Horse riding holidays over several days: formats, level, stages and cost

Three ways to set off on horseback for several days

Do you need your own horse to go trekking for three days? No: that is the whole idea of a guided trip. The French equestrian federation (FFE) labels ‘equestrian tourism centres’ that specialise in hacks but also in rides lasting several days, as a loop or from a single base, with qualified staff [1]. The centre then provides the horse and the guide.

Two ways of riding share the programmes. A linear trek moves to a new lodging every night; a stay from a single base, which the FFE also calls ‘en marguerite’ (daisy-shaped), sets off each morning from the same place on a different loop [2]. The first one travels; the second lets you take a day off if the horse is tired or the weather turns [3]. Three formats then take shape around the horse itself:

• The guided trek, horse provided: a qualified guide leads a small group, of 5 to 10 riders at most in the offers we checked [4, 5, 6]. With one Corsican operator, a vehicle meets the group at lunchtime and in the evening with personal belongings [7].
• With your own horse, in a group: that is the spirit of the Equirando, the FFE’s equestrian tourism gathering. Since 1961, it has brought together riders and carriage drivers every two years, all arriving on horseback, some after several weeks on the road [8].
• Independently, with your own horse: you plan the route, book the stops and look after your horse yourself. The FFE’s Gold trail-riding certificate recognises precisely the skills ‘sufficient to travel on horseback with respect for one’s mount and in complete safety’ [9].

That leaves hiring a horse to set off alone, without a guide. Every offer we checked paired the horse with a guide: if that is your plan, ask the organiser about conditions, the level required and what its insurance covers. And if what you have in mind is walking alongside the animal, trekking with a pack donkey is quite another trip, covered in our guide to walking with a donkey.

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What riding level do you need for a trail-riding holiday?

The offers we checked all put it the same way: you must be at ease at all three paces, walk, trot and canter, and outdoors, not just in an arena. A centre in Normandy asks for riders ‘independent on horseback for riding out’; a Corsican trek also asks for good physical fitness and takes riders aged 12 to 80 [4, 5, 6, 7].

To put a name to that level, the FFE created the Galops Pleine NatureThe French equestrian federation’s outdoor-riding levels, from Galop 1 to Galop 7, in force since September 2012.. At Galop 2, riders move on their own at all three paces round a course; at Galop 4, they ride over varied ground with their speed under control; at Galop 6, they navigate on horseback and choose the speed of each pace [10]. On top come three trail-riding certificates, Bronze, Silver and Gold, which also count the days spent trekking [9].

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The Gold certificate exam requires candidates to be at least 12, and the rules make protective headgear to current standards compulsory at all three certificate exams, to standard NF EN 1384 for Silver and Gold [9]. Your FFE licence keeps a record of your Galops and, according to the federation, it ‘proves the rider’s level to the club where they spend their holidays’ [11].

A typical day: 25 to 35 km and 4 to 6 hours in the saddle

How far do you ride in a day? The route-planning guide published by the FFE and its equestrian tourism committee gives the order of magnitude: two overnight stops lie about 25 to 35 km apart (16 to 22 miles), or 4 to 6 hours on horseback [13]. To judge the quality of a route, the federation even takes 25 km a day as its benchmark [14].

The shape of the day, on the other hand, changes little from one programme to the next:

1. In the morning, meet at the stables, at around 9am in one Corsican programme, to get your horse ready and get to know the tack [7].
2. You set off at walk, and trot or canter only in moderation, on soft ground with good visibility, as the French Ministry of Sport recommends [12].
3. At midday, a picnic; the federation provides for dedicated facilities at lunch stops, such as hitching rails for the horses [13].
4. In the afternoon, you finish the stage and arrive at walk; horse and tack are checked at the start, at the break and on arrival [12].
5. In the evening, caring for the horses and putting the tack away come before dinner [7, 12].

In summer, the timetable shifts: the Corsican operator warns that it adapts riding times to the temperature [7]. All year round, the ministry asks riders to plan to arrive before nightfall [12].

Where to sleep: equestrian lodgings and the Cheval Étape label

Finding, every evening, somewhere that also takes horses is one of the main difficulties for trekkers, the FFE admits [16]. Its Cheval Étape label is the answer: the establishment guarantees to take in horses in a field, a paddock or a stable, with water and hay, an area to groom and care for them, a room for the tack and route maps to consult on site [2].

Riders, for their part, find a gîte, a campsite, a hotel or a B&B and somewhere to eat within 3 km (2 miles) of where the horses stay. The federation counts more than 500 labelled establishments, and a ‘Cheval Étape membership’ also flags non-equestrian tourist accommodation able to take in a rider and their horse [2].

Riding independently, it is up to you to check what the field is worth. The FFE’s fact sheet on taking in horses overnight calls for a securely fenced field, free of scrap metal and rubbish, rules out barbed wire and sheep netting, and reckons on at least 3,000 to 5,000 m² for 10 horses for one night [16].

