What does a Monaco Yacht Show charter cost, all-in?

A typical charter on a 40-metre yacht for the show week (six nights) runs €290,000–€480,000 all-in. That comprises a base charter fee of around €185,000–€280,000, APA of 30–35%, the show-week berth or mooring supplement of €32,000–€70,000, and Sapphire Experience access, restaurant programme and concierge spend of €25,000–€55,000. Larger yachts in the 50m bracket move the all-in to €550,000–€900,000; 60m+ yachts move it beyond €1m.

Can I berth in Port Hercule itself during the show?

The prime show-week berths are allocated to exhibitor yachts by Informa Markets and Monaco Ports Authority — they are not available to charter clients who are not themselves exhibiting. Charter yachts during show week typically take outer-quay positions, the Fontvieille port (a five-minute drive from the show entrance), or moor in Cap d'Ail with a fleet tender into Monaco. We negotiate the best available position based on yacht size and arrival sequencing.

How is the Monaco Yacht Show charter different from a Grand Prix charter?

Three things are fundamentally different. First, the in-harbour inventory belongs to the show — most prime berths are taken by exhibitor yachts, not by charter guests. Second, the pace is slower and more substantive — long lunches, working dinners, and considered walk-throughs replace the high-tempo party schedule of race week. Third, the buyer base is more focused — show week attracts genuine principals doing diligence on new-builds and brokerage, not the broader celebrity and sponsor crowd that race week pulls. Booking lead times are shorter, berth supplements are lower, and the operational profile is closer to a corporate retreat than a sporting hospitality week.

Do I need the Sapphire Experience pass if I'm chartering a yacht?

We strongly recommend it for any principal who wants to walk the show as a buyer. The Sapphire Experience gives priority access to the show floor, the Sapphire Lounge as a base between appointments, concierge-managed broker introductions, and entry to the Sapphire Experience evening programme. The cost is a small fraction of the charter spend and the time-saving across four show days is meaningful.

Can I host industry meetings on board?

Yes — this is one of the primary use-cases. A charter yacht moored within walking distance of the show gives you a private, controlled environment to host brokers, shipyards, family-office advisors, and prospective partners without the noise of the show floor or the constraints of a hotel meeting room. Larger yachts with a dedicated sky-lounge that can convert to a private dining or meeting space are particularly well-suited.

What's the right yacht size for show week if I'm here primarily to walk the show?

For a principal-plus-advisors charter where the yacht is a base rather than a hosting venue, a 35–42m yacht is the efficient bracket. You sleep your party, you host lunches for ten and dinners for fourteen, you have a presentable aft-deck for a one-off cocktail evening, and you keep your berth supplement and operational complexity manageable. Larger yachts only make sense if you are using the week as the anchor for a hosted gathering of your own.

What's the right yacht size for a hosted gathering during show week?

From 48m upward. The hosting bracket starts when the yacht can absorb a 50-guest standing reception comfortably and convert a sky lounge into a private dining room for sixteen. The 50–60m bracket is where most serious host-led show-week charters sit; above that the yacht itself starts competing for visual attention with the show inventory and the brief shifts from "base" to "venue."

Should I extend the charter beyond show week?

Yes, almost always, if calendars allow. The week immediately after the show — the first week of October — is the calmest and most weather-reliable week of the autumn Mediterranean. Slipping lines on Sunday and cruising west to Saint-Tropez or south to Bonifacio / Calvi for three to four post-show days gives the principal and key guests a genuine decompression window that the show itself does not afford. The marginal charter cost is small relative to the experience uplift.

How do I arrange brokerage walk-throughs in advance?

Through the charter broker. We build a pre-show appointment programme starting six months out — direct outreach to the major brokerage houses and shipyards, calibrated to the principal's specific interest (new-build commission, brokerage sale, charter platform evaluation, refit yard selection). Appointments are confirmed in writing in the month before the show and re-confirmed on the day of.

Is there a dress code?

Smart-casual through the day on the show floor and on the yachts. Brokerage and shipyard dinners typically lean toward jacket-no-tie for men and elevated cocktail for women. The Sapphire Experience evenings and the gala dinners are formal. Late September weather in Monaco is in the 22–24°C daytime range with cooler evenings — a jacket is needed for evening service on the aft deck most nights.

