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Croatia sailing guides: plan your week

Our guides answer what a first-time crew decides before a charter week in Croatia: when to go, how to sail, which boat and base, licences, cost, booking, the weather, safety at sea and where to stay.

15guides to read now
1more planned
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Written by Domagoj Franc, editor. Each guide names who wrote it, and guides on anchoring, weather and safety also name the skipper reviewer who checked them. People

Each guide shows the date it was last updated, and every fact that can change carries its source and check date. How we check

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Sailing yacht under full main and genoa on deep blue water, bare Kornati hills behindPhoto: “Voilier à Kornati” by julien, CC BY 2.0, resized
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Start here: your first charter week

Six decisions in the order first-time crews make them, from about six months out, then the week itself. Each step links the guide that answers it.

  1. Around half a year before
    1

    Pick your month

    Wind, crowds and prices all change through the season.

    Best time to sail in Croatia, month by monthWhich month suits your crew: wind, crowds, sea temperature and prices
  2. Five to six months before
    2

    Choose how you sail, and which boat

    Bareboat, a hired skipper or a flotilla, and a catamaran or a monohull.

    Bareboat, skipper or flotilla: what experience you needWho each way of sailing suits, and the experience a bareboat needs
    Hiring a skipper in Croatia: cost, what they do, where they sleep, tippingWhat a hired skipper does, where they sleep and how tipping works
    Catamaran or monohull for a Croatia weekSpace, comfort, cost and marina fees compared
    Split, Trogir, Šibenik, Zadar or Dubrovnik: which charter base?Which base suits your flights, your crew and your route
  3. Before you pay a deposit
    3

    Check your licences

    What the law asks of the skipper, and what your charter company asks.

    Licences for sailing in Croatia: ICC, VHF, and what US, UK and Australian certificates coverWhat the law asks of a skipper, and what charter companies ask
  4. 4 to 5 months before
    4

    Set a budget and book

    The boat is only part of the bill. Marinas, buoys, fuel and food come on top.

    What a week's sailing in Croatia really costs in 2026The boat, marinas, buoys, fuel, food and the deposit, added up
    Booking a charter in Croatia: broker or direct, the quote, deposits and check-inHow to compare quotes, and what to check before you pay
  5. 1 to 2 months before
    5

    Decide where to sleep

    A marina, a town quay, a buoy or your own anchor, and the rules for each.

    Where to stay the nightMarinas, town quays, buoys and anchorages
    Booking a berth in Croatia in 2026: how far ahead, marinas, buoys and when to arriveHow far ahead to book, which places take bookings, and when the rest fill up
    Anchoring in Croatia: the rules, the fees and who can charge youWhere you may anchor, and who may charge you for itReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipper
    Med mooring in Croatia: lazy lines, lines ashore and buoys, step by stepHow to moor stern-to on a town quay or in a marina, pick up a buoy and tie ashoreReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipper
    Restaurant moorings: free with dinner, deposits and feesWhich restaurant berths are free with dinner, and what to ask before you tie upReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipper
  6. 2 to 4 weeks before
    6

    Plan the route

    Distances, a place for each night, and a Plan B for the wind.

    Seven days from SplitŠolta, Vis, Hvar and Brač, planned day by day
    Croatia sailing routesCompare seven-day weeks
  7. The week before
    7

    Watch the forecast

    Read the marine forecast every day, and the evening before each crossing.

    DHMZ marine forecast (Official source, )
    Bora, jugo and maestral: sailing weather in CroatiaHow the main winds behave, and which forecast to read each morningReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipper
    Safety at sea in Croatia: emergency calls, storms and fast ferriesWho to call, what to say on the radio, and where the fast ferries runReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipper
  8. Saturday
    8

    Board the boat

    Check-in, the crew list and your first night on board.

    How yacht charter in Croatia worksBoarding, check-in, the deposit and check-out
    Sunsail gives 6 pm as its usual boarding time at Marina Agana, its base near Trogir, and sells a 3 pm start as an extra (From the operator, )

The times are our planning advice for a July or August week. For June or September you can often start later.