Where to ride in France: routes waymarked in orange

Paths open to riders are marked with an official orange waymark, owned by the FFE, in four forms: route continues, change of direction, wrong way and carriage route [17]. It comes on top of the codes used for walkers, explained in our article on waymarking.

To find these routes, the federation publishes GéoCheval, an interactive map of equestrian tourism routes in France, built on a survey under way since 2014, which also shows Cheval Étape establishments and equestrian tourism centres. It lists only routes that are waymarked and registered in a PDIPRPlan départemental des itinéraires de promenade et de randonnée: the plan through which each French département records and protects its walking and riding paths, set up under a 1983 law. [18, 19]. Two examples give the scale of the long-distance rides:

• The Grande Traversée du Jura on horseback: nearly 500 km (310 miles) across the Doubs, Jura and Ain départements, from the vineyards to the high Jura, in 19 days [15].
• The Route Napoléon on horseback: 360 km (220 miles) from Grasse to Vizille, through four départements, labelled a ‘Grand Itinéraire Équestre’ by the FFE and its equestrian tourism committee in March 2016 [20].

Riding independently, a map and compass still earn their place, and Galop 6 Pleine Nature in fact requires riders to navigate on horseback [10]: our guide to navigating with a map and compass works just as well in the saddle.

Which season suits a trail-riding holiday?

The organisers whose offers we read open mainly from spring to autumn: from 1 April to 31 October in Aveyron, from 1 June to 30 November in the Cévennes, and from 15 May to 1 October around Mont Blanc [22, 23, 24]. In the Massif des Maures, a trek with a night under canvas is offered all year round [4]. In these examples, the mountains open later than the lowlands or the coast.

Two constraints weigh on the calendar. In summer, the heat means shifting riding times, as the Corsican operator quoted above explains. In autumn, it is the hunting season: one Normandy centre runs its weekends only from March to the end of October, ‘outside the hunting season’ [5], and the French outdoor rider’s charter asks riders to keep well away from driven hunts [25].

How much does a multi-day trail ride cost?

On 24 October 2026, we noted the prices published by six organisers in different French regions, on tourist board websites and on the FFE’s booking portal. Prices vary with the length of the trip, but above all with what they include:

Worked out per day, these packages come to roughly €130 to €220, horse and guide included [4, 5, 6, 22, 23, 24]. Compare like with like: a night in a tent does not cost the same as a night in a room, and an ‘all-inclusive’ weekend does not include the same things everywhere. Finally, think about insurance: the FFE licence insures its holder ‘for any riding activity, from preparing the horse until its return to where it is kept’ [11]; ask the organiser whether it requires one, or what its own policy covers.

The UK, Germany, Austria and the US: what changes

In the UK, the question is less your level than your route. In England and Wales, away from roads, riders have rights only on bridlewaysPublic paths open to walkers, horse riders and cyclists in England and Wales. and bywaysPublic paths also open to horse-drawn carriages, and some to motor vehicles., never on footpaths, which are for pedestrians, and there is no ‘right to roam’ on horseback except on Dartmoor, in the New Forest and on a few commons. In Scotland, by contrast, there is a general right of access to most land, provided you act responsibly [26], as our article on wild camping in the UK explains. According to the British Horse Society, only 22% of England’s 117,250 miles of public rights of way are open to riders [27].

Of the seventeen National Trails in England and Wales, only the Pennine Bridleway is open to riders along its whole length, with a few others open only in sections [26]: 205 miles (330 km) from Derbyshire to Cumbria, designed for horse riders and mountain bikers [28]. On riding hats, the law is explicit: in England, Wales and Scotland, it is an offence to let a child under 14 ride a horse on a road without protective headgear [29].

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In Germany, what the text says is brief: the federal forest law allows riding only on roads and tracks, and leaves the details to the Länder, the federal states [30]. Some go further: in North Rhine-Westphalia, every horse ridden in the countryside or in the woods must carry a plate, the Reitkennzeichen, on both sides [31]. The German federation, the FN, awards a trail-riding badge, the Wanderreitabzeichen; its second level is open from the age of 14, after a ride of at least two days with a night out [32]. In Austria, the forestry law allows riding in the woods only with the landowner’s consent, which signs may show [33].

In the United States, each national park sets its own rules, within a federal framework that allows horses only on trails, routes and areas designated for them, and requires a slow walk when passing walkers and cyclists [34]. In Grand Teton, a party may have no more than 12 people or 10 head of stock on an overnight trip, camping with horses is limited to five designated sites with a permit, and some high trails stay blocked by snow until late July [35]. For entry to the parks themselves, see what foreign visitors pay.

Arnaud Couderc

Fact-checking, regulations and safety

Arnaud Couderc reviews our contributors’ articles and writes for Outfarer about regulations, safety, fishing, the sea and outdoor pursuits. He traces every rule back to its official text and every figure to its source, so that you set off with sound benchmarks.

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