Inside the hot Mediterranean harbours where billionaire yachts compete to stay

Yachts off the coast of Capri © Marco Cantile / LightRocket via Getty Images

If you're a billionaire, a prime place to be in summer is cruising the Mediterranean, making what's been dubbed "the milk run" of Europe's chicest ports. "It is still--by a long way—the top destination for superyachts in the world," says Nicolas Benazeth, Charter Director at CharterWorld, a London-based international yacht charter company. But that means key berths in the most coveted harbors can be hard to come by—no matter what your net worth.

"Waiting lists are full months in advance in many cases, and yachts rival in ingenuity and local contacts to try to get ahead. Other berths can be hard to secure due to more specific reasons--the larger the superyacht, the less physically accessible berths there are to choose from, especially in historic ports, so if you miss out on the one place you can dock, there is no second chance," says Benazeth.

Michele Gavino, CEO of Baglietto, the luxury yacht builder based on the Italian Riviera, sees the situation close at hand. "In Italy we have a lot of small ports that do not allow berths for megayachts like those built by Baglietto." So where do the big boats want to go and why? Benazeth and Gavino share their insights.

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