NaCzarter Team
The most important figures on chartering in Masuria
The NaCzarter offer includes more than 270 yachts from more than 30 owners in 10 towns, and over 100 of them can be sailed with no licence required. In the 2026 season, the median price of a week in July and August was 3850 PLN for a sailboat and 9100 PLN for a houseboat.
Region and waterway
The Great Masurian Lakes cover 1732 km² and include 201 lakes, most of them connected naturally or by canals (Lossow, Zeszyty Problemowe Postępów Nauk Rolniczych, 1996). Śniardwy, the largest lake in Poland, covers 113.4 km², is up to 22.1 km long, averages 5.8 m in depth and reaches 23.4 m at its deepest (Atlas jezior Polski, 1999).
According to Polish Waters, the state water authority (RZGW in Białystok), the trail has 145.6 km of waterways. The main route from Pisz to Węgorzewo is just under 90 km. The rest are branches to Lake Nidzkie, Ryn and the Sapina, plus a local section in Giżycko. Clearance under bridges ranges from 3.8 to 5.2 m.
Polish Waters counts 4 Masurian locks (season summaries 2024 to 2026). They are the Guzianka I lock from 1879, Guzianka II opened on 25.06.2020, Karwik on the Jegliński Canal and Przerwanki on the Sapina. The swing bridge in Giżycko from 1898 opened for yachts in July and August 2026 in 4 windows a day (schedule of the Giżycko Town Office, 2026). The waterways opened on 24.04.2026 and closed for winter on 1.11.2026, so the season lasted 191 days, about 27 weeks (Polish Waters navigation notices, 2026).
Yachts in the NaCzarter catalogue
Yachts are picked up in more than a dozen marinas in 10 towns, and besides sailboats, houseboats and motorboats the catalogue also has a few jet skis.
| Type | Vessels | No licence required | Median hull length | Median peak week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sailboats | approx. 140 | few | 8.3 m | 3850 PLN |
| Houseboats | approx. 100 | almost all | 9.6 m | 9100 PLN |
| Motorboats | over 30 | approx. 40% | 7.2 m | 12,600 PLN |
Data: NaCzarter catalogue, autumn 2026 (vessels, no licence required, hull length) and owners' price lists on NaCzarter for the 2026 season (median of a Saturday-to-Saturday week in July and August).
The offer includes yachts from recent years as well as older, cheaper vessels, and the year built affects the price. The median capacity is 8 people in each of the three types. About three quarters of the vessels have heating, and roughly as many can be chartered with a skipper. More than half have a bow thruster, and pets are allowed on more than two thirds. Years built, lengths and equipment are stated by the owners in their listings.
Giżycko, with several marinas, is the town where the most yachts are picked up. In Wilkasy houseboats and motorboats predominate, while in Bogaczewo, Piękna Góra and Rydzewo you mainly pick up sailboats. The other pick-up towns are Węgorzewo, Mikołajki, Wrony, Ruciane-Nida and Sztynort. All of them are on the map on the charter locations page.
Weekly and daily prices in the 2026 season
For a week in July and August 2026 the median was 3850 PLN for a sailboat (from 1400 to 8750 PLN), 9100 PLN for a houseboat (from 2100 to 20,300 PLN) and 12,600 PLN for a motorboat (from 3150 to 34,990 PLN). For vessels with no licence required the median was 8400 PLN in peak season and 6300 PLN off-peak. Outside July and August a week on a sailboat started from 1400 PLN, on a houseboat from 1960 PLN and on a motorboat from 2800 PLN, and a day from 200, 280 and 400 PLN respectively. Rates for 2027 may change, and you will find the current ones in the yacht charter price list. We show the full bill with marina fees in our guide on how much a yacht charter in Masuria costs.
