Boat rental in Barcelona

Boat rental in Barcelona covers 43 motorboats for 4 to 12 guests, from a 3.7-metre 15 hp runabout to a 10-metre sport cruiser with twin engines. Hourly offers start at €71 an hour within an 8-hour package, half days at €120 and full days at €275. Below: how the prices are built, which boat fits which group, the licence rule, marinas and season.

How motorboat hire works on this coast

A motorboat rental here means the whole boat for your group, never a seat on a shared trip. Three things decide what you actually pay: the unit of the price, who is at the helm and how many hours you book.

You take the whole boat

Every motorboat on this page is rented as a private boat: the price covers the boat, not each passenger. Offers are written in three different units. Eleven boats carry an hourly price, from €71 to €290; twelve carry a half-day price, from €120 to €400; twenty carry a full-day price, from €275 to €2,600. The midpoints tell the same story in rough terms — about €115 an hour, about €200 for a half day and about €525 for a full day. Because the units differ, a list sorted by headline price mixes a one-hour figure with a whole-day figure. Before you compare two boats, convert both offers to the same number of hours on the water.

Skipper on board or self-drive

Boat rental with a skipper is the dominant format. Among the boats whose crew arrangement is stated, 15 are offered only with a skipper, 3 only for self-drive and 5 either way. A skippered hire suits a group in which nobody holds a nautical qualification: the skipper steers, knows the marina rules and brings the boat back on time, while the guests swim, eat and look at the skyline from the water. Self-drive offers are labelled “with licence”, and the person at the helm must show one. Several hourly boats at Port Olímpic — the Barqa Q20, the Cattleya X6, the Quicksilver Activ 605 Sundeck and the Tiger Marine 650 — sit in that group. If no one in your party holds a qualification, filter for a skippered boat before you look at anything else.

Why a “from” price can mislead

The lowest hourly figure on this page, €71 for the 6.2-metre Barqa Q20, is the hourly share of an 8-hour package. The same boat costs €188 for a single hour, €250 for two, €450 for four and €563 for eight. So a one-hour trip costs more than two and a half times the nominal hourly rate. The same pattern appears on the Mirimare Sunrise 7, priced from €100 an hour: that is the two-hour price of €200 split in half. Treat any “from” figure as the cheapest hour of the longest package, and ask for the total for your exact duration.

Forty-three motorboats by size and layout

The 43 boats fall into six practical classes. Length and layout matter as much as price: a 6-metre open boat and a 6-metre cabin boat take a similar number of guests but give a very different day.

Six classes at a glance

Small boats under 15 hp

Seven boats belong to the small class with a 15 hp engine and a length of 5 metres or less: the Whaly 435 (3.7 m, 4 guests), the Remus 450 Open (4.5 m, 5), the Falcon 520 RIB (4.7 m, 5), the Barqa Q17 (4.99 m, 4), the Idea Marine Idea 53 (4.99 m, 6), the Marion 500 Classic (5 m, 5) and the V2 5.0 Sport (5 m, 6). They are the cheapest way onto the water: the Marion 500 Classic costs €121 for one hour and €363 for four, the V2 €149 for an hour, and the Remus €200 for a half day or €250 for a full day. With 15 hp they are slow, so plan short hops along the beaches rather than a long run up the coast. This class used to be sold as licence-free; section four explains how that works for rentals now.

Open boats and RIBs for six to nine

The core of the range is the open boat or RIB of 5 to 8 metres for a group of 6 to 9. The Trimarchi 53 (5 m, 6 guests) costs €91 an hour, the Trimarchi 57 (6 m, 7) €100, the Libeccio 6.5 (6.8 m, 6) €115 and the De Antonio D28 Open (8 m, 9) €290. RIBs add stability and a soft collar to sit on: the Mirimare Sunrise 7 is 7.25 metres long and takes 9 guests, the Tiger Marine 650 is 6.5 metres and takes 8, both with 115 hp outboards. For a beach-and-swim afternoon this is the class most groups end up choosing, because it combines a sunbathing deck, a short ladder to the water and hourly booking.

