Where to go horseback riding in Puerto Vallarta?

Listen, Google exists for a reason, so we’re going to tell you why you should go horseback riding at Rancho el Charro instead of one of the other places.

There are a few different operations that operate in Puerto Vallarta. We ride all of them each year to get an idea of what the competition is doing and how we can improve. Some of them offer food in addition to the ride: we don’t think this always makes sense, but to each their own.

We’re trying to be as fair as possible in writing this.

Quality of horse

To be frank, we’re sometimes surprised and a little disheartened by the quality of some of the horses we see year after year: they’re stressed and a little skinny or undersized. This is reflected by the price we paid.

Convenience of booking and price

Sure, on booking sites like Viator or AirBnB, it looks expensive ($85, $125, $115) and it’s convenient, but you have to remember these booking sites take a big chunk and then pass on the rest to the ranch. There are more costs downhill from there with these booking sites, so ultimately you can assume that the operator is only seeing 50% of this price. For that reason, we allow you to book directly as conveniently as possible.

Trails, sights, and sounds

The trails were good. We see ours a lot, so a literal change of scenery was nice. Still, we love how majestic it is to flanked by two mountains along a river. Our small town is hard to beat and full of charm, and our location — only twenty minutes from the tourist zone — almost too convenient to believe. We pinch ourselves when we’re just steps away from town, down a barely-maintained dirt road.

Guides and service

It felt really transactional. One guide was full of life, another was kind of quiet and didn’t teach us much about anything. We prefer something in the middle. We had to show our receipt at one, a confirmation at another; they didn’t know our names or anything about us. We tried emailing them to see their response times. Their response times were poor, and they were generic in their responses. We prefer some spice, and a little nice. Again, preference.

Overall

If you care about the horses, you go to Rancho el Charro to go horseback riding. If you care about convenience in booking, yeah, there are booking websites that give you options at the expense of the horse. The trails in Puerto Vallarta are really great and hard to beat. If you want an authentic guide and great service, we’re not going to lose on this one.

It just makes sense to say the best place to go horseback riding in Puerto Vallarta is Rancho el Charro.