Greece is really several different charters wearing one name, and choosing between them matters more than choosing Greece. The Ionian, on the west coast, is the gentle one: seven main islands, short hops, reliably light afternoon winds, and the usual recommendation for a crew that is still building confidence.

The Cyclades are the postcard and they are a harder sail. Mykonos, Paros, Santorini and the islands around them are exposed, and the meltemi that blows through the summer is a genuine wind rather than a breeze. The photographs everyone has seen come from here, and so does the reason experienced crews come back.

Beyond those two there is a lot of Greece worth the detour. Zakynthos has Navagio, the shipwreck beach, and a marine park around it. Corfu carries Corfu Town with its old and new fortresses and Angelokastro above the coast. Kefalonia has the Melissani cave and the De Bosset bridge. Folegandros is the one to pick if the crew would rather walk than shop. Our round up of Greek sailing itineraries sets the regions against each other week by week.

A few specifics worth planning around. Mykonos is worth the crowds for the old port and the whitewashed lanes behind it, though it is not a restful overnight in August. Paros gives you white sand and ancient monuments in the same walk. Santorini is the one everybody pictures, blue roofs above a flooded caldera, and it is a difficult anchorage rather than an easy one. Folegandros stays deliberately undeveloped. The practical point is that a Cyclades week is a chain of committed passages between exposed islands, so build the route around the wind rather than the itinerary you drew at home.

The Balearics sit off Spain's east coast and each island genuinely is different, which is not always true of an archipelago. Mallorca has the mountains and the serious anchorages. Ibiza carries more history than its reputation suggests alongside the part of its reputation that is entirely accurate. Menorca is the quiet one. Formentera is the day sail everyone remembers.

The practical appeal is the flights. The Balearics are among the cheapest bases in Europe to reach from the UK, and the hop between islands is short enough that a week does not feel rushed. It suits a crew that wants a good deal of swimming and a reasonable amount of sailing.

Malta is a different proposition: a small, dense, heavily fortified island group off the coast of Sicily, with harbours that are historic in their own right rather than a backdrop. It is a short cruising ground, so it works best either as a relaxed week or as one end of a longer passage. Malta asks for a sailing certificate and, separately, for someone in the crew to hold a VHF licence.

The two work at different tempos, which is worth knowing before booking. A Balearics week is island hopping with real distance between the stops and a lot of swimming in between, and it is one of the few Mediterranean grounds where you can reasonably change plan mid week because the flights and the bases are so dense. Malta is compact enough to see properly in a few days, so the honest way to use it is either as an unhurried week with time ashore in Valletta and Gozo, or as one end of a longer passage that takes in the Sicilian coast opposite. Gozo, the smaller sister island, is worth a night on its own rather than a day trip from the main harbour, and the crossing to it is short enough to fit around lunch.

There is no single European standard, and the distinction that matters is between what the law requires and what your operator will demand. They are not the same thing, and the operator's rule is the one that decides whether you take the boat. Several well known charter companies publish requirement lists that are narrower and more specific than the statute they claim to be quoting.

Where we have checked the primary law, this is what it says. France requires no certificate of competence at all to charter under sail, which surprises most people. Croatia is the strictest of the group and the only one here that requires a VHF Radio Operator's Licence for the skipper in law, alongside a sailing certificate. Greece does require a certificate, but the law names no particular one: it accepts a certificate issued or recognised by a foreign state authority, or by a sailing club or sailing school abroad. Italy triggers on the sailing rather than the contract, required beyond six nautical miles or with an engine over 30 kW, which a charter yacht will normally exceed, and Italian law likewise names no specific certificate.

Spain, including the Balearics, is the one worth reading carefully. A licence is explicitly required, and the accepted certificates are listed in Annex IX of Royal Decree 875/2014: from the UK that is RYA Coastal Skipper, Yachtmaster Offshore, Yachtmaster Ocean, and the ICC up to 24 metres. RYA Day Skipper does not appear anywhere in that Royal Decree. Some operators nonetheless advertise Day Skipper as sufficient for Spain. If Spain is your destination and Day Skipper is what you hold, get your operator to confirm in writing that they will accept it.

For Malta, Portugal and Sweden we are repeating what operators require rather than statute we have read ourselves: broadly a recognised certificate, with Malta also wanting a VHF licence held by someone aboard, Portugal accepting EU issued licences and expecting an ICC in practice, and Sweden asking only above roughly 12 metres. Treat those as operator practice and confirm them for your specific booking.

If you hold nothing yet, the ICC is usually the shortest route in, because it is recognised across most of this list rather than in one country, and in the UK it is issued through the RYA with a practical assessment rather than a long course if you already sail. The VHF licence is a separate short exam and it is the one people forget until Croatia asks for it at the desk. Bases check original documents at handover, not photographs, and a certificate still in the post is the same as no certificate.

If your paperwork does not match the country you had in mind, that is not the end of the week. Adding a skipper puts a professional aboard the same yacht, and in Greece the statute recognises that route explicitly. Nothing about the boat or the itinerary has to change, and many crews use the first couple of days to get comfortable before taking it on themselves. Tell us who is sailing, what tickets you hold and roughly when, and we will tell you which of these countries will hand you the keys.