A crewed yacht charter Bodrum makes sense for is one where the boat is small enough to feel like a house and large enough to disappear into. This 27-metre Mengi Yay, launched in 1996 and refitted through 2025, is exactly that: four cabins for eight guests, four crew including a dedicated chef, and a hull in the long white Bodrum form that the yard has been building since the 1970s.
The number that matters on this boat is one crew member to every two guests. That ratio is the difference between a holiday where somebody cooks and a holiday where somebody anticipates. The captain, the chef and two deckhands run the vessel between them, and the working rhythm is invisible: cabins turned while guests are swimming, the tender already alongside when the shore trip was only mentioned in passing.
Her 2025 refit renewed the guest accommodation, the systems and the soft furnishings. Mahogany joinery throughout was kept and refinished rather than replaced, which is the right decision on a hull of this vintage — the timber work is the reason to be aboard her rather than a newer fibreglass alternative. She is Turkish-flagged, based in Bodrum, and holds full commercial survey, which is the baseline requirement for any crewed yacht charter Bodrum booking made through Aquinox.
She carries two masts and a rig, which the photographs make plain, but she is run under power on charter. Twin Caterpillar diesels of 355 horsepower each give ten knots cruising and twelve flat out, on 60 litres an hour. For a crewed yacht charter Bodrum guests plan around anchorages rather than passages, that is the correct arrangement.
The accommodation is four en-suite cabins on one level: a master aft, two doubles of which one is designated VIP, and a fourth cabin with a fixed berth and a pullman above it. Eight guests is the working number; the pullman takes a ninth by arrangement, which is worth asking about early rather than at the dock.
Every cabin has its own shower and a household-type electric heads rather than the marine pump arrangement that spoils older boats. Air conditioning runs 24 hours, including overnight, which on a crewed yacht charter Bodrum in August is not a luxury but the difference between sleeping and not. Safes, hair dryers and Bluetooth speakers are fitted throughout, and linen is changed mid-week.
The saloon runs the full beam amidships with a bar to port, a lounge to starboard and an interior dining table forward of it. The interior helm sits at the forward end — unusual at this size, and useful, because the captain is in the room rather than on a flybridge when the weather closes in.
Every meal aboard is cooked in the yacht galley by a chef who is part of the permanent crew. Nothing is catered in, nothing is reheated, and the provisioning is done at the Bodrum market on the morning the charter begins. A crewed yacht charter Bodrum is worth booking largely for what happens at that table.
Breakfast is Turkish: menemen, white cheese, olives, honeycomb, tomatoes and cucumber, and bread from a bakery ashore. Lunch is a table of mezze — broad beans in olive oil, stuffed vine leaves, sea bass carpaccio, whatever the crew bought off a boat that morning — and it is eaten slowly on the aft deck while the yacht sits at anchor.
Dinner is the set piece. Grilled fish, lamb, or a slow-cooked casserole depending on the day and the anchorage, served with Turkish wine the crew keeps aboard. Dietary requirements are handled properly if they are given at booking, because provisioning happens ashore before departure and the coves east of Bodrum have no supermarkets.
The Bodrum peninsula and the Gulf of Gokova hold a set of restaurants that no road reaches. That is the argument for a crewed yacht charter Bodrum over a hotel: the good kitchens on this coast sit at the head of bays where the mountain comes down to the water, and the only way in is a tender from an anchorage.
Cokertme, on the northern shore of the gulf, is the classic — a handful of jetties, a lamb dish named after the village, and nothing else. Further east, the coves at Sedir Adası and Longoz put you within a tender ride of kitchens that fill only from the water. English Harbour has a single restaurant and a beach; the crew radios ahead and the table is ready when you land.
Aboard, there is a full bar, an ice machine and a cellar of Turkish wine worth working through — the Bozcaada whites with fish, Kalecik Karasi from Anatolia with anything from the grill.
Bodrum is the best-connected base in Turkey, with its own airport 35 kilometres from the harbour, and a crewed yacht charter Bodrum opens two entirely different weeks of cruising in opposite directions.
West and south into the Gulf of Gokova: Cokertme, Sedir Island with its Cleopatra beach, Longoz, English Harbour and Seven Islands. Sheltered, green, and almost entirely undeveloped. North instead and you have the Gulf of Mandalya, Didim and the ruins at Iasos and Miletus, which is the quieter route and the better one for guests who want archaeology with the swimming.
The Greek islands are close: Kos lies an hour from Bodrum, and Kalymnos and Leros open beyond it. Crossings need a transit log and passports lodged in advance, and the captain arranges the paperwork. Aquinox also charters from Fethiye Ve Gocek if the itinerary is better served from further east.
The aft deck carries the dining table and a wrapped banquette under a fixed awning; the foredeck holds sun pads and a second seating area forward of the mainmast; and an extended flybridge gives a third position above the saloon with the best view in the anchorage. Three areas for eight people is generous, and on a crewed yacht charter Bodrum it is what keeps a full week aboard comfortable rather than merely tolerable.
A 3.60-metre tender with a 50-horsepower outboard handles shore runs and towing. Canoes, paddleboards, water skis, wakeboards and ringos are aboard, along with snorkelling equipment and fishing tackle. Fuel for the motorised sports is charged as used.
Length overall 27.27 metres, beam 6.63 metres, wooden hull and teak decks. Two Caterpillar 355-horsepower diesels; generators of 22.5 and 17.5 kVA; 1,500 litres of fuel and 2,500 litres of fresh water backed by a watermaker producing 140 litres an hour. Satellite television, music system and internet access in Turkish waters. Navigation covers GPS, radar, autopilot and VHF to full commercial survey.
Low season begins at EUR 2,000 per day and high season at EUR 3,250 per day, quoted for the whole yacht with her crew of four rather than per person. At eight guests that is among the better value on this coast for a crewed yacht charter Bodrum with a dedicated chef aboard.
Charters normally run Saturday to Saturday; shorter periods are considered outside July and August. What the rate includes varies by season and itinerary, and Aquinox confirms it in writing before any deposit is taken rather than leaving it to a footnote. Fuel for motorised water sports is additional.
July and August on a crewed yacht charter Bodrum of this size are typically committed by late winter. May, June, September and October are easier to secure, and the water is warm from June through October. Send dates, guest numbers and a preferred base to Aquinox Yatçılık and we will return a written quotation, a provisional hold and the full inclusions list the same working day.
Eight guests in four en-suite cabins: a master aft, two doubles including a VIP, and a fourth cabin with a pullman berth that can take a ninth guest by arrangement.
Low season begins at EUR 2,000 per day and high season at EUR 3,250 per day. The rate is for the whole yacht with her crew of four, not per person.
Yes. A dedicated chef is one of the four permanent crew and cooks every meal aboard from market provisions. Dietary requirements should be given at the time of booking.
Kos is an hour away, with Kalymnos and Leros beyond. Crossings require a transit log and passports lodged in advance; the captain handles the paperwork.
June and September combine warm water with quieter anchorages. July and August are the busiest weeks and are usually committed by late winter.
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