Marinas in Spain: A Region-by-Region Guide to Moorings and Maximum Boat Size

Spain has more coastline given over to recreational boating than almost anywhere in Europe — roughly 290 marinas holding a combined 134,000 berths, spread across nine regions and two island chains. Ask “which marina should I use?” and the honest answer depends entirely on the boat: a 7 m day boat has hundreds of club harbours to choose from, while a 40 m yacht has perhaps a dozen ports in the whole country that can actually take her. This guide works region by region — Catalonia down to the Canaries — with the published mooring capacity and maximum vessel length for the marinas that matter in each, then pulls the extremes together into national rankings. Because we arrange boat insurance in Spain for owners right across this map, from day boats to superyachts, marina capacity and berth-size limits are something we check with clients every week — this is the overview we put together for them.

How many marinas does Spain have?

According to the sector observatory DBK, Spain had around 290 marinas in operation in 2025, with a combined capacity of roughly 134,000 berths. The distribution is uneven: Andalucía has the most individual marinas (about 48), while Catalonia holds the most berths overall (about 29,300), followed by Andalucía (about 21,900) and the Comunidad Valenciana (about 20,800). Between those three regions sits most of the country’s mooring capacity — but as the tables below show, some of the single biggest marinas in the country are outside all three, on the Mar Menor in Murcia and at Sotogrande on the Atlantic-facing edge of Andalucía.

A quick note on how to read the tables that follow: “berths” is the marina’s own published total mooring capacity, and “max length” is the longest vessel the marina publishes berths for — not the average boat you’ll see on the pontoon. A marina with a 400-berth capacity and an 80 m maximum usually has one or two berths at that top size and hundreds at 8–15 m; it is not 400 berths of superyachts.

Catalonia — Costa Brava & Costa Daurada

Catalonia holds more marina berths than any other Spanish region, anchored by one extraordinary outlier: Empuriabrava, a purpose-built canal town near Roses with about 5,000 berths along 24 km of navigable residential waterways — the largest marina in Spain and in Europe, though built for boats up to roughly 26 m rather than superyachts. Barcelona’s Marina Port Vell is the opposite end of the spectrum: a compact 151-berth dedicated superyacht marina on a 440 m quay with a published maximum around 190 m and 10 m of constant depth, right in the heart of the city.

Empuriabrava — Europe’s largest marina

Empuriabrava isn’t a conventional marina at all — it’s a purpose-built canal town on the Costa Brava, laid out in the 1960s with houses built directly onto private moorings along 24 km of navigable water. That gives it roughly 5,000 berths, more than three times the next-largest marina in Spain, though almost all of them are sized for cruisers and day boats rather than superyachts. It remains the benchmark example of just how differently “marina” can be defined from one region of Spain to the next.

Marina Port Vell — Barcelona’s superyacht berth

At the opposite extreme sits Marina Port Vell, a compact 151-berth marina built specifically for superyachts in the heart of Barcelona. Its 440 m quay and 10 m of constant depth support published berths up to around 190 m — genuine big-ship infrastructure a short walk from the city’s restaurants and shops, which is rare anywhere in the Mediterranean.

Valencia — Costa Blanca

The Comunidad Valenciana is the third-biggest region by berth capacity, and its two flagship ports sit at opposite ends of the coast: Marina Real Juan Carlos I in Valencia city, built for the 2007 and 2010 America’s Cup and now a large mixed leisure port, and Marina de Dénia, the Costa Blanca’s superyacht hub, with an alongside berth to 138 m and a shipyard hauling out to 80 m. Because Turner is based on the Costa Blanca, we already publish a full marina-by-marina cost breakdown for this stretch of coast — see mooring costs on the Costa Blanca for prices; the table here is capacity and size only.

Marina de Dénia — the Costa Blanca’s superyacht hub

Dénia is this coast’s flagship big-boat port: an alongside berth to 138 m, stern-to berths to 60–65 m, and an on-site shipyard hauling out to 80 m. We cover this port — and the rest of the Costa Blanca in full pricing detail — in our dedicated mooring costs guide.

Local cover for this stretch: Dénia, Javea, Moraira, Altea and Torrevieja.

