Cruise in Northern Europe

Destination

Departure

Northern Europe includes the countries by the North Sea, Baltic States and Scandinavia. Whether you prefer dynamic major cities such as Copenhagen or Helsinki or you would rather choose natural landscapes with breathtaking Norwegian fjords, boat rental in the Northern Europe is one of the best ways to explore this maritime region. You will navigate through a world full of historical and art treasures and distinctive cuisines and discover the charm and beauty of a cruise in the Northern Europe.

Destination

Departure

Our cruises in Northern Europe

Our private or cabin cruises allow you to explore the most beautiful shores aboard comfortable, human-sized boats.

View all of our cruises

Our cruises with or without skipper

Boat rentals in Northern Europe

4
Peter • Jul 2024

The boat is in good condition and comfortable to use. As is apparently usual with charter boats, the equipment is kept minimal: - No buoy hook - No ropes e... read more

4
Good condition, minimal equipment

Peter Jul 2024

The boat is in good condition and comfortable to use. As is apparently usual with charter boats, the equipment is kept minimal:

- No buoy hook
- No ropes except the most necessary ones
- Anchor ball and cone for machine travel without mooring lines
- No anchor claw
- The length of the anchor chain is not marked
- The electronic map did not reach Åland
- No ball fender

But we still enjoyed the wonderful sailing in the Stockholm archipelago :-)
3
Peter • Jun 2024

We had a great week's sailing in the Stockholm Archipelago, however, the service provided by the operator was mixed and the facilities at Saltsjo Pir marina ... read more

3
Bavaria 34 from saltsjo pir marina - a mixed review

Peter Jun 2024

We had a great week's sailing in the Stockholm Archipelago, however, the service provided by the operator was mixed and the facilities at Saltsjo Pir marina were poor.

The marina is easily reached by public transport from Stockholm and well-located for a cruise to both south and north of the archipelago, we made a satisfying circuit in our week. It is only a few minute's walk from the bus/train stop and a good supermarket, and it has a good restaurant on site. However, the marina facilities were very poor. Only one combined toilet/shower - with 12 charter yachts turning round each week. Also there is no proper rubbish disposal or recycling, no sewage pump-out station and no fuel station.

We had booked early boarding as an extra and arrived at the office at around 10:30. We could leave our luggage there and went to shop for provisions, then waited in the office for the early boarding time at 13:00. During this time it became clear that the preparation of the charter yachts was proceeding slowly and chaotically. It was the first weekend of the charter season, the manager said "its always like this, the cleaning company never sends enough people" - but surely it is the manager's job to make allowance for this, the cleaning could have been done on previous days in this case. But the manager offered to refund our early booking fee, which helped, then just at 13:00 the staff on the pontoon said our yacht was ready. Great - but once we got onto the boat, we realised it was not the model of Bavaria 34 that we had specifically ordered. We questioned this and found that a yacht of the correct specification was available, but it was not yet ready. We decided to switch to that and, despite the pontoon staff prioritising our yacht, it was after 16:00 before the yacht was ready for us to leave.

I should emphasise that the staff on the pontoon were all great and worked hard to clean, repair and equip our yacht as quickly as they could. But the manager seemed to take no responsibility for the issues that were occurring, just pushing the blame on to others. When we returned home, three days after our charter ended, our refund had still not been transferred. I believe the manager did not transfer it until I reminded him and would have not done so if I had not contacted him. I received it three days later.

As it turned out, when we left the marina the yacht was still not "ready". The waste tank was almost full and overflowed on our second day, its gauge didn't work. The fuel gauge showed 3/4 full, but on our second day we filled it with more than half a tank (80L); the gauge then showed full for the rest of the week, despite our using an estimated 45L. However, other than these issues, which we worked around, the yacht was in good condition and sailed well. She was well-enough equipped, although a bit short in galley equipment, with glass and china crockery resulting in breakage and further shortage!

In the first week of June the season had hardly started and the archipelago was very quiet once beyond a half-day from Stockholm. We enjoyed good restaurant lunches in Sandhamn and Finnhamn which were both quiet and friendly at this time. But at several anchorages shore facilities were not yet open.

