Icelandic Horseback Riding on an Iceland Layover
From $156 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead — hold the date while your connection is still moving.
Two hours, gear included
Helmet, boots, rain gear and overall handed out at the stables.
Split by ability
A slow group and a fast group, decided when you arrive.
A five-gaited breed
The tolt and the flying pace, on a closed population since 982.
Closest thing to the terminal
Thirty-five minutes from the gate, less than Reykjavik.
Something hot afterwards
Coffee, tea or hot chocolate is part of the fare.
From age seven
Up to two children ride with each adult, at full fare.
Your two hours on an Icelandic horse
Two hours at the Ishestar centre in Hafnarfjordur, 35 minutes from the terminal, with pickup from Reykjavik on request. It is the shortest thing here and the only one that is not a drive. That is exactly why it answers a four or five-hour connection.
You are fitted with a helmet, rubber boots, rain gear and a warm overall before you go near a horse. Nothing you packed for a transatlantic cabin matters. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate waits at the end.
Riders are put into groups by ability, and that detail runs through more than a thousand reviews. A first-timer and somebody chasing the tolt are never in the same line. Families arrive with a seven-year-old and a grandparent, and both come back happy.
The breed you are sitting on
Icelandic horses came over with Norse settlers in the ninth and tenth centuries and have been a closed population ever since. The Althing banned imports in 982, and a horse that leaves the country cannot come back. What you are riding is about as close to a Viking-age horse as anything alive.
They are five-gaited. As well as walk, trot and canter they have the tolt, a four-beat lateral gait smooth enough to sit at speed without rising. They also have the flying pace, at which some reach 48 km/h. The tolt is what the faster group goes off to try, and it is why experienced riders book this rather than a trail ride.
They stand 132 to 142 cm and weigh 330 to 380 kg, which is pony height and horse build. Nobody calls them ponies in Iceland.
What the fare covers, and what it does not
Included: helmets, rubber boots, rain gear and a warm overall, the guided ride itself, and coffee, tea or hot chocolate afterwards.
Not included: the pickup, unless you book the tour option that has it. Get that right at the booking stage: the stables are in Hafnarfjordur rather than central Reykjavik. The operator also asks you to confirm the pickup point, because it may be a nearby bus stop rather than your door.
Who this suits, and who should book something else
Book this if
Your connection is four to six hours. It also wins if you are travelling alone or as a pair, where per-person pricing beats a whole-car fare, or with children aged seven and up who have just crossed the Atlantic in a seat. It is the cheapest way to spend a layover outdoors in Iceland, and the half-day tour during a layover in Iceland shortlist has the alternatives.
Book something else if
You came for landscape rather than animals. In that case the Reykjanes tour from the airport covers five stops in a similar window. This ride is also closed to pregnant riders, to anyone with back or heart problems, and to anyone under seven or over 110 kg — the Golden Circle day asks nothing physical of anybody.
How it compares with the driving days
Everything else here is a vehicle with stops in it. The Golden Circle is four hours of driving around four long stops; the Reykjanes Peninsula is short hops between five short ones. Both are worth doing and both ask you to sit still for most of the day.
This is the opposite product. Two hours, all of it outdoors, none of it in a seat, and it starts closer to the terminal than either of them. On a connection where somebody in the party has just crossed the Atlantic in economy, that difference is the whole argument.
Where you meet, and how the pickup works
The meeting point is the Ishestar Horse Riding Centre at Sorlaskeid 26, 220 Hafnarfjordur. If you are driving yourself, be there thirty minutes before the ride starts.
If you booked the pickup option, confirm the point with the operator before the day. It may be a nearby bus stop rather than the address you gave. From Keflavik International Airport the stables are about 40 km and 35 minutes, which is closer than central Reykjavik.
Know before you go
- Age seven and up, and anyone under eighteen needs an adult with them. Up to two children may ride with each adult, at full fare.
- The weight limit is 110 kg and every rider must be able to mount from the ground without help.
- Not for pregnant riders, or for anyone with back or heart problems.
- Do not bring used riding gear. It is not allowed near the horses, and the reason is disease control in a closed population.
- Arrive thirty minutes early if you drive yourself, and confirm the pickup point with the operator if you booked one.
- Free cancellation to 24 hours ahead, and this one books out further than you would expect for a two-hour ride.
What travellers said about this one
I ride and my husband and the boys barely have. The guided ride suited all four of us, and I peeled off with the faster group to try the tolt, which is worth doing at least once.
Katie R. · Family · August 2026
We ranged from seven to seventy-three and most of us took the slow group, which worked. The saddles are not comfortable and everybody said so afterwards, whatever their age. The weather was kind and the guides were good company.
Joan S. · Family · August 2026
Pickup to drop-off, everything was handled. The staff talked the nervous riders through it and let the confident ones out through the gates, which is a hard balance to strike with one group.
Beth K. · Group · August 2026
Questions people ask before booking this one
Can I ride if I have never been on a horse?
Does the fare include pickup from Reykjavik?
Will two hours fit in a short connection?
What do I need to wear?
Is there a minimum age or a weight limit?
What is the tolt?
Other ways to spend the connection
- Private Golden Circle Tour from Reykjavik — From $435 per person, 7 hours, starting at Your Reykjavik hotel lobby.
- Private Reykjanes Peninsula Tour | Pick up from Keflavik International Airport — From $1275 per group of up to 7, 4 to 5 hours, starting at Keflavik International Airport arrivals hall.
- All Iceland Layover Tours — every departure with its hours, its price basis and where it starts.