Is a catamaran worth the extra cost for a family charter in Mallorca?

If the family includes small children or anyone prone to seasickness, usually yes. A catamaran stays level under sail and rolls far less at anchor, which changes the mood of the week more than any other single factor. If the crew are all comfortable sailors and the budget is finite, the same money buys a considerably longer monohull with a better sailing feel.

Can a catamaran get closer inshore in the Balearics?

Yes, and it is a real advantage here. A cruising catamaran typically draws around a metre to a metre and a half against two metres or more for an equivalent monohull, which lets you anchor further into the shallow sandy shelf in the northern bay and closer in at the south-eastern calas. In a busy August anchorage, that is often the difference between a spot and no spot.

Are catamarans harder to berth in Balearic marinas?

They are harder to fit and more expensive when they do. Berths are priced by area rather than length in most Balearic marinas, so a wide boat pays substantially more, and the smaller harbours on this coast have limited multihull capacity. Book marina nights well ahead or plan a week that lives at anchor.

Which handles the Tramuntana coast better?

A monohull, in the coves. Several of the anchorages on the north-west coast are narrow slots where you swing on a short scope between rock walls, and a wide beam is a liability there. In open water and downwind a catamaran is the more comfortable boat by a distance. It depends entirely on which half of the week you weight more heavily.

Catamaran or monohull for a family week in Mallorca

The catamaran argument is usually made in general terms. On this island it comes down to four specific things: how shallow you can anchor in the northern bay, how narrow the coves on the Tramuntana coast are, what a wide boat is charged for a berth in August, and whether anyone in your crew gets seasick.

The catamaran question gets argued in the abstract on forums and settled in the concrete on the water. On this island there are four things that actually decide it, and three of them are geographic.

Mallorca has a shallow sandy bay in the north, a coast of narrow deep coves in the north-west, a string of small tight calas in the south-east, and marinas that charge by the square metre. A catamaran is superb in two of those places and awkward in the other two.

The four things that decide it here

	Catamaran	Monohull
Draught	About 1.0–1.5 m	About 1.8–2.3 m
Anchoring on the northern shelf	Right in, over sand	Further out, deeper water
Narrow Tramuntana coves	Tight, sometimes impossible	Designed for it
Motion at anchor	Very little roll	Rolls in any swell
Motion under sail	Level	Heeled
Marina berth in August	Priced by area, often a multiple	Standard rate
Charter cost, same berths	Higher	Lower
Length you get for the money	Shorter	Longer
Under engine into wind	Windage, but two engines	Slices through, one engine

The row that surprises people is berthing. Balearic marinas price by the space you occupy, so a twelve-metre catamaran with a seven-metre beam is not paying a twelve-metre rate. In Port de Sóller, Port d’Andratx and the smaller harbours, the number of berths that physically take a wide boat is limited, and in July and August they go early.

Where the catamaran is obviously right

The northern bay. From Alcúdia round to Colònia de Sant Pere the bottom shelves gently over sand for a very long way. A boat drawing a metre and a bit can lie close in on that shelf in flat water; a boat drawing two and a bit anchors out where the swell is. If your week is based in the north, this is not a marginal advantage.

Anywhere with children on board. A catamaran does not heel. Meals happen at a table rather than at an angle, the cockpit is a room rather than a slope, and the trampolines at the bow are the single most effective piece of child containment ever fitted to a boat. At anchor the difference is bigger still: a monohull rolls in the swell that wraps into most Mallorcan anchorages overnight, and a catamaran mostly does not.

Two families sharing. Four cabins in two hulls with their own heads is a genuinely different social arrangement from four cabins along one corridor.

Charter yachts moored stern-to along a working quay in Palma, mooring lines and a cast-iron cleat in the foreground. — Stern-to along a quay is where the beam becomes a bill. Marinas here charge for the water you sit on, not the metres of hull.

Where it is the wrong boat

The Tramuntana coves. Cala Deià, the slots under Banyalbufar, the small anchorages either side of Sa Foradada — these are narrow, deep close to the rock, and often occupied by two or three boats lying to a short scope. A wide boat in that geometry has fewer options and less room to swing, and on a coast where the only real shelter is Port de Sóller, having fewer options is a real cost.

The south-east calas have a milder version of the same problem. Cala Varques, the inlets around Portocolom and the coves towards Santanyí are small, and in August they are full. A monohull tucks in where a catamaran has to sit outside.

And there is the money. Like for like, a catamaran costs more per week than a monohull of similar length, the deposit is usually higher, and the berth charges compound it. For the same budget you can charter a noticeably longer monohull, which for a crew of confident sailors buys more boat than it buys comfort.

A single yacht at anchor in a narrow rocky cove on the Tramuntana coast, pale cliffs on both sides and very little room to swing. — Count the space either side of that hull. This is the anchorage a wide boat has to think twice about.

The qualification question

Worth raising early, because it catches people. A number of Balearic bases treat a catamaran as a step up: they ask for more sea time, sometimes for multihull experience specifically, and they may insist on a handover skipper for the first day even when your certificate is in order.

That is not obstruction. Manoeuvring a wide twin-engine boat stern-to into a Mediterranean berth, in a crosswind, with a lazy line to pick up, is a different skill from doing the same in a monohull, and the base is the party holding the damage deposit. Ask what they require before you fall in love with a listing.

The recommendation

Small children, mixed sailing ability, or a week that will be spent mostly at anchor in the north and the south-east: take the catamaran, and accept that you will spend more nights at anchor than in marinas because of what the berths cost.

Adults who sail, a week aimed at the Tramuntana coast, or a fixed budget you want to spend on waterline: take the monohull, take the extra couple of metres, and take the coves the catamaran cannot get into.

The one combination to avoid is a catamaran booked for a marina-hopping week in August on this coast. That is the version where the boat is lovely and the berthing bill and the availability both come as a shock at the same time.