Berthing Costs: UK vs Spain in 2026

Is keeping a boat in Spain really cheaper than the UK? We went through the published 2026 tariffs from the Solent, the Tyne and Pembrokeshire to Gibraltar, Almería and Mallorca and added up what a year actually costs.

One of the more persistent assumptions in boating is that everything gets cheaper once you move the boat to Spain.

The weather is better. You use the boat more. And surely a berth on the Mediterranean costs less than one squeezed into the Solent?

Sometimes it does. Not always.

In 2026 the gap between marinas inside each country is bigger than the gap between the two countries. A 10 metre yacht can be berthed for under £4,000 a year in parts of Britain, or for close to £10,000 on the south coast. In Spain the same boat can sit on the mainland for under €5,000 including tax, while a berth in Mallorca can cost as much as the Solent.

We've used only tariffs that the marinas or port authorities publish themselves, and we read them all in October 2026. Where a marina doesn't publish an annual price, we say so and leave it out rather than guess. The sources are listed at the bottom.

How we did the sums

Before the numbers, a few ground rules, because marina price lists are hard to compare.

1. We priced two boats: a 10 metre cruising yacht with a beam of about 3.5 to 4 metres, and a 12 metre boat with a beam of about 4 to 4.4 metres. Those are the sizes most of our readers own.
2. UK prices are quoted including 20% VAT, because that is how UK marinas publish them.
3. Spanish prices are published before IVA, which is 21% on the mainland and in the Balearics. We show both the published figure and the figure with IVA added.
4. We have not converted euros into pounds. The exchange rate moves, and converting would make our numbers look more precise than they are. Check the rate on the day you compare.
5. Where a Spanish marina publishes only daily rates, we've worked out a full year from its own seasons and day counts, and applied its own published discount for paying in advance.
6. Electricity is shown separately where the marina meters it, because usage varies so much from boat to boat.

None of these are quotes. Marinas allocate berths by availability, and the price you're offered for your boat can differ from the list. But the list is the only fair starting point.

The UK: the Solent changes everything

Talk about UK marina costs and the conversation normally drifts towards the Solent.

There is a reason. Limited space, a lot of boats and quick access to some of Britain's best cruising make berthing around the Hamble, Lymington and Southampton expensive.

For 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, Lymington Yacht Haven charges £9,195 for a berth of up to 10.1 metres and £12,650 for one up to 12.2 metres, both including VAT. Harbour dues and the Harbour Protection Levy are added on top at £36.56 per metre. That takes a 10.1 metre boat to about £9,560 and a 12.2 metre boat to just over £13,000 a year, before metered electricity.

That is serious money.

Not every Solent marina publishes its annual price. MDL's Hamble Point Marina, for example, lists its visitor rates (£5.55 per metre per night up to 12.5 metres, excluding electricity) but asks annual customers to call for availability and a quote. We haven't used third party broker figures for Hamble Point, because they aren't the marina's own list.

Move away from the south coast and the picture changes.

At Royal Quays Marina on the Tyne, boatfolk's rate card, marked correct at January 2026, puts annual berthing at £398 per metre paid in full, or £418 per metre by direct debit. A 10 metre boat pays £3,980 up front.

Neyland Yacht Haven in Pembrokeshire is similar. Its 2026/27 rates are £385 per metre in the upper basin and £485 in the lower basin, so the same 10 metre boat pays between £3,850 and £4,850.

That gives you the real UK range. A berth isn't expensive because it's British. It's expensive because everybody wants to keep their boat in the same place.

UK annual berths, worked out for a full year

The Lymington harbour charge is £36.56 times the boat's length. We used 10.1m and 12.2m because those are the berth sizes on the list. A 12 metre boat at Royal Quays and Neyland is simply 12 times the per metre rate.

Lymington also takes 2.5% off if you pay three months before the contract starts. On the 10.1 metre berth that's about £230 back, which brings the berth itself to roughly £8,965 before harbour dues.

Spain: the mainland can be good value

Spain has the same problem as Britain, only with sunshine added. The Mediterranean coast has a lot of marinas, and away from the hotspots competition keeps prices reasonable.