Cabins, sport cruisers and a llaüt

A cabin turns a boat trip into a full day: shade, a place to store bags and somewhere to change. The Jeanneau Leader 625 (6 m, 6 guests) costs €290 for a half day and €420 for a full day; the Starfisher 840 (7.5 m, 10 guests) €190 and €290; the Bénéteau Flyer 9 (9.1 m, 10 guests, two 200 hp engines) €800 for a day. Sport cruisers go further and faster: the Gobbi Atlantis 315, the RYCK 280 and the Sunseeker San Remo 33 run 9.5 to 10 metres, and the Mano Marine 26.50 carries two 480 hp engines for €1,300 a day. The Bénéteau Gran Turismo 32 sits at the top for hourly booking, at €420 an hour with a three-hour minimum. One boat stands apart: the Menorquin Llevant 39, an 8.5-metre llaüt — the traditional Balearic motor launch — with a 69 hp engine, at €300 for a half day from Port Olímpic.

An hour, a half day or a full day

Duration changes the price per hour more than the choice of boat does. The figures below show how much a longer booking saves on the same hull.

Hourly boats and their packages

The last row is built from €150 for the first hour and €80 for each hour after it. Across the table, an 8-hour day costs roughly three to four times one hour, not eight times. On the Quicksilver and the Tiger Marine, eight hours at €424 work out at €53 an hour against €132 for a single hour; on the Mirimare Sunrise 7, €450 for eight hours is about €56 an hour. The Libeccio 6.5 at €750 for eight hours with a captain is €170 below eight separate hours at €115. Ask for the package price for your full time rather than multiplying an hourly figure.

Price per guest

Divided by the number of seats, the picture changes again. On the 8-hour package the Barqa Q20 comes to about €10 per guest per hour, and the Mirimare Sunrise 7 at €100 an hour for 9 people to about €11. Among single-hour rates, the Trimarchi 57 costs about €14 per guest (€100 for 7), the Trimarchi 53 about €15 (€91 for 6), the Tiger Marine 650 about €16.50 (€132 for 8) and the De Antonio D28 Open about €32 (€290 for 9). Is the biggest boat worth it for six people? On these numbers, no. For boat hire in Barcelona, count heads first: the cheapest total usually comes from the smallest boat that seats everyone comfortably.

Half day against full day

On small and mid-size boats a full day often costs only a little more than a half day: the Remus adds €50, the Menorquin €50 and the Starfisher €100 for the second half. On the larger sport cruisers the gap widens sharply — the Gobbi Atlantis 315 almost quadruples, from €300 to €1,190. The lesson is simple: on a small boat, price the full day before settling for a half; on a big one, a half day may be the sensible budget.

Comparing two quotes

• Unit: confirm whether the figure is for one hour, a package of hours, a half day or a full day.
• Minimum: some boats start at two or three hours, so a one-hour price may not exist.
• Skipper: check that the skipper is inside the price when you need one.
• Guests: compare boats for the same group size and divide the total by heads.
• Total: ask for one figure for your date and duration before deciding.

Licences and the skipper question

Spanish rules decide who may steer a rented boat. They changed on 1 October 2026, and the change hits exactly the small boats that used to need no licence.

The rule for rented boats

Spain has long allowed motorboats up to 5 metres with a maximum of 15 CV, and sailboats up to 6 metres, to be used without a licence. From 1 October 2026 that exemption covers only private and sporting use. When such a boat is rented out, the person who steers it must hold a nautical qualification. A crewed hire is the other route: with a professional skipper on board, the client needs no licence at all, whatever the size of the boat. For a group in which nobody holds a qualification, a skippered boat is the only arrangement that fits the current rule.

