Corsica · France — 42.70°N, 9.45°E

Boat rental in Bastia: observed prices, with or without a license

Q: Do I need a license to rent a boat in Bastia?

In France, motorboats rent license-free up to 6 hp (4.5 kW) ; above that, the French coastal license or an equivalent title is required. Sail needs no license at all. Operators check papers at the pontoon — if in doubt about a specific model, ask for the engine's real power before booking.

Bastia (Corsica) is one of the busiest rental ports on the French coast — yet each platform only shows its own catalogue. Boat-Comparator queries them all in a single search and ranks the offers by real price.

Boats available in Bastia, live

Boataround, SamBoat, Click&Boat and GlobeSailor queried right now, sorted by price. You book on the platform, with no added fees.

Our readings in Bastia. At the 2026-10-03 reading (for a day out on 2026-11-02), 47 offers were published in Bastia: the cheapest at €63, the median at €330 per day. Median by type: RIB €380, motorboat €407, sailboat €328, catamaran €692, license-free boat €507. License-free boat rental in Bastia: observed median €507/day. Method and full figures →

47 offers, €400 median: the cheapest Corsican base in our readings

Reading of 29 August 2026 for a 28 September outing — one of the two freshest of our ten bases this week: 47 offers, median €400 per day, first offer at €73, the dearest at €2,249. Two figures deserve attention. First the ceiling, at €2,249, the lowest of our ten bases: Bastia rents local boats, not display units — the spread here is 1 to 31, against 1 to 100 in San Antonio. Then the island comparison: €400 here against €650 in L'Île-Rousse (26 August reading, 72 offers), on the same coast a hundred kilometres away. By category, a notable inversion: the RIB comes out at a €442 median (9 offers, €303 to €745), i.e. dearer than the sailboat at €353 (8 offers, €73 to €2,249) — a composition effect, the local sailing fleet being made up mostly of small units. The other lines in our collection for this base are too old or too ambiguous to publish as current prices; we set them aside. See "from" price or firm price and choosing the right platform.

Cap Corse, 17 marinas — and a current that reverses

Two shelters in town — Port de Toga at 700 m and the Vieux Port at 900 m — then the run up the Cap: Marine de Sisco at 12.3 km, Port de Saint-Florent at 12.6 km on the other side of the isthmus, Mare È Stagnu at 12.7 km, Marine de Giottani at 20.4 km, Macinaggio at 28.5 km, Centuri at 30.4 km, Barcaggio at 34 km at the tip, then Taverna at 41 km to the south — 17 marinas within the 60 km radius (OpenStreetMap records). One navigational point is worth knowing before aiming for Capraia or Elba: a study by Roberta Sciascia, Marcello G. Magaldi and Anna Vetrano, published in 2019 in Deep Sea Research Part I, simulated the Corsica Channel at roughly 1.5 km resolution and measures an annual mean transport of 0.49 ± 0.49 Sv directed mainly northward, from the Tyrrhenian to the Ligurian Sea; on top of that sits a variability lasting a few days to a week, more frequent in summer and associated with reversals of the currents. A current that can reverse within days is something you check before leaving, not on the way back. See the marinas around Bastia and our Corsica by boat guide.

September: +12%, noise — and the 6 hp rule

The median moves from €352 for August outings to €393 for September ones, i.e. +12%. Across five and four readings, we read that as a composition effect, not a rate rise: the same caution as in Canet-en-Roussillon (+25%) or Cavalaire (+34%), where the displayed gap mostly tells you which boats were left in the catalogue. On the rules, Corsica falls under French law: a motorboat rents licence-free up to 6 hp (4.5 kW), above that the coastal licence is required, and sail needs none at all — which puts much of the eight sailboats logged on 29 August within reach without any qualification. See our tips for renting cheaper and all our Corsican bases.

Bastia's waters, in practice

The eastern face of Cap Corse, a coast of tiny harbours and Genoese towers running up to Macinaggio. Wind-wise: a westerly libeccio that falls in gusts off the Cap’s relief, with steady easterly thermals in summer.

Departures, day-trip classics and season

Departures: Bastia’s Vieux-Port and the Toga marina just north. The local classics: Erbalunga and its tower, the Sisco and Pietracorbara marinas, and the Tuscan archipelago (Capraia, Elba) one crossing away. High season: from June to September, the east coast staying workable when the island’s west side is windy.

How it works

Enter your dates and party size: Boat-Comparator queries Boataround, SamBoat, Click&Boat and GlobeSailor in parallel, gathers the boats available in Bastia and ranks them by real price. You then book directly on the platform, under its guarantees. Free, no sign-up.

Not sure which platform to trust? Read our comparison and our detailed reviews: Click&Boat, SamBoat, Boataround, GlobeSailor.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a boat rental cost in Bastia?

At the 2026-10-03 reading (for a day out on 2026-11-02), 47 offers were published in Bastia: the cheapest at €63, the median at €330 per day. Median by type: RIB €380, motorboat €407, sailboat €328, catamaran €692, license-free boat €507. Boat-Comparator compares the real prices published by the platforms at the time of your search.

Do I need a license to rent a boat in Bastia?

In France, motorboats rent license-free up to 6 hp (4.5 kW); above that, the French coastal license or an equivalent title is required. Sail needs no license at all. Operators check papers at the pontoon — if in doubt about a specific model, ask for the engine's real power before booking.

Which platforms list boats in Bastia?

Boat-Comparator queries Boataround, SamBoat, Click&Boat and GlobeSailor live, showing price, photo, rating and booking link for every offer.

How much does it cost to rent a boat in Bastia?

On our reading of 29 August 2026 for a 28 September outing: 47 offers, median €400 per day, ranging from €73 to €2,249. By category: sailboat €353 (8 offers, €73 to €2,249) and RIB €442 (9 offers, €303 to €745). That is the lower median of the two Corsican bases we log, against €650 in L'Île-Rousse on 26 August.

Can you rent a boat without a licence in Bastia?

Corsica falls under French law: a motorboat rents licence-free only up to 6 hp (4.5 kW), above that the coastal licence is required. Sail needs no licence at all — and eight sailboats appear in our reading of 29 August 2026, from €73 per day. Our reading returns no recent offer in the "license-free" category.

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