€920per day
Book now
Sailboats on the San Juan Reservoir: Day Prices, Captains and Licences
Boat rental in Madrid means one stretch of water: the San Juan reservoir at San Martín de Valdeiglesias, west of the city, because the capital has no coast. Day prices for the three sailboats gathered here run from €200 to €920, and a skippered three-hour outing starts at about €155. Below: what each boat costs once the captain and cleaning are added, who may take the helm under the Spanish licence rule, how many people fit and what to settle before you book.
One reservoir instead of a coastline
Everything on this page happens on a single inland lake, and that shapes the price, the choice and the day itself.
Why the water is San Juan
Madrid has no coast, so boating moves out of town. The boats in this section all sail from the San Juan reservoir (Pantano de San Juan), in the municipality of San Martín de Valdeiglesias. It is the only reservoir in the Madrid region where bathing is permitted, which is why beaches, swimmers and a small boating scene sit together on the same shore. A day on a boat here is therefore an excursion, not a city activity: the journey there and back belongs to the plan, and it matters when you weigh a three-hour outing against a full day on the water. If the boat is the reason for the trip, a full day makes the journey easier to justify; if it is one stop among several, the short outing fits better.
A market measured in single digits
Boat hire in Spain is concentrated on the Mediterranean coast and the islands. Around Madrid the choice is a handful of boats, and the Rent-Trip section on this page brings together three models, all based on the reservoir. That small number has a practical consequence. On the coast, if one boat is booked for your date, ten similar ones are free; here, one booking can remove a third of the choice. When you send a request, add one or two alternative dates, and decide in advance whether a different boat on your preferred date or the same boat on another day matters more to you.
Sailboats with engines, not speedboats
All three models are cruising sailboats fitted with an engine — a 6 hp outboard on the oldest boat, a 30 hp engine on the newest. The skippered short outings offered on the reservoir use the same kind of vessel, a sailboat that can also run under motor. So “boat” on San Juan usually means a sailing yacht in miniature, with a cockpit, a cabin and berths, rather than an open speedboat. This matters for two reasons. A sailboat moves at the pace of the wind, so a day out is about the water and the swim stops, not about speed. And its size puts it well above the limits for licence-free steering, which the licence section below explains. If you are looking for a small open boat to drive yourself, no model or price for one could be confirmed on the reservoir, so none is compared on this page.
Three sailboats from €200 to €920 a day
The three boats differ in almost everything — age, size, whether a captain comes with them — so the headline price says little until you look at what sits behind it.
| Model | Length | Guests | Berths | Engine | Year | From, per day | Captain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velero San Juan (Jeanneau) | not stated | not stated | 4 | not stated | not stated | €200 + €60 cleaning | extra: €180 a day or €45 an hour, minimum 3 hours |
| Velero para Clases de Navegación | 10 m, beam 3.55 m | 5 | 5 | 6 hp outboard, 4-stroke | 2006 | €520 | without captain |
| Velero 621 | 12 m, beam 3.5 m | 6 | 6 | 30 hp | 2023 | €920 | with captain |
Velero San Juan: the lowest base price
The Velero San Juan, a Jeanneau with four berths, starts at €200 a day. That figure is the boat alone. A cleaning charge of €60 is added to every booking, and a captain, if you need one, is billed separately — €180 for the day or €45 an hour with a minimum of three hours. Its length, engine and year are not stated, which makes it the boat to ask the most questions about before you pay. It is the cheapest way onto the water for a group that has its own qualified helmsman, and it stays competitive with a captain on board, as the next section shows.
Velero para Clases de Navegación: a 10-metre boat without a captain
The name means “sailboat for sailing lessons”, and the boat is set up accordingly. It is 10 metres long and 3.55 metres wide, built in 2006, with five berths and room for five people, and it carries a 6 hp four-stroke outboard. It is offered without a captain at €520 a day. A small outboard on a 10-metre hull is enough to leave and return to the mooring, but the boat is meant to sail; the engine is an auxiliary, not a way to cross the reservoir quickly. This is the option for someone who already sails and wants the boat to themselves for the day.