Murcia — Costa Cálida

Murcia’s Mar Menor punches well above its weight nationally: Puerto Tomás Maestre at La Manga is one of the biggest marinas in the whole country by berth count. Cartagena, meanwhile, has quietly become a serious megayacht destination.

Puerto Tomás Maestre — a Mar Menor giant

With 1,721 berths, Tomás Maestre at La Manga is one of the biggest single marinas in the country by capacity — bigger than several ports with far higher profiles. It sits inside the sheltered, shallow Mar Menor lagoon, which caps its maximum vessel length at a modest 30 m but makes it one of the calmest, most family-friendly harbours on this coast.

Yacht Port Cartagena — Murcia’s megayacht port

Cartagena has quietly built one of Spain’s most capable megayacht facilities: 310 berths with a published maximum around 140 m and a 10 m draught allowance, putting it in the same size bracket as Dénia’s alongside berth and Barcelona’s Port Vell. It is increasingly used as a Western Mediterranean stopover for vessels too large for most conventional marinas.

Local cover: Los Alcázares and, just across the regional border, Mazarrón.

Andalucía — Costa del Sol

Puerto Banús is the name everyone knows — but its reputation for superyachts is really about who is seen there, not about berth length: the marina’s published standard berths max out around 50 m, and the biggest boats that visit in August often raft or anchor off rather than take a listed berth. The port that actually holds Andalucía’s size record is Sotogrande, further along the coast toward Gibraltar.

Puerto Banús — famous, but not the biggest berths

Puerto Banús is the name most people associate with Spanish superyachts, and 915 berths make it a genuinely large marina — but its published standard berths max out around 50 m. The eye-catching vessels seen there in August are often rafted, anchored just offshore, or on a transit berth rather than in a listed mooring; for a guaranteed large berth, Sotogrande and the dedicated superyacht ports elsewhere on this list are the safer bet.

Sotogrande — Andalucía’s real size record holder

Sotogrande Marina holds the actual Andalucían record: 1,382 berths and a published maximum of 70 m, making it both the region’s biggest marina and the fifth-biggest in the whole country — well ahead of its more famous neighbour along the coast.

Local cover: Marbella and Estepona.

Andalucía — Costa de la Luz

On the Atlantic side of Andalucía, the standout is Puerto Sherry at El Puerto de Santa María — a large mixed marina and shipyard complex facing the Bay of Cádiz.

Puerto Sherry — the Bay of Cádiz’s flagship marina

Puerto Sherry combines a large leisure marina with an established shipyard on the Bay of Cádiz, publishing 842 berths and a maximum length of 70 m alongside its more typical 6–50 m cruiser berths. It is the clear focal point for boating on Andalucía’s Atlantic coast, well away from the busier Mediterranean marinas.

The Balearic Islands

The Balearics are Europe’s summer superyacht capital, and the numbers show it: several Mallorca marinas publish standard maximums of 80 m or more, and the islands host the region’s biggest refit yard.

Port Adriano & Puerto Portals — Mallorca’s superyacht coast

These two Calvià marinas anchor Mallorca’s reputation as a summer superyacht destination: Port Adriano publishes berths to 80 m standard (100 m in peak season) across a striking Philippe Starck-designed waterfront, while neighbouring Puerto Portals runs to a similar 80 m maximum across roughly 685 berths. Both sit a short cruise from Palma and its refit yards.

STP Shipyard Palma — Europe’s biggest travel lift

STP isn’t a leisure marina but a dedicated refit and repair yard — worth knowing about because it operates Europe’s largest travel lift, rated to 1,000 tonnes, and can haul vessels up to 120 m. For an owner wintering or refitting a large yacht in the Balearics, STP and the marinas around it are usually where the serious technical work happens.

Local cover: Mallorca and Ibiza — and if you are weighing up wintering a Balearic-based boat on the mainland instead, our mooring costs guide covers exactly why so many owners cross to Dénia each October.

The Canary Islands

The Canaries combine year-round cruising weather with a growing Atlantic-crossing and refit trade, led by Gran Canaria’s capital port and Lanzarote’s two well-known superyacht marinas.

