Can you ride horses near Cartagena?
Yes, and the version we'd push you towards is on the sand out here rather than anywhere in the city. We run beach treks on Tierra Bomba at $65 a person, up to four riders at a time, and it's one of our strongest recommendations for anyone with more than a day on the island.
Cartagena itself is a walled city of stone and traffic. Horses and that combination don't make for a good hour. The island is twenty minutes away by boat and is mostly sand, scrub and track, which is the terrain a horse is actually pleasant on.
What the ride is
A tailored trek along the island's beaches, booked by appointment rather than run on a timetable. There's no fixed route we push everybody down. We match the trek to your ability, so a confident rider gets a longer stretch and a faster one, and someone who last sat on a horse at a fairground gets a walk along the water with someone next to them.
The details, plainly:
- Price: US $65 per person.
- Group size: up to 4 riders.
- Booking: by appointment. Tell us the day before rather than at breakfast and you'll get the hour you want.
- Who it's for: all abilities, including first-timers.
- Availability: for our guests, so a stay or a day with us goes with it.
Riding with children
We keep a gentler version for kids that stays on the beach. It's a short, led experience at walking pace rather than a trek, and it's aimed at the age where the whole appeal is being on a horse at all rather than going anywhere on one.
This is the same reason a lot of families end up giving the island more of their trip than they planned. Cobbles, heat and forts are a hard sell at seven years old. Sand and a horse are not.
When to go out
Early. The heat is the thing that decides whether this is a good hour or a long one, and it builds through the morning until the middle of the day is uncomfortable for you and for the horse. Ask for a slot soon after breakfast.
Late afternoon is the other good window, with the light going gold over the water. Our beach club runs 10:30 to 18:00 daily, so a ride at either end of the day brackets neatly with lunch and a lounger in between. That is, honestly, the shape of a very good day out here: ride, swim, eat, sleep in the shade, swim again.
Where you'll actually be
Playa Mamon is the beach directly outside our main gate, and it's where the island days start and end. From there the sand runs on and the island opens up: low scrub, tracks, small settlements, and the sea on your left the whole time.
Bocachica is at the southern end, the village sitting at the narrow channel the Spanish spent two centuries fortifying. We don't ride you into the village, but it's worth knowing it's there, because if the island interests you from the saddle, that's the half day that follows. Our village tour starts with a five minute motorbike-taxi ride and takes in the San Fernando fortress, and there's a cooking and culture version that climbs to the Angel San Rafael fort, which is the best view on the island, and then makes traditional Bocachica sweets.
If horses aren't your thing
Three alternatives that cover the same ground, in the literal sense.
The island moto-tour. Ride pillion across Tierra Bomba to Bocachica and the island's viewpoints. It's the fast version of the same landscape and a straightforward swap if you'd rather not be responsible for an animal.
Mountain biking. Up to an hour on the island's trails with your own private motorbike escort. Best early, before the sun hits full, for exactly the same reason the horses go out early.
Diving. If the point was doing something rather than seeing something: we're a PADI Dive Resort and the house reef is an eight minute swim off the beach, so a discovery dive doesn't cost you the whole day.
Prices and durations for all of it are on our activities page, which also tells you what needs booking ahead. We'd rather you read the live number there than trust one in an article.
Booking it
Message us before you come, or when you arrive, with the day and roughly what kind of rider you are. Four is the maximum in one group, so a family of five splits into two goes, and that's easier to arrange with a day's notice than on the morning.
Bring a towel, because you'll want the sea afterwards and our policy is that you bring your own. Wear something you don't mind getting sandy and salty, and sunscreen before you get on, not after.
See you on the boat.