A great marina is not the one with the most superyachts. It is the one you are glad to be in when the wind gets up and the town behind it is worth walking into.
Marinas are usually ranked by berth count and celebrity traffic. Judged instead on shelter, service, setting and what lies within ten minutes on foot, the list looks quite different.
The Mediterranean
- Port Hercule, Monaco
- The most valuable water in yachting and the centre of the industry’s calendar. Extraordinary during the Grand Prix and the Yacht Show, and priced accordingly.
- Marina Porto Cervo, Sardinia
- Costa Smeralda’s heart, and the yardstick for Mediterranean summer glamour since the 1960s.
- Port Vauban, Antibes
- Home of the Quai des Milliardaires and, more usefully, the largest concentration of crew, brokers and refit expertise in Europe.
- Marina Grande, Capri
- Small, impossible in August, and the approach past the Faraglioni is one of the great arrivals.
- Marina Ibiza
- Superb service and the shortest possible distance between a berth and a very long evening.
The Adriatic
- ACI Marina Dubrovnik
- Deep in a protected inlet, well run, and the base for the southern Croatian coast.
- Marina Porto Montenegro, Tivat
- The Adriatic’s superyacht marina, purpose-built in the Bay of Kotor with the mountains directly behind it.
- Marina Frapa, Rogoznica
- Repeatedly among Europe’s best-regarded marinas, and a genuinely pleasant place to sit out weather.
- Venice
- Arriving in Venice by water remains, by some distance, the most theatrical berthing in the world.
The test of a marina is what happens when the forecast is bad, not what is moored there when it is good.
Beyond Europe
- Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua
- A working Georgian naval dockyard, UNESCO-listed, and the historic heart of Caribbean yachting.
- Yacht Haven Grande, St Thomas
- The Caribbean’s superyacht hub, and the practical base for the Virgin Islands.
- Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
- Not beautiful in the Mediterranean sense, and unmatched as an arrival into a city.
- Auckland Viaduct
- The America’s Cup city, and the best sailing culture of any harbour on this list.
The one nobody lists
The best night most crews have is not in a marina at all. It is on a buoy in a bay with one konoba, where the total infrastructure is a water hose and a man who remembers your boat. Marinas are for weather, water and laundry. The rest of the week should be spent avoiding them.