Can I take a tour of yachts I'm not formally appointed to see?

The show is structured around appointments — drop-in tours of in-water yachts are limited and depend on captain availability. Your charter broker's standing relationships with the captains and brokerage teams across the harbour are the unlock; this is one of the practical reasons to engage a serious broker for show-week attendance even if your interest is purely educational.

What about families — is the show child-friendly?

The show is professional in tone and adult in audience. Children of any age are welcome on the charter yacht but the show floor is not a programme designed for them. A small number of charters bring teenage children specifically to introduce them to the industry; the chief stewardess can organise the day around their interests if so.

What's the weather realistically?

Late September in Monaco averages 22–25°C daytime and 16–18°C overnight. Rain is rare in the typical show window but a single wet day across the four show days is statistically common. The harbour stays warm enough for swimming off the platform through the show week most years; sea temperature averages 22°C.

When should I book for next year's show?

Charter enquiries for next year's MYS open from July of this year. Yacht inventory contracts firm up through August–October of the prior year. By January of the show year the better charter options are gone. Earlier is better, particularly for yachts in the 45–60m bracket, where charter availability during show week is structurally tight because owners frequently keep the platform for their own use.

Do you handle just the yacht, or the full show-week programme?

Full programme. The yacht and berth are the spine; the Sapphire Experience access, the appointment calendar, the restaurant reservations, the helicopter logistics, the gala dinner invitations and the on-site concierge through the week are layered on the same contract. Clients should expect to brief once and have the week assembled around them, rather than co-ordinate four separate suppliers.

Editorial guide · Monaco Yacht Show · Monaco

Monaco Yacht Show Yacht Charter

The four-day September week when Port Hercule becomes the global trading floor of the superyacht industry — and the one window a year buyers, brokers and shipyards share the same hundred-metre stretch of quay.

Dates · Late September, annually (4 days)From · €280,000 / weekRead · 17 min

Request Monaco Yacht Show proposal Speak to a broker

Editor's introduction

Why Monaco Yacht Show belongs on the water

The Monaco Yacht Show is the only event in the calendar where roughly 120 superyachts above 25 metres are displayed in-water, side by side, in a single harbour, with their full crews on board and their owners contactable through the brokers managing the visit. Nothing else in the industry comes close — neither the Düsseldorf land show, nor Cannes Yachting Festival, nor Fort Lauderdale, where the in-water inventory is fragmented across multiple basins. For one week in late September, every serious player in the global superyacht economy is within walking distance of every other one, and the deals — new-builds, brokerage sales, charter contracts, shipyard introductions, equity changes — that drive the next twelve months of the industry are seeded on the quays of Port Hercule.

What changes the show from an industry trade fair into a charter-relevant event is the after-hours layer. The MYS Sapphire Experience and a parallel constellation of brokerage parties, shipyard dinners, sponsor cocktails and informal yacht-on-yacht visits convert the harbour into the densest professional and social week of the year. The buyers who attend in numbers — first-time superyacht considerers, family-office principals doing diligence on a build, charter clients evaluating their next twelve months of platforms, captain-and-owner pairs scouting the next refit yard — increasingly want to be on the water themselves rather than walking the show by day and returning to a hotel by night. A chartered yacht moored on one of the lateral quays gives them a base, a privacy buffer, and an entirely different vantage on the week.

Editorially, the Monaco Yacht Show charter splits into two distinct briefs. The first is the industry charter: principals coming to evaluate, network, and make introductions, typically with their existing advisors and a small handful of guests. The second is the host charter: clients using show week as the natural anchor for their own annual gathering — partners, key clients, family — using the harbour buzz and the catalogue of in-water inventory as a backdrop. Both call for a yacht in the harbour, both call for a serious concierge layer, and both have a very different berth allocation problem to a Grand Prix charter because most of the Monaco Yacht Show inventory is itself blocking the prime moorings.

