Some of the best ground on earth has no road. Ride it.
Which Cappadocia sunrise ride leaves before the balloons go up. What a beach gallop costs in Punta Cana. Whether a first-timer should book two hours or one. Every guided horse ride worth taking, reviewed.
Four rides that explain why people book a horse on holiday.
A sunrise through volcanic rock, a gait no other breed has, a canyon in the last hour of light, and a gallop that finishes in the sea.
01The cheap sunriseHorseback Tour with Sunrise and Sunset OptionsOut of Göreme before the balloons lift, when the tuff is still pink and the valley trails are empty.
02The fifth gearIcelandic Horse Riding Tour & Pickup Option from ReykjavikIcelandic horses have a gait nothing else does. An hour of tölt over lava and the fuss makes sense.
03The canyon at duskRed Rock Canyon Sunset Horseback Ride and Barbeque DinnerRed Rock in the last light, then dinner cooked over a fire. Nobody books Las Vegas expecting this.
04Sand, then seaRed Sea & Desert Horse Riding Tour with SwimmingDesert on the way out, shallow water on the way back. The horses swim, and you stay on.
Six countries that put you on a horse without a lesson first.
Pacific sand in Mexico, ranch country across the American West, volcanic valleys in Cappadocia, waterfall trails behind Montego Bay, resort coast in the Dominican Republic and lava fields outside Reykjavik.
Ranch country, canyon country, and a sunset ride an hour from the Strip.
An American riding day splits three ways, and the price tells you which one you are buying before the guide does.
The beach gallop is the ride almost everybody books first.
Everything on sand →
A flat strand, shallow water and a horse that has walked it a thousand times. Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Bali all sell the same twenty minutes of canter at wildly different prices, and the difference is usually the transfer.
Cabo: white sand, then tequila
Cabo stables ride the empty beaches north of town and finish at a tasting, which is why the price sits above a Caribbean ride for the same hour. Morning groups get the firm sand.
Punta Cana, at resort prices
The cheapest beach canter in the Atlantic, sold from every desk on the strip. Ask how many horses go out at once: the good ranches cap the string at eight.
Bali, on volcanic beaches
Bali rides the black-sand strands around Saba and Kelating at the end of the day, when the light drops and the heat finally goes out of the sand.
The horse rides more travellers take than any others.
The full stable of reviews →The rides that fill first, and what each one actually gives you for the money.
1
Punta Cana Zipline Adventure with Buggies and Horseback Riding
Spend about six hours at Hacienda Tuko near Punta Cana, combining jungle ziplines, a short horseback ride, a Dominican food stop, and a muddy dune buggy route. Guides such as Jeudi, Fignole, Fio, and Eloi are often praised for keeping groups safe and entertained. Hotel pickup, lunch, and bottled water are included.
From · $100
Read our review →
2
Luquillo Beach Horse Ride from Carabalí Rainforest Adventure Park
from $164
3
Red Lava Horse Riding Tour
from $142
4
Red Sea & Desert Horse Riding Tour with Swimming
from $20
5
El Salobre: Horse Riding Adventure with Transfer Options
from $44
6
Half-Day Thoroughbred Horse Farm Tour in Kentucky
from $45
7
Horseback Riding Adventure Tour
from $18
8
Horseback Riding and Cenote Swim from Cancun or Playa del Carmen
from $120
Cappadocia rides the valleys the balloons only photograph.
The Turkish name for the region means the land of beautiful horses, and the tuff canyons behind Göreme are still best crossed on one. Sunrise groups leave in the dark and are back before the tour buses reach Uçhisar.
Every Cappadocia ride →
In Mexico and Jamaica the horse is only half the ticket.
Cenote swims, zipline runs, quad tracks and bamboo rafts get bolted onto a ride because the ranches sit next door to them. Sometimes that is genuine value; sometimes it is forty minutes in the saddle and a long wait for the next group.
What an hour on a horse costs around the world.
Every ride on the site, grouped by what it costs. Egypt and Turkey sell two hours for the price of a coffee run. Iceland and Wyoming do not, and the reason is the horse.
Red Sea hacks, Cappadocia valley loops and countryside rides in Spain and Portugal.
The standard half-day: Caribbean beach rides, ranch mornings, an Icelandic tölt tour with hotel pickup.
Private guides, all-day mountain rides and the ones that finish with dinner cooked over a fire.
Three rides that have no walking equivalent.
Plenty of places can be reached on foot or in a jeep. A fifth gear, a swim with half a tonne of animal and a valley floor closed to vehicles cannot.
The Icelandic tölt
Icelandic horses carry a gait most breeds do not have: a four-beat tölt in which one foot is always on the ground, so the rider barely moves in the saddle. The breed has been closed to imports since the tenth century, and a horse that leaves the island can never return. Tours run year round, small in winter because the daylight is.
- 1Red Lava Horse Riding Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,383 reviews
- 2Icelandic Horse Riding Tour & Pickup Option from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,662 reviews
- 3Icelandic Horseback Riding Tour with Pickup Option from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,145 reviews
Riding a horse into the sea
Horses swim well and most stables with a sheltered bay will take you in. You ride bareback or on a synthetic saddle, the horse drops away underneath you as the bottom goes, and the whole thing lasts a few minutes because it is hard work for the animal. Egypt, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic run it as standard; ask first whether swimming is included or an upsell at the beach.
- 1Red Sea & Desert Horse Riding Tour with Swimming★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,198 reviews
- 2Horseback Riding and Cenote Swim from Cancun or Playa del Carmen★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,780 reviews
- 3Sea & Desert Horse Riding tour/w Swimming&Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 649 reviews
First light in the tuff valleys
Cappadocia wakes at four for the balloons, and the horse groups leave in the same dark for the same reason: the rock goes pink for about twenty minutes. Riders drop into Love Valley and Rose Valley on trails no vehicle uses, and are usually back at the stable before the first coach reaches Göreme.
- 1Horseback Tour with Sunrise and Sunset Options★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,755 reviews
- 2Horse Riding Tour with Sunrise or Sunset Options★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,377 reviews
- 3Sunset or Daytime Horse Riding Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,299 reviews
Four rides where the calendar decides, not you.
Most stables will take a walk-up if the weather holds. These four run on light, snow, permits and small group caps, and they are booked out weeks ahead in season.
- 01Horseback Tour with Sunrise and Sunset OptionsSunrise is one departure a day and it shares its hour with the balloon flights. When the stable fills that group, the day is gone.
- 02Icelandic Horse Riding Tour & Pickup Option from ReykjavikIceland rides are capped small and sold around the daylight. In winter that is a handful of usable hours, so the good slots go early.
- 03Zakopane Gubałówka Hill: Horse Sleigh Ride with local musicSleigh runs need snow on the ground and the season is short. A warm week cancels them outright.
- 04Red Rock Canyon Sunset Horseback Ride and Barbeque DinnerRed Rock Canyon runs under a permit with a fixed party size, and the sunset ride is the one everybody wants.
Weight limits, age minimums, and whether you will be handed a helmet.
Almost every stable caps rider weight, most often somewhere between 90 and 100 kg, and it is enforced at the mounting block rather than at checkout. Minimum ages run from about six with a guide leading to twelve riding alone. Helmets are standard in Iceland and the United States and patchy around the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, so ask before you pay. Beginners are better off with a short guided ride than a half-day; a sore back two hours in ruins the rest of it.
By country
By kind of ride
Six saddles worth crossing a border for.
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