Andaman Sea, Thailand
The advertised weekly rate is about two thirds of the bill. Here is the rest of it, along with which cruising ground is open in your month and which yachts may legally charter in Thai waters at all.
Why this site exists
Every operator in Phuket sells its own fleet, so every page is a prospectus. Compare three of them and you have compared three prospectuses. These four questions decide the booking and none of them gets answered.
The base rate is the advertised figure. On top of it: an advance provisioning allowance of 25 to 35 percent, 7 percent Thai VAT, national park fees per person and per park, and a crew gratuity of 10 to 20 percent that is not in the contract and is not optional in practice.
Work out your own figureChartering commercially in Thai waters on a foreign flag requires a Superyacht Charter Licence. Without it the yacht can be detained, the operator fined and the guests deported. Since the 2025 regulation the threshold is 24 metres, down from 30, and almost no guest is told any of this.
What the licence coversOwner-operators and brokers look identical on a website. Brokers place other owners' hulls, which is a legitimate and useful business, and it also means several companies are selling you the same twenty boats with different photographs.
Who is whatMu Ko Similan and Mu Ko Surin shut by national park order from 16 May to 14 October, and Mu Ko Lanta with them. That is a legal closure, not a weather forecast, and an itinerary that ignores it is selling something that cannot happen.
Month by monthThe arithmetic
Eight guests, seven nights, two national parks, no delivery fee. Every line below is standard practice in this market and only the first one appears in the listing. Up to $15,000 of it comes back, because the provisioning allowance is a float against receipts rather than a fee.
| Base charter ratethe advertised figure | $50,000 |
|---|---|
| Advance provisioning allowance, 30%refunded if unspent | $15,000 |
| Thai VAT, 7% of the base ratenot charged on the APA | $3,500 |
| National park fees, 8 adults, 2 parks5,600 baht, cash | $172 |
| Crew gratuity, 12.5%customary, not contractual | $6,250 |
| What you actually commit | $74,922 |
Where a charter goes
The shortest itinerary that still feels like a voyage: flat water, limestone on every side and no passage longer than three hours.
The southern loop, built around being at Maya Bay and Bamboo Island at the hours the day boats are not.
East then south, from the climbing walls at Railay to the cave diving at Koh Haa. The route for a group that includes certified divers.
The best water in Thailand, fifty-eight miles northwest into the open Andaman, on the only itinerary that has a legal season rather than a preferred one.
Both halves of the Andaman in one voyage: the sheltered limestone of Phang Nga first, then the crossing south to Phi Phi and the Rachas.
Past Lanta towards Trang, where the day-boat radius ends: Koh Haa, Koh Rok and the swim-in Emerald Cave at Koh Muk.
The fleet
Above about thirty metres you charter a specific yacht with a specific crew. Below it you book a model and the hull is decided later. Most listing sites blur the two. This one labels them, because a build year invented to look precise is still invented.
Sanlorenzo, 2018
A 37 metre Sanlorenzo from 2018 with five cabins and seven crew, one of the larger hulls that stays in Thai waters through the season rather than visiting for a few weeks.
from $14,900
per day
Ao Po Grand Marina
Not published, 2022
A 42 metre, six-cabin superyacht delivered in 2022 and listed for Thai charter, at the size where twelve guests is the legal ceiling rather than a design choice.
Rate on application
Ao Po Grand Marina
Sunreef Yachts
The luxury catamaran answer to a superyacht: twenty-four metres of beam-heavy platform with superyacht volume, shallow draught for the limestone anchorages, and the 24 metre length that puts it exactly on the Thai charter licence threshold.
from $90,000
per week
Ao Po Grand Marina
When
Closed means closed by national park order, not that the weather is poor. That distinction is the fastest reliability test in this market and it costs you nothing to run against any quote you are given.
| Cruising ground | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phang Nga Bay | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Workable | Workable | Workable | Poor | Poor | Workable | Prime | Prime |
| Phi Phi Islands | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Workable | Prime | Prime |
| Racha Islands | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Workable | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Workable | Prime | Prime |
| Similan and Surin | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Prime | Prime |
| Krabi and Koh Lanta | Prime | Prime | Prime | Workable | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Workable | Prime |
| Mergui, Myanmar | Prime | Prime | Prime | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Prime |
| Gulf of Thailand | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Workable | Poor | Poor | Workable |
Closed is a legal fact, not an opinion: Mu Ko Similan, Mu Ko Surin and Mu Ko Lanta shut by national park order from mid-May to mid-October, and Maya Bay closes separately from 1 August to 30 September. An operator selling a Similan itinerary inside those dates is selling something that cannot legally happen, which makes this table the fastest reliability test in the market.
Cruising grounds
Sheltered, shallow and full of limestone. The bay sits in the lee of Phuket, which makes it the forgiving cruising ground and the one that still works when the monsoon turns.
The tunnel into the lagoon is tide-dependent, not weather-dependent. Around high water the headroom disappears and the entrance cl...
The most beautiful and the most crowded water in the region. Everything here is a question of which hour you arrive and which bay you sleep in.
Every rule here exists because the previous version of this bay was loved to death. A crew that tells you it can take the tender s...
Twelve miles south of Phuket and the closest clear water to the island, which is why the dive schools go there.
Racha Yai works as a first or last night on almost any itinerary, and it is the standard answer when weather closes the crossing t...
The best water in Thailand, fifty-eight and one hundred miles out, and legally closed from mid-May to mid-October.
The Similans need a real passage, not a day trip: fifty-eight miles each way, which is five to nine hours depending on the hull. A...
The guide
Should I charter a bareboat, take a skipper, or book a fully crewed yacht?
How long should a yacht charter in Phuket be?
How does booking a crewed yacht charter work, step by step?
How much does a yacht charter in Phuket actually cost, with everything included?
What is the Advance Provisioning Allowance on a yacht charter?
What are the national park fees for a yacht charter in Thailand, and who pays them?
How to read this site
Prices in this market change every season, so a price without a date is worth nothing. Where a licence position is not in a public source, this site says it is not on public record rather than saying there is no licence, because those are different statements and only one of them is supported. The commission we earn does not decide the order of any table here.