Puerto Sotogrande Berth Prices: What Mooring Cost in 1987 and What It Costs Today

Puerto Sotogrande berth prices in 1987 were capped by regulation: a 20-metre boat paid at most 10,500 pesetas a day in high season, about €63. Today, the rate the port publishes for that size is €135.91 a day, before VAT. Updated with Spain’s consumer price index (CPI), that €63 would be about €198 today.

We know this because our office holds the original booklet of the Operating and Tariff Regulations (Reglamento de Explotación y Tarifas) of the Puerto Deportivo de Sotogrande, approved in 1987. The current tariffs and the certificate from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) with the accumulated CPI come from Puerto Sotogrande S.A., which also sent us a copy of the regulation. We have put it all side by side, and there are surprises.

On 23 July 1982, the Council of Ministers authorised Puerto Sotogrande, S. A. to build and operate a sports harbour and an inner marina, for a term of seventy-five years, according to the BOE, Spain’s official gazette. The main port, the first phase, opened in July 1987, as Puerto Sotogrande itself confirms, and the regulation was approved by the regional Minister of Public Works and Transport of the Junta de Andalucía on 4 August of that year.

The marina came later, in phases:

• Paseo del Río was the first part of what would become the marina, although many residents disliked it: they believed the bridge to the other side would take away from the area’s exclusivity.
• 1994: the first major marina development, Arlequín.
• 1998: Candil and Arquero.
• 2000: Obispo and Gurami.
• 2005-2008: Ribera del Marlin was launched off-plan in December 2005 and delivered in 2008.
• 2008: most of the marina works were finished.

Today the port has 1,382 berths, from 8 to 70 metres in length, according to its website, and it is run by Puerto Sotogrande S.A.

Article 64 of the regulation sets maximum tariffs for three classes: common services, transit and services. The one that interests us most is transit, the rate paid by a boat arriving as a visitor. It sets daily maximums for 19 combinations of length and beam, in high and low season. In 1987, low season cost exactly half.

Article 72 adds that these maximum tariffs are reviewed every year in line with the consumer price index (CPI) published by the National Statistics Institute. Puerto Sotogrande tells us the review is annual and that in some years it leaves the tariffs unchanged.

We compare high season, using the official rate of 166.386 pesetas to the euro. To keep the table short, we show seven of the regulation’s 19 sizes.

A word of caution on the comparison. The 1987 figures are maximum tariffs set by the regulation, not what was actually charged. The 2026 figures come from Puerto Sotogrande’s tariff sheet, dated 1 February 2026 and excluding VAT. That sheet gives the price by length, without beam, so we compare each length with the beam shown.

Without adjusting, today’s transit price is between 1.5 and 2.6 times the 1987 maximum. Adjusted for inflation, as we show in the next section, it is between 17% and 52% lower.

Low season has changed too. In 1987 it was always 50% of high season. In the 2026 sheet, low season ranges from 42% of high season (8 m) to 56% (35 m), and a third column, mid season, appears at between 71% and 78% of high season.

Other Port Prices

To make the comparison fair, the 1987 price has to be converted into today’s euros. The INE certifies that between August 1987 and December 2025 prices rose by 214.4%, that is, they were multiplied by 3.144. It is the same certificate Puerto Sotogrande uses to review its tariffs.

For example, for the 20 × 6 boat: €63.11 × 3.144 ≈ €198. Against that €198, the 2026 rate of €135.91 is 31.5% lower. For electricity and water, the gap against the updated 1987 maximum is −14% and −24%.

From the 2025 tariff to the 2026 one, the port’s increase is 3.2% for every length on the sheet.

What stays the same is the system: maximum tariffs reviewed every year with the CPI (art. 72), and a different price depending on the season and the size of the boat.

What has changed is the presentation. The 2025 and 2026 sheet gives the price by length, without beam, with three seasons, and adds a separate rate for “courtesy visits”. For 50-metre boats, the port says to enquire.

If you want to know how berth ownership works today, we have a guide to buying a berth in Sotogrande and the berths we have available.

And if you are interested in what exactly you buy when you acquire an apartment or a berth in the port, we explain it in Puerto Sotogrande Concession: What You Actually Buy, From Apartments to Berths.

How much does it cost to moor at Puerto Sotogrande today?

According to the 2026 tariff sheet the port gave us (excluding VAT, high season), from €18.23 a day for a 6-metre boat to €384.42 a day for a 35-metre one. For 50 metres, the port asks you to enquire. Always check the current tariffs with the port.

How much did it cost to moor in 1987?

The 1987 regulation set maximum tariffs of between 2,100 pesetas a day (about €12.62) for an 8 × 3 boat and 60,000 pesetas (about €360.61) for a 50 × 14 boat, in high season.

How many berths does Puerto Sotogrande have?

1,382, from 8 to 70 metres in length, according to the port’s website.

Who runs the port?

Puerto Sotogrande S.A.

How long has the port existed?

The concession was authorised in 1982, the main port opened in July 1987 and the regulation was approved on 4 August of that year.

How are the tariffs updated?

Every year, in line with the INE’s CPI, under article 72 of the regulation. Puerto Sotogrande says that in some years the review leaves the tariffs unchanged.

Are you interested in a berth in the Marina? Tell us what you are looking for and we will point you in the right direction.

Operating and Tariff Regulations of the Puerto Deportivo de Sotogrande (1987), transit tariffs for 2025 and 2026 and the INE certificate with the accumulated CPI from August 1987 to December 2025, all provided by Puerto Sotogrande S.A.; BOE of 23 October 1982; Puerto Sotogrande website.

• Puerto Sotogrande Concession: What You Actually Buy, From Apartments to Berths
• Sotogrande Areas Explained: Costa, the Marina, Alto and La Reserva

Innin Buyl is Director of Sales at Open Frontiers, the Sotogrande agency founded by her father, Ben Buyl, in 1996.

This article is for information only and does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice.