Horse safari or quad safari?
Two ways to spend part of a day inland from Side that have almost nothing in common except the ground they cross.
Choose the horse safari if you want the countryside at walking pace with something alive doing the moving: about 1 hour in the saddle, €40 per rider, round-trip hotel transfer included, about 3 hours from your hotel door and back. Choose a quad or a buggy if the point of the outing is driving the machine yourself — throttle, track, dust. Same coast, opposite experiences, and there is no sense in pretending one of them wins.
The one difference everything else follows from
On a quad or a buggy you are the driver. You steer, you brake, you keep a machine where it belongs, and how the outing feels depends on how confident you are doing that. On the horse safari you are a passenger holding reins. The horse walks, the guide leads, and your job is to sit well and look around you.
That single difference decides almost everything else: the noise, the dust, how much of your attention the activity takes, and the kind of tired you are when you get back to the hotel.
Side by side, on the things that genuinely differ
| What you are weighing up | Horse safari | Quad or buggy safari |
|---|---|---|
| Who is in control | the guide leads and the horse walks; you sit, steer gently and watch | you drive it yourself, the whole way |
| What it asks of you | balance, and sitting up at a walk | steering, braking and concentration |
| Noise and dust | hooves on sand, wind through the pines | an engine, and a dry track behind you |
| Scenery | shaded pine trails, the open countryside behind Side, a stretch of Mediterranean shoreline | whatever their own route crosses |
| What to wear | comfortable long trousers and closed sports shoes | whatever their own kit list asks for |
| Price | €40 per rider, one fare for everyone | their figure to publish, not ours to repeat |
| How long | about 1 hour riding, about 3 hours door to door | set out on their own page |
| Hotel transfer | round trip, included in the fare | theirs to state — worth checking before you weigh two fares against each other |
| Minimum age | generally 6, at the guide's discretion on the day | their rule to state |
The left column is exact because we sell that ride and the operator's record carries every line of it. The right column stays general for the very same reason, turned around: a driving tour we do not run is not ours to put numbers on.
Who the horse safari suits
- Anyone who came for the landscape rather than the adrenaline. Shaded pine-forest trails, the open countryside behind Side, and a stretch along the Mediterranean shoreline with sand underfoot.
- Complete beginners. Beginners are the rule here, not the exception: 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 alongside from the first minute to the last.
- Families doing one thing together. Children generally ride from age 6, at the guide's discretion, and a member of staff can walk at the horse's head.
- Anyone who would rather not operate anything on holiday. Nothing on this ride depends on your reactions, and you come home dusty at worst.
Who should take the quad or the buggy instead
If what you actually want is the machine — the throttle, the track, doing it yourself and getting filthy — then the horse safari is not a gentler version of that. It is a different activity, and you would spend the hour wishing it went faster. Better to know that before you book than halfway round.
We are not the people to ask what such a tour costs, how long it runs or who it takes. Those belong to whoever operates it, and they are kept current at quadbuggysafari.com. Read them there, then set them against the left-hand column above. A comparison is only worth something if both halves of it are true.
Still torn? One question settles it
Ask yourself whether you want to operate something or be carried by something. That is the entire choice, and it has nothing to do with how brave you are.
If the answer is the horse, it takes a minute on the ride's own page: date, number of riders, your hotel and pickup zone. Nothing is charged online and no card details are asked for — you pay on the day, at the fare you saw when you booked.
Ready to ride?
One ride to book, three to request, hotel transfer included, nothing charged online.
Book the horse safari