Castillo Lanjaron

It was an incredible experience. The manege and stables where we rode out from were in a stunning location. The two hour rides along the sides of the valley went through pine and oak woods, overlooking the town of Orgiva in the distance. Fragrances of sage, lavender, pine and oak filled the air. It was truly heavenly. My daughter and I would love to return for some longer treks next time. Many thanks Caballo Blanco !!!

We had a mixed experience. We did a 4 day 'trek' which is really a site-based holiday with an overnight at another house, which wasn't after a particularly long ride and thus was a bit pointless, except for a change of scenery, which is fine. We didn't do any of the in-ride activities in Orjiva and really had no experiences except for daily 4-5 hour rides, though we did ride through a 'hippie village' which was a bunch of tents where some folks are allowed to squat (I think the occupants might have been inside). The rides themselves afforded spectacular views and the guides were great. Accommodations were modest but certainly fine and afforded a remote, gorgeous view of the mountains. There were very basic (usually aranola bar, ham sandwich and a piece of fruit) packed lunches and simple but delicious dinners prepared by the friendly host, Emily, a British expat, including a breakfast of cheese, ham, bread, granola and yogurt which is typical Spanish fare but dinners had little to do with Spain. Pretty much everyone is an expat so you won't have a cultural experience with any in-depth history, cuisine or contact with locals, so count on mostly some riding through some gorgeous country with competent and friendly guides and good, well-cared-for horses and not much else. Limited trotting and cantering but that is mostly because of the terrain in which you ride. Sarah, the owner who handles the finances but doesn't meet the guests, insists on payment in cash, bank wire or paypal (no credit cards, Venmo or even cashier checks) which I would say is an extraordinarily unusual and unfortunate way of doing business (and for us, expensive because of change fees and wiring fees, the total cost being in the hundreds of US dollars. (We can't use paypal because we had some fraud in the past). That said, despite these concerning payment policies you can rest assured there really is no funny business going on here. In fact many of the horses are rescued which is really nice. The price is reasonable for the services provided, no bells and whistles, just some good guided riding in the mountains. If you are flexible with your expectations you will likely have a good time.