Velero 621: the newest and largest, captain included
The Velero 621 is a 12-metre sailboat built in 2023, 3.5 metres wide, with six berths, room for six people and a 30 hp engine. It starts at €920 a day with a captain on board. It is the only one of the three where the price already covers the person at the helm, so no licence question arises and no extra line appears on the bill for the skipper.
What the spread really means
On paper the Velero 621 costs 4.6 times as much as the Velero San Juan. Compared like for like — both with a captain for the whole day — the gap shrinks to about 2.1 times: €920 against €440 once the San Juan’s cleaning charge and day captain are added. The remaining difference buys a boat built in 2023, 12 metres of hull and a larger engine. The teaching boat at €520 sits between them but cannot be compared directly with either, because its price assumes you sail it yourself.
Captain, cleaning and the real price of a day
Each of the three boats builds its price differently, so the useful number is the total for the day you actually want, not the rate in the first line.
Three ways a price is built
The first is the bare boat, with extras listed separately: the Velero San Juan works this way, with cleaning always added and the captain added when you need one. The second is the boat without a captain, where the price assumes a qualified person in your group: the teaching boat at €520. The third is the all-inclusive day with the skipper inside the rate: the Velero 621 at €920. Before comparing two quotes, put them on the same footing — either both with a captain or both without — and add every fixed charge. In my view, the single question that saves the most money is “what is the total with the person who will steer?”, asked before anything else.
Totals for typical days
| Option | How it adds up | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Velero San Juan, your own qualified helmsman | €200 + €60 cleaning | €260 |
| Velero San Juan, captain for 3 hours | €200 + €60 + 3 × €45 | €395 |
| Velero San Juan, captain for the day | €200 + €60 + €180 | €440 |
| Velero para Clases de Navegación, your own qualified helmsman | €520; other charges to be confirmed | from €520 |
| Velero 621, captain included | €920 | €920 |
| Skippered outing, 3 hours | private group, captain included | from about €155 |
Hourly or daily captain: the four-hour line
On the Velero San Juan the captain costs €45 an hour or €180 a day, and the two meet at exactly four hours: 4 × €45 = €180. For three hours, the minimum, the hourly rate is cheaper at €135. From four hours on, the day rate is never worse, and for anything longer it is clearly better — five hours by the hour would already cost €225. If you are unsure how long you will stay out, book the day captain; the extra hour on the water then costs nothing.
Charges to confirm before paying
The cleaning charge is stated only for the Velero San Juan. For the other two boats, ask whether cleaning, fuel for the engine or a deposit are added, and whether the stated price is for the whole day or for a fixed number of hours. These are starting prices without dates, so a quote for a particular day can be higher. Ask for the total in writing, with every line listed, so that two offers can be laid side by side without guesswork.
Licences: who may take the helm
Whether you need a qualification depends on two things — the size of the boat and whether a professional captain is on board.
The licence-free limit and the rental rule
Spain has a licence-free exemption for small craft: motorboats up to 5 metres with a maximum of 15 CV, and sailboats up to 6 metres. A royal decree applying from 1 October 2026 limits that exemption to private and sporting use. When such a boat is rented, the person who steers it must hold a nautical qualification. In other words, a rental without a captain now always requires someone in the group with a recognised qualification, whatever the size of the boat.
What it means for these three boats
The question is simpler than it sounds, because all three boats are far larger than the licence-free limits anyway: the teaching boat is 10 metres long and the Velero 621 is 12 metres, against a 6-metre limit for sail. For each boat the answer is short.
- Velero 621: the captain is included, so nobody in the group needs a licence.
- Velero San Juan: either someone in your group holds a qualification, or you add the captain at €45 an hour or €180 a day.
- Velero para Clases de Navegación: offered without a captain, so the person at the helm must be qualified.
- Three-hour outing: the captain steers, so no licence is needed.
Which qualification and how to show it
Spanish operators typically ask for a PNB, a PER or a higher qualification, and offer a professional skipper to anyone who has none. Which level a particular boat requires depends on its length and the operator’s conditions, so name your qualification in the request and let the operator confirm that it covers the boat. If your certificate was issued outside Spain, send a copy in advance rather than bringing it on the day — a refusal at the jetty is the most expensive way to find out. When in doubt, the captain is the safe choice: on the Velero San Juan, three hours of skipper cost €135, less than the price gap to any other boat.
