Horse Back Riding
in Uruguay
9 days / 8 nights
Uruguay on horse back: Pampas, Gauchos, Beaches
- Highlights
- Full Itinerary
- Price & Contact
We start our tour in the wonderful city of Montevideo. The next day we continue our ride in the amazing coastal province of 'Rocha' - protected area and declared world biosphere reserve - when we arrive at a hotel built in the same style as the nearby 17th century fort, right on the border with Brazil. We ride along isolated beaches, over shifting sand dunes, through palm groves and shady woodlands and on along the shores of the wetlands. The variety of birds - hummingbirds, flamingos, kingfishers, flycatchers, rheas (similar to ostriches) - that we see in these habitats is incredible. The pace will be many times quite fast (lots of canters) - the grassy pastures and firm beaches allow this on strong and well-trained criollo and criollo cross horses.
While staying at charming seaside inns and working ranches š estancias š where ride with and help the gauchos with cattle drives, you will be able to feel connected with the traditions of this unexplored country. On this ride you'll skirt the most diverse landscapes, surprising wines, excellent food and experience the hidden treasures found on paths less travelled.
View Full Itinerary | Price & Contact
Including:
- 9 Days/8 Nights
- All breakfasts
- Other meals as in text
- All transfers
- English-speaking guide
View Highlights | Price & Contact
Day 1: Montevideo – Tango & Candomble
Today is set aside to relax 
and
explore the seaside city of Montevideo. Guests are met at the Carrasco
International Airport and driven along the wonderful coastline called “Rambla” to
your downtown hotel. We will immerse ourselves in Uruguayan culture in
Montevideo, the most important city as well as the capital. Welcome luxurious
barbecue at the Mercado del Puerto and free time to rest or explore the
downtown streets and experience the typical Rio de la Plata music, the
Tango or Candombe with the rhythms and coloured costumes. Montevideo
is a very quite and safe city that combines museums, street markets,
nice restaurants and very friendly people. You will stay in a nice centrally
located 3 to 4 star hotel. (dinner is not included today).
Day 2: 18th century Fortín de San Miguel
After breakfast we will be driven to the Brazilian border and into
Rocha, arguably the most beautiful province 
in
Uruguay with its pristine beaches, emerald shores and network of lagoons.
We will visit ‘Chuy’ , a very curious town straddling the
border where guests can step into Brazil and hear the locals speak
a strange language made of a mix of Spanish and Portuguese. As we arrive
at the hotel built in the same stone as the nearby Portuguese fortress
we can admire the views out across an enormous stretch of fresh water
-one of the largest fresh water reserves of South America, the "Merlin
Lagoon".
We are right on the Brazilian border. After lunch we will meet gauchos and our horses to
ride around the rolling hills of San Miguel enjoying a wonderful panoramic
view of the area from the top of the boulder covered ‘Cerro Picudo’.
The view across the flat lowlands and the huge lagoon
provides a very different landscape to the following days’ rides. 
We can smell the sea and on clear days view the coast. This area is
home to a wide variety of birds and we will see many different native
trees and bushes. We will also have the chance to see the Cimarron
cattle – the first cattle, introduced from Spain in the 17th
century and depending on what the gauchos are doing, they may need
a hand to work these tame animals. We will stay at the " Fortín
de San Miguel", guests can enjoy the gardens, swimming pool and
the relaxed atmosphere.
Day 3: Barra de Chuy beach – Brazilian border & a ride along a pristine beach
In the morning we will have a nice 3-4 hours ride along the Brazilian
border, sometimes riding in Uruguay and others
in Brazil ! After a special picnic lunch at a working estancia, riders
may have a pleasant “siesta” discovering that gauchos
saddles are so comfortable to ride as wells as to sleep! Then we
will have a fast-pace ride along the wonderful, isolated ocean beach
of ‘Barra
Chuy’.
Visitors seldom reach this beach so we can enjoy a long,
exhilarating canter with no signs of habitation as we ride across
the pure white sands alongside the Atlantic ocean. We arrive 22km
(12 miles) further south at "La Coronilla" and stay at
small beachside hotel.
