Half the listings above five thousand a month on this coast mention the sea. A handful mention a mooring, and those are the ones boat owners call about. The conversation usually ends in the same place: the berth is not part of the house, it is a separate contract with its own waiting list, and the ten-minute drive matters more than the view from the pool.
The marinas here sit on public port land under a concession, and the operator grants use of the water and the pontoon. A berth is therefore a right of use attached to that concession, not an asset you own and not something that appears on a Nota Simple next to the villa. What exists in practice is an annual contract with the port, or a transfer of an existing holder's right with the marina's written authorisation and its own fee.
So "villa con amarre" in an advert can mean three different things. The owner holds a berth and will let you use it for the length of the lease. The owner holds a berth and will sublet it to you under a separate contract, if the port allows subletting at all. Or the house is simply five minutes from Port Balís and the copywriter got enthusiastic. Ask which one, in writing, before you fall in love with the swimming pool.
The practical list is short, and it is worth knowing which one you are actually buying access to.
Prices are published, and they are not decorative. Port Balís quotes about €2,092 a year for an eight-metre berth for a club member and €2,824 for a non-member in 2026; at twelve metres it is roughly €4,378 and €5,473. A ten-metre boat falls between those bands. Add metered water and electricity, boat insurance and the club's own charges, and the honest budget is €3,000 to €5,500 a year for ten to twelve metres. Treat any number you are given on the phone as an estimate until the marina confirms the exact berth in writing.
Berths in the good marinas are not sitting empty. Balís takes a reservation request through a form, and the port is clear that the request is not a berth until the club confirms it. In practice people wait, sometimes for years, and the wait is shorter for small boats and longer from twelve metres up. If a berth comes with a house, the berth is the scarce half of the deal, not the villa.
The shortcut is a transfer: you take over the right of use of someone who is leaving. That needs the marina's authorisation, a fee and a contract that names you. Anyone offering to "sell you a mooring" without the port in the room is selling something that does not exist.
The useful unit is not the sea view, it is the drive with a cool box and two children in the back. From the hills above Llavaneres to Port Balís is five to ten minutes. From Cabrils or Teià it is fifteen to twenty, depending on which side of the C-32 you live. Sant Vicenç is ten. Mataró centre to Port de Mataró is a walk, which is why Mataró flats rent to people who never look at the water from the window.
If the house is in Alella and the berth is in Arenys, you will use the boat half as often as you planned. That is not a moral judgement, it is a fuel-and-traffic calculation, and it should decide which marina you join before it decides which villa you rent.
None of this belongs in the rent. If the owner includes the berth in the lease, the cost sits inside the monthly figure and you should know what it is, because when the contract ends the berth stays with the house.
Four lines do most of the work. The berth number, and the length and beam it accepts. Whether the berth comes with the dwelling or under a separate contract with the marina. Who pays the port invoices and what happens if they are late. And the end date: a berth tied to a five-year vivienda lease ends with it, and the marina is under no obligation to give you the same berth afterwards.
Worth adding: whether guests can use the berth without you, whether the boat can be chartered (usually not without a licence), and who insures what. A berth is a small piece of infrastructure with its own rules, and the port's rules beat the lease every time.
Boat first. Length, beam and draft choose the marina, not the other way round: a fin keel at 1.8 metres will not fit everywhere on this coast. Marina second: call the office, ask for the current waiting list and the exact annual tariff for your length, and get both in an email. House third, inside a radius you will genuinely drive in February.
Then accept the trade. A house that comes with a private berth included is rare and priced like it. A house near a marina plus a separate annual contract is the normal route, and it gives you something a package never does: you can move house without moving the boat.
Tell us the length and draft of the boat and the towns you would consider. We know which marinas answer the phone, which houses are a real ten-minute drive, and which listings are using the word amarre loosely.
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