The water off Spinola Bay starts moving early. Skippers carry fenders and cool boxes down the steps by half past eight, the fishing luzzus sit still in the middle of the bay while the hire boats work around them, and by nine the first groups are heading out past the headland. A half day on the water is the format that fits a stay in St Julian's: four hours out and back, with the rest of the afternoon still in front of you. Most of what you need to book one is within a twenty-minute walk of Spinola.
What a half day means here
Four hours is the standard half-day block and seven or eight hours is a full day. Four hours will get you out to Comino and the Blue Lagoon, anchored, swum and back again, but it is a working schedule rather than a lazy one. Subtract the crossing in each direction and you are left with roughly two hours at anchor. A powerboat and a sailing catamaran do not cover the same distance in that time, so when an operator quotes four hours, ask how long the run to the lagoon takes on the particular hull you are booking. If you want two swim stops, lunch on board and no clock-watching, either buy the full day or pick a nearer anchorage and stay longer at it.
Prices come in two shapes. Shared trips are quoted per person, generally €30 to €75 depending on the boat and whether food is included. Private charters are quoted for the whole vessel, and the arithmetic catches people out: a boat at €390 for four hours is under €50 a head across eight people, and a €500 flat charter split twenty ways is €25 each. Before you compare two quotes, ask whether fuel and VAT are inside the price and whether the skipper is included, because some Comino charters collect a fuel surcharge in cash at the end of the day.
The boats you can walk to at Spinola Bay
Oki-Ko-Ki Banis Watersports works off Spinola Bay itself and has done for over five decades, which in practice means you walk from your hotel to the boat rather than paying for a transfer to a marina. It runs both ways: shared Comino departures at €49 to €59 per person, and whole-boat hire from around €390 for a four-hour private speedboat charter, which is the sensible option for a group of friends who want the boat to themselves. These are open speedboats, with sun and spray instead of shade and a cabin, and there is no bathroom on board. It suits people who want to be in the sun for four hours and nobody else.
Boat Hire Malta takes private bookings only, with no shared tours at all, and lists St Julian's among its departure points, so this is another boat you can reach on foot. It quotes one flat figure for the vessel, with skipper, fuel and VAT already included, from around €425 for a sunset trip and around €450 for a full day. That removes the cash fuel top-up at the end and makes splitting the bill across a group straightforward. The published products lean towards sunset and full-day trips, so if you want a four-hour afternoon, ask for it when you enquire rather than assuming it is on the list.
Portomaso and the crewed end of the market
Walk on around the promenade for about eight minutes and you reach Portomaso. Boatcare Trading is berthed here, and it is the one serious charter house actually based in St Julian's, so you board a properly crewed yacht five minutes from the hotels. Its standard product is a skippered day charter running eight hours with skipper, crew, soft drinks and fuel for 30 nautical miles, with additional hours at €350 plus VAT. That is a full day priced accordingly, not a half-day deal, so treat it as the premium option for a private party rather than an afternoon out.
Powerboat Rides Malta covers the widest spread of pick-up points for anyone staying here, listing departures from St Julian's, St George's Bay and Portomaso as well as across the water. It publishes both a four-hour half-day private charter and a seven-hour full day, quoted on request, which is worth knowing when other operators only sell the full day. The P1 Chaudron powerboats seat up to 20 each and there is a 14-metre motor yacht for up to 12, so the same operator can handle a boisterous group of eighteen or a quieter dozen who want a proper cabin and somewhere to sit down out of the wind.
The St George's Bay end of the walk
Another fifteen minutes on foot from Spinola, past Paceville, brings you to St George's Bay. Sun & Fun Watersports Malta has its base here by the Corinthia, and you meet at the base fifteen minutes before departure, which makes it the easiest booking of the lot if you are staying at this end. Private boat trips start from around €400 for three and a half to seven hours, self-drive rental from around €250, and shared Comino departures from about €30 per person. The private boats carry only about four people, so this works for a couple or two couples and nothing larger. You also get a choice of the Comino route or the quieter southern run to St Peter's Pool, which is the better call in August when the lagoon is at its busiest.
Shade, a bathroom and the things groups argue about
Plenty of boats here have neither, and those two questions decide most group bookings. Suncat Malta Charters answers both. Its half-day private catamaran charters start from around €595, with extra hours at €80 to €100 and extra guests at €50 each, across a fleet running from a Bavaria 41 for eight or nine guests up to a Bali 4.0 for 21 to 26. The day charter includes head facilities, a covered cockpit lounge, snorkelling gear and two paddleboards, and the flat twin hulls sit far steadier at anchor than a monohull, which matters if anyone in the group is uneasy on the water.
Adventure Cruises is based at the ferries round the bay, a short hop from St Julian's, and it states plainly what a lot of groups only find out on the day: there are toilet facilities and shaded areas on board, and masks are provided. It runs private charters alongside full-day and evening harbour trips, has a range of boats for different group sizes, and offers bareboat hire. Charters are quoted on request, and it takes Revolut and PayPal, which is convenient if the group is settling up between themselves.
