The winter vacation period has passed, and it is high time to think about your summer vacation. We invite you to Western Ukraine to try our horse riding holidays in the beauty of the Carpathian mountains.
The Carpathians offer stunning alpine beauty of flower meadows, rivers full of fish and gushing with aquamarine water. The people are friendly. Here you can see the Hutsuls in their colourful traditional clothing and buy crafts such as beautiful hand-woven rugs. The food and drink are simply delicious!
It is an unforgettable experience, a new discovery every minute whatever the weather! You will remember this tour forever. We guarantee good company, good food and drinks and good humour.
Horse tour in the Carpathians
We offer a standard two-day tour in the Ukrainian Carpathians. We meet you in Ivano-Frankivsk and take you down to the charming old village of Verkhovyna.
On the first day, we ride horses for 3-4 hours. From Verkhovyna we go up to the mountain valley where shepherds graze cattle from May to September. You can see how they milk their cattle in the traditional way and make Brinza cheese – all natural.
After spending time learning about the shepherds’ way of life, you will have a delicious dinner with local produce and time to relax.
Later we ride to another mountain valley to a farm where there is no electricity and water supply. The farm is run by a father and son. They graze cattle and make cheese. This site offers views of the majestic alpine mountains and is just 15 km to Romania. This is our camp for the night. You can spend time learning about the life of the shepherds before dinner.
After your night in the hills, we will ride back to Verkhovyna through stunning Alpine scenery and pristine air. Lunch is a picnic of local specialities (tangy Brinza cheese, smoked meats, fragrant breads, salo, moonshine…). From Verkhovyna, we’ll take you back to Ivano-Frankovsk.
Horse riding in the Carpathians
Curiously, traditions of cheese making have not changed in the Carpathian Mountains over the last 200 years. Local cheese makers heat milk over an open fire. Everything is natural. No chemicals and used. The most important fact is that people are always sincere, friendly, and open to communication.
Many of our guests enjoy Spartan conditions of living in the tranquility of a shepherd’s life – although we will provide you with the opportunity to charge your phone. The night sky is full of stars!
Guests have all basic needs satisfied: a bed, a toilet, fresh natural food. One of our American guests swore that in the Carpathians he tasted the most delicious food ever.
There are several different mountain valleys near Verkhovyna. We always offer our guests a variety of options (something that fits a specific group/tourist) – longer or shorter routes; Spartan or basic staying conditions, one-day, two-days or several days routes. There are so many options. For example, it may be a combination of horse tour + fishing (trout). We have successful experience of such combined tours. We also offer rafting and other interesting activities.
About Green Ukraine
Established in 2010, Green Ukraine successfully organizes private tours for foreigners in Ukraine and in the Carpathians, in particular. We provide our guests with everything they need: transport, accommodation, meals, private English-speaking guides. We have experience in organization of different tours and recreation forms. Since these are private tours, they are always 100% flexible.
For 6 years, we have been welcoming tourists from many countries: England, Wales, the USA, France, Switzerland, China, Kuwait, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, the Netherlands … All guests LOVE the Carpathians: one of Europe’s hidden gems.
Why travel with Green Ukraine?
We are well used to providing holidays for foreigners and speak fluent English and Portuguese. Our experience means that we provide you with what you want, and if you need anything else, we will do our best to accommodate your wishes.
We have great local expertise and you will be in safe hands and you do not have to worry for anything. During preparation process (correspondence), we coordinate all aspects. Our team loves our business; we love our work. For example, our equestrian guide is a professional hunter. He can show and tell a lot of local life, fauna, flora, and customs. The owners, who meet us on the mountain valleys are always friendly, share their lives… You feel like a part of the family. This is the best way to travel in order to get to know another country, its culture, and customs.
Horse tour across all Ukraine
We are open to new things and events. The program of our tour is unrestricted. We have experience in organizing extraordinary horse tours.
Two years ago, a Welshman Michael Pugh, a successful international lawyer, who was been working for eight years in Moscow decided to leave Moscow and return to the UK. However, in very unusual way. Not by plane, but on a horse. Michael is a great fan of horses. He decided to ride a horse from Moscow to Transylvania.
Green Ukraine was responsible for the Ukrainian segment of this horse travel. It was a big challenge for us, because we had never organized anything like this before. However, we accepted this challenge, developed a route according to the customer’s wishes. The total length was about 800 km, 5 regions of Ukraine (from Belarusian to Romanian border across the territory of Ukraine); it took 22 days. At the first stage, Michael was alone, later his friend Robert joined him. We are engaged in providing necessary logistic and provision (horses, groom, car, camp, food, parking areas, etc.).
This tour was just fantastic. We slept in tents, and once a week we stayed in hotels to feel the soft bed and to wash clothes. Every day we rode about 30 km. We prepared food on a fire. The main thing was communication with people to which Michael aspired so much and provided him with lots of material for his book. This is the best way to get to know the country! We just cannot describe many hundreds of kilometers, all adventures on our way in this article. So now Michael is preparing a book about his journey. You can see some of the adventures in the gallery of ridinghalfwayhome.com
In the words of Michael “It was an absolute privilege to travel through Ukraine in the hands of such an experienced and knowledgeable team as Green Ukraine. Andriy and his team looked after us very well. We had delicious food every day and in addition to learning so much about Ukraine, we had a lot of fun and laughs.”
Why the Carpathians?
Most of the Ukrainian Carpathians are still wild, untouched and unexplored. Here you can ride a horse all the day and not meet a soul. There are no tourist crowds here and you can really be alone with nature. The unique climate, nature, air, water … The greatest wealth is our people – open, friendly … just fantastic.
Choose Green Ukraine: you are safe being with us! See you soon!
