Yacht chartering is the practice of renting, or chartering, a sailboat or motor yacht and travelling to various coastal or island destinations, for business or vacation.

There are two main kinds of charter: bareboat and skippered. Bareboat charters require the client to skipper the boat themselves, while skippered charters include both boat and crew. Most bareboat charter companies offer basic seamanship courses to prepare clients for handling a boat. These companies may also provide skippered charters, which include a skipper, but no additional crew.

Skippered charters can involve anything from a 35-foot boat with a two-person team serving as captain and chef, to a 300-foot boat with a crew of 30 or more including stewardesses, escort, engineers, mates, deckhands, scuba dive masters, water sports instructor and the like.