Cappadocia Horseback Riding Adventure

If you’re black, DO NOT book this person. I was the only black person in a group of about 25. I’m a solo traveler. When the tour guide picked me up, he asked if I was a different person, I said no, he then proceeded to tell me, I had to get off the bus. I showed him my reservation. He said, sorry, this isn’t your tour. I got off, had my hotel receptionist call. He literally came back and picked me up. Once we arrived at the ranch. He was welcoming and conversing with all the white customers. I thought it was off, but I was like maybe he just doesn’t see me. I’m a 6ft tall black woman might I add, with cowboy boots and a white hat. They started passing out helmets . EVERYBODY got one, except for..you guessed it, me! So I was like, maybe they didn’t want me to mess up my hat. WRONG!! The main horse rider told me, I had to have one. I told him, I wasn’t offered one. That’s when I found out, the guy who was driving was the “boss”. So I get a helmet. Now we’re waiting to be assigned horses. Everybody has 2 or more people. I’m the only solo rider. So they’re assigning horses. Get down to 10 people. Ask me to stand aside by myself. Then proceed to usher the rest of the group towards horses. So I’m like, why am I standing off to the side alone. So I ask, did you mean to ask me to wait here? I was ignored. At this point, I’m feeling like I’m not wanted, and I do not stay in places where I feel unwanted. I walk towards the van. The owner asks, “where are you going?” I said, “take me back please!” That’s when the man said, “do you want a taxi?” I responded with are your paying for it? He said no, so I said take me back. I felt unsafe, uncomfortable, and a whole lot of other emotions. To make things worse, his family was there speaking Turkish TOWARDS me. When I say it took everything in me not to lay hands on this man.. Do yourself a favor, DO NOT BOOK, especially if you’re balck.

Nice and enjoyable. Horses are well cared for and guides walk along taking pictures for your memories. Nice stopping point to grab a refreshment and then on to the return trip.

Amazing Experience! We had no horse riding experience and this was easy ! Mete was very helpful and a great guide! We will be coming back!

It was a chill and long ride, nothing special besides the views. Some of the guides were walking next to the convoy on foot watching horses, and one of them in my opinion was too grumpy when a horse wanted to eat some grass and the rider would not want to pull hard on the horse when it wants a snack (common it's not like slowing down the whole convoy a lot, the horse catches up quite fast with the group after the munch). Guides did a good job taking pictures of the riders against the backdrops of the sunset and other landscape (on tourists' phones, no extra charge)

This experience did not start out great. We booked several days in advance and received a confirmation WhatsApp message the day before saying we would be picked up between 4:45 and 5:00 am, with the tour starting at 5:00 am and running for 2 hours. When no one showed up by 5:00, I messaged and called them. They finally picked us up around 5:45 am, so we didn't actually start the tour until a little past 6:00 am. By the time we arrived, the sun was basically fully risen. The guide did his best with the time we had — he made sure we got some good photos and took us to spots where we could take our helmets off for pictures. But since the sun was already up by the time we started, we missed the entire reason for going on this tour in the first place. This was our only day in Cappadocia to see the sunrise, and we paid $50 each for the experience. On top of that, because we started so late, we only got a little over an hour on the horses instead of the full 2 hours we booked. Also, my friend's horse didn't seem well-trained or ready for the ride. There are sections of the trail that pass close to the hot air balloons, and the horse kept getting spooked to the point where the guide struggled to keep him under control. Overall, this wasn't a terrible experience, and I do think the guide did the best he could with the time available. But the company clearly failed to pick us up on time, which caused us to miss the sunrise. We requested a 50% partial refund since seeing the sunrise was the entire point of the tour, and we missed it due to their scheduling error, but they refused. Personally, I would not recommend booking it with them, since now seeing other reviews too, they are unreliable when it comes to actually picking you up for the tour.