Private Boat Hire in Nice: What the Price Covers

The price on a charter's card is rarely the whole price. Some quote per group, some per person, and several add a fee paid on board. This guide adds it all up. The boats themselves are compared among the private boat tours in Nice.

What does a private boat in Nice cost?

It starts at $86 a person for an hour on the solar boat and runs to $987 for a group on a four-hour charter. In between, the per-person charters run from $220 to $464. Then add the fee on board where a charter has one: €300, or €150 plus €150.

The cheapest charter is the shortest. For two or three hours on the water with drinks aboard, plan on several hundred dollars before any fee.

Per boat or per person?

Both, and it changes the sums a great deal.

• Per group: Happy Drive Tours and the four-hour charter for up to four quote $987 for the boat, up to 5 or 4 people.
• Per person, for a party of two: the SARDiiNE boat and the solar boat quote a price for each of two adults on a boat that is yours.
• Per person, tiered: the day-cruiser from the cape and Les Balades au Soleil change the rate with your group's size.

So the booking page, not the card, shows your real total. Enter your party's size and read the total before you pay.

What is the fee paid on board?

It is a charge written into a charter's own exclusions, paid to the skipper when you board. It covers local port fees, or the skipper and the fuel.

Are the skipper, fuel and port fees included?

On some charters, yes. The four-hour charter for up to four says the skipper's fee and fuel are already in its fare. The solar boat's captain comes with the boat, and it runs on the sun.

On the others, the fee on board is exactly those costs. Les Balades au Soleil lists its guide-captain as included and its skipper fee as excluded: the €150 is paid on site.

What's in the cooler?

• SARDiiNE: rosé, soft drinks, water, local delicacies, pastries and fruit.
• The day-cruiser: brunch, coffee or tea, soft drinks, water and alcoholic drinks.
• Happy Drive Tours: a bottle of wine and water; brunch is not included.
• Four-hour charter: alcoholic drinks; snacks, lunch and dinner are not.
• Les Balades au Soleil: water, soft drinks and a bottle of rosé or prosecco.
• Tiber Plaisance: snacks, alcoholic and soft drinks.
• Solar boat: nothing. Bring your own.

If you want a meal on board, you need the day-cruiser with its brunch, or you bring your own food. Ask the skipper before you pack a picnic, and ask what you may bring to drink. On a boat with wine aboard, you do not need to.

How many can come?

The per-group fares name their limit: up to 4 on the four-hour charter, up to 5 with Happy Drive Tours. The per-person charters do not print a limit on the fare, so ask before you book for a larger party.

If your party is six or more, you may need a bigger boat or a second one. Say how many you are when you ask, and say whether children are coming: Happy Drive Tours seats infants on a lap and asks their age so it brings the right life jacket.

Which harbour do the charters leave from?

Four harbours, and the taxi to the far ones is part of your cost.

• The Port of Nice: Happy Drive Tours and the four-hour charter board on Quai Lunel, in the city.
• Beaulieu-sur-Mer: the solar boats, from the marina.
• The cape: the day-cruiser and Les Balades au Soleil, from the harbour at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Les Balades au Soleil collects you in Nice for €100.
• Below Èze: SARDiiNE and Tiber Plaisance, from Port Silva Maris.

If you are staying in the city, you walk to the boats on Quai Lunel. For the others you add a taxi or a train each way, and a later return if your charter runs to four hours. If you are staying in Beaulieu or on the cape, the sums turn round, and the boat is at your door. The map of the departure points shows all four.

One hour, three or four?

One hour on the solar boat is a look at the coast with no swim stop. Two and a half hours, on SARDiiNE or the day-cruiser, gives you a swim. Three to four hours, on Les Balades au Soleil or the per-group charters, lets you stop in more than one bay.

If you want more than one swim, you need three hours or more. If you want a look at the coast and a drink, two and a half hours is plenty, and you pay for less time on the water.

Happy Drive Tours spends an hour in Villefranche bay and an hour off the cape. The four-hour charter gives Monaco 30 minutes and Villefranche an hour.

Is the solar boat the cheapest private option?

Yes. The solar boat from Beaulieu-sur-Mer starts at $86 a person, with no fee on board. It is silent, the captain guides as you go, and you may take a turn at the helm.

The one-hour fare has no swim stop; the boat anchors to swim on two hours or more. There is no toilet, food, drink or towel aboard. It lists blankets for winter trips.

See the solar boat for every option it sells.

What does a sunset charter cost?

Some charters sell an evening departure. The SARDiiNE boat's sunset trip sits beside its day options, with the €300 local fee on top. The four-hour charter prices its sunset option separately, above its day fare, and shows it by date.

A shared sunset trip costs $62 to $84 a person, with wine or a punch at anchor. The Nice sunset boat tours page compares them.

What else might you pay for?

• Getting to the harbour: a taxi or a train to Beaulieu, the cape or Èze, and back.
• A pickup: Les Balades au Soleil collects you in the Port of Nice for €100.
• Towels: €10 each on Les Balades au Soleil, and none on the solar boat. SARDiiNE, Tiber Plaisance and the day-cruiser supply them.
• Food: on every charter except the day-cruiser and SARDiiNE, you bring your own or eat before.
• A tip: never in the fare, and always your choice.

Add these to the fare and the fee on board, and you have what the day costs your party.

What does every charter cost in full?

Prices are the lowest listed and move with the date and party size.

Is a charter worth it over a shared boat?

For two people, rarely on price alone: a shared swim trip costs $56 to $125 a person. For five, the gap narrows: $987 for the boat, against $284 to $626 for five places on a shared trip.

Pay for a charter when the route, the company or the drinks matter to you, or when you want a toilet and some shade. Take a shared boat when the swim and the view are the point, and you do not mind sharing a boat of up to twelve. The French Riviera boat tours from Nice page compares the shared trips.

Frequently asked questions

Charters with the costs spelled out

Private Luxury Boat Tour on an Exclusive Day-Cruiser Nice/Monaco

Two and a half hours on a day-cruiser from the marina on the cape, with brunch, drinks, a shower and a toilet aboard. The captain and fuel add €300, paid on board.

From $464 per person plus €300 captain and fuel, paid on board

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Private Boat Tour in the Sun of Nice, St Jean Cap Ferrât

Three to four hours from the harbour on the cape, with a restroom, a paddleboard and a bottle of rosé or prosecco. Skipper and diesel are €150 each, paid on site in cash.

From $220 per person plus €150 skipper and €150 fuel, paid on site, no cards

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Private Boat Tour Nice, Villefranche, St Jean Cap Ferrat

The boat for up to five people for four hours from the Port of Nice, with a parasol, snorkel gear, water and a bottle of wine aboard. One price covers the group.

From $987 per group (up to 5)

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