Iceland is open for travel: Volcanic eruption in Iceland 2024
Hop on an easy one-hour horse riding tour at Icelandic black sand beach! This adventure will take you on a gentle horseback ride through dramatic volcanically scarred scenery, along Iceland’s iconic South Coast. We will be exploring the award-winning Víkurfjara Beach, whose jet-black volcanic sands will inspire awe and wonder in equal measure. That combined with the opportunity to meet the famous Icelandic horse, whose isolation has meant that it has remained unchanged since the time of the Vikings, ensures that this magical tour will provide you with memories that will last you for the rest of your life.
Horseback riding tour options:
CLASSIC TOUR - one-hour tour is suitable for beginners and people who don’t go horseback riding very often or it is their first experience. The minimum age for this tour is 10 years.
FAMILY TOUR - half an hour slow pace ride, perfect for children from the age of six and their families.
Please note: keeping the welfare of the Icelandic horses, the participant's weight limit for this adventure is 100 kg / 220 lbs.
From
Vik Village
The tour begins when we all meet up at our stables close to the picturesque village of Vik, where our friendly guide will provide us with the equipment we need and deliver a short safety talk. Then it will be time to meet the horses and our guide will ensure that everyone is matched with a horse that is appropriate for their ability. Then, once everyone is comfortable, we will head out onto the coal-black volcanic sands for a day filled with fun and excitement.
Víkurfjara Black Sand Beach
Víkurfjara is truly a one-of-a-kind place, replete with dark volcanic sands, spectacular naturally formed lava sculptures, glorious basalt sea stacks that rise in symmetrical curves and sheer cliffs that hide a multitude of different seabirds. As we make our way through this stunning landscape, you will instantly be struck by the majestic contrast of the white-crested waves against the jet-black sands. It will enamor all your senses at once – the cries of the seabirds echoing around the cliffs, the salt in the air filling your nostrils and the cool wind blowing against your face.
The Icelandic Horse
There is no better way to enjoy all the magic that Iceland has to offer than on the back of a sturdy Icelandic horse. They are smaller than most horses (around 128cm to 148cm) in the world and have a unique set of adaptations that make them perfectly suited to the extreme conditions of the land of fire and ice. They were first imported during Viking times and strict export and import laws meant that they became isolated from the rest of the equine population, meaning that they have been the same for more than a millennium. Perhaps, their most striking feature is their unique gait, known as the ‘Tolt’, which means that they always have at least one of their hooves on the ground. Our friendly guide will be with us every step of the way to tell us more about these wonderful creatures and all the spectacular sights that we will see.
We also offer a shorter family version of the tour for our younger riders that is 30 minutes long, taking an easier and shorter walk across the stunning Víkurfjara Beach. If you have young children with you (all riders must be over the age of 6), then please select the family version of the tour during the booking process. The tour will take place under the watchful eye of one of our riding experts, who will ensure that the little ones are safe, making it the perfect educational experience for budding young horse enthusiasts.
Want to combine this thrilling adventure with an exhilarating walk on Sólheimajökull? Take a look at our glacier hike and horseback riding tour.
The meeting point is directly at our stable on Smiðjuvegur 6 in Vík.
Please be careful with SatNavs! The location of our stable on Google Maps is in the correct place (Vík Horse Adventure, 63.416699, -18.996465), but some SatNavs try to lead you down a steep gravel bank from the nearby roundabout where you will get stuck.
Access is through the Orkan petrol station, opposite Hotel Kría - turn into the petrol station and then turn right and you will find Vik Horse Adventure.
We ask you to arrive 15 minutes prior to the departure time that you have chosen. This allows time for you to get prepared for the tour, and we will be ready to leave on time.
GPS coordinates for the stables: 63°25’01.9″N, 18°59’42.2W
Keeping the welfare of the Icelandic horses, the participant's weight limit for this adventure is 100 kg / 220 lbs.
Yes, the weight limit for this adventure is 100 kg / 220 lbs. This is of course with the welfare of the horses in mind.
You can choose from various departures in the booking widget. We ask you to arrive 15 minutes prior to the departure time that you have chosen. This allows time for you to get prepared for the tour, and we will be ready to leave on time.
We, unfortunately, don’t have a waiting list for our tours but feel free to check the availability sheet on our website as all updates will automatically be made to the sheet listed in each tour‘s description. We also offer a lot of different adventure tours around Iceland so chances are that we will have a similar version of the tour that you were originally looking for.
If we cancel a tour you have booked with us you will receive a 100% refund. The refund process is different depending on the way you booked the tour.
If you booked the tour on our website we will start the refund as soon as we know you will not be rescheduling and you will receive a separate email with the confirmation once the refund has been processed. It can then take a few days for the amount to show back up on your bank account once the refund has been processed and we, therefore, ask you to be patient.
If you booked the tour through a booking agent you will need to contact them to receive the refund. We will confirm with them that the tour was cancelled and the refund process will start on their end. Arctic Adventures only receives a payment when the tour has finished, this means that your payment is still with the booking agent and therefore, the refund will be processed by them.
If you pay with your card via email or phone you will need to contact us the same way again to be refunded.
We can not accommodate a person that has not reached the age limit on the tour. We put great value towards the safety of our customers and the minimum age policy falls under this. The minimum age requirement is decided by our operational managers and is dependent on each activity and it‘s difficulty ratings and can, therefore, vary between tours. We ask you to try to understand that this is based on safety procedures and we can therefore unfortunately not make any exceptions to this rule.
Arctic Adventures is a part of VAKINN which is the official quality and environmental system within Icelandic tourism. VAKINN provides validation of insurance, safety and regulatory requirements which supports increased quality and safety within the tourism industry.
Our website shows the correct number of available seats left so we can unfortunately not accommodate you and your group if the number of your group extends the number of available seats left. It is not possible to squeeze additional participants onto the departure as we have really strict policy measures as to how many participants are assigned to each guide on our tour departures. This is of course done with our customers safety in mind, so we do hope that you understand.
We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club for all countries.
In addition, we offer various local payment methods in many other countries such as UnionPay and JCB (Japan Credit Bureau).
