Advices for late autumn sailing in Europe

[VladAlex]

Hi everyone,

I want us to plan a sailing trip this autumn (October 25, 2025 – November 1, 2025) on a yacht in the Mediterranean. Since we are looking for good weather, with warm water and gentle breezes, we were thinking about Fethiye Bay, Turkey.
(Temperatures: around 24°C-25°C
Sea Temperature: around 23°C-24°C)

What do you think? Do you have other recommendations?
Thankyou!

 

[Dellquay13]

I don’t know that bit of Turkey, but I do know the NE Aegean coast of Greece well at that time of year. The weather can be very unpredictable and unsettled after September so all the shore side holidaying ends by early October. While the average sea temperature there is still reasonable, it fluctuates a lot as the storms start to pass through.
It can still be nice, but very hit and miss.
When does the normal season end on shore in your chosen area?

 

[VladAlex]

I haven’t been able to find much information about this. I found data on average air and sea temperatures, and the winds also seem to be fine during that period.





That’s why I asked here – I was hoping to get answers from sailors who know that area of the Mediterranean.





I’m still waiting for input!

 

[VladAlex]

I’m interested in any information, both about the climate and sailing conditions, as well as places worth visiting or places to avoid.

I hope to get enough replies.

I believe it would help many members, considering this is one of the few areas in the Mediterranean suitable for sailing during that time of year.

 

[st599]

Having worked as a charter skipper in both Greece and Turkey the autumn days are mostly good for sailing with a sea breeze kicking in, some are grey and overcast but you do get some big storms rolling in, and if you think the drainage situation in the UK is bad, you need to see what happens when it rains heavily in Greece or Turkey. The weather is quite unpredictable.

I think in the past 5 years there have been 4 Medicanes with widespread damage and the number of storms seems to be increasing.

 

[FairweatherDave]

We chose a land-based holiday in Kas last week of October last year. Lovely sailing weather and they ended the week with a procession of yachts (about 50) doing formation motoring off the town, bizarre and spectacular. That was the official end of the season so I'd say Kas (and Fetiye close by) go to the end of October.... not that seasons are exactly down to a day. Went swimming and snorkelling off the gullets (ha, fun typo, gulet) and saw several yachts enjoying good weather. Nice!

 

[FairweatherDave]

 

[mjcoon]

This was what I wrote about our first late-season flotilla to Turkey after a half-dozen earlier ones: "This was, unexpectedly, a much quieter trip than our July one. We had thought we might have near-equinoctial gales but had mild winds. (The gale was in July!)".
For the full write-up (from 2008) see www.mjcoon.plus.com/page41.htm