A good example is Alcaidesa Marina, beside Gibraltar.

Its 2026/27 annual tariff lists a 10 metre by 4 metre sailing yacht berth at €3,696.02 before IVA, and a 12 metre by 4.4 metre berth at €4,314.24. Motorboat berths of the same size are €3,963.78 and €4,700.33. Those are the discounted annual rates. The same page shows the undiscounted annual price next to each one, which for the 10 metre sailing berth is €5,590.75.

Two things about Alcaidesa's annual price are useful. First, it already includes the T5 harbour dues tax and an estimate of the T0 navigation aids tax. In Spain those are often extra, so this makes the figure closer to what you'd pay. Second, the marina says the T0 will be adjusted to your boat's actual length times beam, so the final bill can move a little.

Add 21% IVA and a 10 metre sailing yacht comes to about €4,472 a year. A 12 metre yacht comes to about €5,220.

That is a lot less than Lymington.

Further east, Puerto Deportivo de Almerimar near El Ejido publishes its 2026 tariff only as daily rates, split into two seasons: October to May and June to September. A 10 by 3.5 metre berth is €9.48 a day in the low season and €18.71 in the high season. A 12 by 4 metre berth is €12.06 and €23.96. IVA at 21% is added. Almerimar's tariff also says electricity is included for sailing boats but not for motorboats.

Almerimar gives discounts for paying in advance: 5% for more than 30 days, 10% for more than 90, 20% for more than 180 and 30% for more than 360. So a year paid up front gets 30% off.

We worked it through day by day. October to May is 243 days and June to September is 122.

Spanish annual berths, worked out for a full year

For Almerimar the 10 metre sum is 243 days at €9.48 plus 122 days at €18.71, which is €4,586.26. Take off 30% and you get €3,210.38. The 12 metre version is 243 days at €12.06 plus 122 days at €23.96.

Almerimar's daily tariff doesn't mention the T0 or T5 taxes, so check with the marina whether anything is added to the berth price. We haven't assumed either way.

You're also paying for a berth in a climate where the boat can be used for much more of the year. That matters, and we come back to it below.

Valencia and Alicante

We wanted Valencia and Alicante in this table and couldn't get them in honestly.

Marina Alicante's own page says prices depend on length and season, and asks you to contact the office. The Port of Alicante's 2026 maximum tariff document covers port services for commercial shipping, not leisure berths. In Valencia we couldn't find a marina publishing an annual leisure berth price on its own site either. The figures that turn up in searches for both cities come from brokers and listing sites, so we've left them out.

If you're looking at either city, ask the marina for a written annual quote for your exact length and beam, and ask whether IVA, the T0 and T5 taxes, power and water are in the number.

Then there's Mallorca

The idea that Spain means cheap berthing falls apart as soon as you get to the Balearics.

Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera are a different market, particularly in summer. Demand is high, supply is fixed and some very big yachts compete for the same bits of coast.

The 2026 maximum tariff that Ports IB, the Balearic ports authority, publishes for Marina Port Andratx shows the difference. Berths are charged by the area of the berth in square metres per day. For boats up to 12 metres, the base rate (for boats based there) is €0.29 per square metre per day in the low season and €0.72 in the high season. High season is June to September and low season is October to May. IVA is not included.

Take a 10 by 4 metre berth, which is 40 square metres.

• Low season: 40 x €0.29 x 243 days = €2,818.80
• High season: 40 x €0.72 x 122 days = €3,513.60
• Total: €6,332.40 before IVA, or €7,662.20 with 21% IVA

A 12 by 4.4 metre berth is 52.8 square metres and comes to €8,358.77 before IVA, or €10,114.11 with it.

These are the maximum rates the operator is allowed to charge, so the price in practice can be lower. But Spain doesn't look so cheap any more. Note too that a boat over 12 metres moves into the next band, at €0.49 low and €0.83 high, so a 12.5 metre boat costs noticeably more per square metre than a 12 metre one.

We've also seen a broker report that there are currently no annual berths free in Andratx at all. We couldn't confirm that with the marina, so treat it as a warning to ask early rather than a fact.