What happens to the 15 hp class

The seven small boats with 15 hp engines are still offered, and many were offered until recently as “no licence required”. Read that label as out of date for a rental: under the rule now in force, whoever takes the helm of a rented boat needs a qualification, small engine or not. Some of these boats already come with a skipper — the Barqa Q17 at Port Fòrum is one — and that removes the question. For the rest, ask the operator a short question before paying: who will be at the helm, and is a skipper available if nobody in the group holds a licence?

Self-drive with a qualification

If someone in your party holds a recognised qualification, self-drive opens up boats such as the Barqa Q20, the Cattleya X6, the Quicksilver Activ 605 Sundeck and the Tiger Marine 650, all offered “with licence” at Port Olímpic. Expect to show the document when you collect the boat, and check that its category covers the boat's length and engine power.

Marinas and the calendar

Where the boat leaves from and when you go shape the day as much as the boat itself.

Departure points along the coast

Port Olímpic is the busiest departure point for motorboats: the Barqa Q20, the Quicksilver, the Tiger Marine, the Bénéteau Flyer 6 and 7.7, the Saver 870 WA, the Gobbi Atlantis and the Menorquin all leave from there. Port Fòrum, at the north-eastern end of the city, serves the Barqa Q17, the Jeanneau Leader 625 and the Trisac Ecomariner 49. Marina Vela, next to Barceloneta, is home to the Marion 500 Classic and the Mirimare Sunrise 7, while the RYCK 280 is moored at the Reial Club Nàutic in Port Vell. North of the city, the Marina de Badalona holds the Starfisher 840, the Vanguard DR 660, the Rio 550 Fish and the Fibresport 980; to the south, Port Ginesta has the Idea 53. Two similar boats can start at opposite ends of the coast, so ask for the exact marina together with the price.

Peak months and low-season rates

Demand peaks from May to September, and summer dates go early: by March roughly 45% of the boats on offer in the city are already booked. For a July or August Saturday, send the request well ahead and name a second date. Autumn is quieter and can be cheaper — the Quicksilver Activ 605 and the Tiger Marine 650 are priced at €132 for one hour and €424 for eight on a low-season tariff that runs from 1 October to 31 December.

Motorboat, yacht, sailboat, catamaran or jet ski

Motorboats are the entry point for private time on the water. Other vessels cost more to start but take bigger groups or offer a different kind of trip.

Starting prices by vessel

Groups of ten to twelve

Most motorboats take 9 guests or fewer, but six take 10 or 12. The Starfisher 840 and the Bénéteau Flyer 9 seat 10; the Vanguard DR 660, the Altamarea HA23, the Astec PB-800 and the FIM Regina 340 seat 12. The cheapest of them for a full group is the Vanguard DR 660 RIB at €600 a day from Badalona, which works out at €50 per guest. Beyond 12 people a motorboat no longer fits, and a catamaran or a larger yacht is the practical choice.

Jet skis follow a separate rule

Jet skis sit outside the licence-free regime altogether. Without a licence they are allowed only on guided outings: group excursions led by a monitor, or an individual ride with a qualified monitor driving. One monitor supervises at most four jet skis with no more than two riders on each. Drivers must usually be 18, or 16–17 with parental consent, and a deposit is taken for each jet ski. Treat a jet ski without a licence as a guided tour with a fixed route, not a boat you steer where you like.

Before you send a request

Six checks turn a long list of boats into a fair comparison.

Six checks for any motorboat quote

• Group size: count everyone, children included; boats here take 4 to 12, and 10 or more narrows the choice to six models.
• Helm: unless someone holds a nautical qualification, ask for a skippered boat — the small 15 hp class included.
• Unit and total: convert hourly, half-day and full-day offers into one figure for your exact time on the water.
• Minimum hours: confirm whether the boat can be booked for one hour or starts at two or three.
• Marina: get the departure point with the quote; Port Olímpic, Port Fòrum, Marina Vela and Badalona are far apart.
• Date: for May to September, request early and name a back-up date; from October, ask about low-season rates.