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In 2026, dropping the anchor in a Mediterranean bay is rarely free anymore for a yacht above 24m LOA. The Posidonia protection regime in France, the Cinque Terre no-anchor zone, the Croatian national park permit system, the Saint-Tropez buoy field at Pampelonne, and the Porto Cervo buoy programme have all converted what used to be open seabed into managed permits. A 50m yacht anchoring nightly in the Med in peak season can absorb €5,000 to €15,000 of APA on permits and buoy fees over a single week. The amount depends almost entirely on routing.
We work through the regulated zones, the per-night bands, the permit-application process where it applies, and the unregulated alternatives that still exist if the routing is shaped around them.
The structural shift since 2019
Mediterranean anchorage was largely a free-good model until the late 2010s. Yachts dropped where the chart allowed, paid local water-taxi or shore-fee charges if they went ashore, and that was the bill.
Three pressures changed it. The first was the discovery that Posidonia oceanica, the seagrass that stabilises the French and Italian coastal seabed, was being destroyed by anchor scarring at a rate that was visible in aerial surveys. The 2019 French decree and the 2020 follow-on enforcement converted Posidonia beds into protected zones with mandatory buoy fields.
The second was overcrowding. Saint-Tropez, Cala di Volpe, Capri, and Hvar in peak August had multiple incidents of yachts grounding, dragging anchor onto each other, and overwhelming local emergency services. The managed-anchorage model emerged as the regulatory response.
The third was revenue. Marine national parks (Croatia's Kornati, Mljet, and Brijuni; Italy's Cinque Terre and Maddalena; France's Port-Cros) had a quiet decision in the late 2010s that yacht traffic was a tax base, not a tourism cost.
The result by 2026: most of the headline anchorages now charge. The question for clients is where, how much, and how to route a week that absorbs the cost as planned APA rather than as surprise overrun.
France: the Posidonia regime
The French regime is the strictest and the most enforced. The 2019 decree and the 2023 follow-on prohibit anchoring on Posidonia beds for yachts above 24m, with civil fines starting at €150 per metre of LOA and criminal penalties for repeat offences. The enforcement uses satellite tracking plus harbour-master patrols.
Yachts above 24m in regulated zones must anchor either:
- In a designated buoy field, paid per night by LOA
- In a sand-bottom area outside the Posidonia meadow, verified by chart and by the captain's anchor camera or diver inspection
The buoy fields charge:
- Pampelonne (Saint-Tropez): €500 to €1,200 per night for a 50m yacht, with a permit system that books out in peak weeks
- Cap Ferrat / Villefranche-sur-Mer: €400 to €900 per night
- Cap d'Antibes: limited buoys at €350 to €750
- Calvi (Corsica): €350 to €650 in the Citadel anchorage
- Bonifacio Strait / Lavezzi Islands: €400 to €800 (the Lavezzi reserve is heavily enforced)
- Port-Cros (national park): €300 to €600 for permitted anchorages; some bays prohibited entirely
The Saint-Tropez permit is the most consequential. For more on the 2026 regime see our Saint-Tropez anchorage permit piece. Booking is through the Pampelonne management office, with day-of availability that runs out by Tuesday in most August weeks.
Italy: marine parks and the Cinque Terre line
The Italian regime is more variable. Marine parks have their own permit systems. Areas outside the parks remain largely unregulated, with some local exceptions.
Cinque Terre marine protected area: anchoring is prohibited within the protected zone for yachts above 20m. Yachts may transit but must continue beyond the limit before dropping the hook. The fallback anchorage is Portovenere or Lerici, outside the boundary.
Maddalena Archipelago National Park (Sardinia): permit required for entry and overnight stay, structured as a per-yacht daily fee plus mooring buoy charges at designated bays.
- Entry permit: roughly €100 to €350 per day depending on LOA and zone class
- Buoy in Spargi, Budelli, or Caprera: €150 to €450 per night See our Maddalena Archipelago charter piece for the bay-by-bay breakdown.