We didn't find a Palma marina publishing an annual price for a 10 to 12 metre boat that we could use, so Palma isn't in the tables. Expect it to sit at the top end.

Andratx worked example

That's the base rate at the maximum tariff, per Ports IB. Water and electricity are billed as a percentage on top of the supplier's tariff: 8.2% on water for everyone, and 6.3% on electricity for boats up to 12 metres or 10% for boats from 12 metres.

The headline comparison

For a typical 10 to 12 metre cruising boat, mainland Spain often is cheaper than the Solent. Compare Mallorca with Wales or north east England, though, and Britain wins easily.

These aren't like for like. Facilities, berth sizes, contract terms and what's included all vary. They do show how big the regional differences are, and that the cheapest Spanish and UK options end up close together once tax is added.

Visitor berthing tells a story too

If you cruise rather than sit in one marina, the visitor rates matter more than the annual ones.

Lymington's visitor rates have a 25% surcharge for catamarans and an 8 metre minimum charge length.

The short version: on the mainland, a summer night costs well under half a Solent night, even with IVA added. In the Balearics it's back above Solent prices before tax.

This is one reason Mediterranean owners spend far more nights at anchor than British owners. In Britain the marina is often the destination. In Spain the marina is sometimes somewhere you go because the water tank is empty.

How marina prices are calculated

UK owners are used to being charged by length overall. Spain can be less straightforward.

Some marinas price by fixed berth categories, where each category has a maximum length and beam. Alcaidesa and Almerimar both do this. Others charge by the area of the berth, which is length times beam. Port Andratx does this. The Alcaidesa list also notes that the T0 tax is worked out on length times beam.

So beam matters. A wide modern 11 metre motorboat may need a bigger and dearer berth than a narrow 11 metre sailing yacht. At Alcaidesa the 11 metre berth on the list is 4.4 metres wide. If your boat is wider, you'll be pushed into the next category, and the next category is a 13 by 5.5 metre berth at €5,171.41 for a motorboat.

In the UK, length is measured generously. MDL says its per metre price is based on length overall including davits, bowsprits, boarding ladders, outboards, tenders and anything else that sticks out fore and aft. A 9.8 metre boat with a bathing platform and a dinghy on davits can easily be a 10.5 metre boat on the invoice.

Catamarans are the extreme case. They can be hard to fit in and often attract a surcharge in either country. Lymington's visitor tariff, for example, adds 25%.

Asking a marina "what does a 12 metre berth cost?" isn't enough. Give them the boat's exact length overall and beam, including anything bolted on.

Electricity, water and everything else

The berth price is not the whole bill.

Lymington meters electricity through your own metered cable and charges per unit used. It doesn't publish a unit price on the berthing page. Royal Quays and Neyland also charge electricity on top. Alcaidesa charges by meter reading at €0.30 per kWh, and water at €1.90 per cubic metre, both before IVA. Almerimar includes electricity in the berth for sailing boats but not for motorboats. Port Andratx adds a percentage to the utility supplier's own tariff.

How much power a boat uses varies enormously. A boat left unplugged most of the winter might use almost nothing. One with a dehumidifier running, a battery charger and air conditioning in August can use a lot. To give a sense of scale only, here's what a few usage levels would cost at Alcaidesa's published unit price.

The usage figures are ours, not the marina's. Check your own meter readings from last year if you have them.

Worked yearly budget, 10m sailing yacht

Putting the berth, the taxes and an assumed 100 kWh a month together:

The Royal Quays and Lymington totals leave power out because neither page gives a unit price. We'd rather show a gap than make one up.

What else comes with an annual berth

UK contracts often come with perks that are worth real money if you use them.

• Lymington berth holders get free storage ashore from 1 May to 31 August and half price storage ashore at other times. Annual berth holders pay £0.70 per metre per day ashore from 1 September to 30 April. They also get 5% off fuel and up to 14 free nights at other Yacht Havens marinas.
• Royal Quays includes 12 weeks' free storage ashore, a Nationwide Cruising Pass and 10% off lifting and labour.
• Neyland berth holders get 14 free nights at other Yacht Havens marinas and 50% off at TransEurope marinas.
• Alcaidesa annual berth holders get 50% off visitor fees for up to five days at a time at other TransEurope marinas, 26% off the boatyard, lifting and hard standing, free parking, and up to 40% off the daily rate if they pay the annual contract in advance.

