Ten Lesser-Known Sailing Destinations
Belize to Langkawi, the Whitsundays to Zadar: ten grounds that get a fraction of the traffic they deserve.
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Ten Lesser-Known Sailing Destinations
Most charter weeks are booked in a handful of places: Greece, Croatia, the British Virgin Islands, the Balearics. There are good reasons for that. The bases are established, the flights are cheap, and the sailing is a known quantity. But a fair number of the crews we speak to have already done two or three of those weeks, and they arrive at the obvious next question, which is where else is actually worth the journey.
What follows is ten cruising grounds that get a fraction of the charter traffic they deserve, grouped by the water they sit on rather than ranked against each other. Some are long haul and need a fortnight to make sense. Others are a short hop from ground you already know and simply sit one bay along from the crowd. Several are places where we would push a crew towards adding a skipper, not because the sailing is hard but because local knowledge saves you days.
We have advised on charters since 2011 and we are tied to no operator, so there is nothing on this list we are trying to fill. Where a destination has a catch, whether that is season, distance or cost, it is written down rather than left out.
Quick Navigation
- 1 Belize Four Hundred Cays Behind A Barrier Reef
- 2 Thailand And Malaysia The Andaman Sea From Phuket To Langkawi
- 3 Seychelles And The Maldives Two Very Different Indian Ocean Weeks
- 4 The Whitsundays And New Caledonia Coral Sea Sailing Inside The Reef
- 5 Tahiti And French Polynesia Steady Trades And Line Of Sight Navigation
- 6 Zadar And The French Riviera Two Ways To Sail Europe Off The Obvious Track
1.Belize
Four Hundred Cays Behind A Barrier Reef
Belize sits on the Mesoamerican reef, the largest barrier reef system in the world after Australia's. That single piece of geography is what justifies the flights. The reef runs most of the length of the coast, and behind it sit more than four hundred islands and cays in water that stays flat because the swell has already broken miles offshore.
The effect is a cruising ground that looks like open ocean and sails like a lagoon. You are rarely far from somewhere worth getting in the water, and the beaches are genuinely quiet rather than quiet by Caribbean standards. The Blue Hole out at Lighthouse Reef is the set piece and takes a committed day to reach. Closer in, the monkeys at Monkey River Town and the restaurant at Hatchet Caye are the sort of stops that make a week feel like it went somewhere.
The catch is fleet size. Belize has far fewer boats than the eastern Caribbean, which matters more than it sounds: choice narrows quickly in the winter months and the good catamarans are committed early. Price the week properly rather than assuming standard Caribbean rates carry across.
2.Thailand And Malaysia
The Andaman Sea From Phuket To Langkawi
Phuket and Langkawi sit at either end of the same stretch of water. The Andaman Sea coast runs from western Thailand down into northwest Malaysia, and the limestone karsts that made the Thai islands famous do not stop at the border. Sailed as one ground rather than as two countries, it is one of the more underrated fortnights available anywhere.
Thailand is the busier half and the easier one to arrange. Phuket carries the charter base, the flights and the beach bars, and the islands out towards Phang Nga Bay deliver the scenery people book the trip for. Our Phuket sailing itinerary walks a full week of it anchorage by anchorage.
Malaysia is the quieter half. Langkawi, off the northwest coast, has the serious marinas and 104 islands in the archipelago around it, along with high cliffs, wildlife and a racing calendar that draws a proper fleet through the year. There is a second and very different option in Sabah and Sarawak on the South China Sea side, but that is a separate trip and one that needs local advice rather than a stock itinerary.
3.Seychelles And The Maldives
Two Very Different Indian Ocean Weeks
Both sit in the Indian Ocean and both get overlooked as sailing grounds for the same reason: they are filed under honeymoon rather than charter. They reward a boat more than almost anywhere else on this list, because the thing that limits a land holiday there, being stuck on one island, is exactly what a yacht removes.