Puerto Calero & Marina Rubícón — Lanzarote’s superyacht duo

Lanzarote punches well above its weight for an Atlantic island: Puerto Calero publishes an 80 m maximum with a 7 m draught allowance across around 438 berths plus 200 visitor slips, while Marina Rubícón nearby runs to a similar 70–90 m range. Both have become established stopovers for yachts crossing to or from the Caribbean.

Muelle Deportivo Las Palmas — the Canaries’ biggest marina

Las Palmas’ Muelle Deportivo is the largest marina in the Canary Islands at around 1,300 berths, and its position on Gran Canaria makes it a natural staging post for the ARC and other transatlantic rallies each November, alongside its everyday role as the islands’ main leisure boating hub.

Local cover: Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Lanzarote.

Galicia & Northern Spain

The Atlantic north is Spain’s quieter boating coast — bigger swells, a shorter season, and a culture built more around sailing clubs than glamour marinas. Sanxenxo in Galicia’s Rías Baixas is the region’s largest.

Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo — Galicia’s largest

Sanxenxo, in Galicia’s Rías Baixas, runs the largest marina in the region: 450 berths spanning a wide 8–45 m range. It anchors a quieter, more Atlantic style of boating than the Mediterranean coast — shorter seasons, bigger swells, and a culture built more around sailing clubs than glamour berths.

Spain’s biggest marinas, ranked

Pulled together nationally, the DBK ranking by pure berth count looks like this — and it is not the coast most people expect:

Four of Spain’s five biggest marinas by berth count are canal-style residential developments rather than glamour superyacht ports — a reminder that “biggest” and “most prestigious” are two different questions on this coast.

Where the largest yachts can actually dock

For anything over about 40 m, the country shrinks to a short list. These are the ports that publish berths well beyond the size most marinas can offer:

At these sizes, insurance stops being a commodity purchase: agreed-value hull terms, crew cover and charter use all need arranging properly — that is the territory of our luxury yacht & superyacht insurance page, backed by marine hull insurance for larger and commercial tonnage, with the wordings published in English on our Institute Yacht Clauses and marine hull conditions pages.

Marina size, boat size and your insurance

Every marina in Spain — whether it has 50 berths or 5,000, whether the biggest boat on the pontoon is 8 m or 180 m — asks for the same thing before it signs a berth contract: a current insurance certificate. Third-party liability insurance is compulsory for motor boats and jet skis under Real Decreto 607/1999, and we issue that certificate the same day a policy starts. Beyond the compulsory minimum, the right policy scales with the boat, not the marina:

• Boat & marine insurance — day boats, RIBs, sailing boats and cruisers; third-party from around €150/year.
• Luxury yacht & superyacht insurance — agreed-value hull, crew and charter use, for the boats berthed at Dénia, Port Vell, Málaga, Sotogrande and the Balearic superyacht marinas above.
• Jet ski insurance — compulsory liability from ≈€100/year; comprehensive from ≈€350.
• Marine hull insurance — hull & machinery for larger and commercial vessels.
• Ship repairers’ liability — for the yards doing refit work at hub marinas like Dénia’s Varadero and Mallorca’s STP Shipyard.
• Marine claims in Spain — what to do after an incident, step by step.
• Choosing a berth also means choosing whether you need a Spanish skipper’s licence for the size and range you plan to cruise — see our Spanish boat licences vs the UK system comparison and the wider boat insurance, licences & the law guide.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & references: national marina and berth-capacity figures from the sector observatory DBK (Observatorio Sectorial DBK, 2025), reported in Spanish maritime trade press. Individual marina berth counts and maximum vessel lengths from the marina operators’ own published data, including Marina Port Vell, Marina de Dénia, Puerto Sotogrande, Puerto Portals and STP Shipyard Palma, cross-checked against reputable marina directories where a marina’s own figures were not published. Compulsory boat insurance: Real Decreto 607/1999. All figures are indicative September 2026 guide figures — berth counts, size limits and tariffs change with renovation and reclassification, so always confirm current capacity directly with the marina. This guide is general information, not financial or nautical advice.