Those perks change the sums. Twelve weeks of free storage at Royal Quays is worth more to a boat that comes out every winter than to one that stays in.

Wintering: afloat or ashore

Here's where the UK and Spain really differ.

In the UK a lot of owners lift out for the winter. That means a lift, a pressure wash, storage ashore and a relaunch in spring. On the south coast that isn't cheap. For a 10 metre boat ashore at Lymington's berth holder rate of £0.70 per metre per day from November to March (151 days), the storage alone comes to about £1,057, before lifting. We wrote about the full cost of laying up separately in our guide to winter boat storage costs in the UK.

Some UK marinas sell a winter afloat package instead. Lymington's runs from 31 October 2026 to 1 March 2027 at £1,700 for boats up to 10.1 metres and £2,130 up to 12.2 metres. Neyland's upper basin is £50 per metre per month over winter.

In southern Spain many owners never lift out except for antifouling. The boat stays in the water and gets used on good days in January.

If you do lift out in Spain, the published rates are:

Andratx storage ashore gets dearer the longer you stay, which is the opposite of what UK owners are used to. A 10 by 4 metre boat left ashore for a month at Andratx comes to roughly €650 before IVA at the maximum rates (7 days at €0.41 and 23 days at €0.58, times 40 square metres). Lift in and out on top.

Almerimar's storage price is a flat daily rate, and a month ashore for a 10 metre boat at €11.92 a day is about €358 before IVA and before any advance discount.

The extra costs of keeping a UK boat in Spain

The berth is only part of it if you live in the UK and keep the boat in Spain. These are the costs and rules people forget.

Getting there

You'll fly. How often and from where makes a big difference, and fares move too much to put a fixed figure on it. A useful exercise is to count how many trips you'd make a year, price a typical return for the dates you'd actually travel, and add the transfer from the airport to the marina. Gibraltar and Málaga are the obvious airports for Alcaidesa, and Almería for Almerimar. Palma has more flights than any of them.

Do the same for the UK side. A berth in Pembrokeshire or on the Tyne is only cheap if you can get there. Fuel and time on the road count.

The 90 in 180 day rule

UK passport holders can stay in the Schengen area, which includes Spain, without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180 day period. Days in other Schengen countries count towards the same 90. Overstaying can get you banned from Schengen countries for up to three years.

For most owners that's plenty. For someone who wants to spend the whole summer aboard, it isn't. If you're retired and planning three months on the boat, then a few weeks in France on the way home, do the sums on the calendar first. The EU's new Entry/Exit System now records entries and exits, so time spent is tracked.

The boat's customs status

A UK boat is a non-EU boat in Spain. Under EU customs rules a boat registered outside the EU, owned by someone established outside the EU and used privately can come in under temporary admission without paying import duty or VAT. The European Commission's guidance says it must leave the EU customs territory again within 18 months.

So a UK owned, UK registered boat kept in Spain needs to leave the EU at least once every 18 months. Gibraltar is the obvious answer for boats on the Costa del Sol and around Alcaidesa, though check the current position on Gibraltar's border before relying on it. Keep the dated evidence of each entry and exit.

If you become resident in Spain, or the boat ends up owned by someone established in the EU, temporary admission no longer fits and the boat may need importing, with VAT to pay. Take advice before you move.

Spanish matriculation tax

Spain charges a registration tax, the impuesto especial sobre determinados medios de transporte, on the first definitive registration of a leisure boat in Spain. According to the Spanish tax agency, it is 12% for boats over 8 metres in length (11% in the Canaries). Boats of 8 metres or less don't pay it.

For a visitor on temporary admission this doesn't normally arise. It can matter if you become resident and register the boat in Spain, and it is a big number on a 10 or 12 metre boat. Get a gestor or a tax adviser to look at your situation before you register anything.

