Catamaran vs Monohull for Yacht Charter in Greece: Which Should You Choose?

Choosing between a sailing catamaran and a monohull is one of the first decisions you will make when planning a yacht charter in Greece.

There is no universally better choice.

A catamaran is usually the better holiday platform if your priorities are space, privacy, comfort at anchor and easy living on board. A monohull is the better choice if sailing itself matters to you, if you want better performance upwind, simpler harbour handling and a boat that feels more natural and predictable in difficult conditions.

After years of sailing and chartering both types of yacht in Greece, this is how we look at the differences in practice.

Catamaran vs Monohull at a Glance

Why Choose a Sailing Catamaran?

The greatest advantage of a cruising catamaran is not simply that it is “bigger”.

It is the way the space is distributed.

With two hulls, a wide cockpit, a saloon at almost the same level, large forward areas and often trampolines — and on larger models sometimes a flybridge — people naturally spread around the boat.

Some can relax on the trampolines, others in the cockpit, others inside the saloon and others near the stern platforms.

Even with a large group, you rarely feel that everyone is forced into the same small space.

That is a major difference compared with many monohulls, where most of the social life eventually concentrates around one cockpit.

Privacy for families and groups

The separation between the two hulls also creates much better privacy.

For several couples, families travelling together or larger groups of friends, being able to divide cabins between the two sides of the boat can make a surprisingly large difference over a week or two on board.

You can spend the day together without feeling that you are living on top of each other.

This is one of the situations where the higher charter cost of a catamaran can genuinely be worth paying.

Comfort at Anchor

At anchor, a catamaran is usually a superb platform.

Because it does not heel and normally has very little rolling, life on board feels more like being on a floating apartment than on a traditional sailing yacht.

For a holiday charter, this matters.

You spend a large part of your time anchored, swimming, eating, sleeping and enjoying the boat rather than actively sailing it.

This is also one reason catamarans work particularly well for families with children.

There is more room to move around, more areas to sit or play and easier access to the sea.

For very young children who are already walking around the boat, we normally recommend requesting a safety net around the guardrails as an additional extra.

Shallow Draft Is a Real Advantage in Greece

The shallow draft of a catamaran is not just something that looks good on a specification sheet.

In Greece, it can be genuinely useful.

There are many beautiful shallow bays, and when stern-to anchoring close to rocks or a beach, having less draft gives you another margin of comfort.

With a deep-draft monohull, an inexperienced skipper can sometimes feel uncertain about how close he can safely approach.

On a catamaran, the limitations are often easier to judge visually because the underwater appendages do not extend nearly as deep as the keel of a monohull.

It does not mean you can ignore the depth sounder or charts, of course. But in real charter use, shallow draft gives you more options.

Easier Everyday Use of the Tender

This sounds like a minor detail until you spend a week on board.

On many catamarans the tender is carried on davits or a dedicated lifting system at the stern. Lowering it into the water may take only a couple of lines.

You use it, raise it again and continue with your day.

On smaller monohulls the tender is often smaller, may be stored forward, and deploying it can involve moving it to the water and fitting the outboard separately.

If you are going ashore several times a day, the difference becomes significant.

The Downsides of a Catamaran

The mistake is to assume that because a catamaran is more comfortable at anchor, it is more comfortable in every condition.

It is not.

Upwind Motion Can Be Uncomfortable

On broad reaches, downwind and in the type of open sailing angles you normally try to choose during a cruising holiday, a catamaran can be extremely comfortable.

But if you have to motor or sail directly into significant wind and waves, the experience can change completely.

The motion becomes quicker and more abrupt.

Instead of the slower, heavier movement of a monohull, a catamaran can develop a jerky movement between the two hulls.

There can also be slamming beneath the forward bridge deck when waves hit the underside of the boat.

Structurally this is something cruising catamarans are designed to experience, but the noise can be intimidating — particularly for first-time sailors and young children.

For this reason, the statement that “you get less seasick on a catamaran” is too simplistic.

Many people do prefer the motion of a cat. Others react badly to its quicker movement and are more comfortable on a monohull.

Harbour Handling Is Harder Than It Looks

People often assume that because a catamaran has two engines it must be easier to manoeuvre.

The two engines certainly provide excellent control.

But there is another side to the equation: windage.

A cruising catamaran has a huge lateral surface area compared with a monohull. In a strong crosswind, the wind can move the boat surprisingly quickly.

You are also handling a much wider vessel, often with more restricted visibility from the helm.

More importantly, during a Mediterranean stern-to manoeuvre the skipper may be far from the stern lines.

On many catamarans, the person at the helm cannot simultaneously control the boat and handle the mooring lines.

That means good communication with the crew is essential.

In strong wind, we consider it extremely important to have at least one competent crew member handling the lines.

If the skipper is the only experienced sailor in the group, a large catamaran is not necessarily the ideal first bareboat charter.

In that situation, we would normally suggest either a smaller monohull or taking a professional skipper.

Why Choose a Monohull?

If you genuinely enjoy sailing, the comparison becomes much simpler.

A normal charter monohull offers a sailing experience that most cruising charter catamarans simply cannot reproduce.

There are performance catamarans that are exceptional sailing machines, of course, but these are rarely the type of catamaran found in mainstream charter fleets.

The Sailing Experience

On a monohull, the boat constantly communicates with you.

