solhestar

we would highly recommend Solhester because they give you a personal and warm feeling while they are guiding you through mountains and open land. Not the best season to be horsebackriding but we would defenetely do it all over again anyway!

horses are very nice, facilities are so so and staff is so so. Riding equipment needs to be updated.

My boyfriend and I had a lovely time horseback riding at Solhestar! The small farm is family owned, and the owner himself picked us up at our hotel nearby. It was about 0C that day, so we bundled up in the provided jumpsuits and boots, and went on a lovely ride nearby along the mountain with the farm dog guiding us. Our guide was super knowledgable and friendly, and we learned a lot about Icelandic horses. The horses we rode and the ones in the barn and field were clearly happy, healthy, and well-cared for. Would definitely return next trip and highly recommend Solhestar for a wonderful outdoors adventure that let's you experience the the Icelandic landscape in a unique way.

My mother & I visited Iceland during Thanksgiving & we went for a morning ride with Solhestar. I have ridden, almost daily, for 30+ years, & it has been almost as long since my mother has ridden. It was a fabulous experience for both of us! We were the only people registered that day, so we got a wonderful, private ride. The scenery was beautiful, especially since there was fresh snow. Our guide was knowledgeable and very personable. The owner, himself, picked us up at the hotel. It was a wonderful mom-and-pop type situation. Our ride was the best part of our trip!

What a way to see Iceland! The horses are lovely and clearly well cared for. Our guide was fantastic and gauged the ability of the riders on our tour very well. I can nitrate this experience highly enough. I enjoyed it so much that I went back the next day for another ride.

I found Solhestar in one of many tourist-information points Reykjavik has. The combination of horsebackriding in the morning and the golden cirkle in the afternoon attracted me. This as I had relative little time to spend in Iceland.The horsebackriding tour was amazing! As a beginner (only had a couple of lessons back home) they hooked me up with a horse that listerns well. My guide showed me around and we had fun. We went a bit faster where we could and had a scenic route. The farm seems to take great care of their horses. They also take pride in the fact they are one of the smaller farms. That means, no large groups per tour, which I love!The only drawback was the wait for the afternoon programm. We finished horsebackriding around 11:30am. I was taken to a small stripmall and had to wait for about 1.5 hours for a bus operated by Travelbus to take me on the afternoon tour. The tour was within expectations, but they seriously need to do something to bridge that time. The mall is extremely boring (about 5 shops and a lame vulcano exposition).To sum it up; if I'm back in Iceland I'll be back with Solhestar again, but definately not on any of their combination tours.

I'm so glad I went with this riding tour, instead of some of the more advertised ones. The tour guides were super friendly, and very understanding of varying levels of experiences. I was one of 2 people who had never been on a horse before, and it didn't even faze them in the slightest. They stop to take your picture for you, talk to you along the way, and at the end you can have tea/coffee and cookies, and meet their pet sheep Hercules and dog Junior (super cute!). I also had a nice talk with the owner on the ride back to my hostel, and he was saying that he really values having a smaller business because he thinks it is more important for everyone to enjoy the experience, than to try and make the most possible money from it. I thought that was pretty cool, and it definitely has that feel. I had a great time, and if I'm ever back in Iceland would love to do one of their more involved tours (I just the the 3-hour tour).

We booked the 3-hour riding tour and were greeted by the very friendly owner at the farm. There were only 4 people in our group: the three of us, who are inexperienced riders, and another woman, with a lot of riding experience. The horses were great, the two guides that accompanied us were friendly and the scenery around the mountain was beautiful. We got to tolt, which was fun, and the lady with the riding experience also got to gallop. Overall, great experience! My only other comment would be that while the tour name implies you will ride for 3-hours, we only rode for 2 (which none of us minded). They do say in the description that you will ride for 2-3 hours, but perhaps a change in the tour name would help clarify this.

Two teenagers, little uneasy about riding, absolutely loved it, now want horses of their own. Highly recommended, staff very friendly, nice surroundings and landscape

We didn't book the tour in advance because we are horse lovers and want to see how owners treated their horses. We went to another farm before but it looks too much business. The horses looked rundown and in bad condition. So we left and came to Sólhestar, the horses here looked well cared and seemed to have a happy life. It means the owner likes his job! He and his staffs were very friendly and tried his best to arrange the tour for us even if no advanced booking. Overall, It's impressive tour, spectacular view, reliable horses (not buck me down :)) and valued money!

great trip. it was amazing!!! we had a great guide. they fixed Food on the trip, and after trip. Great people working here

I wanted a smaller, more adventurous tour and I couldn't have asked for more. For a start there was only me and my brilliant guide on the tour, which is really unusual because most places would have cancelled if there was no more interest. The tour itself is was a brilliant ride up the steam valley on a fantastic pony who was sure footed but great fun. I got to spend plenty of time in the amazing hot stream and even got shown around the magnificent geological features up there. The ride back along the valley was great fun and I got plenty of chance to experience the famous and exhilarating tolt and flying pacing gaits. The ponies are really well cared for; my guide's pony became slightly lame on the way down the valley but the owners came straight out with a replacement pony so we could ride back and the lame pony was put straight out in the field for a day off. I really loved the fact that this is a small, friendly stables that cater for anybody that wants to give riding a a go or have a really adventure and they have no intention of changing that to join the ranks of the enormous groups I passed along the way.

