A gulet charter in Turkey costs roughly €1,700 to €2,000 per person for the week once everything is in, for a group of 8 to 12 on a standard private boat. The same week on a Croatian gulet lands nearer €2,800 to €3,300 per person. Those are our own worked examples built from published market rates, and the gap comes mostly from VAT, the provisioning allowance and the way each country quotes food.
Both countries sell the same idea. A wide wooden-style motor-sailer, a captain, a chef and deckhands, cabins with their own bathrooms, and a week of anchoring in bays rather than marinas. The price structure underneath is different, and that is where people get caught.
What a gulet is, and how Turkish and Croatian ones differ
A gulet is a broad-beamed, two-masted wooden or wood-style cruiser with a flat stern deck and a large shaded dining area. They come from Turkey, where yards around Bodrum, Marmaris and Fethiye (and the village of Bozburun) still build them. Sails are mostly for show. The engine does the work.
On the Turkish coast the gulet is the default charter boat for groups. It is a fully crewed, full-board holiday, usually 20 to 35 metres, with four to eight cabins. Our Turkey sailing guide covers the coast itself.
In Croatia the same boats are sold as "gulets" or "motor-sailers", and listing sites such as yacht-rent file them as one category. 12 Knots lists 68 gulets in Croatia, 46 of them based in Split and 15 around Dubrovnik. The fleet is smaller, newer on average and priced higher. Our Croatia sailing guide covers the water.
How much does a gulet charter cost per week in Turkey and Croatia?
For a whole private boat, Turkey runs from about €9,000 to €17,500 a week for a standard gulet, while Croatia starts around €15,000 and reaches €26,000 or more in peak weeks. Luxury is where the gap narrows, because the best boats in both countries cost what superyachts cost.
These are market figures from published broker listings, not quotes. Rates move with the week, so treat them as bands.
| Class | Turkey (per week) | Croatia (per week) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard, 4 to 6 cabins | €8,750 to €17,500 (May and October at the bottom, July and August at the top) | About €15,000 to €26,000 |
| Deluxe, newer or larger | About €18,000 to €30,000 | About €26,000 to €46,000 |
| Luxury | €30,000 to €56,000 for 28 to 37 m boats | About €60,000 to €100,000 for 40 m and up (few boats) |
The Turkish standard band comes from Barbaros Yachting: €8,750 to €10,500 in May and October for a six-cabin boat, €11,200 to €14,000 in June, €14,000 to €17,500 or more in July and August. Luxury 28 to 37 metre boats are quoted at €30,000 to €50,000, and six-cabin versions at €42,000 to €56,000. The deluxe band is drawn from yacht-rent listings: a 2007 Fethiye-based gulet at €18,900 to €29,750 and a 2021 Bodrum boat at €20,160 to €28,560.
For Croatia, BoatBookings lists a 25 metre, five-cabin gulet at €15,045 to €19,030 a week, 30 to 32 metre boats at €19,000 to €25,000, and a 41 metre, eleven-cabin boat at €38,053 to €45,576. A 49 metre custom gulet is €85,000 to €100,000. Goolets lists 25 to 32 metre boats from €18,500 and a 40 metre boat from €60,000. Across all 68 boats the 12 Knots chart averages roughly €20,000 to €25,000 a week through the year.
What is included in a gulet charter, and what costs extra?
The base rate covers the boat and crew in both countries. Everything after that differs, and it is the main reason a cheap headline price can end up costing more than a dearer one.
| Item | Turkey | Croatia |
|---|---|---|
| Crew (captain, chef, deckhands) | Included | Included |
| Fuel | Usually about 4 hours of motoring a day included; check the hours | Usually up to 4 hours a day included; beyond that comes from the APA |
| Port and mooring fees | Normally included in Turkish waters | Often extra (around €350 to €650 a week per Goolets), though some boats include them |
| Food | Full board priced per person per day: about €60 standard, €80 luxury | Half or full board priced per person, or paid from the APA |
| Drinks | Soft drinks often included; alcohol extra | From the ship's bar or the APA; corkage if you bring your own |
| VAT | Check the quote (see below) | 13% on the charter fee |
| Crew tip | 5% to 10% of the fee | Welcome, not compulsory; 10% is the usual benchmark |
Turkish inclusions are from Barbaros Yachting and Goolets; the Croatian APA of 30% of the charter fee, covering food, drinks, extra fuel, berthing and excursions, is on the Goolets Croatia page. Croatia can also be quoted the other way round. A 30 metre, five-cabin Split gulet is listed at €26,500 to €34,750 with port taxes, tourist taxes and VAT inside the price, and board sold per person at €610 (half) or €680 (full) for the week, domestic drinks included. Same boat class, different structure, so compare the total, never the headline. If you want the mechanics, what an APA is is explained in full, and unspent APA comes back to you at the end of the week.
VAT in Croatia is 13% on the charter fee for charters that start in Croatia, and it has not changed. A May 2026 trade article describes a tougher fiscalisation regime instead: invoices to private customers for yachts starting in Croatia have to be reported electronically to the tax authority. That affects the operator's paperwork more than your bill, but it is a reason to insist on a proper invoice.
VAT in Turkey is the murkiest part. The general rate rose from 18% to 20% on 10 July 2023, but we could not find an official source that says how it applies to a gulet charter sold to a foreign guest. Broker listings disagree. Some quote net of VAT, some include it, and a current 12 Knots page for a Göcek gulet still shows 18%. Ask every operator one question in writing: is the price you quoted inclusive of VAT?