Hera Cruises runs a timber gulet, which is the most comfortable hull shape in this category for a group that wants to sit around rather than hang on. Its scheduled 3-Bay and Comino cruises are around €75 per person including a cold buffet lunch and open bar, and the gulet can be taken for exclusive use, quoted on request. Shaded decks, a saloon and bar, freshwater showers and boarding ladders on both sides cover the usual complaints, and the operation was posting fresh 2026 dates, so the schedule is current.
When the group is fifteen or more
Malta Catamaran Charters operates out of the harbour marinas with nine vessels carrying anywhere from 8 to 45 passengers, plus a pick-up and drop-off service, so a group staying here is collected rather than left to find a berth. Twelve years in, it has the depth of fleet to put a party of fifteen or twenty on one boat sized for them instead of splitting them across two small hulls. Rates run from roughly €400 to €1,200 for the boat depending on the vessel, with a €200 deposit and the balance on the day. Confirm which specific boat you are getting and whether it carries a toilet, because that varies across the fleet.
Sea Adventure Excursions has the strongest arithmetic for a large group: around €500 flat for the whole boat for up to seven hours, skipper included, with cushioned seating for as many as 38 people. Thirty years of operating shows in a specification that answers the usual grumbles directly: toilets, a proper shaded area, freshwater showers, drink cooling and your own music by USB. The catch is the departure point, which is up the north coast, so a group staying here needs a 20 to 25 minute transfer by road. Split across thirty people that is still the lower end of the market by some distance.
Captain Morgan Cruises has been running for forty years and keeps enough hulls that a large group can usually be placed at short notice in peak season, which is worth remembering in August. Its scheduled full-day Comino sailings come with lunch and an open bar, and the Fernandes I at 26.5 metres and Fernandes II at 38 metres can both be chartered privately, rates on request. The covered stern decks and saloons on both gulets settle the shade question outright. These are full-day products rather than half-day ones, so book them when you want the whole day gone.
Loud boats and quiet ones
Supreme Powerboats Malta has been operating since 2012 and is openly aimed at bachelor parties, team building and celebrations. Take the whole boat and the group controls the sound system and the itinerary; the shared full day starts from around €60 per person, with private charter quoted on request. These are open race-style hulls with no cabin, so it is a fast, loud day out with no shade and nowhere to retreat to.
Malta Sailing Charter is the opposite: a skippered Beneteau for up to 12 guests, sailing out from the harbour marinas across the water, quiet and unhurried, with snorkelling and food on board. Roughly €600 to €1,200 covers six to eight hours for a small group, and shorter two to four hour runs start from around €200 to €300, which is one of the few genuinely short options here. A monohull heels under sail and the heads is small, so this suits twelve calm people rather than a party.
Two cheaper ways to get afloat
Rent A Boat Malta is the least expensive route to having a boat to yourselves for an afternoon, with a licensed skipper driving throughout: €150 to €280 for a half day on a small boat for up to six, or €250 to €400 on a motor catamaran for up to ten. It brokers vessels from many different owners, so confirm that your specific boat has a bimini and a heads before you pay, because those vary across the fleet and the listing photographs will not always tell you.
Luzzu Cruises is family-run and sells scheduled Comino sailings from around €30 to €50 per person, but the reason to call is the private hire of its renovated traditional luzzu, quoted on request. Taking a restored Maltese fishing craft out for the day is a different experience from another white hire cruiser, and the company's larger vessels, with bathrooms, a sundeck and a bar, show the outfit is properly equipped rather than improvising.
Practical notes
Spinola Bay to Portomaso is about eight minutes on foot along the promenade, and Spinola to St George's Bay about fifteen. Buses along the coast road stop at Spinola and again near St George's Bay; single fares are low and a Tallinja card only pays for itself if you are using the network all week. For the operators up the north coast or across the harbour, a taxi or ride-hailing app is quicker and easy to find, and several charters include pick-up, so ask, because it can be worth €30 to €40 a group.
Card payment is normal for deposits and online bookings, but bring cash for balances, fuel surcharges and tips, as some skippers still settle up that way on the boat. Deposits of around €200 on larger charters are standard. If you are still choosing a base, the St Julian's hotel search covers Spinola, Portomaso and the St George's Bay hotels, and staying within walking distance of your departure point removes a transfer at both ends of the day.
Morning departures around nine or ten get the calmer water and reach the lagoon before it fills; the breeze usually builds through the afternoon, which is worth knowing if anyone is prone to seasickness. Budget roughly €30 to €75 per person for a shared trip, €150 to €400 for a small private half day, €390 to €600 for a mid-sized private boat for four hours, and €400 to €1,200 flat for a large-group charter. Book a week ahead in July and August; outside those months a few days is usually enough. For where to eat when you are back on shore and what else is within walking distance, see the St Julian's guide.
