20 Dec - 4 Jan 2026

Where to charter for Christmas and New Year

The longest window most families take all year, and the one booked earliest. The Caribbean and the Indian Ocean are in full season; the Mediterranean is not.

Travel window 20 Dec - 4 Jan 2026

Start looking before this date 26 Oct 2026

Typical trip 10 days

The date above is the travel window minus 55 days. Our own enquiries put the median gap between first contact and departure at 40 days, so this has you looking early rather than late.

Where to go for a 10-day yacht charter

Charter grounds whose season suits these dates. Ordered by how well the window fits, not by how many yachts we hold there.

Why these charter grounds suit the dates

St Barths

The Caribbean's most glamorous harbour – New Year's Eve in Gustavia is the yachting world's winter rendezvous, booked many months ahead.

Bahamas

Winter is prime time – the Exumas' sandbars and swimming pigs in settled trade-wind weather. Hurricane season (June–November) sits outside the charter calendar.

British Virgin Islands

Steady 15–20 knot trade winds and line-of-sight island hops make the BVI the world's most forgiving blue-water playground.

Antigua and Barbuda

A bay for every day of the year and the Caribbean's premier regatta calendar – Antigua Sailing Week closes the season each spring.

USVI

St Thomas, St John and St Croix pair US convenience with BVI-grade sailing – half of St John is national park, its bays on permanent protection.

Maldives

The northeast monsoon brings mirror-flat lagoons and the season's best visibility – manta and whale-shark encounters included.

Events during these dates

Already happening while you are away, and worth building the route around.

Not sure which of these suits you?

Tell us who is travelling and roughly when, and a broker will come back with the two or three that actually fit.

Talk to a broker