A gulet is a broad wooden motor-sailer, traditionally Turkish, with cabins below deck and a very large area of deck above. They are built for comfortable coastal cruising rather than for sailing performance, they come with crew as standard, and they are the boat most people mean when they picture a Turkish or Greek island holiday afloat.
What makes a gulet a gulet
Wood, beam and deck. A gulet is much wider for its length than a sailing yacht, which is what gives it the deck space and the cabins, and it motors far more than it sails. Crew is standard rather than optional: expect a captain, a cook and one or two deckhands, and expect meals to be part of the arrangement. It is closer to a small ship with an itinerary than to a yacht you charter and drive.
How a gulet week is sold, and why no price appears
By the whole boat, or sometimes by the cabin, almost always on enquiry. No company in this record publishes a gulet rate for Turkey, Greece or Sicily, and that is a dated absence rather than an oversight. The nearest published crewed figures are Croatian: Sailing Holidays in Croatia publishes an average crewed catamaran at 10.000 EUR a week and crewed luxury from 25.000 EUR.
The two questions that decide a gulet quote
Is the price per boat or per cabin, and what does it include. Two gulet quotes that look similar can differ by the whole food and drink bill, by the number of crew aboard, and by whether the itinerary is fixed or yours. Ask both questions of every company before comparing anything, because the headline number on its own tells you almost nothing.
Questions people ask about gulet
What is a gulet?
A broad wooden motor-sailer, traditionally Turkish, with cabins below and a large deck. It comes crewed as standard, motors more than it sails, and usually includes meals.
How much does a gulet charter cost?
No company in this record publishes a gulet rate. Crewed charter generally is published by Sailing Holidays in Croatia at an average of 10.000 EUR a week for a crewed catamaran and from 25.000 EUR for crewed luxury.
Is a gulet sold by cabin or by boat?
Both exist, and it is the first thing to establish. A per-cabin price and a whole-boat price are not comparable, and neither is comparable to a bareboat rate.