Boat Hire Sardinia: Renting a Boat in the La Maddalena Archipelago

You can hire a boat without a licence in Sardinia, including around the La Maddalena archipelago, as long as its engine has no more than 30 kW (40.8 CV) of power and you stay within six miles of the coast. You must be at least 16 to take command of a small boat of up to ten metres, and 18 for anything longer. A jet ski always needs a licence.

Around La Maddalena there is a second layer of rules, because the archipelago is a national park. To navigate, moor or anchor within 300 m of the coast you need the park’s permit. From 1 June to 30 September the speed limit is 7 knots within 500 metres of the coast. You may anchor only on sand or mud, never on seagrass, and some places, such as the Pink Beach on Budelli, are closed to boats altogether. This article explains each rule, where to hire, what to ask before you sign, and when a guided trip makes more sense.

The short answer

Licence-free limits: engine power up to 30 kW (40.8 CV), and no further than six miles from the coast. Beyond either limit, or on a jet ski, you need a boating licence.
Minimum age without a licence: 16 for a natante (hull of ten metres or less), 18 for an imbarcazione (over ten metres).
Park permit: needed to navigate, moor, anchor or stop within 300 m of the coast. The fee depends on the boat’s length. Kayaks, pedalos and windsurf boards are exempt.
Speed: 7 knots within 500 metres of the coast and 10 knots between 500 and 1,000 metres, from 1 June to 30 September in the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
Anchoring: only on sandy or muddy bottoms. Never on Posidonia seagrass.
No-go areas: the zones of full marine protection, including the sea in front of the Pink Beach.

Do you need a boating licence?

The rules come from Italy’s pleasure-boating code, and they are the same all around Sardinia.

A boating licence is required to navigate more than six miles from the coast, or to drive a jet ski at all. Within six miles of the coast, a licence is also required if the engine has more than 30 kW (40.8 CV) of power. The code also sets engine-size limits by engine type, and the rental firm should confirm that its licence-free boats fall within them.

Below those limits no licence is needed, but there are minimum ages. The code distinguishes two kinds of small craft:

A natante is a craft with a hull of ten metres or less, jet skis excluded. Without a licence, you must be at least 16 to take command of one.
An imbarcazione is over ten metres long. Without a licence, you must be at least 18 to take command of one.

By law, then, a licence-free boat is a modest one: typically a small motorboat or an inflatable, a gommone, with a small outboard. It is fine for hopping between coves in calm weather. They are not built for open water in a strong wind, and the six-mile limit is a legal maximum, not a target.

If you do hold a licence and want a larger or faster boat, ask the rental firm in advance which licences it accepts and what paperwork it needs from you.

Self-drive or with a skipper?

There are three ways to be on the water in the park without joining a big tour boat.

Self-drive hire. You take a licence-free boat for a half or full day, plan your own route and stop where the rules allow. It gives the most freedom, and you carry the responsibility for the permit, the speed limits, anchoring and the weather.
A boat with a skipper. You pay more, but someone who knows the islands handles navigation, anchoring and the park rules, and you can choose the stops.
A small-group trip. The four-hour RIB tour is a fast inflatable boat from Palau or La Maddalena around the smaller islands of the marine park, skipper-guided, with swims in the clear water. It is the nearest thing to a private boat without the paperwork, and it takes about 4 hours.

For a first visit, or if you have never handled a boat in a crosswind, a skippered boat or a small-group trip is usually the better choice. Self-drive hire comes into its own on a second or third day, when you know which coves you want to go back to.

Where to hire

Boats are rented in the harbours facing the archipelago and on some of the beaches. What you can take out, and where you can take it, varies a great deal.

Palau and La Maddalena are the main bases for boats of every kind, and the obvious places to hire if the islands are the point. Our guide to getting to La Maddalena covers the ferry between them.
Cannigione, on the Gulf of Arzachena, has small-boat rental near its town beach, along with equipment hire, parking and places to eat.
Baja Sardinia offers boat trips, windsurfing and diving all along its coast, and you can also rent boats for do-it-yourself tours.
Beach rentals are for pottering, not for the islands. At Capriccioli on the Costa Smeralda you can rent dinghies, canoes and pedalos; at Liscia Ruja canoes, kayaks and rubber dinghies; at Rena Bianca in Santa Teresa Gallura pedalos and small boats.