Seychelles is 115 islands, granite rather than coral, and scarcely populated. You get the white sand and the clear water, but you also get thick forest, hills worth walking and wildlife you will not find on an atoll. Distances between the inner islands are short enough that a week works without rushing. Our Seychelles sailing itinerary lays one out.
The Maldives is the opposite geography: 26 atolls and thousands of islands, natural and man made, so low lying that the airport occupies one of its own. The sailing is atoll to atoll and the draw is what is under the boat rather than on it. Both are worth asking hard questions about before you compare quotes, because what operators fold into the headline rate varies more here than in the Mediterranean.
4.The Whitsundays And New Caledonia
Coral Sea Sailing Inside The Reef
Two Coral Sea grounds, both sailing inside a reef, both a long way from Europe and both worth the flights if you can give them the time.
The Whitsundays are 74 islands off the Queensland coast, sitting behind the Great Barrier Reef, which does the work of flattening the water long before it reaches you. They have been an Australian favourite for decades and are only now drawing crews from further afield. Snorkelling and swimming happen straight off the transom rather than as an excursion. The season runs on the southern hemisphere calendar, which makes this the answer when the Mediterranean is shut.
New Caledonia does much the same thing on a larger scale. It holds the world's biggest island lagoon, so you are sailing protected water almost throughout, with average winds of 15 to 18 knots through winter and 18 to 22 in summer. What sets it apart is ashore: Kanak culture alongside a French waterfront of bars, cafes and restaurants that would not look out of place on the Riviera. Very few charter crews get there, which is rather the point.
5.Tahiti And French Polynesia
Steady Trades And Line Of Sight Navigation
Tahiti, Bora-Bora and Mo'orea are three of the 118 islands that make up this corner of the South Pacific, and the sailing is far easier than the reputation for remoteness suggests. The easterly trades blow 15 to 20 knots more or less year round, the water inside the reef passes stays calm, and you navigate by looking at the island ahead of you rather than by plotting a course to it.
That combination of steady wind, open passages and line of sight navigation is the same one that makes the British Virgin Islands so forgiving, except here it comes with the South Pacific attached. Over 500 species of fish live on the reefs, along with dolphins, sharks and turtles, so for most crews the snorkelling and diving are the reason for the trip rather than a bonus on top of it.
The honest catch is distance and cost. Getting there is a long way and a real expense, which means the time on the water has to justify it. Most crews who make the journey take a fortnight rather than seven days, and that is the right call.
6.Zadar And The French Riviera
Two Ways To Sail Europe Off The Obvious Track
Not everything worth sailing needs a long haul flight. Two Mediterranean grounds sit in plain sight and still get passed over, for opposite reasons.
Zadar is the quiet one. Croatian charter traffic concentrates on Split, Dubrovnik and Hvar, which leaves the water to the north noticeably emptier: fewer boats in the anchorages, marinas that are not full by four in the afternoon, and a walled Old Town of Roman ruins, medieval churches and cafes that has not been rearranged around cruise ships. The islands start immediately offshore. Our Zadar sailing itinerary shows how a week joins them up.
The French Riviera is the loud one, and it is overlooked as a sailing ground precisely because everybody pictures it as somewhere you drive to. From the water it reads completely differently: Cannes, Saint-Tropez and Monaco are short hops apart, backed by five star marinas and a summer calendar of film festivals and grand prix. It is the most expensive week on this list and the least likely to be quiet, and it is still one of the best coastlines in Europe to see from a boat.
Somewhere on this list appealing? Tell us who is sailing, roughly when, and how much of the sailing you want to do yourself, and we will come back with the honest all in cost.
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Christopher Lait
Chris founded Drake Academy, a sailing company that provides leadership training to businesses. Now the CEO of SailChecker.com you will find him handling many of your enquiries as he attempts to drive SailChecker.com forward as the company of choice for yacht charter and sailing by focusing on quality advice and great customer service.
