By Klara Jakobsen, Yacht Reviewer at DMA Yachting.
A wellness yacht charter in the South of France is a week on a yacht built with a spa, a therapist who is crew or comes out by tender, and a chef who cooks to your brief, not a menu. Mornings happen at anchor off the islands. Evenings happen in the towns.
The difference from a spa hotel is simple: the treatment room moves with you. You wake off the Iles de Lerins, swim before breakfast, have a massage on the sundeck at anchor, and still eat dinner in Antibes that night. Nothing is shared, and nobody else is in the sauna.
Below: the honest scale of each feature across the 477 yachts on this site, how the therapist is arranged and paid, what the chef needs from you, and 3 yachts that carry a proper spa.
Spa, Sauna, Gym and Pool: What the South of France Fleet Carries
The word wellness gets attached to any yacht with a hot tub. Here is the honest scale of each, and the page that holds the full list.
Jacuzzi. 158 yachts carry one, so it is the baseline, not the feature to book around. Where it sits matters more than whether it exists. See charter yachts with a jacuzzi.
Pool. A real pool, long enough to swim in or deep enough to cool a whole party, is a much shorter list. We rate the 8 best on charter yachts with a pool.
Gym. 78 yachts have a gym, from a treadmill on the sundeck to a room with a reformer and a crew member to run it. The page that owns that list also says which crews can coach a session: charter yachts with a gym.
Spa or massage room. 107 yachts list a spa or massage room, often in the beach club, which 104 yachts on this site have. This is the feature that makes a wellness week work, and the 3 yachts further down this page are chosen for it.
Sauna or hammam. The rarest feature of all: 25 yachts. If a sauna, steam room or hammam is the point of the week, start with charter yachts with a sauna.
How the Therapist Joins the Week, and What It Costs
There are 2 ways. On the larger yachts the therapist is crew: a stewardess trained in massage who lives aboard, runs the spa, and fits treatments around your day. SHERAKHAN, for example, carries a spa stewardess trained in Swedish and shiatsu massage.
On yachts without a therapist in the crew, we book one. Tell us at inquiry what you want, a massage every afternoon or a trainer 3 mornings a week, and we arrange one who boards by tender or at the quay for the day or the week.
Cost, in shape: a visiting therapist is charged per session or per day, and it goes on the APA, the expense fund you pay in advance alongside the charter fee.
The one rule is that it is arranged before you board. A good therapist in August has a full diary, and a 9 a.m. treatment off Porquerolles needs the person on the boat the night before.
Broker insight
On the bigger Riviera yachts the therapist is already in the crew, a stewardess trained in massage or a chef who runs the morning yoga. On the rest we book one before you board and bring them out by tender in Antibes or Villefranche, and it goes on the APA like everything else. What you cannot add afterwards is the sauna: only 25 of our 477 yachts here carry one, so if it matters, it decides the shortlist.
Daniel Asmus
Owner, Charter Broker, Active CYBA Member, IYBA, ECPY
The Chef Cooks to Your Brief, Not a Menu
Every charter starts with a preference sheet, filled in once the yacht is chosen and sent to the crew before you arrive. It is where the chef learns what a wellness week means to you: plant-based, no sugar, no alcohol, a fasting window until noon, juices at 7 and a proper dinner at 9.
There is no diet the galley cannot run. A yacht chef cooks for 12 people with 12 different briefs every week, and provisioning on this coast is easy: the Cours Saleya market in Nice and the Forville market in Cannes are minutes from the quay.
The sheet also sets the tone. Say whether you want the crew cheering on the 7 a.m. swim, or quiet until you ask for something. The crew would rather know in advance.
Where a Wellness Week Anchors: Iles de Lerins to Porquerolles
A wellness week is planned around anchorages, not marinas. A massage on the sundeck at anchor is a different thing from one on a quay, because sound carries in port. The port nights are the theater; the anchor mornings are the reason you came.
The Riviera is good at this because the quiet water sits right next to the towns. The Iles de Lerins are 20 minutes off Cannes: the monastery island of Saint-Honorat and the pine-backed bays of Sainte-Marguerite give you the morning, and Cannes gives you the night.
Villefranche has one of the deepest sheltered bays on the coast, with Cap Ferrat’s coves around the point and Nice and Monaco within the hour. Further west, Porquerolles and the Iles d’Hyeres are the national park end of the coast: the clearest water, the fewest boats. Villefranche, Cap Ferrat and Porquerolles covers all 3.
We plan 1 to 3 hours of cruising a day at most; the rest is spent in the water.
3 Spa Yachts That Do Wellness Properly in the South of France
3 price levels, from the band most of our clients book in to the top of the fleet. All 3 have a real treatment room and a therapist in the crew, and all 3 list the French Riviera for summer.
There are more spa yachts between €150,000 and €300,000 than fit on this page; tell us the week and we send the shortlist at that level.
ZALIV III, 50m, from €195,000 a week (€235,000 in high season). A dedicated massage room with a masseuse in the crew, gym equipment, and a sundeck jacuzzi for 8, so the therapist is already aboard at the price most of our clients pay.
CORAL OCEAN, 72.5m, from €495,000 a week (€790,000 in high season). A spa with a massage room, a sauna, a steam room and an ice bath, a gym with a Peloton, a rowing machine and a reformer, and a Pilates instructor and a personal trainer in the crew.
SHERAKHAN, 69.6m, from €595,000 a week (€750,000 in high season). A spa run by a massage-trained stewardess who lives aboard, a beauty salon, a gym with yoga mats inside and out, and a jacuzzi for up to 18, so the therapist never has to be booked.
People also ask
How much does a wellness yacht charter cost in the South of France?
The yacht sets the price, not the wellness. A yacht with a real spa on this coast starts around €100,000 a week and runs past €800,000 for the largest, plus the APA for fuel, food and any visiting therapist. Most of our clients land between €150,000 and €300,000.
Can I bring my own therapist on a yacht charter?
Yes. Your therapist travels as a guest, so they need a berth and count toward the 12-guest limit on most yachts. Tell us at inquiry and we shortlist yachts with a cabin to spare.
Is there a sauna on a yacht?
On 25 of the 477 yachts we charter in the South of France, yes: a sauna, a steam room or a hammam, usually in the beach club or the master suite. It is the rarest wellness feature in the fleet, so name it early.
Is there a gym on a yacht?
78 of the 477 yachts we charter in the South of France have one, from a treadmill and weights on the sundeck to a full room with bikes, a reformer and, on a few, a trainer in the crew.
Can you do yoga on a yacht charter?
Yes. The sundeck at anchor is the mat, and mornings are calm on this coast. Some crews include a certified yoga teacher; otherwise we book one who comes aboard for the sessions you want.