This guide walks through how the show actually unfolds across its four official days plus the soft build-up, where the serious conversations happen, what charter actually costs around show week, and the booking discipline that separates a useful show week from a tourist visit.

Booking note

MYS-week berths at Cap d'Ail and Fontvieille commit by July.

Event schedule

Monaco Yacht Show day-by-day

Indicative running order based on prior editions. Final times are released by the organisers closer to the date; your concierge will confirm the working schedule for your charter week.

Saturday
Show week –5
Show-build & yacht arrivals
Exhibitor yachts begin arriving from Friday and complete docking on Saturday. The Darse Sud, Quai Antoine 1er, Quai Albert 1er, Quai Rainier III and the central T-jetty are all assigned by the show organisers; charter-guest yachts that are not exhibiting are pushed to the outer berths or to Cap d'Ail / Fontvieille. Saturday-Sunday is the quiet window before guests begin landing.
Tuesday
Show week –1
Pre-show evening — brokerage previews
The night before the show opens is the highest-leverage soft-launch window. Brokerage houses host pre-opening client previews on flagship listings, shipyards run cocktail evenings to introduce new commissions, and the principal advisor network gets first walk-throughs of the headline inventory before the public floor opens.
Wednesday
Show day 1
Official opening — VIP morning
Doors open 10:00. The first morning is the most efficient day to walk the show — the harbour is full but not yet at peak congestion, broker schedules are flexible, and the major captains are still doing thorough walk-throughs rather than running back-to-back fifteen-minute slots. Most opening-evening receptions cluster on the larger yachts in the Quai Antoine 1er line.
Thursday
Show day 2
Industry day — the working day
Peak attendance for the buying side. Family-office and UHNW principal walk-throughs concentrate Thursday morning, brokerage and shipyard private appointments dominate the afternoon, and Thursday evening hosts the largest concentration of formal brokerage dinners across Monte-Carlo — La Petite Maison, COYA, Em Sherif, Twiga, Beefbar and the suites of the Hôtel de Paris are all heavily contested.
Friday
Show day 3
Press day & captain rotations
Press tours, captain rotations to the on-shore expert village, and the second wave of principal visits. Friday is the easier day to schedule longer 90-minute walk-throughs because broker schedules have loosened compared with Thursday. Friday evening is the Sapphire Experience peak and the marquee gala-format dinners.
Saturday
Show day 4
Close & wind-down
Final day, public access widened, harbour begins to thin out by mid-afternoon. The show closes 18:30 and the yachts begin their departure sequence Sunday morning. Saturday-night dinners are the relaxed, social close — many brokerage teams host smaller thank-you dinners for their principal clients.
Sunday
Show week +1
Departures & post-show cruising
Most exhibitor yachts have left the harbour by Sunday afternoon. Charter guests who are continuing into a post-show cruising week slip lines either Sunday morning toward Saint-Tropez, Porto-Vecchio, or south to Sardinia for the final week of the Mediterranean season.

VIP hotspots

Where the week actually happens

The berths, terraces, lounges, and tables that define Monaco Yacht Show. Access varies: some require a host on the inside, others can be arranged through our concierge.

