Three Different Catamarans Leave Puerto Banús, at Three Different Prices

There is no such thing as "the" Puerto Banús catamaran. Three operators sell different two-hour products out of this marina, from about €35 a head to €60 a head to a private boat at €550, and one more boat that people regularly mistake for an excursion is actually a scheduled ferry.

The second thing that catches people out is the pier. Puerto Banús has no single tourist-boat quay – Royal Catamaran boards at Dock 1, and everyone else meets wherever their confirmation says. Operator prices checked on 12 September 2026.

Which catamaran are you actually booking?

All three sell "two hours from Puerto Banús with a swim stop". They are not the same trip.

The honest reading of that table: if the price is what matters, book the operator direct rather than through a platform. Royal Catamaran's own €60 ticket and the platform-listed small-group product are a broadly similar two hours, and the platform one costs meaningfully more for the smaller group.

What you buy at the top of the ladder is the passenger count. Ten people on a Lagoon is a different afternoon from forty on a tourist catamaran, and for some people that is worth the difference. For the wider Marbella menu, including dolphin trips and private charters, the Marbella boat trips guide prices every category side by side. This page stays on the catamarans.

Where does it board, and when should you be there?

Puerto Banús is 8km west of central Marbella, about ten minutes by taxi, and the marina holds several hundred berths across multiple pontoons.

• Royal Catamaran: Dock 1, berths 54 to 55, with daily departures running 10:00 to 19:00
• Everyone else: the meeting point on your confirmation. Do not use the marina entrance as a landmark
• Arrive: 15 to 20 minutes early, because finding a specific pontoon among identical white hulls takes longer than you think
• Parking: marina car parks, busiest in the evening when the restaurants fill rather than in the afternoon
• From Málaga: about 50 minutes by car on the A-7

What the two hours actually includes

All three follow the same shape. Out of the marina and along the Marbella coast, east towards the town or west towards Estepona depending on the wind, with the direction decided by the skipper on the day rather than printed on an itinerary.

The swimming stop is conditional, not guaranteed, on every one of them. The boat anchors when the sea state allows and skips it when it does not. Water temperature sits in the low to mid twenties from June through September, which is when the stop is worth caring about.

What differs is the extras. The larger tourist catamarans run a bar you pay at; the small-group products bundle drinks and snacks into the ticket. Check which yours is before you assume a free drink, and bring a dry bag if you want your phone with you in the water.

Royal Catamaran, Fly Blue: which name is which?

Two names come up constantly in searches for this trip, and they are not the same business.

Royal Catamaran is a Puerto Banús operator with its own fleet, more than a decade in the marina. Its Lagoon 380 sails group excursions at €60 an adult and €50 a child, daily between 10:00 and 19:00, from Dock 1, and the same boat goes out privately from €550 for two hours.

Fly Blue Gran Catamarán does two separate things, and conflating them is the single most common booking mistake here. It has run the Marbella to Puerto Banús ferry since 2000, and it also runs its own two-hour coastal catamaran tour with a swim stop, from about €35 an adult, plus a sunset version.

If you are not sure which boat you have booked, check the stated duration. Thirty minutes is the ferry. Two hours is an excursion. And if your confirmation names neither company, you are on a platform-sold product with a third operator, which is fine, just not the same boat.

What are the dolphin odds, honestly?

Better than most people expect, and nothing like a guarantee.

Bottlenose and common dolphins are resident along this coast year-round rather than seasonal, and a two-hour boat finds them on a good proportion of sailings. Morning departures do better than afternoon ones, because a flat sea makes fins visible at a distance and a choppy one does not.

What this is not is a wildlife tour. The crew will reposition for a pod they spot, but nobody is tracking animals. If a sighting is the point of the outing rather than a bonus, book a dedicated dolphin trip instead.

When to book

April to October is the season worth booking, and the swimming stop is realistic from May to October.

The small-group boats carry ten people, so they sell out earlier than the large tourist catamarans do. July and August afternoon slots go first and walk-up space in high season is unusual. Book the morning if the sea state matters to you and the afternoon if the light does.

Royal Catamaran's group departures have been confirmed running into December, and the Fly Blue ferry stops for the winter on 30 November. Out of season the excursions still sail, but the water is cold and the swim stop becomes theoretical.

For anything longer or larger, the Puerto Banús yacht charter guide covers crewed charters, and the Puerto Banús guide covers the marina itself.