The Balearic Islands consolidate their position as Spain’s leading sailing holiday destination

The Balearic Islands have once again ranked among the most sought-after destinations for sailing holidays. According to GlobeSailor’s summer 2026 booking data, 99% of its reservations in Spain are made in the Balearics, with more than 70% of those bookings involving crewed catamarans.

This preference reflects the most popular way to explore the archipelago: cruising between coves, combining swimming stops with comfortable anchorages, and enjoying life on board with greater stability and deck space, while leaving the technical aspects of navigation to a professional skipper. For more experienced sailing enthusiasts, those who want to feel the wind and make sailing itself the focus of the journey, the monohull sailboat remains the natural alternative.

Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, vessel preferences also vary according to the character of each destination. In Italy, the general trend favors catamaran charters with an average length of 12 meters, usually with a skipper but without additional crew, making them ideal for group travel. At the same time, highly localized preferences can be observed: sailboat charters are particularly popular in the Tuscan Archipelago, while in Sicily there is growing demand for gulet cruises booked by cabin, a more social and organized travel format.

In Greece, summer 2026 bookings show an almost equal split between catamarans and sailboats, reflecting two well-established ways of traveling: comfort and stability on the one hand, and a more traditional sailing experience on the other. Croatia, meanwhile, shows a stronger preference for sailboats and gulets, a format particularly suited to island-hopping and cove-to-cove itineraries. According to GlobeSailor, a similar trend is also evident in Turkey.

In Albania, an emerging destination for the company where the charter fleet is only now beginning to expand, operations are currently concentrated on catamarans, which dominate this early-stage market.

Although luxury yachts are not GlobeSailor’s main product, the company also manages bookings in selected destinations where premium experiences are the priority, including Sardinia, the Amalfi Coast, and Greece.

In the Caribbean, demand is concentrated on medium-to-large catamarans and cruising sailboats, a choice closely aligned with the region’s characteristic “live aboard, swim, and anchor” style of boating holiday. According to GlobeSailor, 90% of these bookings include a crew, with an average trip duration of 10 days.