Yacht Chartering in Asia

After many years of effort, boatbuilding has taken hold in Asia, particularly in places like China and Taiwan. Bareboat and crewed yacht charter has been slower to capture the scene, with locations such as Thailand and Indonesia offering options that can be quite good, if somewhat sparse.

In Thailand, the Phuket region continues to invest in marina developments that entice more and more high-quality yachts and bareboat charter operations. On any given day, the vast majority of boats will be local fantails—traditional wooden day boats with a single crew member who ferries hotel guests to and from snorkeling sites and beaches. Bareboat catamarans look like engineering phenomena in the same setting, and crewed megayachts can elicit serious stares. The beauty of charter here, of course, is the ability to break free from the rest of the tourists. Many islands around Phuket remain undeveloped and uninhabited, with rocky profiles that tower like skyscrapers of stone.

Indonesia is less centralized for yacht charter, but Bali is often used as a base, given its international airport. World-class yachts that visit the region for a single season tend to include Bali in their itineraries, meaning that you can enjoy the culture of the bustling city before cruising to the out islands for relaxation and solitude.