Hospitality lounge
Sapphire Experience — Le Méridien Beach Plaza
The show's official VIP programme, run through the week. Includes priority show access, the Sapphire Lounge, concierge support, and entry to the Sapphire Experience evening events. The gateway purchase for serious buying-side attendees.
Show inventory
Quai Antoine 1er — flagship exhibitor line
The line of moorings that traditionally carries the show's largest in-water inventory — yachts 60m and above are concentrated here. The walking quay between Antoine 1er and the central T-jetty is the densest stretch of broker-buyer activity each day.
Show inventory
Darse Sud — emerging shipyards
The southern basin, used in recent editions for the dedicated tender and chase-boat exhibition plus a number of mid-size shipyard premieres. Worth a visit specifically for the support-vessel and crew-boat ecosystem that mainstream visitors miss.
Club
Yacht Club de Monaco
Official partner of the show, opens its rooftop and dining rooms for member-and-guest programmes throughout the week. The single most useful introduction we make for serious buying-side clients during the show — if your charter principal does not already hold a YCM connection, we work with the club's hospitality team to arrange dignified access.
Hotel hospitality
Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo — Salle Empire & terraces
Hosts the most senior of the brokerage and shipyard private dinners through the week. The Salle Empire and the rooftop bar are the rooms to know. Reservations through the hotel concierge two months ahead minimum.
Restaurant & terrace
Twiga Monte-Carlo
Quai Albert 1er, harbour-facing terrace, transitions naturally from working-lunch into evening service into late-night programming. The most visible single restaurant of show week and a default location for visible client entertaining.
Restaurant
Beefbar Monte-Carlo
Riccardo Giraudi's flagship in Monaco — a slightly calmer, less-on-display Thursday or Friday dinner option than Twiga or La Petite Maison, suited to working dinners of eight to twelve where the conversation is the point of the evening.
Restaurant
La Petite Maison de Nicole — Hôtel de Paris
The hardest reservation in town during show week. Cannot be walked into. Book the moment your charter contract is signed.
Restaurant & beach club
Maona Monte-Carlo (Sporting d'Été)
Tropical-style restaurant inside the Sporting d'Été complex, with garden seating that scales to larger hosted dinners. Useful when you need to host a party of 40+ with a coherent venue rather than buying out a smaller restaurant entirely.
Restaurant & lounge
Buddha-Bar Monte-Carlo
Pan-Asian, dramatic interior, inside the Casino building. The natural late-evening segue when the table has finished dinner elsewhere and the night wants a final drink with music.
Nightclub
Jimmy'z Monte-Carlo
The Monte-Carlo nightlife institution. Show-week table allocations through the Sporting d'Été concierge — book the table six weeks ahead, walk-up is not realistic.
Cocktail bar
Crystal Bar — Hôtel Hermitage
The quieter alternative to the American Bar at the Hôtel de Paris, useful for an unobserved early-evening meeting before walking to dinner. The lobby of the Hermitage is calmer than the Hôtel de Paris during show week and easier to use as a hosting base.

Charter price ranges

What Monaco Yacht Show actually costs

Indicative all-in budgets for a seven-night charter timed to the event. Base rates are the yacht only; APA (advance provisioning, typically 30–35%), VAT where applicable, and event-week berth supplements sit on top.

Entry

28–34m motor yacht

Weekly base

From €120,000

Berth supplement

€18–32k for show week

Best for

6 sleeping guests, 12-guest aft-deck reception

A compact base for industry guests who want to be in the harbour rather than at a hotel. Outer-quay berth, walking access to the show floor. Suitable for a principal-plus-advisors charter rather than a host-and-entertain charter.

Core

35–45m motor yacht

Weekly base

€180,000–€340,000

Berth supplement

€32–70k for show week

Best for

8–10 sleeping guests, 30-guest reception

The typical Monaco Yacht Show charter shape. A modern 40-metre with crew of seven or eight, a competent chef, and a berth within a five-minute walk of the show entrance gates. Hosts a meaningful Thursday- or Friday-evening reception, sleeps the principal party, and keeps the operational logistics manageable.

Showpiece

46–58m motor yacht

Weekly base

€340,000–€620,000

Berth supplement

€70–140k for show week

Best for

10–12 sleeping guests, 50–70-guest reception

The bracket where the yacht itself starts to compete visually with the in-show inventory and becomes a hospitality platform in its own right. Beach-club aft, sky lounge for private dining of fourteen, two main-deck staterooms, a chef with a starred CV. Ideal for a host-led charter using show week as the backdrop.

Statement

59–75m motor yacht

Weekly base

€620,000–€1.4m

Berth supplement

€140–290k for show week

Best for

12 sleeping guests, 90+ standing reception

Yachts in this bracket are themselves frequently on the show roster, so a charter contract is competing with the owner's own use of the platform during show week. When inventory does become available, the yacht functions as a full hospitality venue for industry receptions, family-office gatherings, or buying-side private dinners.