Insurance

Most UK policies set a cruising area. Keeping the boat in the Mediterranean full time usually means changing it, and the premium can go up or down. Ask your insurer for a quote for the specific marina before you sign a berth contract. Some Spanish marinas also require proof of third party cover with a minimum level. Alcaidesa mentions an offer for berth holders with AXA, though we haven't compared it.

Survey and paperwork

If you're buying a boat already in Spain, have it surveyed before you commit, and check its VAT status and paperwork as carefully as its hull. Our guide to boat survey costs in the UK covers what a survey should include. If the boat will be in Spanish waters, it's also worth sorting your ICC. We cover the cost of getting one in our guide to RYA courses and ICC costs.

Extras table

There's another cost Spain wins on: usage

This is harder to put into a spreadsheet, but it may matter more than anything else.

Suppose two owners each pay the same £6,000 equivalent for a berth.

The UK owner uses the boat on 25 days a year. The owner in Spain spends 70 days aboard.

The berth costs the UK owner £240 for every boating day and the owner in Spain about £86.

Nobody actually works out boat ownership like that, and the owner in Spain is also paying for the flights to get there. But it explains why Mediterranean berthing can feel like better value even when the marina invoice isn't much lower.

Being able to use the boat often is part of what you're paying for. If you're thinking about cruising the islands from a mainland base, our guide to cruising the Balearics covers the passages and where to stop.

Would we keep a boat in the UK or Spain?

If the decision were purely about money, we'd avoid the fashionable places in either country.

A mainland Spanish marina like Alcaidesa or Almerimar can be good value. You get Mediterranean cruising, more reliable weather and an annual berth for under €5,000 with IVA, against more than £9,500 at Lymington.

If Britain were home, we'd look beyond the obvious spots. Royal Quays and Neyland both come in under £5,000 a year for a 10 metre boat. Moving even a modest distance from the Solent can save thousands every year.

Mallorca is different. You don't keep a boat there because it's cheap. You keep it there because when you leave the marina on a Saturday morning you have Cala Portals, Cabrera, Andratx, Sóller, Ibiza and Menorca on the doorstep.

Like property, marina prices come down to location.

The verdict

So are berthing costs cheaper in Spain than in the UK in 2026?

Usually, but only if you compare the right places.

• Mainland Spain against the Solent: Spain wins easily. A 10 metre sailing yacht at Alcaidesa costs about €4,470 a year with IVA against about £9,560 at Lymington.
• Mainland Spain against regional UK marinas: close. Almerimar paid in advance, Royal Quays and Neyland all land within a few hundred pounds or euros of each other.
• Mallorca against regional Britain: the UK is a lot cheaper. Andratx at maximum tariff is about €7,660 for a 10 metre boat.
• Premium Balearics against the premium Solent: neither is cheap.

For a UK owner, Spain also brings flights, the 90 day limit, the 18 month customs rule and insurance changes, so the berth saving has to cover those before it's a saving.

For most owners the best value berth isn't the cheapest one. It's the one close enough to use often, in a cruising area you like, at a price that doesn't make you wince when the direct debit goes out.

Compare marinas before choosing a berth

The Jack & Anchor Marina Directory lets you find and compare marinas across the UK and Europe, including facilities, local cruising areas and contact information.

If you're still looking for the boat to put in that berth, browse Boats for Sale or use BoatCheck to investigate a used boat before committing to the purchase.

Sources

All pages read in October 2026.

• Lymington Yacht Haven berthing rates, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027
• Neyland Yacht Haven berthing rates, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027
• Royal Quays Marina annual berthing, boatfolk, correct at January 2026
• MDL Hamble Point Marina tariffs, valid until 31 March 2027
• Alcaidesa Marina berthing rates 2026/27
• Puerto Deportivo de Almerimar, 2026 mooring and hardstand rates (PDF)
• Ports IB, Tarifes màximes 2026, Marina Port Andratx (PDF)
• Marina Alicante, Marina Deportiva
• GOV.UK, Spain entry requirements
• European Commission, guidance on pleasure craft and temporary admission (PDF)
• Agencia Tributaria, registration tax on leisure boats