I booked a horseback riding tour with Skjaldarvik through my hostel in Akureyri. It was a fantastic experience from start to finish. Staff come and pick you up from the hostel and take you to the lovely guesthouse right by the water. The guides are very helpful and informative. The horses are beautiful and well-taken care of. The trail along the water was breathtaking and you get in a good amount of running if you are willing. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in seeing a bit more of the Akureyri scenery.
This was the perfect place to go for horse back riding. especially for beginners (which we were) but we were with a couple that were experienced and they were able to do advanced stuff. They will pick you up from town and drop you off again. There is also a hot tub you can take advantage of if you want to.
This was my first horse back riding experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Skjaldarvik provides the complete experience - we got picked up at the hotel by the friendly owner Bryndis, went for a 1.5 hour private horse riding through the beautiful landscape, a break in the middle with fermented shark and a shot of Brennivin, an outdoor hot tub over looking the green rolling hills with a bottle of champagne, and a delicious 3 course dinner at the end. The entire experience was very personal and did not feel commercial at all. Bryndis and all other staff made us feel at home. I think we spent a total of 4-5 hours. We did not stay at the guest house but the rooms were very tastefully decorated and we would definitely consider staying there in the future. Highly recommended.
We were looking for a place with good horses near Akureyri and found this nice place. They give us friendly horses with good gates and the young guide was the perfect tourleader. They really wanted to make us happy and they succeded. A perfect ending is to go in to a hottub and that we could do. Really comfortable. The guesthouse lokes nice and next time I'd like to come and stay there too.
Wunderschöne Reittour mit zwei netten Begleiterinnen. Wir buchten im Tourist Office in Akureyri eine Reittour mit Hot Tub und Abendessen für ca. Fr. 90.00/Pers. Hat sich sehr gelohnt, da das Essen allein schon Fr. 45.00 gekostet hätte. Der Hot Tub ist sehr heiss und angenehm nach der Reittour in der Kälte!
Staff was friendly, but horses seemed jaded and somewhat bored. The riding tour itself does not have many spectacular parts, ideal for beginners but a little dull for more experienced riders. Hot tub afterwards is a nice bonus : )
We arrived in Akureyri on a cruise ship and had booked the horseback riding tour via Saga Travel. The Gues House owner picked us up at the port and drove us out of town about 15 minutes. We were able to use the restrooms and store anything inside before heading outback to the stables. I didn't have much experience on horses and my husband had a bit more. We had 3 young girls acting as guides and there were about 10 of us on the tour with varying levels of experience. I found the horses to be quite calm and sedate, which was great for me, but I would think anyone with experience would have been rather bored. We toured around the countryside and on different types of terrain, from seaside to alongside the roadway and through fields. There were a few opportunities to get the horses to go at a cantor or trot, but never an outright gallop. Perhaps it was because I was in the middle of the long line, but there wasn't much "guiding" with regard to pointing out any sites or vegetation or anything. It was basically a horseride through the counryside. It was enjoyable and I wasn't bored. I did notice in several other reviews that people were offered the use of a hot tub after the tour, but we were not offered this. I'm guessing it's because of the time of year. It was rather cool and a bit rainy when we were out. After we finished, the Gues House owner drove us back to town and dropped us where ever we wanted. She gave us a few ideas of sites to see which we appreciated. All in all, it was a good day for us beginners.
The group for our ride gathered quite a big – 15-16 riders. However it turned to be no problem despite my concerns. I read before the ride that Icelandic horse have special pace, which make the ride easy even for novice. And it turned to be true – from the very beginning Klara, owners daughter, who is in charge of horses & riding tours, told us that we were going to make first “adaptation” part of the trial slowly and then split in two groups – one for those who wish to continue same slow and another for those who wish to accelerate. So then we came to the decision point all of us asked for acceleration unhesitatingly. I was given stallion Krafter – nice, but sly creature. Once, it felt that its rider was inexperienced; it did not miss the opportunity to stop to have some grass or to change direction and overtake other riders. But little by little I seized control over an animal and by the end of the ride we were almost ready for equestrian competitions :-) The only disappointment was that we came back covered with a thick layer of a dirt as there was no rain for a while and the trail was dusty, and our feet were soaking wet, as we were entering see during the ride. Of cause, it is something which can’t be avoided, but if I would be informed in advance, I would dress myself differently.
I absolutely loved my experience. The horses are very well cared for and exceptionally friendly and beautiful! The facility (and the guest house) are on a beautiful piece of property just north of Akureyri and you can see snow-capped mountains, tons of bird life and ever more of Iceland's amazing terrain. The guides were young but very sweet and also quite experienced. It was a terrific addition to my Icelandic holiday!
Die unaufgeregte kurze Reittour von 1,5 Stunden eignet sich optimal für Reitanfänger. Die Pferde sind ruhig und trotten einander hinterher. Für erfahrene Reiter eher langweilig. Ich bin seit Jahren nicht geritten, von daher war es als Wiedereinstieg okay. Ich durfte auf einer Teilstrecke sogar vorweg galoppieren, weil die Anfänger in der Gruppe nicht schneller wollten.