Pinnacle

75m+ superyacht

Weekly base

€1.4m–€3.2m+

Berth supplement

€290k–€650k for show week

Best for

12 sleeping guests, 120+ guest reception

A narrow tier of two to four yachts globally that combine 75m+ length, charter availability during show week, and a willingness to base in Port Hercule. Reserved for clients running a hosted dinner sequence, a branded sponsorship activation, or a multi-day family gathering with a private dining capacity above thirty.

Sample week

A seven-day yacht itinerary around Monaco Yacht Show

Day 1 — Mon
Antibes board, light cruise east
Board Monday afternoon in Port Vauban — calmer logistics than embarking into Monaco mid-show-build. A two-hour cruise to anchor off Cap-Martin for the first night. Quiet dinner on board to centre the week.
Day 2 — Tue
Monaco arrival, pre-show set
Cruise into Port Hercule mid-morning to lock the contracted berth before the show-week barrier protocol tightens. Walking lunch through Monte-Carlo. Evening: brokerage pre-show preview round on selected yachts, then a quiet dinner on board.
Day 3 — Wed
Show day 1 — VIP morning, hosted lunch
Show entry from 10:00, three to four scheduled walk-throughs through the morning, hosted lunch back on the yacht for principal advisors. Afternoon paddock-style appointments. Evening cocktail reception on the aft deck for fifteen close partners before dinner ashore.
Day 4 — Thu
Industry day, marquee dinner
The serious working day. Six to eight appointments across the harbour, the Yacht Club de Monaco lunch if access is in hand, late-afternoon recovery on the sun deck, the marquee Thursday-evening dinner at COYA, La Petite Maison or in a private dining room at the Hôtel de Paris.
Day 5 — Fri
Press day & host reception
Lighter show schedule, recovery morning. Host the show-week reception on the aft deck 18:30–21:00 for 40–60 guests — the densest networking single function of your week. Late dinner on board for the principal table.
Day 6 — Sat
Final show round, wind-down dinner
Last show walk-throughs in the morning, a long lunch on board for the principal advisors to debrief the week, a relaxed Saturday-night dinner ashore at a less-on-display venue (Beefbar, Maona, the Grill at the Hôtel de Paris).
Day 7 — Sun
Sail south or disembark
Either disembark Sunday morning into Nice helicopter departures, or slip lines Sunday morning and head west toward Saint-Tropez or south to Calvi / Bonifacio for a private week of post-show decompression — the Mediterranean is at its calmest in the first week of October.

Guest experience

What life on board looks like

Monaco Yacht Show week makes a different demand on the on-board crew than Grand Prix week does. The pace is slower, the conversations are longer and more substantive, and the chef's job shifts from feeding waves of cocktail guests to running long lunches and considered dinners for ten or fourteen principal advisors. The chief stewardess becomes a logistics co-pilot for the show schedule itself — receiving brokers and shipyard reps coming aboard, managing the comings and goings of advisors through the day, and protecting the principal's downtime windows.

The single most valuable on-board capability during show week is a properly equipped dedicated meeting room or convertible sky-lounge — a space with a real table, professional video conferencing, a printer, and a screen that can run a yacht-design presentation or a financial-model walk-through without anyone having to leave the yacht. Charters that lack this space end up running meetings on aft-deck sofas with the harbour wind blowing papers around, which is fine for ceremonial gestures and bad for actual decisions.

Outside the yacht, the concierge desk's most useful function during show week is calendar protection. Show-week guest schedules drift constantly — broker appointments move by twenty minutes, lunches stretch by forty, an introduction at the Yacht Club de Monaco runs an hour late, the Thursday dinner reservation has to be re-timed by half an hour. A live concierge holding the master schedule for the principal and three or four key guests is the artifact that lets a charter feel calm rather than reactive across four intensely social days.

