Gulet or motor yacht? Choosing the right boat for the Turkish coast

Most first enquiries arrive with a picture in mind: either the varnished wooden gulet of the Turkish postcards or the white motor yacht of the Riviera. Both are right for this coast; they are right for different weeks. Here is how we help guests decide.

What a gulet is

A gulet is the traditional motor sailor of the Bodrum and Bozburun boatyards: a broad wooden hull, two masts, a long aft deck with a shaded dining table and sun mattresses forward. Built originally for sponge divers and cargo, it was reinvented for charter in the 1970s and has been refined ever since. The yachts we list under Motor Sailor are the current generation: air-conditioned, en-suite, often with a jacuzzi on deck and stabilisers on the largest, and crewed by four to six.

Space and the way you live aboard

On a gulet the deck is the holiday. A 30-metre motor sailor gives you more open deck than a 40-metre motor yacht, at water level, with the dining table where the breeze is. The cabins are comfortable rather than large. On a motor yacht the proportion is reversed: a full-beam master suite, a saloon with a cinema, a sky lounge, and decks arranged in tiers. If you picture your week lying on a mattress ten metres from the sea, choose the gulet; if you picture it in a stateroom with a view, the motor yacht.

Speed and range

A motor sailor cruises at eight to ten knots; a motor yacht at eighteen to twenty-five. Over a week inside the Gulf of Fethiye that difference barely matters, because the next bay is forty minutes away either way. Over a two-country route, say Bodrum to Rhodes, it matters a great deal: the motor yacht makes each crossing before lunch and gives you more of the week ashore.

Motion at anchor and under way

The gulet's weight and beam make her steady in a sheltered bay, and her sails steady her on passage when the wind cooperates. Modern motor yachts over about thirty-five metres carry zero-speed stabilisers that remove roll at anchor almost entirely; smaller ones can be lively in a swell. For guests who worry about seasickness we recommend either a large stabilised motor yacht or a motor sailor in the enclosed gulfs.

Fuel and the APA

This is the quiet difference. A motor sailor may burn 100–200 litres a day; a 40-metre motor yacht can burn that in an hour at speed. The APA for a gulet week is usually at the low end of the 25–35 % range and part of it comes back; for a motor yacht on a long route it is at the top and fully spent. The charter guide shows how that lands in a budget.

Price

Like for like in guest numbers, a motor sailor costs roughly half what a motor yacht costs per week, and less again in running costs. The money saved is often spent on a longer charter, which on this coast is the better luxury.

Where the catamaran wins

Families with small children, guests who want a trampoline net over the water, and anyone who wants the shallowest, sandiest anchorages in Hisarönü or Gökova. A catamaran sits flat at anchor, draws very little, and her saloon opens onto the cockpit at one level. She lacks the gulet's romance and the motor yacht's grandeur, and makes up for it in ease.

Our rule of thumb

One cruising ground, a relaxed pace, deck life and value: motor sailor. Two countries, speed, suites and stabilisers: motor yacht. Young children and shallow bays: catamaran. If you are still unsure, tell us who is coming and we will propose one of each from the fleet.