Do you need a boat licence in Spain? The new rules since 1 October 2026

With a skipper you need no boat licence in Spain – we find the right boat for you. The skipper steers, your group enjoys the bays and the sea. Boats with a skipper on board or bookable are waiting on the Balearic Islands and the Costa Brava, with the final price including mandatory extras; we take your questions about the boat to the provider. If you want to steer yourself, the rules from the official texts follow below.

On the Balearic Islands, the Costa Brava or the Costa del Sol you see small boats said to need "no licence". What is true? In Spain this is set by Real Decreto 875/2014 on nautical qualifications; its exceptions were rewritten at the end of 2025 and the new version applies since 1 October 2026. Rules change: check before you travel.

• Without a qualification you may only drive small boats: motorboats up to 5 metres with at most 15 hp nominal power, sailing boats up to 6 metres.
• Only by day and no further than two nautical miles from the port, marina or beach you leave from; minimum age 18.
• Personal watercraft are excluded from the exception.
• For rented boats the decree's preamble requires the renter to hold the corresponding qualification – check with the provider what applies to your boat.
• With a skipper, nobody in your group needs a licence.

Real Decreto 1188/2025 of 26 December 2025 rewrote article 10 of Real Decreto 875/2014: no qualification is needed for private use of motorboats up to 5 metres with at most 15 hp nominal and no power-limiting device, for sport use of sailing boats up to 6 metres and for floating beach devices; not more than two miles from the point of departure, by day, from age 18. This version applies since 1 October 2026; before, the engine limit was 11.26 kW, as the Ministry of Transport notes. The preamble adds that when such boats are rented, the renter must hold the corresponding qualification.

For most boats on Go2Boat you need a licence if you steer yourself – or a skipper. Every boat shows how the provider handles the skipper. The filter "With skipper – no licence" shows only boats with a skipper on board or bookable, or that need no licence.

Which foreign qualifications Spain recognises depends on the qualification and the boat: check with the provider and, if in doubt, with the Spanish Ministry of Transport.

• The current text in the Boletín Oficial del Estado and the ministry's page (links in the sources).
• Length and engine power of the boat.
• What the provider asks for boats without a skipper.
• On the Balearic Islands the posidonia meadows are protected, with their own anchoring rules.

Boats with a skipper are waiting on the Balearic Islands and the Costa Brava.

On Go2Boat you only see free dates from the providers' calendars, and every price is the final price including mandatory extras – no surprise at payment. Questions about the boat, the skipper or your wishes we settle with the provider for you: Go2Boat is on your side, from the first question to on board. Search free boats