Booking timeline

How Monaco Yacht Show actually gets booked

T–14 to T–16 months
Yacht longlist & strategy session
Show-week charter enquiries open in July of the prior year and pace through the autumn. Front-quay berths are taken by exhibitor inventory and unavailable to charter yachts; the planning conversation is about whether to base in Monaco harbour proper, in Fontvieille, in Cap d'Ail, or to use a fleet tender to commute from a Cap-Martin anchorage.
T–8 to T–10 months
Yacht contracted
Final yacht selected and contracted with 50% deposit. Berth or anchorage strategy locked. Sapphire Experience and Yacht Club de Monaco access requested at this stage to clear the lead times.
T–4 to T–5 months
Show appointment programme
Show appointments scheduled with the major brokerage houses and shipyards relevant to the principal's interest — Lürssen, Feadship, Benetti, Heesen, Sanlorenzo, CRN, Damen Yachting, Oceanco, Amels — through their charter and sales teams. Restaurant reservations confirmed across the week.
T–2 months
Guest list & dietary lock
Final guest list with arrival flights, dietary needs, and stateroom assignments handed to the chief stewardess and chef. Concierge calendar drafted across all principal guests.
T–3 weeks
Final logistics rehearsal
Captain and chief stew complete a virtual rehearsal of the week with the broker — tender movements, helicopter slots, restaurant timings, reception logistics. Any last-minute adjustments to the show appointment calendar locked.
Show week
Live concierge layer
Concierge on-site Tuesday through Sunday holding the master schedule and intervening in real time when the day's calendar inevitably slips.

Featured yachts

Yachts suited to Monaco Yacht Show

Examples from our current fleet. Final yacht and berth are matched to your group and event week at proposal stage.

Our team will hand-pick yachts for your dates. Send a brief and we'll come back within 24 hours.