The park regulates who may rent boats inside it. Under its rules for boat hire, 75% of the rental service is assigned to residents of the park area, and the park publishes a yearly list of the boat-rental firms it has approved on its website. If a firm is taking you into park waters, it is worth checking that it appears on that list.

Our articles on Porto Cervo and the Costa Smeralda and Santa Teresa Gallura and Bonifacio describe those ports in more detail.

The park permit

Who needs it

The whole archipelago is a national park, and about 78% of the park is sea. Since summer 1999 the park has charged a ticket to private boaters, passenger boats, dive centres and divers. Today the rule is simple: boaters need a park permit to navigate, moor, anchor or stop within 300 m of the coast. Kayaks, pedalos and windsurf boards are exempt, and so are gigs, paddle boats, sculls and rowing catamarans.

What it costs

The park does not charge one flat price:

The fee is calculated on the boat’s length.
Sailing boats get a 40% discount on the ticket.
Buying the permit online gives a 5% reduction on all entry fees, except daily rental and other economic activities.
Payments to the park can be made only through the national PagoPA platform.

Because the fees are set by the park and can change, check the current rates on the park’s own site before you go rather than relying on a figure from a forum.

Hired boats

The park has a separate online permit for a daily rental, and its discount for buying online does not apply to daily rental. In practice, this means the permit for a hired boat is something to settle with the rental firm. Ask two questions before you sign: is the park permit included in the price, and is it on board or on the skipper’s phone?

What happens without one

Getting the permit before entering the park’s waters avoids fines and the 40% surcharge imposed by the patrol staff. If you need help, the park’s main office, on Via Giulio Cesare 7 in La Maddalena, is about 200 metres from the ferry landing.

Speed limits

A Port Authority ordinance (no. 33/2026) regulates navigation, mooring and maritime activities in the archipelago on a trial basis for the 2026 and 2027 summer seasons. Its seasonal measures apply from 1 June to 30 September each year.

Within 500 metres of the coast: 7 knots.
Between 500 and 1,000 metres from the coast: 10 knots, and boats must still keep a displacement trim, in other words not planing.

Seven knots feels slow in a boat that can do far more, and that is the point: the coves are full of swimmers and snorkellers, and the park receives up to 6,000 boats a day. Because the ordinance is a trial, check whether the limits have changed before a later season.

Where you cannot go

Zones of full marine protection

In the zones of full marine protection, navigation, anchoring, swimming and fishing are forbidden. The Pink Beach on Budelli is the best-known example. To protect it, it is forbidden to swim, sail, anchor or moor in the sea area in front of it. Boats may pass only slowly, up to the buoys about 70 m from the shore that close the bay, and the beach itself has been closed to visitors since 1994. The park has built a path with walkways so visitors can admire it from a distance.

Beaches with limits

Close by, Spiaggia del Cavaliere on Budelli, a natural pool overlooking Porto della Madonna, has been only partially open since the summer of 2020 because of erosion. Porto della Madonna itself is a stretch of water enclosed between Budelli and the nearby islands of Razzoli and Santa Maria, and it is one of the places every boat heads for, so expect company.

Waters reserved for passenger boats

At places such as Cala Corsara, Cala Coticcio and Spiaggia dei Cavalieri, stretches of water are reserved first for passenger boats to manoeuvre. If you arrive in a hired boat, keep clear of the tour boats’ approach and anchor where you are not in their way.

Protected land zones

Some of the most famous coves are protected on land as well. The TA zones of Cala Brigantina and Cala Coticcio on Caprera are areas of significant natural interest that need high protection, so they cannot be walked freely; they can be reached on foot only with a licensed environmental hiking guide. The islands of Soffi, Nibani and Mortorio, off Porto Cervo, are also classed as TA areas.

Anchoring and mooring

Anchoring on Posidonia oceanica meadows or other sensitive habitats is forbidden; it is allowed only on sandy or muddy bottoms. Posidonia shows as dark patches on the seabed, while sand looks pale turquoise from the surface. If you cannot see which you are over, move on until you can.

Other rules to know:

Corridors: corridor areas where anchoring is banned keep a passage clear for rescue boats.
Buoys: mooring at buoys follows the park’s rules, and swimming is allowed within 5 metres of the moored boat.
Waste: dumping waste or sewage into the sea is forbidden, and so is taking sand, shells or other natural materials.

Keep your crew close to the boat when they swim, and use a flag or a lookout if others are in the water; the coves are busy with fast tenders and ribs in summer.