You feel the heel when a gust arrives.

You feel through the wheel whether the sails are correctly trimmed.

You feel the change in pressure as the boat accelerates.

You can immediately sense when the boat is overpowered or when your trim is wrong.

For experienced sailors, that feedback is a large part of the pleasure of sailing.

This is also why many experienced sailors who love the act of sailing itself will almost always choose a monohull over a conventional cruising catamaran.

Much Better Upwind

The difference becomes particularly clear when sailing close to the wind.

The keel of a monohull produces the lateral resistance that allows the boat to point much higher, while the ballast low in the boat gives it a solid and progressive movement through the sea.

When the weather becomes stronger, a well-handled monohull can feel remarkably settled.

Instead of the sharper motion and bridge-deck slamming that you may experience on a catamaran, the movement can feel smoother and quieter.

If we knew we had to spend time travelling into genuinely difficult weather, our personal choice would be a monohull.

Heeling Is Not Necessarily a Bad Thing

Many first-time sailors are initially worried when a monohull heels.

In reality, most people adapt very quickly — and many start enjoying it.

The important factor is how the skipper manages the boat.

A good skipper reefs early, trims appropriately and keeps the boat within a comfortable range for the crew.

Heeling also gives the skipper very obvious feedback about increasing wind pressure.

As the boat heels, the sails also begin to spill some of that pressure naturally.

That does not replace reefing or correct seamanship, but it is one of the reasons a monohull often communicates changing conditions very clearly to its skipper.

Easier for a Beginner Skipper

For someone taking their first steps into bareboat chartering, we often prefer a manageable monohull.

There are several reasons.

It is narrower.

It has much less windage.

Visibility is usually better.

Once the boat has enough speed astern for the rudder to become effective, directional control can be very predictable.

The keel also helps resist sideways movement in crosswinds.

And there is one very practical advantage during Mediterranean mooring: the skipper is normally sitting almost exactly where the stern lines are being handled.

He can actively participate in the manoeuvre rather than being isolated at a flybridge or forward helm station.

For a small crew with limited experience, this can make harbour manoeuvres considerably less stressful.

Where the Monohull Loses

The biggest difference appears once you stop sailing.

Rolling at Anchor

In the right anchorage, a monohull can be perfectly comfortable.

And Greece gives you enormous possibilities to find sheltered bays because of its coastline and number of islands.

The difficulty is that weather and swell direction can change during the night.

A quiet anchorage at sunset can develop an uncomfortable side swell at 03:00.

A monohull can then begin rolling from side to side.

For many people, this is much more annoying than the motion experienced while sailing.

A catamaran usually has a substantial advantage here.

Less Living Space

There is also simply less space.

Six people who would naturally spread across several areas on a catamaran may all end up around one cockpit on a monohull.

For a group focused mainly on sailing, that may not matter.

For a large family or several couples treating the yacht primarily as their holiday home, it can matter a lot.

Which Is Faster?

Do not assume that a charter catamaran is automatically the faster sailing boat.

High-performance sailing catamarans can be extremely fast.

But these are not representative of the normal cruising catamarans found in most charter fleets.

In everyday charter use, conventional cruising catamarans also tend to spend significantly more time using their engines.

A monohull with a crew that enjoys sailing will generally give you far more opportunity to actually sail.

Catamaran or Monohull for Families?

For most larger families — particularly with young children — we would normally lean towards the catamaran.

The reasons are not complicated:

more usable space, more freedom of movement, easier access to the water, more privacy and a much more stable platform at anchor.

If the family has little sailing experience, adding a skipper often turns the catamaran into an excellent holiday platform without forcing one family member to spend the week managing a large boat.

Catamaran or Monohull for Experienced Sailors?

If six experienced friends called us and said that sailing itself was an important part of the holiday, we would almost always recommend the monohull.

You sacrifice space.

You accept the heel.

You may roll more at anchor.

But you gain the reason many people began sailing in the first place: the feeling of the boat working with the wind.

And What About the Cruising Area?

The answer can also depend on where you plan to sail.

The Saronic Gulf is often a straightforward choice for families and crews taking their first charter in Greece.

The Cyclades can be much more demanding when the Meltemi is active, particularly when your route forces you to sail back against the prevailing wind.

For a crew that genuinely enjoys sailing, that can be part of the attraction. For a relaxed family holiday, route planning becomes much more important.

The Ionian is particularly well suited to relaxed cruising and family itineraries.

None of these are absolute rules. Weather, crew experience and the exact itinerary matter more than the name of the sailing area.

Our Short Answer

Choose a catamaran if your priority is space, privacy, comfort at anchor and easy living on board — particularly for families, children and larger groups — and you are prepared to trade some sailing performance and harbour simplicity for that comfort.

Choose a monohull if sailing itself matters to you, you want better upwind performance, more direct feedback from the boat and simpler handling — and you are happy to accept less living space, heeling under sail and potentially more rolling at anchor.

And if this is your first charter and you are unsure which boat matches your experience, the answer may not simply be catamaran or monohull.

Sometimes the best decision is to choose the boat you really want and take a skipper.

Still not sure which yacht suits your crew?

Tell us how many people are travelling, your sailing experience, the area of Greece you want to explore and what matters most to you on holiday. We will tell you whether we would choose a catamaran or a monohull — and why.