Two hours in the saddle. Pick the right two hours.
Which beach rides take the horses into the water, what a Cappadocia sunrise costs, what a Central Park driver charges for the loop. Weight limits, saddle time and what to wear.
A shore ride, a canyon at sunset, a valley of fairy chimneys, a carriage seat.
Four rides that show what this is for. What each costs, how long you are actually on the horse, and who it suits.
01Into the seaRed Sea & Desert Horse Riding Tour with SwimmingDesert track down to the Red Sea, then the horses walk out into the shallows. Cheap enough to do twice, and the one people come home talking about.
02The canyon eveningRed Rock Canyon Sunset Horseback Ride and Barbeque DinnerRed Rock at golden hour with a barbecue at the end. Western saddles, a walk-only pace, and no experience asked for.
03Fairy chimneysHorse Riding Tour with Sunrise or Sunset OptionsThe Cappadocian valleys at a walk, an hour or two long. Go at sunrise, before the balloon crowd fills the ridge lines.
04The carriage seatCharleston’s Old South Carriage Historic Horse & Carriage TourThirty blocks of old Charleston behind a Belgian or a Percheron. Nobody rides; you sit, and the guide does the work.
Weight limits, saddle time, and whether you have ever sat on a horse.
Most stables cap riders somewhere between 210 and 240 lb and turn away anyone over it at the mounting block, so check before you pay. Beach and trail rides run at a walk with a lead rider up front and need nothing from you. A gallop on sand does. Ninety minutes is a long time in a western saddle if it is your first; an hour is plenty. Wear long trousers and closed shoes, ask whether helmets are supplied, and carry small notes for the groom who tacked up.
Carriage streets in the South, red rock out of Las Vegas, a rail of horses under the Tetons.
More of this site sits in the United States than anywhere else, and it splits cleanly. Four kinds of American day, what each costs to board, and where it happens.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Charleston’s Old South Carriage Historic Horse & Carriage Tour
Carriage streetsCharleston, Savannah and the French Quarter at walking pace.
The park loopFifty-five minutes behind a draft horse, skyline over the trees.
Red rock morningsBreakfast rides and sunset barbecues an hour off the Strip.
Just your partyOne guide, your pace, no rail of strangers in front.
All 109 American rides →
The rides that end with the horses in the sea.
Punta Cana, Montego Bay, Cabo, the Red Sea. Ask before you book whether the horses actually go in: plenty of beach rides stay on the dry sand, and the swim is the part people fly for. Bare feet or old trainers, a swimsuit under the clothes, and nothing in your pockets.
Six countries carry most of the good riding, and each one rides differently.
Draft horses on American streets, cenote swims off the Riviera Maya, volcanic tuff in Cappadocia, a shoreline canter in Punta Cana, a rafting-and-saddle day in Jamaica, and Egyptian desert that runs straight into the Red Sea.
The rides more travellers take than any others on earth.
Every ride we have reviewed →Carriage seats, shore rides and canyon evenings, with what each costs and how long you are out.
1
Charleston’s Old South Carriage Historic Horse & Carriage Tour
Board at 14 Anson Street for a one-hour carriage ride through 30 blocks of historic Charleston. A certified Palmetto Guild guide narrates the route, while a Belgian or Percheron draft horse carries you past mansions, gardens, iron gates, churches, and historic homes. The exact route is assigned by lottery.
From · $50
Read our review →
2
How the Andalusian Horses Dance
from $31
3
Punta Cana Zipline Adventure with Buggies and Horseback Riding
from $100
4
Luquillo Beach Horse Ride from Carabalí Rainforest Adventure Park
from $164
5
Performance Of The Lipizzans At Spanish Riding School
6
Haunted Evening Horse and Carriage Tour of Charleston
from $50
7
Charleston Horse-Drawn Carriage Tour: Explore Historic Charleston
from $49
8
Red Lava Horse Riding Tour
from $142
Carriage tours: the seat you take when you would rather not sit on a horse.
A Belgian or a Percheron, a licensed driver doing the talking, thirty or forty minutes of old streets at four miles an hour. Charleston assigns its routes by lottery, so you find out where you are going at the barn. Ask about the welfare rules before you board: the good cities pull the horses off the street in a heatwave.
What an hour on a horse costs, from Cappadocia to Jackson Hole.
Every ride on the site grouped by price. The gap between the cheapest and the dearest is a factor of thirty, and it buys you a longer saddle, a smaller group and a meal.
Cappadocian valley hours, Egyptian shore rides and the short carriage loops.
