Yacht charter from Phuket: catamarans, motor yachts and superyachts, with dated prices

Four kinds of boat, and what each one is for

A sailing catamaran is the Phuket day boat: two hulls, a wide deck, a shallow draught that anchors off any beach, and a crew that sails when the wind allows and motors when it does not. Crewed, with lunch cooked on board, snorkel gear, kayaks and paddleboards, it is €800–1,000 (≈ $929–1,161) for up to eight guests from nine to half past five; a bare-boned Lagoon 44 with captain and crew but lunch and transfers extra is 27,000–33,000 THB (≈ $819–1,000). It is the right boat for Phang Nga Bay, Koh Yao and the Racha–Coral run, and for anyone who wants the day to be about the water rather than the speed.

A power catamaran keeps the deck and adds engines — 45,000 THB (≈ $1,364) for a 50-footer — and reaches Phi Phi in an hour and a half instead of four. A motor yacht is the other half of the market: 95,000 THB (≈ $2,880) for a 51 ft day boat, and 170,000 THB (≈ $5,154) in the low season or 200,000–230,000 THB (≈ $6,063–6,973) from November to April for a 60 ft Princess that carries fourteen for the day, with limousine transfers, crew, three hours of engine fuel, snorkel gear, soft drinks and the park fees inside the rate and food and alcohol from a menu on top. A 50,000 THB surcharge applies for the Similans. The motor yacht is the boat for Phi Phi in a day, for a group that wants air-conditioned cabins and a swim platform, and for a second family that will not tolerate a slow boat.

A superyacht — 24 metres and up — is chartered by the week, not the day: $60,000–392,000 for the eleven superyachts listed for Phuket in the current fleet, $14,793–125,000 for crewed motor yachts below that line, with a median weekly base rate of $62,000 across the sixty yachts in the listing. The base rate excludes the Advance Provisioning Allowance of 25–35 % — fuel, provisions, park entry and excursions, settled at the end — and Thai VAT at 7 %. A superyacht week is the Similans, the Surin Islands and Phang Nga Bay in one itinerary, and it is booked five to seven months ahead for the peak weeks.

Routes: five bays, one calendar

Phang Nga Bay is the route that runs all year. The bay is enclosed by the mainland and Phuket's east coast, the limestone islands break the swell, and the hongs at Panak and Hong are entered by canoe from the mothership; the Ao Phang Nga park fee of 300 THB per adult is collected before landing. From Ao Po it is twenty minutes to the first karst; from Chalong it is two hours each way and the day is shorter than it looks. Koh Yao Noi and Yai are the same water without the fee and without the crowd — the sunset route, short and calm.

Racha Yai, Racha Noi and Coral Island are the clearest water within an hour of Phuket and carry no park fee; they are the natural first day for a catamaran from Chalong and the only route where the west-coast swell matters in the monsoon. Phi Phi is forty-five to sixty minutes by motor yacht from Chalong or Royal Phuket Marina and a four-hour sail by catamaran, with the Phi Phi park fee of 400 THB per adult and Maya Bay closed from 1 August to 30 September; by catamaran it is an overnight at Phi Phi Don rather than a day. The Similans are a different trip altogether — open 15 October to 15 May, 500 THB per adult, three hours by motor yacht from Yacht Haven or a night's passage by sail, and the classic two-to-four-night charter.

When the sea is calm, from the marine normals

The chart of rough-sea days is built from the marine normals used across this site — the median number of rough-sea days per calendar month on the west coast, from Open-Meteo (ERA5), 2015–2026 with marine data from 2022-01. January, February, March, April, October, November and December are the calm months — zero to two rough days — and every route on this page runs. May and June bring three to eight rough days: the Phi Phi crossing is uncomfortable on some mornings and the Harbour Department occasionally holds boats in port. July, August and September are rough — nine or more rough days — when a yacht day means Phang Nga Bay or Koh Yao and the Similans are closed.

Two practical consequences. In the calm months the boat is booked before the villa is, because the few large motor yachts sell out for Christmas and Chinese New Year five to seven months ahead; in the green season the same boats are $910 a day cheaper and the sensible plan puts the yacht day on the east coast and keeps a second date free. A rough-sea cancellation by the Harbour Department is refunded or moved; a cancellation by the guest inside the operator's notice period is not.

Marinas and piers: where the boat is

Phuket's yachts are on the east side of the island, where the water is sheltered. Ao Po Grand Marina in the north-east is where most sailing catamarans and the larger motor yachts are berthed, and the closest marina to Phang Nga Bay and Koh Yao; Royal Phuket Marina and Boat Lagoon on the Phuket Town side are the day-yacht marinas for Phang Nga and Phi Phi, with Boat Lagoon's channel tide-dependent; Yacht Haven at the northern tip, past the airport, is the superyacht marina and the departure point for the Similans and the northern Andaman. Chalong Pier in the south is where the speedboats and the day catamarans for Racha, Coral and Phi Phi leave from — a pier, not a marina, and the busiest of them all at eight in the morning.

For a villa week the marina decides the transfer: Cape Yamu and Bang Tao are twenty minutes from Ao Po, Kamala and Surin are forty, Rawai and Nai Harn are fifteen from Chalong and an hour from Ao Po. The plan the concierge team writes puts the boat at the marina nearest the house, or brings the boat to a beach pickup where the draught allows — a catamaran can anchor off Bang Tao or Surin, a motor yacht generally cannot.

What is in the rate, and what is not

A day-charter rate in Phuket covers the boat, the captain and crew, fuel for the standard itinerary, drinking water, soft drinks, ice, snorkel gear and insurance; a crewed catamaran with a cook includes lunch, a bare charter does not. Outside the rate, everywhere: the national-park fee in cash per person, alcohol (or corkage), the hotel-to-marina transfer unless the listing says limousine, and overtime beyond the charter hours at an hourly rate. On a motor yacht the fuel allowance is the line to read — three hours of engine time is a Phang Nga day, not a Phi Phi day, and the difference is billed at the end. On a weekly charter everything variable — fuel, food, drink, park entry, excursions — sits in the APA, which is why the base rate is only two-thirds of the bill.

The reference figures on this page are the published rates of operators, brokers and marketplaces checked on Sep 5, 2026, converted once at the ECB rate of 2026-09-03 (32.985 THB, 0.86096 EUR per dollar). They are not quotes and they are not the index: the index measures join-in tours per adult on the tours page, and the private per-boat versions of those trips are on the private-tours page. A request through the form below returns the boats that are actually available for your dates, with the rate for that week and the transfer from your villa.