Costa Smeralda: not a park, but the bay system has informal buoy-field charges levied by the Consortium. Cala di Volpe and Liscia di Vacca have managed buoy lines at €300 to €700 per night.
Aeolian Islands: largely unregulated outside the Stromboli volcanic exclusion zone. Vulcano, Lipari, Salina, and Panarea anchorages are free at anchor on suitable bottoms, with informal local-mooring buoys at €100 to €250 per night.
Pontine Islands (Ponza, Palmarola, Ventotene): similar unregulated pattern, with some bay-specific informal moorings at €100 to €300 per night.
Capri: not a regulated anchorage zone in the strict sense, but the Marina Grande operating regime restricts anchoring near the port. The Faraglioni anchorage is open-water and free, with the caveat that holding is poor and most yachts use the marina or a day-mooring buoy outside the breakwater (€200 to €500).
Amalfi Coast (Positano, Amalfi, Praiano): unregulated open-water anchoring is technically permitted, but the busy coastal zone has informal local-mooring providers offering day buoys at €150 to €350.
Croatia: the national park system and tourist tax
Croatia operates four marine national parks (Brijuni, Kornati, Mljet) and three nature parks (Telašćica, Lastovo, Vis), each with permit requirements.
Kornati National Park: per-yacht daily ticket for entry. Indicative 2026 rates for a 50m yacht: €300 to €450 per day. Buoy fees in designated bays additional, at €100 to €250 per night. See our Kornati permit and four anchorages piece for the per-bay breakdown.
Mljet National Park: similar structure, with the Veliko Jezero and Malo Jezero zones inside the park prohibited to large yachts (under-25m only). Coastal anchorages around the park have buoy fields at €150 to €350 per night.
Telašćica Nature Park: per-yacht daily fee and mooring buoy fees in the protected bays of Mir Lake. €200 to €400 for a 50m yacht overnight.
Croatian tourist tax (boravisna pristojba): a separate per-passenger tax that applies regardless of where the yacht is overnight. The 2026 rate is roughly €1.30 per person per night, with a yacht supplement that scales with LOA. For a 50m yacht with 12 guests this lands at €15 to €30 per night in APA. The Croatia charter tax piece covers the full structure.
Outside parks, Croatian anchoring is largely unregulated, with most popular bays in Korčula, Hvar, and Šolta offering informal mooring buoys at €60 to €180 per night.
Spain: the Balearics and the Posidonia parallel
Spain has a Posidonia protection regime in the Balearics that mirrors the French system in principle. Enforcement is less consistent than in France, but the trend is toward stricter management.
Formentera: paid mooring buoy system at Ses Illetes, Espalmador, and the south-coast bays. €150 to €400 per night for a 50m yacht. See our Formentera anchorage permit reality piece for the booking mechanic.
Mallorca and Menorca: variable. Cala Macarella, Cala Galdana, and the north-coast anchorages of Mallorca have informal buoy systems at €80 to €250 per night. Anchoring on sand-bottom outside Posidonia beds is permitted with a chart check.
Ibiza: most anchorages outside the protected zones are unregulated open-water, with informal buoys at €100 to €300 in the headline bays.
Greece: the open-water exception
Greece is the Mediterranean anchorage market that most resembles the pre-2019 regime. Open-water anchoring is permitted across most of the Aegean and Ionian, with informal mooring buoys at the busier bays only. Mykonos, Santorini, Hydra, and the Cyclades headline anchorages have local-tender services and water taxis that take small fees but do not gate access.
The exception is the Northern Sporades Marine Park (Alonnisos) where a permit is required for entry. The fee is modest, around €100 to €200 per day for a 50m yacht.
The other exception is the post-2022 Greek charter law adjustment, which introduced port fees and a small per-passenger contribution that applies to commercial-charter yachts even at anchor. See the Greece charter law update for the full structure.
Turkey: cabotage and the foreign-flag question
Turkish anchorage is largely free of buoy-field charges, but the foreign-flag charter regime requires a cabotage license for any yacht running paid charter in Turkish waters. The license is per-yacht, per-season, and is the structural cost on the Turkish side rather than per-night anchorage fees.
Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye, and the southern coast around Kekova allow open-water anchoring in most bays, with informal buoy moorings at the busier spots.
What a routed week actually costs in anchorage
A typical 7-day Med charter on a French and Italian Riviera routing in peak season:
- 2 nights Pampelonne buoy: €1,200 to €2,400
- 1 night Cap Ferrat buoy: €400 to €900
- 2 nights free anchoring (Lavezzi outside the reserve, off Cap d'Ail): €0
- 1 night Cala di Volpe buoy: €300 to €700
- 1 night Bonifacio Strait permitted buoy: €400 to €800
Anchorage line in APA: €2,300 to €4,800. Add another €2,000 to €5,000 if the routing spends two nights in marina (covered in the dockage fees piece).
A Croatian week in the national park system in peak:
- 2 days Kornati entry permit: €600 to €900
- 2 nights Kornati buoy: €200 to €500
- 1 night Mljet park: €250 to €500
- 2 nights Telašćica or Pakleni: €300 to €700
- Tourist tax (12 guests, 7 nights): €110 to €250
Total Croatian park and tourist-tax line: €1,460 to €2,850.
A Greek week largely free of anchorage fees, with most cost absorbed in port fees at Mykonos and Hydra (€200 to €600 per night when alongside).
What the captain books and what the client sees
In 2026, captains book buoys and submit park permits through online port and harbour systems. Most park permits are paid by credit card on entry; some require pre-application. The captain handles the paperwork. The client sees the line items in the APA reconciliation.
A clean reconciliation matches the published park fees and the buoy operator's invoiced receipt. A reconciliation with mystery "anchorage service fees" that have no underlying receipt is worth asking about. The captain has the right to charge their time, but the third-party buoy or permit cost should reconcile to a stated authority.
What needs work about anchorage routing
We would push back on a routing that books Pampelonne for three or more consecutive nights in August. The view is the same on night three as on night one, the cost is consistent, and the rest of the Riviera offers cheaper, better-held anchorages within an hour's run.
We would not skip the Kornati permit on a Croatian week. The park is the point of the destination. The €300 to €450 daily ticket is small relative to the experience.
We would push back on a captain anchoring on Posidonia in 2026. The fines are large, the satellite enforcement is real, and the practice damages the seabed for everyone. A captain who proposes "we'll just drop here, it's quiet" is a captain who has not read the 2023 enforcement update.
The honest disclosure
Buoy and permit rates change quarterly. The numbers in this piece are as of May 2026 from confirmed bookings, park publications, and APA reconciliations on charters in 2025 and early 2026. We will update each quarter. The companion pieces on dockage fees, hidden charter costs, and the destination-specific anchorage explainers (Saint-Tropez, Hvar, Kornati, Maddalena) cover the bay-by-bay detail. For the destination-level routing decisions, see /charter/french-riviera/ and /charter/croatia/. For shore-side context around the major anchorages, the network site villasforkings.com covers the villa option for clients arriving early or staying after the week.
FAQ
Do I have to pay to anchor in the Mediterranean? In regulated zones, yes. Open-water anchoring outside marine parks and Posidonia zones remains largely free, but the regulated zones cover most headline bays.
What is the most expensive Med anchorage buoy? Pampelonne (Saint-Tropez) in peak August, at €1,000 to €1,200 per night for a 50m yacht.
Can the captain be fined for anchoring on Posidonia? Yes. French fines start at €150 per metre of LOA. Repeat offences escalate to criminal penalties.
Are Greek anchorages free? Mostly, outside the Northern Sporades Marine Park. Greek port fees apply when alongside.
Does the tourist tax apply at anchor in Croatia? Yes. The boravisna pristojba is a per-passenger overnight tax that applies regardless of where the yacht is moored.
How much should we budget for anchorage in a Med week? €3,000 to €12,000 of APA in peak season on a French and Italian routing. Less in Greece and Croatia outside parks.