I had an amazing day at Sólhestar.I booked the beach tour and we were only a small group of 3 people plus guide.The lonely black beach and the rest of the nature were just stunning!The horses were fun, they have a lot of power but you are always able to control the speed.Also the guides as well as the owner of the farm are really nice, friendly and helpfull.I definitely will come back there for a second tour.

My husband and I booked the hot springs tour through our hotel (ION Luxury Adventure Hotel). We are both experienced riders and wanted a more advanced and personal ride and they definitely accommodated. The tour started with a sure footed walk up the steeper Reykjadalur path to the hot river. Once there we had a light lunch (prepared by the owner's wife) and soaked in the bubbling stream (bring your bathing suit and a towel). After the hot river we tolted and galloped through meadows back to the farm. It was idyllic!There was only one other person on our tour and she was advanced enough to keep up with our quicker pace. The horses were well suited to each of our strengths and our guide was great at keeping an eye on things, but not hovering. After the owner's wife brought us into her home and served us delicious homemade soup. The perfect cap to a wonderful ride. I highly recommend Solhestar!

I took part in the hot spring tour at Sólhestar in the beginning of August. I booked it 2 days in advance and asked also via mail for an "experienced ride". They told me they couldn't promise something (always have to look which people would come with me, but would give me a good horse) which made me first a bit nerveous and unsure about it, but I am so happy that I did it anyway. The hotel pick up was easy and on time. On the way to the stables the owner told me that I would be the only person and that I could also go on the beach ride if I would like to ( more riding... )But since I wanted to go bathing in the hot spring i stayed with my previous plans. At the stable they showed me the "kitchen" where I could get coffee and choclate, the clean bathroom, rainboots, helmets, gloves and saddlebags for my stuff. The girl who would go with me packed a lunch packed (roll with salad and ham, an apple and a choclate bar) and something to drink into her saddle bag before she took me outside to show me my horse. She asked me about my riding experiences and when I told her that I was experienced, would like a horse that could tölt, goes forward and is not too small, she picked one out of the little herd. It was the perfect one, her name meant something like quick and from the beginning on (I had to try her first in the paddog) I really enjoyed her. We put the horses into a trailer and than the owner drove us to the beginning of our route. The way up and down the hill was pretty much just walk, but it doesn't matter because the landscape was amazing and the girl talked a lot with me. At the river the horses got a break in a little paddog and I had the possibility to bath in the stream and eat my lunch. And because we still had time she showed me a cute little waterfall just around the corner. The way down was again mostely walk, but she took some pictures of me at another waterfall. After that part of the ride I thought we would maybe tölt a bit and canter some meters but in the end it was even more. It was such fun to see how quick, Quicka (my horse) was, enjoying the comfortable tölt and awesome canter. I have been to diffrent stables before, but never had such a great horse before. You could ask for walk, tölt, trot, canter and she would give it to you. Maybe even pass, but I didn't know how to do it. We arrived at the stables a little bit earlier than normal but for me it wasn't a problem. I got biscuits, coffee and swiss hot choclate offered after we put the horses back in. Normally I would have had to wait until the next group had finished so the owner could bring us all together back to Reykjavik, but suddently he offered me to take a horse and go for a little trip to skip the time. At the beginning I thought it was a joke but no 20min later I was sitting on another horse going out for a little ride in all diffrent gaits. (And it was again a really responsive great horse, not as runny than the first one but doing everything I was asking for directly and very willing to work)After the group and I had returned we went back to Reykjavik. Unfortunately I forgot my towl and swimsuit. I called and at the next day they brought it to the touristinformation in Reykjavik, so I could pick it up. All in all was it the perfect last stop for my long trip through Iceland and when I come back it will defnately be a place I have to visit (I have to do the beachtour ;-) ) I got a very personal service, they respond to all my wishes and the horses where just great. I have been riding on a lot of diffrent touristfarms in Iceland and that one was definately the best!!Especially for experienced riders who don't want to be put together with a group of beginners it is a great place to go riding. And in the end they didn't charged me extra even when I was alone and went out a second time!! I had a perfect day there.