Group size, berths and price per guest
With prices this far apart, dividing the total by the number of people on board often changes which boat looks expensive.
Price per person
The Velero 621 takes six people, so its €920 day works out at about €153 each. The teaching boat takes five, so €520 comes to €104 a head — but only if one of the five can sail it. The Velero San Juan has four berths; its guest capacity is not stated, so the figures below assume four people and should be checked. On that basis, a day with the captain at €440 is €110 each, and a day with your own helmsman at €260 is €65 each. For a group of four with no licence, the Velero San Juan with a day captain and the Velero 621 differ by €43 a head; for a group of six, only the Velero 621 has confirmed room for everyone.
| Boat and option | People | Total | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Velero 621, captain included | 6 | €920 | about €153 |
| Velero para Clases de Navegación, own helmsman | 5 | €520 | €104 |
| Velero San Juan, day captain | 4 (berths; capacity to confirm) | €440 | €110 |
| Velero San Juan, own helmsman | 4 (berths; capacity to confirm) | €260 | €65 |
Berths and nights on board
All three boats have berths — four, five and six — because they are cruising sailboats with a cabin. Whether a night on board on the reservoir is offered, and at what price, is not stated for any of them. If you want to sleep aboard, ask directly and treat the berth count as the upper limit for an overnight group, just as the guest count is the limit for a day.
Which boat suits which group
A couple or a small family without a licence will usually spend least on a three-hour skippered outing from about €155, or on the Velero San Juan with a captain for three hours at €395 if they want the boat for longer at their own pace. Four friends with a qualified sailor among them get the lowest price per head on the Velero San Juan. A group of five sailors who want a larger hull to themselves fit the teaching boat. A group of six, or anyone who wants the newest boat and no licence questions, goes for the Velero 621.
Three-hour outings, booking terms and what to ask
Not every visit needs a whole day, and on the reservoir the short skippered outing is the most common way to get on the water.
The three-hour skippered outing
A private three-hour outing on a motor sailboat starts at about €155 for the group, with a captain at the helm. The captain speaks Spanish, so a group that needs English or another language should ask about it when booking. Cancellation is free up to three days before the outing. The meeting point is at Avenida del Galeón 15 in San Martín de Valdeiglesias. The model of boat is not named in advance, so you book the outing rather than a specific vessel; the number of people included should be confirmed in the request.
Outing or full day
At about €155 for three hours, the outing costs less than half of the cheapest comparable full-day option, the Velero San Juan with a three-hour captain at €395. The difference buys flexibility: with the day boat you keep the boat after the captain leaves only if someone can sail it, and you choose your own timing. For a first visit, or for a group that wants a swim and a few hours under sail, the outing is enough. For a group that wants the boat as a base for the whole day, the full-day hire makes more sense.
What to put in your request
A short, complete request gets a comparable answer and saves a round of messages. Include:
- the date, plus one or two alternatives, since the reservoir has only a few boats;
- the number of adults and children on board;
- who will steer — your qualification, or a captain by the hour or the day;
- how many hours you want on the water;
- whether cleaning, fuel and any deposit are included in the price;
- the cancellation terms and the exact meeting point;
- the language you need the captain to speak.
Reading the answer
A good answer gives one total, names the boat, says who is at the helm and lists every extra. If any of those four is missing, ask again before paying. Compare offers only once they are on the same footing — the same hours, the same captain arrangement and the same date. Starting prices without dates are a floor, not a promise for your calendar.
Key points before you book
Six facts to keep in mind
- Where: boat hire near Madrid means the San Juan reservoir at San Martín de Valdeiglesias; there is no sea.
- Prices: the three sailboats start between €200 and €920 a day, and a three-hour skippered outing from about €155.
- Real totals: the €200 Velero San Juan becomes €260 with cleaning and €440 with a day captain.
- Captain by the hour: €45 an hour against €180 a day — the day rate wins from four hours on.
- Licence: a rental without a captain needs a qualified helmsman; the Velero 621 and the short outing include the captain.
- Group: per person, the range runs from €65 to about €153; only the Velero 621 has confirmed room for six.