(From the operator) (Official source) (Seen by us) (Seen by a sailor) (Measured by us) (Sources disagree) (Third-party source) How we check

Every guide

Grouped by section. A guide we plan to write is listed as planned, with no link until it is written and checked.

Sailing in Croatia

The season, licences, weather and the rules at sea.

5 guides now, 1 plannedWhere to start
Best time to sail in Croatia, month by monthWhich month suits your crew: wind, crowds, sea temperature and pricesPublished
Croatia vs Greece for a sailing holidayWinds, island hops, charter and mooring costs, taxes, licences and seasonReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipperPublished
Licences for sailing in Croatia: ICC, VHF, and what US, UK and Australian certificates coverWhat the law asks of a skipper, and what charter companies askPublished
Bora, jugo and maestral: sailing weather in CroatiaHow the main winds behave, and which forecast to read each morningReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipperPublished
Safety at sea in Croatia: emergency calls, storms and fast ferriesWho to call, what to say on the radio, and where the fast ferries runReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipperPublished

Planned

National and nature parks by boat: tickets, rules and mooringWhat each park charges a boat, and where you may moorPlanned

Charter planning

How you sail, which boat, what a week costs and how the charter week runs.

6 guides nowHow charter works
Bareboat, skipper or flotilla: what experience you needWho each way of sailing suits, and the experience a bareboat needsPublished
Catamaran or monohull for a Croatia weekSpace, comfort, cost and marina fees comparedUpdated
What a week's sailing in Croatia really costs in 2026The boat, marinas, buoys, fuel, food and the deposit, added upUpdated
Split, Trogir, Šibenik, Zadar or Dubrovnik: which charter base?Which base suits your flights, your crew and your routePublished
Booking a charter in Croatia: broker or direct, the quote, deposits and check-inHow to compare quotes, and what to check before you payUpdated
Hiring a skipper in Croatia: cost, what they do, where they sleep, tippingWhat a hired skipper does, where they sleep and how tipping worksPublished

Moorings

Marinas, town quays, buoys and anchoring, and the rules for each.

4 guides nowWhere to stay the night
Anchoring in Croatia: the rules, the fees and who can charge youWhere you may anchor, and who may charge you for itReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipperPublished
Med mooring in Croatia: lazy lines, lines ashore and buoys, step by stepHow to moor stern-to on a town quay or in a marina, pick up a buoy and tie ashoreReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipperPublished
Booking a berth in Croatia in 2026: how far ahead, marinas, buoys and when to arriveHow far ahead to book, which places take bookings, and when the rest fill upUpdated
Restaurant moorings: free with dinner, deposits and feesWhich restaurant berths are free with dinner, and what to ask before you tie upReviewed by Ivor Benko, skipperUpdated

Dated reports, such as what changed for sailors since 2025 and the 2025 port statistics, are in our Journal.

Then pick your places and route

The guides help you decide. These pages show where to go and where to spend each night.

Sources for this page

2 facts from 2 sources, last checked .

Sunsail's Croatia page (Split: boarding time)
(From the operator, )
DHMZ marine forecast for the Adriatic (English) (The marine forecast)
(Official source, )

Photos on this page

  • Sailing yacht under full main and genoa on deep blue water, bare Kornati hills behindTelašćica Bay, heading for the Kornati islands. Photo: “Voilier à Kornati” by julien, CC BY 2.0, resized
  • Sailing yachts anchored off the mouth of Stiniva cove, aerial with open sea and horizonStiniva Bay, south coast of Vis. Photo: “Aerial view of the Adriatic Sea at Stiniva Bay on Vis island in Croatia” by dronepicr, CC BY 2.0, resized
  • The Pakleni islands and ACI Marina Palmižana from the hills above Hvar town, yachts at anchor, Vis on the horizonPakleni islands, off Hvar town. Photo: “Pakleni otoci - panoramio (4)” by Dejan Sekuloski, CC BY 3.0, resized
  • Yachts on mooring buoys in Stončica bay, with the beach and pine slope, seen from the hillsideStončica, east coast of Vis. Photo: “Stoncica beach bay on Vis island, Croatia” by dronepicr, CC BY 2.0, resized