Day 4: Santa Teresa national park, dolphins & shipwrecks
Today we will ride south, alternating beaches with coastal hills, sand dunes, pine forests into the immense San
ta Teresa National Park. The center piece of the park is a fort started in 1762 by the Portuguese to defend the edge of their territories then completed by the Spaniards who took it by assault just a year later. This was just the start of a succession of conquering, loosing and reconquering the fort; it was not until 1825 that the newly forming ‘Uruguay’ finally captured and held the fort. The fort is surrounded by 3000 hectares of forest containing over 2 million trees the majority from other parts of the world and, after a picnic lunch we will enjoy riding along the forest trails, down to the beach. We pass a shipwreck buried in the sand – one of many along this treacherous coast. Indeed, Polonio, where we ride later is named after a Spanish galleon that went down just off the point. Luckily ‘Beagle’ with Charles Darwin aboard did not succumb to this fate and Darwin spent quite some time in Uruguay collecting species and most likely starting to formulate his theories of evolution. Most days there is the wonderful sight of dolphins feeding in the bay. After a traditional picnic close to the fortress or on the beach depending on the weather , we can choose between been driven or canter back along the water’s edge to the hotel for barbecued fresh fish, Uruguayan wine and a pleasant overnight listening to the waves.
Day 5: Don Bosco – tropical palm groves & Laguna Negra
After an early breakfast, we will be driven along a very scenic road
near to the famous "Laguna Negra" (the ‘black 
lagoon’,
named after the dark waters). We will meet the horses and ride into
the native vegetation on the Don Bosco hills from where we will be
able to enjoy an incredible view of the unique extensive palm groves
and Laguna Negra. Despite a number of stories, no one knows how the
palm trees got here -some 300 years old; they are not native but
they give the landscape a very exotic look. During the trip we will
pass many roadside stalls selling the fruit and the less innocent ‘hooch’ brewed
from the palm nuts. The cloudy, sticky liquid is so potent that if
you leave the cap off the old bottles it is sold in the liquor evaporates
in a flash! Descending the hills we ride alongside the lake where
we will surely see ibis, herons, egrets, storks and a legion of migrating
birds (birds arrive here from as far as Alaska and the Falkland/Malvinas
Islands). After a typical lunch on the lagoon shores, we ride on
eastwards through the palm groves and back towards the coast where
we meet the vehicle and head to a nearby working Estancia El Sauce
for overnight.
Day 6: El Sauce, an authentic estancia – ‘mate’ tea & the gaucho life
We wake up on a farm - El Sauce is a working estancia run by its owners where we will enjoy a full day riding around the crops and very varied vegetation on the property. The estancia, built in 1920, is
very comfortable –it is not a hotel but the family house that we have been invited to stay as guests of the owners, offering us an incredible experience and a very special insight into the life in the country. For example, guests can sample the ‘mate’ sipped hot out of a dry gourd. The gauchos and their mate are inseparable and a ceremony has developed around drinking mate. In addition to the cattle grasslands this estancia has a large area of marshlands and also rice crops both of which are teeming with bird life (more than 400 species in this area) making another very varied ride and giving us the chance to see the graceful black-necked swan (largest populations in the world found here), the rare white goose and many ducks and other birds such as the largest bird in South America- the ‘ostrich-like’ “ñandú” (rhea). Otters, coypus and capybaras inhabit the marshlands and streams. At several points on the trip we will see the pink flamingo – a species of flamingo with very bright pink pigment and quite common in Uruguay. Overnight at this authentic working estancia.
Day 7: Cabo Polonio – shifting sands & sea lions
The day starts with a drive to the ocean coast . We will met our horses and ride into the desert! We ride thr
ough the area which has been declared a natural animal reserve and
a Biosphere Natural Reserve by UNESCO. We will ride to Cabo Polonio, a charming fishing village which can only be reached by horse or four wheeled drive. The fascinating part of the area is the huge area of shifting sand dunes, as we ride through it is possible to imagine that we are right in the middle of the Sahara. After lunch at a typical restaurant on the beach we will see seals and sea lions that populate the small islands and make up one of the largest populations of seals in the world; very occasionally we spot a migrating Right Whale. Riders can swim in one of the most beautiful beaches of the country. After this ride full of surprises and diverse scenery, we will stay at a lovely comfortable working estancia, El Charabón.
Day 8: El Charabón working estancia – Cattle drives and traditional meals
We continue our Uruguayan ride experience at Estancia El Charab ón (Charabón means small rhea). El Charabó is a 1200 ha, beautiful working estancia specialized in calving
and lambing. The landscape is absolutely different from the days before, El Charabón combines open prairies with a large Eucalyptus forestry. In addition to very nice rides on the excellent horses bred at the estancia, we will have the chance of helping the gauchos and their working dogs on cattle and sheep drives, relax in the open swimming pool and have a wonderful sunset tea time. Uruguayan wine, lamb barbecue and the homemade specialties are a special complement for beautiful cantering days at this charming estancia.
Day 9: Estancia Ride
Today, we will enjoy a full morning ride at Estancia “El Charabón”. We will enjoy fantastic sceneries of hills and prairies. After a typical lunch at the estancia, guests will be driven to Montevideo airport in time for their outward flights or continue on pre-arranged extensions.
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