The area is very different to our usual cruising grounds (West Coast Scotland and Mediterranean) with more restricted channels nearer the mainland and open water further out - but peppered with rocks! Navigation is mostly straightforward line-of-site with hazards visible or well-marked, but the islands and skerries all look the same, so either precise chart work or close attention to chart plotter are essential.

Anchorages were mostly quiet at this time, we had some to ourselves. We are normally most comfortable with swinging anchorages, but we found the holding generally poor and on two occasions fouled on abandoned cable/chain in recommended anchoring spots. It is well worth copying the locals and getting used to bows-to mooring onto the rocks - more secure.

Overall, it was a beautiful and interesting area to sail in with limitless itineraries and hundreds (thousands?) of sheltered anchorages. We had good weather in early June, some good sailing winds in generally flattish water and only two rain showers in the whole week.
4
Ofer • May 2024

Team are very welcome and helpful. The engine controller was very sensitive need attention while mooring.
5
Vladimir • Aug 2023

I would like to thank our skipper once again. He helped to make this sailing trip to the Lofoten both very easy and very interesting for us, and he was grea... read more

5
Good boat, fantastic skipper

Vladimir Aug 2023

I would like to thank our skipper once again. He helped to make this sailing trip to the Lofoten both very easy and very interesting for us, and he was great company. Apart from the stunning natural beauty of the archipelago, he introduced us to the community life on the islands and some of his friends there. His recommendations for walks were always spot on. We were pleasantly surprised by the (very good) condition of the Delphia 47, considering the harsh conditions she sails in. The weather also contributed to the success of this trip, which we all consider to be one of the best of the many we have undertaken.
5
Lino • Jul 2023

Friendly and helpful people, super-good facilities, wonderful experience.
5
Joshua • Oct 2022

Look forward to doing it again! Cloud Nine was a great boat, privately owned (ie not charter company), and as such the personal touch made the experience fa... read more

5
Perfect autumn sailing!

Joshua Oct 2022

Look forward to doing it again! Cloud Nine was a great boat, privately owned (ie not charter company), and as such the personal touch made the experience fantastic.

To be recommended!!!
5
Neal • Sep 2022

This was our first charter experience and I had many concerns as there are so many anecdotes about charters being awful. Fortunately for us, everything was ... read more

5
Exceeded my expectations

Neal Sep 2022

This was our first charter experience and I had many concerns as there are so many anecdotes about charters being awful. Fortunately for us, everything was nearly perfect.

One of my main concerns were problems with systems and equipment on the boat - I didn't want to spend my time aboard repairing someone else's boat, however, on the boat we chartered, everything worked perfectly with one exception: a set screw on the door handle to the head had stripped out and the handle kept falling off. We actually thought this was funny and made jokes about being locked in or locked out! If that is our only complaint, and it hardly registers as a 'complaint', then the boat was exceptional.

Everything was better than we were lead to believe. For example, we were provided with a list of what was included in the 'Starter Pack', which included things like toilet paper, matches, bottles of water, etc. However, those quantities were almost doubled over what we were told they would be. The time we were given to check in to the boat was 1700 hours on the given day but that morning I got a phone call from the boat's host saying that the boat was ready and we could check in anytime. These were small touches that just made the entire experience more enjoyable. We're looking forward to booking another charter.

Fair winds and calm seas.
5
Heiko • Sep 2022

easy access, friendly staff and great sailing experience

Cruise in Northern Europe

Our cruises in Northern Europe

Explore Norway on a catamaran

Peaceful cruise on Lake Geneva

Our cruises with or without skipper

Elan 45 (2016)

Dufour 310 Grand Large (2019)

Hanse 350 (2011)

Sun Odyssey 509 (2014)

Bavaria 37 Cruiser (2017)

Sun Odyssey 449 (2018)

Bavaria 30 Cruiser (2006)

Bavaria C45 (2023)

Yacht charter in Northern Europe

Cruise Germany

Cruise Holland

Cruise United Kingdom

Cruise Poland