Introduction
Sailing in Barcelona is becoming one of the most cool and trendy activities in the city. Every year thousands of people get into a sailboat and spend a few hours in the Mediterranean Sea with family or friends sailing along the coast of Barcelona.
It is not surprising that this kind of activity is becoming more famous year after year because Barcelona have the perfect sailing scenario: Good weather, good sea and beautiful coast.
In this post we will try to show you the best destinations sailing from Barcelona.
Barcelona Skyline
Barcelona is located in the North-west of the Mediterranean Sea, so if you like sailing and you have time enough to make a long trip, there are a lot of beautiful places to visit. Find below the ones that we have sailed to and we recommend:
Short distance sailing trips:
The most popular sailing activities (our best seller) are the 2, 3 and 4 hours sailing trips along the coast of Barcelona. In this short distance boat trips in Barcelona you can reach the following destinations or follow the following routes:
Montgat beach (1,5 hours sailing from port olímpic of Barcelona):
This is the most beautiful beach near Barcelona. It is 1,5 hours sailing from port olímpic of Barcelona. This zone is very less crowded than the beaches located in the city center. The water is very blue and clear and invites you to have a swim or snorkel for a while. This beach is located next to Montgat Village (very beautiful one) which you can see from the sea. We really recommend to sail to this area if you take a private boat trip of 4 hours.
Montgat beach
Badalona beach (1 hour sailing from port olímpic of Barcelona):
This is the best destination if you rent a boat for 2 or 3 hours. The water is more clear than the Barcelona one and you will see Badalona from the sea which is very beautiful with a promenade with palm trees.
Badalona beach
Port vell tour (30 min sailing from port olímpic of Barcelona):
A tour inside the Barcelona Harbour (Port vell) is a good option if you want to appreciate the Columbus statue, the Maremagnum, the one ocean club (luxury boats zone) and all the port vell areas in a boat.
It is a good option also if the sea is very rough and you prefer calm waters.
Barceloneta beach (15 min sailing from port olímpic of Barcelona):
This is the most famous beach in Barcelona and it is just next to the port olimpic. There is a lot of activity in this area and there are the best views of the city skyline.
Sunset in Barceloneta beach
In this post you can find a list with details of all the beaches of Barcelona
Barcelona skyline route (2 hours sailing):
This route will take 2 hours aprox. Departing from port olímpic, passing next to W hotel and sailing to the North, you will enjoy the skyline of Barcelona from the sea. We really recommend this option and the best hour to do it is for the sunset.
Sail offshore (from 2 to 3 hours sailing):
If you are passionate about sailing and you want to enjoy the power of the wind, we recommend to sail directly offshore to the East direction. The wind in Barcelona use to comes from the South-East so it is perfect to sail offshore from port olímpic and make a tack to come back whenever you want.
Barcelona sailing offshore
If you are visiting Barcelona and want to enjoy a 2, 3, 4 or 8 hours private boat trip, you can book it with us ????
Find below the link to our booking page. We hope to see you soon in one of our boats!
Medium distance sailing trips:
Menorca (18 hours sailing from Barcelona)
Menorca is our favourite Balearic island. It is less crowded than Mallorca and Ibiza and you will like if you want amazing and beautiful places with a relaxing atmosphere.
Menorca (cala escaló blanc)
Ibiza and Formentera (24 hours sailing from Barcelona)
Ibiza is maybe the most famous island of Spain. There are very beautiful beaches and places where sail. The most famous truism there is the party one but you can find relaxing places if you go by boat. Our favourite beach: Benirrás.
Formentera is located next to Ibiza. It uses to be better weather than the other Balearic Islands and is quieter than Ibiza.
Costa Brava (6 hours sailing from Barcelona)
The first village of the Costa Brava is Blanes and the line coast goes up along around 200 km until Cadaqués (amazing village).
This is for sure the best coast zone of Spain. There are a lot of cliff zones with nature, the water is very clear and colder than the other coasts of Spain.
We really recommend costa brava if you rent a boat for 1 or 2 weeks in Barcelona or directly in costa brava.
Our favourite part is the north one: from Cadaqués to Portbou. This is the most wild and less crowded part.