What does a gulet cost per person for 8, 10 or 12 guests?
On our worked examples, 12 guests on a standard Turkish gulet pay about €1,730 each for the week, and 8 guests pay about €2,000. The Croatian equivalents are about €2,800 and €3,260. Per-person cost falls fastest between 8 and 12 because crew costs are fixed.
These examples are illustrative. They use mid-June rates from the bands above and the assumptions listed under the table.
| Guests | Turkey boat and fee | Turkey per person | Croatia boat and fee | Croatia per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 4 cabins, €10,500 | About €2,000 | 4 cabins, €17,000 | About €3,260 |
| 10 | 5 cabins, €12,000 | About €1,870 | 5 cabins, €19,500 | About €2,990 |
| 12 | 6 cabins, €13,000 | About €1,730 | 6 cabins, €22,000 | About €2,800 |
Assumptions: seven nights, one week in June. Turkey includes full board at €60 per person per day, an assumed €15 per person per day for drinks, a 7.5% tip, and €500 for extra fuel and transfers. Turkey excludes VAT. If a 20% VAT is added to the fee, add roughly €220 to €260 per person to these figures. Croatia includes 13% VAT, a 30% APA, €500 for port taxes and a 7.5% tip. The APA is a ceiling rather than a certain spend, because the unused part is refunded.
As a cross-check, the Split boat above, at €26,500 with VAT and port taxes inside plus board at €680 each and a 7.5% tip, works out near €3,500 per person for ten guests. That is a bigger, more finished boat than the €19,500 example, and the range holds.
Two things distort the comparison. Croatian fleets skew towards larger, newer boats with en-suite cabins, so you are partly paying for the boat. And a Turkish deluxe gulet is not cheap either: a five-cabin boat at €19,000 with €80 board lifts the 10-guest figure from about €1,870 to about €2,760.
If you do not need a whole boat, Turkey offers cabin charters, where you buy cabins on a shared gulet. Barbaros Yachting puts the typical price at €850 to €1,200 per person for the week with crew, fuel, meals and port taxes, with economy boats from about €500 and VIP above €4,000. The same page cites a 2026 average of €751. We could not find a comparable published price for shared gulet weeks in Croatia, and the cheap group cruises that turn up there often run on larger ships rather than gulets.
Routes, season and flights from London
In Turkey, the classic is a one-way week from Bodrum to Göcek or Fethiye. For a base-in-one-place week, the Göcek and Fethiye Gulf routes are the most sheltered: Yassıca islands, Cleopatra's Bath at Manastir Bay, and the "twelve islands" day, all within a few hours of each other. The Gulf of Gökova is quieter, with Sedir (Cleopatra) Island, English Harbour, Bencik Bay and Selimiye. Bodrum to Knidos is about three hours' motoring, and the ancient harbour is often too exposed to sleep in, so boats usually overnight in nearby Palamutbuku. Our Turkey guide has a full day-by-day Bodrum to Fethiye week.
In Croatia, Split to Dubrovnik is the headline: Hvar, Korčula and Mljet over a week, with a transfer back at the end or a one-way fee. The Kornati archipelago is the northern alternative, usually from Zadar, Šibenik or Vodice. Our Croatia route planner covers it in detail.
The season runs from May to October in Turkey. Barbaros Yachting marks April, May and October as low season, June and September as mid, July and August as high, with the best value in May, June and September. Croatia follows the same pattern: late June and September are the sweet spot, July and August cost 30% to 50% more, and the season ends in mid-October. Turkish August is properly hot, which is when the shaded deck earns its keep.
Getting there from London is quicker to Croatia. London to Dalaman, the airport for Göcek, is about four hours nonstop, with British Airways from Heathrow and easyJet and Jet2 from Luton, and then roughly 20 minutes by road. Bodrum is a similar distance. Split and Dubrovnik are shorter, around two and a half to three hours by general guides, but check the actual schedule for your dates, because nonstop services shift each season.
Gulet or catamaran, and the 12-guest limit
If you are choosing between a gulet and a crewed catamaran, the gulet wins on deck space, cabins and a bigger crew. The catamaran wins on sailing, speed, the number of anchorages it can reach, and privacy. Our crewed catamaran cost per person guide puts eight guests on a Greek catamaran at roughly €2,200 to €3,200 each. On the numbers above, a Turkish gulet for eight sits just below that range, and a Croatian gulet at the top of it or above.
The 12-guest limit matters for group size. Most gulet listings stop at 12 guests, and some cite the US Coast Guard, which is not the authority that matters here. The real reason is SOLAS, the international safety convention, under which a ship carrying more than 12 passengers counts as a passenger ship, with much heavier rules. National rules in Turkey and Croatia sit on top of that, and we could not find their text. Larger boats clearly exist: 12 Knots shows Croatian gulets with up to 22 berths, and a 34 metre Göcek boat on its site sleeps 16. For a group above 12, ask the operator for the vessel's passenger certificate and check it before paying a deposit.
For the wider picture on fees, our yacht charter cost guide covers APA, VAT and tips across the Mediterranean.
What Sulu does with a gulet charter
Gulet quotes arrive in different shapes: net of VAT, with VAT, per-person board, an APA, a mandatory services line. We read each one, line it up against the same week and the same group size, and flag what a cheap headline is hiding.
We use the best available intelligence to research the boats and routes first, then people who make the calls check the crew, the inclusions, the fuel hours and the passenger certificate with the operators directly. If you tell us your dates and your group size, we come back with a clear comparison between Turkey and Croatia on a yacht charter for your week.