Wind, sea and safety

The weather decides where you can go, and it changes quickly.

The mistral. The north-westerly mistral is the wind that shapes a boating day here. Beaches that face away from it stay calm: Capriccioli’s eastern shore, for example, has shallow water and is sheltered from the mistral.
Landing places depend on the wind. At Cala Lunga, Razzoli’s only landing place, mooring is possible only when easterly winds blow. Other anchorages work the other way round.
The strait. The Strait of Bonifacio is well known to sailors for its dangerous waters, scattered with reefs and crossed by strong currents. It is not a place for a first outing in a small hired boat.

Before you leave the harbour, check the marine forecast for the whole day, not just the morning. If the rental firm says the conditions are too rough for its boats, take that as a sign to swap the day for a guided trip or a day on land.

Fuel and the practical side

Ask whether fuel is included, how much the tank holds, how far that takes you, and where you can refuel. Ask for a quick briefing on the engine, the kill cord, the anchor and the radio or phone contact, and make sure there are life jackets on board for everyone, in the right sizes for children.

Planning a day on the water

A licence-free boat will not take you far, but in the archipelago it does not need to. Some ideas, depending on the wind:

Spargi. Cala Corsara, on Spargi’s south coast, is four beaches of very fine white sand among dunes. It is also a passenger-boat stop, so arrive early or late. Offshore, the Corsara shoal is where a diver found a Roman ship of about 110 BC at 18 m in 1939.
Porto della Madonna. The shallow water between Budelli, Razzoli and Santa Maria, with a slow pass outside the buoys to see the Pink Beach.
Caprera’s coast. Seen from the water, without the guided walk; keep clear of the passenger boats at Cala Coticcio.
A quiet cove near your base. On windy days, the sheltered side of the main islands is a better choice than a long run.

Our guide to boat trips and beaches describes the beaches in more detail.

Checklist before you sign

Licence: is the boat within the licence-free limits, and do you meet the minimum age?
Permit: is the park permit included, and where is it kept?
Firm: is the firm on the park’s list of approved rental firms?
Weather: what is the forecast for the whole day, and what is the firm’s policy if it changes?
Safety: life jackets for everyone, a working phone or radio, and a briefing on the engine and anchor.
Fuel: how much, how far, and where to refuel.
Return time: get it in writing, with a margin for the wind.

Hiring or joining a tour?

Hiring is the freedom option; a tour is the easy one. On an organised trip the operator deals with the park ticket, knows which anchorages are open on the day and handles the boat in a crosswind.

The four-hour RIB tour from Palau or La Maddalena is skipper-guided around the smaller islands, with swim stops, in about 4 hours.
The full-day boat trip from Palau visits beaches such as Cala Corsara and Santa Maria, the clear water of Cala Coticcio and La Maddalena town, with several swim stops, in about 7 hours.
The island-hopping sailing tour with lunch sails from La Maddalena or Palau to Spargi, Budelli and the natural pools of Budelli, in about 6.5 hours.

The tours page lists them with live prices.

Frequently asked questions

Can I hire a boat without a licence in Sardinia?

Yes, if its engine has no more than 30 kW (40.8 CV) of power and you stay within six miles of the coast. You must be at least 16 for a boat of up to ten metres and 18 for a longer one. A jet ski always needs a licence.

Do I need a permit to take a boat into La Maddalena park?

Yes. Boaters need a park permit to navigate, moor, anchor or stop within 300 m of the coast. The fee depends on the boat’s length, and kayaks, pedalos and windsurf boards are exempt. With a hired boat, ask whether the permit is included.

What is the speed limit around La Maddalena?

Under the Port Authority’s ordinance for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, 7 knots within 500 metres of the coast and 10 knots between 500 and 1,000 metres, from 1 June to 30 September. Check before later seasons, as the ordinance is a trial.

Can I anchor at the Pink Beach?

No. It is forbidden to swim, sail, anchor or moor in the sea area in front of the Pink Beach. Boats may pass only slowly, up to the buoys about 70 m from the shore.

Where can I anchor in the park?

Only on sandy or muddy bottoms, never on Posidonia seagrass or other sensitive habitats, and not in the corridors kept clear for rescue boats. Where the park has laid buoys, mooring follows its rules.

Can I hire a jet ski at La Maddalena?

Italian law requires a boating licence to drive a jet ski anywhere, whatever the distance from the coast. Inside the national park, check with the park and the Port Authority before planning to use one.