Detailed FAQ

Monaco Yacht Show charter — questions answered in depth

What does a Monaco Yacht Show charter cost, all-in?
A typical charter on a 40-metre yacht for the show week (six nights) runs €290,000–€480,000 all-in. That comprises a base charter fee of around €185,000–€280,000, APA of 30–35%, the show-week berth or mooring supplement of €32,000–€70,000, and Sapphire Experience access, restaurant programme and concierge spend of €25,000–€55,000. Larger yachts in the 50m bracket move the all-in to €550,000–€900,000; 60m+ yachts move it beyond €1m.
Can I berth in Port Hercule itself during the show?
The prime show-week berths are allocated to exhibitor yachts by Informa Markets and Monaco Ports Authority — they are not available to charter clients who are not themselves exhibiting. Charter yachts during show week typically take outer-quay positions, the Fontvieille port (a five-minute drive from the show entrance), or moor in Cap d'Ail with a fleet tender into Monaco. We negotiate the best available position based on yacht size and arrival sequencing.
How is the Monaco Yacht Show charter different from a Grand Prix charter?
Three things are fundamentally different. First, the in-harbour inventory belongs to the show — most prime berths are taken by exhibitor yachts, not by charter guests. Second, the pace is slower and more substantive — long lunches, working dinners, and considered walk-throughs replace the high-tempo party schedule of race week. Third, the buyer base is more focused — show week attracts genuine principals doing diligence on new-builds and brokerage, not the broader celebrity and sponsor crowd that race week pulls. Booking lead times are shorter, berth supplements are lower, and the operational profile is closer to a corporate retreat than a sporting hospitality week.
Do I need the Sapphire Experience pass if I'm chartering a yacht?
We strongly recommend it for any principal who wants to walk the show as a buyer. The Sapphire Experience gives priority access to the show floor, the Sapphire Lounge as a base between appointments, concierge-managed broker introductions, and entry to the Sapphire Experience evening programme. The cost is a small fraction of the charter spend and the time-saving across four show days is meaningful.
Can I host industry meetings on board?
Yes — this is one of the primary use-cases. A charter yacht moored within walking distance of the show gives you a private, controlled environment to host brokers, shipyards, family-office advisors, and prospective partners without the noise of the show floor or the constraints of a hotel meeting room. Larger yachts with a dedicated sky-lounge that can convert to a private dining or meeting space are particularly well-suited.
What's the right yacht size for show week if I'm here primarily to walk the show?
For a principal-plus-advisors charter where the yacht is a base rather than a hosting venue, a 35–42m yacht is the efficient bracket. You sleep your party, you host lunches for ten and dinners for fourteen, you have a presentable aft-deck for a one-off cocktail evening, and you keep your berth supplement and operational complexity manageable. Larger yachts only make sense if you are using the week as the anchor for a hosted gathering of your own.
What's the right yacht size for a hosted gathering during show week?
From 48m upward. The hosting bracket starts when the yacht can absorb a 50-guest standing reception comfortably and convert a sky lounge into a private dining room for sixteen. The 50–60m bracket is where most serious host-led show-week charters sit; above that the yacht itself starts competing for visual attention with the show inventory and the brief shifts from "base" to "venue."
Should I extend the charter beyond show week?
Yes, almost always, if calendars allow. The week immediately after the show — the first week of October — is the calmest and most weather-reliable week of the autumn Mediterranean. Slipping lines on Sunday and cruising west to Saint-Tropez or south to Bonifacio / Calvi for three to four post-show days gives the principal and key guests a genuine decompression window that the show itself does not afford. The marginal charter cost is small relative to the experience uplift.
How do I arrange brokerage walk-throughs in advance?
Through the charter broker. We build a pre-show appointment programme starting six months out — direct outreach to the major brokerage houses and shipyards, calibrated to the principal's specific interest (new-build commission, brokerage sale, charter platform evaluation, refit yard selection). Appointments are confirmed in writing in the month before the show and re-confirmed on the day of.
Is there a dress code?
Smart-casual through the day on the show floor and on the yachts. Brokerage and shipyard dinners typically lean toward jacket-no-tie for men and elevated cocktail for women. The Sapphire Experience evenings and the gala dinners are formal. Late September weather in Monaco is in the 22–24°C daytime range with cooler evenings — a jacket is needed for evening service on the aft deck most nights.
Can I take a tour of yachts I'm not formally appointed to see?
The show is structured around appointments — drop-in tours of in-water yachts are limited and depend on captain availability. Your charter broker's standing relationships with the captains and brokerage teams across the harbour are the unlock; this is one of the practical reasons to engage a serious broker for show-week attendance even if your interest is purely educational.
What about families — is the show child-friendly?
The show is professional in tone and adult in audience. Children of any age are welcome on the charter yacht but the show floor is not a programme designed for them. A small number of charters bring teenage children specifically to introduce them to the industry; the chief stewardess can organise the day around their interests if so.
What's the weather realistically?
Late September in Monaco averages 22–25°C daytime and 16–18°C overnight. Rain is rare in the typical show window but a single wet day across the four show days is statistically common. The harbour stays warm enough for swimming off the platform through the show week most years; sea temperature averages 22°C.
When should I book for next year's show?
Charter enquiries for next year's MYS open from July of this year. Yacht inventory contracts firm up through August–October of the prior year. By January of the show year the better charter options are gone. Earlier is better, particularly for yachts in the 45–60m bracket, where charter availability during show week is structurally tight because owners frequently keep the platform for their own use.
Do you handle just the yacht, or the full show-week programme?
Full programme. The yacht and berth are the spine; the Sapphire Experience access, the appointment calendar, the restaurant reservations, the helicopter logistics, the gala dinner invitations and the on-site concierge through the week are layered on the same contract. Clients should expect to brief once and have the week assembled around them, rather than co-ordinate four separate suppliers.

Editor's note

If a serious yacht decision sits anywhere on the next twenty-four months of your calendar — a new build, a brokerage purchase, a refit yard selection, a charter platform evaluation — the Monaco Yacht Show is the highest-density working week of the year to make progress on it. A chartered base in the harbour shifts the week from exhausting to productive. Enquiries for this September open through the spring.

Plan a monaco yacht show yacht charter from a private superyacht — front-quay berth, Michelin-level crew, helicopter and concierge handled end-to-end.

Request a proposal Speak to a broker All events

Related events

Other events in French Riviera

Internal link web

Around Monaco Yacht Show — destinations, marinas & reading

The Blue Ocean Club archive — destinations, sample itineraries, seasonal guides, marquee events, marinas and editorial reading. Everything cross-references everything else, so you can plan a week from any starting point.

Popular destinations

Editorial reading

Sample itineraries

Seasonal guides

Marquee events

Featured marinas

By yacht type

Regional charter hubs

Plan, book & speak to a broker