Sitges (5 hours sailing from Barcelona):
Sitges is one of the most beautiful villages in Catalunya, we recommend to walk from the port d’aiguadolç (sailboats port) to the city center. Amazing views.
The port is called Port d’Aiguadolç and it is very beautiful and there are very good restaurants (Recommendation: Eat a rice with lobster at the restaurant: Can Laury. Is amazing).
Long distance sailing trips:
Greece (1 week sailing from Barcelona):
We have sailed to the Ionian islands (west of Greece) passing through Sardinia and Sicily. We spend a little bit more than 1 month for that trip and we really enjoyed it.
We stayed in the following islands of Greece: Kefalonia, Ithaka, Lefkada and Meganisi.
The true is that in that trip we have seen the most wild and beautiful beaches in all our lives (and we have been in the caribean, Indonesia, Filipines, etc). Find below several pictures of the “White satin” (one of our sailboats) taken with our drone.
That amazing beach is located in the west coast of Kefalonia, you can only go by boat. The sand is formed by small and white stones. The water is pure and crystalline and there is a very wild forest just behind the beach.
Recommended villages to visit in the Ionian Islands: Asos (last picture, the one that we are all posing in the stern of the boat), Vathy (Ithaka) and Spartachori (Meganisi island) which is a small village with a very small and familiar port where you can enjoy a couple of relaxing days (the marina is the restaurant of the harbour).
Sicily (5 days sailing from Barcelona):
The most beautiful part of Sicily and the one that we recommend more to visit is the Aeolian islands. My favourite is Panarea, is one of the smallest of Aeolian area but we like it a lot. The houses are all white and beautiful and the island is very quiet.
We passed by the active volcano called Stromboli and the island of Vulcano.
Recommendations: Visit Favignana island (west of Sicily) if you want to relax before coming back to Barcelona and Scilla (in the Messina strait) if you want to eat the best sword fish in the world.
Tip: If you want to cross the Messina strait you have to take into account the strong currents so as to pass through in a good speed. Otherwise it will be very hard for you to cross the strait. There are written schedules of the currents that you can check in internet.
Corsica (4 days sailing from Barcelona):
We went to Corsica in 2017 and the best place I remember is Bonifacio. Located in the top of the cliff at the very south of the island, Bonifacio is a very beautiful and medieval village with a lot of sailing culture.
Bonifacio from the sea
Sardinia (3 days sailing from Barcelona):
We have been to Sardinia a couple of times and we really recommend to sail along the north coast, especially in “la Maddalena island”. I have very good memories about “Cala Gavetta” (south Maddalena) where the sailors of that small port are helping all time to the visitor sailing boats with the docking manoeuvre because of the strong currents that this harbour has. They push the boats from one side to another with their dinghy (which they call gomone).
A good sailing point to remark is the Stintino strait (north west of Sardinia) where you have to follow the alignments of the books or the electronic chart so as to pass through the correct way without hitting the rocks.
Cote d’azur (2 days sailing from Barcelona):
After crossing the Golf of Lion from Costa brava to Marselle you will find the Cote d’azur. Amazing coast line located in the south-east part of France with a lot of sailing activity and very beautiful places and plenty of luxury yachts.
We made a 3 weeks trip to this area and one of the most amazing parts was the visit of a huge whale during the sail-crossing of the Golf of Lion, you can see the video in our post
We visited: Marseille, Toulon, Saint Tropez, Cannes, Nice and Mónaco.
Recommendation: visit the Porquerolles National Park. There are amazing blue waters where you can see the bottom all time with a lot of kind of fishes.
Conclusions:
I hope you enjoyed the post. Now you know the best sailing destinations sailing from Barcelona. You can choose the best for you depending on the duration of your sailing trip.
If you are visiting Barcelona and want to enjoy a 2, 3, 4 or 8 hours private boat trip, you can book it with us ????
We recommend to book it early in the morning or for sunset in summer because the sea use to be calm at that times. In winter the best time is from 12pm to 3pm because there is better temperature.
We also recommend to take medicine against the seasickness (just prevention) if you are not used to sail.
Find below the link to our booking page. We hope to see you soon in one of our boats!