Half-day beach rides with a swim, ranch mornings with breakfast, the Icelandic day out.
Private guides, Teton and canyon rides with dinner, and the long saddle days.
Cappadocia rides at the hour the balloons are still on the ground.
The region is named for its horses and the valleys are cut for them: soft tuff underfoot, no traffic, a stable at the end of every Goreme lane. Sunrise is one departure and it is the one worth setting an alarm for. Rides run an hour to two and a half, western saddles, walk pace unless you ask.
Every Cappadocia ride →
A Central Park carriage is priced by the rig, not by the head.
The standard loop runs about fifty-five minutes and the quoted figure covers the whole carriage, up to four people, which makes it cheap split and steep alone. Drivers work licensed medallions, the horses come off the street above 90F and below 19F, and the queue sits on 59th Street at the south-east corner.
- 1Official NYC Horse Carriage Rides in Central Park since 1979 ™
- 2Carriage Ride in Central Park (VIP – PRIVATE) Since 1964™
- 3NYC: Guided Central Park Horse Carriage Ride
Three rides that cannot be had anywhere else.
Beaches and trail strings exist on every coast. A horse with a fifth gear, a bamboo raft moored where the horses come out of the river, and a swim in a cenote do not.
The Icelandic tolt
The Icelandic horse keeps a gait no other breed has kept: the tolt, a four-beat run so level that riders are photographed holding a full glass through it. The breed has been closed to imports since the tenth century, and a horse that leaves the island may never come back, which is why the only place to feel it is a lava field outside Reykjavik. Rides go year round; winter ones are short and cold and worth it.
- 1Icelandic Horse Riding Tour & Pickup Option from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,662 reviews
- 2Viking Horse Riding and Golden Circle Tour from Reykjavik★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 151 reviews
- 3Varmahlid: Viking Horse Riding Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 102 reviews
Raft first, ride second
The Rio Grande rafts were built to move bananas downriver, and the polers who worked them turned the trip into a passenger run when the fruit boats stopped. The horses wait where the raft ties up, so the day goes still water first, saddle second, usually with a swim wedged between. It is the one combination the island sells and nobody else copies.
- 1Triple Action pack Combo (Blue Hole, Horse back riding and river tubing)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 669 reviews
- 2Rafting Adventure on the Kicking Horse River★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 590 reviews
- 3Bamboo Rafting and horseback★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 556 reviews
Ride out, swim in a cenote
The limestone shelf behind Cancun and Playa del Carmen is hollow, and the collapsed roofs leave cold freshwater pools in the jungle. A ride through the scrub gets you to one that no bus can park at, and the horses stand tied while you go in. Bring a swimsuit under your clothes and skip the sunscreen; most cenotes ban it, and they check.
- 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
- 3Horseback Riding plus ATV, Cenote, Ziplines, and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 822 reviews
Four rides that are decided before you land.
Most stables will take a walk-up. These four run on licences, one departure a day, or a season that closes, and turning up hopeful is how people end up looking at horses from the fence.
- 01Official NYC Horse Carriage Rides in Central Park since 1979 ™The city licenses a fixed number of carriage medallions, and the horses come off the street in a heatwave or a hard freeze. On a hot August afternoon the rank simply empties.
- 02Horseback Riding Adventure TourSunrise is one departure a day and the stables are small. Take it and the valleys are yours; miss it and you are riding at noon in full sun.
- 03Red Lava Horse Riding TourStables run to a fixed pickup timetable out of Reykjavik, and a winter day gives you room for one ride, not two.
- 04Charleston’s Old South Carriage Historic Horse & Carriage TourCharleston caps how many carriages work the peninsula and assigns each route by lottery at the barn. Seats on the licensed rigs go before the walk-up window does.
By country — where the good stables are
By kind of ride — sand, trail, desert or driving seat
The newest saddle and carriage reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Arles & Camargue Natural Park (including Aigues Mortes)
Read our review →
Arcos de la Frontera: Horseback Riding Experience
Read our review →
Ao Nang: Horse Riding Tour and kayaking clongrood
Read our review →
Përmet: Amazing Horse Riding Experience at Vjosa NP
Read our review →
Almeria: Tabernas Desert Horse Riding for experienced riders
Read our review →
Algarve Horseriding tour in the countryside of Aljezur Rogil
Read our review →
Almaty: Horseback Riding & Archery in Zaili Alatau Mountains
Read our review →
Algeria Daytour : Snorkeling & Horse Riding with lunch
Read our review →
Alcantara: Horseback riding through gorges, Byzantine Cuba, and nature
Read our review →
