Horse safari or a boat trip?

The same sea, from two heights

On a boat you are on the water, looking back at the coast, and you can be in it whenever you like. On the horse safari the sea arrives at the end of a land route — pine shade first, then open country behind Side, then the shoreline with sand underfoot. You are up at riding height, moving at a walk, and the coast goes past slowly enough to look at properly.

One thing we would rather you heard from us than discovered on the day: that shoreline is a working beach. There are hire boats moored, a pontoon for jet skis and people swimming. It is not a deserted stretch of film-set coastline, and anyone booking the ride expecting solitude has been sold the wrong picture by somebody.

Who each one suits

The boat suits you if the water is the holiday — swimming, the deck, sun, the horizon, and a stretch of time where nothing at all is asked of you. It suits people who want to do very little, in company, somewhere beautiful.

The horse safari suits you if you want to see the country behind the resort rather than the sea in front of it, and you like the idea of doing that from a saddle instead of a sunbed. It is quiet, it is slow, and it is over in about 3 hours door to door — which is exactly why it sits beside a beach holiday rather than replacing one.

What each one asks of you

• The boat asks very little. You sit, you swim if you feel like it, and the crew does the rest.
• The horse asks a little more. You sit up, you hold the reins and you do what the guide tells you. It is a walk, not a workout, but it is not a deckchair either.
• Swimming is not part of the ride. Comfortable long trousers and closed sports shoes — not swimwear, and not sandals.
• Neither needs experience. Beginners are the rule on the horse safari: a short lesson on how to sit, steer and stop, a horse matched to your build and confidence, a helmet available for every rider, and a guide with the group from start to finish.

What we can state exactly, and what we will not

• €40 per rider, the same fare for everyone. There is no child fare, no infant fare and no fare for somebody who comes along without riding.
• About 1 hour in the saddle, and about 3 hours from your hotel door and back, with the pickup, the drive, the horse allocation and the briefing inside that.
• Round-trip hotel transfer included, by air-conditioned vehicle, from the pickup zones along the Side strip.
• Children generally from age 6, at the guide's discretion on the day; recommended maximum rider weight around 100–110 kg; closed to pregnant riders, and to anyone with a serious back or mobility problem.
• Nothing charged online, free cancellation up to 24 hours before, and in bad weather the ride is moved to another time or refunded in full.

What a boat trip costs, how long it lasts and who it takes are published by the people who sell it — sideboattrips.com is where that side is kept current. We do not copy their figures across, because the moment we did they would be ours to get wrong.

There is room for both in one week

That is the practical case for doing both, and it is why we are relaxed about sending you off to read somebody else's page first. The horse safari runs daily, year round, and takes about 3 hours from the hotel door and back — a morning or an afternoon, not the whole day. Whatever shape the rest of your week takes, the ride slots into the gaps rather than claiming one of them.

You reserve free of charge on the ride's own page and pay on the day. The transfer page lists the pickup zones along the Side strip, in case yours was the question you were about to ask.