in the contract before you sign, with no structuring required.
Short charters under 48 hours and bareboat hires carry 24 per cent, which is one reason this house writes weeks.
Restaurants ashore, and the chef aboard
Italy's tables are its strongest argument.
A week built around dinners ashore in Capri or on the Costa Smeralda fills seven evenings without effort, and we will not talk that down.
Greece answers with the chef aboard, provisioning island by island from the morning market, and with the aft deck at anchor as the dining room.
Athens, Mykonos and Santorini have serious restaurants for the nights you want them.
Decide which dinner you are chartering for.
The berth problem, and why Greece does not have it
The Italian summer is rationed by berths.
Capri and Porto Cervo fill their harbours long in advance and the charterer who books a few months out anchors off and tenders in, which is fine, but it is not the brochure.
Greek harbours are taken at anchor by habit rather than by necessity.
Hydra's port is small and yachts lie off it; Mykonos anchors at Ornos, Psarou or Kalafati and tenders to town; Santorini takes the mooring buoys at Ammoudi below Oia, where the caldera is 80 to 180 metres deep and no anchor holds.
None of it needs a berth booked the year before.
On the Greek Charter Index the lead time that matters is the yacht's, six to twelve months for July and August, not the harbour's.
Decision matrix
Who chooses which
Choose Greece
if you are…
- Charterers who want three grounds from one country rather than one concentrated coast
- Anyone who wants the tax line settled before signing
- Charterers booking three to six months out who do not want to be rationed by a berth
- Families who want sand-bottomed bays to swim from
- Repeat charterers who have done Amalfi and want a different sea
- Groups who eat aboard most nights
Choose Italy (Amalfi & Sardinia)
if you are…
- First-charter guests who want the Amalfi photographs
- Charterers who build the week around restaurants ashore
- Anyone for whom Porto Cervo in August is the point
- Charterers who can book the berths a year ahead
- Guests who want Italian wine, design and provenance above all
The honest verdict
Amalfi and Sardinia are world-class charter coasts, and the Italian week is an event: the photographs, the tables, the harbour.
Greece is the week that keeps changing, on anchorages that do not need booking and a tax line that is settled before you sign, with the yacht's weekly rate published by band.
Italy is the trip you take for the pictures.
Greece is the one you take for the sea.
This house writes only the second, and says so.
Frequently asked
Greece vs Italy (Amalfi & Sardinia): common questions
Is Italian VAT higher than Greek VAT on a charter?
Italian charter VAT is charged at the standard rate with reductions tied to time outside EU waters, and quotes are often net of it; we do not advise on it or publish a figure. Greek VAT on a weekly crewed charter is invoiced at the yacht's certified rate, 5.2, 6.5, 7.8 or 12 per cent, with 13 per cent the ceiling, and the rate is stated in the contract before you sign.
Can I charter from Greece to Italy?
Not as one week through this house. Our charters begin and end in Greek waters. Charterers who want both do two separate weeks, and the Italian one is not ours to arrange.
Amalfi or Sardinia?
Amalfi for the shorter, more famous coast and the dinners ashore. Sardinia for more water, better beaches and the Maddalena. Neither is ours to book; both are honest answers to the question.
Do Greek harbours have the Capri berth problem?
No. Greek yachts take the famous harbours at anchor or on buoys and tender in: Hydra, Mykonos at Ornos or Kalafati, Santorini on the Ammoudi buoys. The lead time that matters in Greece is the yacht's, six to twelve months for a July or August week on the Index.
Which has the better food aboard?
Both galleys are excellent. The structural difference is that a Greek chef provisions island by island as the yacht moves, so the week's food is a tour of where you have been.
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