On-site fees in numbers
On top of the charter price come fees settled with the owner. The median refundable deposit, usually paid in cash, is 1500 PLN for a sailboat (from 150 to 5000 PLN), 3000 PLN for a houseboat (from 1000 to 7000 PLN) and 4000 PLN for a motorboat (from 1000 to 10,000 PLN). Parking at the marina is usually a paid option, median 25 PLN per day (from 15 to 50 PLN). For a few vessels it is mandatory (from 20 to 25 PLN). If the price list does not mention parking, ask the owner before booking. A skipper usually costs 400 PLN per day, and the upper limit in the price lists is 800 PLN. For almost all vessels you pick up the yacht between 4 and 6 pm and return it between 8 and 10 am. Mandatory fees, such as cleaning, are paid on site and itemised in the quote.
Traffic on the waterway and tourism
According to Polish Waters, the 4 Masurian locks together handled more than 9,000 lockages and more than 25,500 vessels in the 2024 season. In 2025, a season that "was not among the warmest", there were more than 7,000 lockages and 18,460 vessels. In 2026 there were more than 7,500 lockages and 18,099 vessels. The number of vessels passing through the locks fell year on year by about 28% in 2025 and by about 2% in 2026, although the number of lockages alone was higher in 2026 than a year earlier. One crew passes through locks several times, and some yachts never leave Niegocin and Mamry, so lockages do not translate into the number of charters.
The Statistical Office in Olsztyn (Statistics Poland, GUS), in its study "Turystyka w województwie warmińsko-mazurskim w 2025 r." (tourism in the Warmia-Masuria province in 2025, published 28.05.2026), counts establishments with 10 or more beds, so nights spent on charter yachts are not in these figures. In the four counties along the waterway, Giżycko, Mrągowo, Pisz and Węgorzewo, 634,000 tourists stayed overnight in 2025, which is 42% of the province's visitors, and they accounted for 1.6 million overnight stays. The most tourists went to Mrągowo county with Mikołajki (340,881 people), and Giżycko county had 193,418.
The Polish Yachting Association (PZŻ) issued more than 17,000 sailing licences of all grades in 2025 (PZŻ report for 2025). The national register of vessels REJA24 counted 112,618 vessels as of 3.09.2026, of which about 72,000 as sea-going vessels (deputy minister of infrastructure at the parliamentary Committee on Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation). These are vessels from all of Poland, not the number of yachts in Masuria.
How to read these numbers
The figures on the offer and prices in this article reflect the NaCzarter catalogue and owners' price lists as of autumn 2026. They cover the yachts of many owners on the platform, not the whole market, because no institution publishes the number of all charter yachts in the region. Prices are medians, that is middle values, so half of the yachts were cheaper and half more expensive. We will refresh the regional data after the 2027 season, once Polish Waters and GUS publish new summaries.
Frequently asked questions
How many yachts can you charter in Masuria? Through NaCzarter you can charter more than 270 yachts from more than 30 owners. No institution publishes the total number of charter yachts in the region.
How much does a week's charter in Masuria cost? In July and August 2026 the median was 3850 PLN for a sailboat, 9100 PLN for a houseboat and 12,600 PLN for a motorboat. Off-peak, the cheapest week on a sailboat cost 1400 PLN. Owners usually publish their 2027 rates in winter.
How many vessels need no licence? More than 100. The yachts with no licence required include almost all houseboats and some of the motorboats. Few sailboats are marked as requiring no licence, and the owner decides on the requirement. Without a licence you may helm sailboats with a hull length of up to 7.5 m and motorboats with up to 10 kW of power (regulation of the Minister of Sport and Tourism of 9.04.2013, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 604). The Inland Navigation Act (art. 37a sec. 4) adds motorboats up to 75 kW with a hull length of up to 13 m and a speed limited by design to 15 km/h.
Which marina has the most charter yachts? Giżycko, where yachts are picked up in several marinas. It has more yachts from the NaCzarter catalogue than any other town, mainly sailboats. Many vessels also wait just outside the town, in Wilkasy and Bogaczewo.
Where do these figures come from? The figures on the offer and prices come from the catalogue and owners' price lists on NaCzarter, and the figures on the region from Polish Waters, GUS (Statistical Office in Olsztyn), the Polish Yachting Association and the Ministry of Infrastructure. We give the year of the data for each.
