Green Island Trail
21 May 2024
The Riding
The Accommodation
Do you have any comments about the accommodation and food?
We loved the old house and Claud kindly showed us the private part too.Housekeepers made big effort to clean every day.The food is delicious, you will not go hungry. It does follow a pattern so starter always soup and pudding tart/cake but did not matter as such good "home " cooking.
One night we went to the beach restaurant so Christina had a night off and that was fun. Live music and taxi service.
The morning we had in Ponta Delgada we were given lunch £ (!) We actually just had a sandwich in a little cafe and used the rest of the £ to visit the botanical gardens there which have amazing trees.
Before Your Holiday
Did you have all of the information you needed to:
How could we improve the quality of pre-holiday information that we send?
All good but for this holiday waterproofs need to be of high standard ! The usual kagool will be soaked through in minutes and we were pretty cold at the end of a wet morning.So could perhaps flag this up. Also riding through jungle lots of undergrowth so chaps essential to protect legs but I think you stress this.
How could we improve the way we handled your booking and payment?
Small point and I know it is in the small print but felt a bit hard done by having to pay extra to move holiday by one day as Ryanair changed flight days (flights very good and both on time)
Azores are tricky as most flights via Lisbon early in the year so as this is more expensive/time consuming we were waiting for direct flights to be released and made this clear when booking holiday. Was told irrelevant as were some flights available then (but not direct) ! More flexible policy for Azores ? Quinta da Terca takes people every day of the week.
(Olwen from In The Saddle - I am sorry to read that you are still a bit annoyed about having to pay the admin fee. We only charged £50 to amend your booking. Unfortunately changing your booking here and at the Azores, by even just one day, is just as much work for everyone as a change of a month.
We do always try to be as accommodating as possible particularly where airlines change their flight schedules and we have noted your concern that we could have been better in your situation.
Do you have any other feedback for us?
Special place. Encourage people to go. Variety and views unique.
Jane who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. So glad we went on this holiday the riding is BRILLIANT | Excellent riding with a huge variety of landscapes. We rode by lakes, by the coast, through jungle, along lanes and over fields. Some steep hills but horses very sure footed.A certain amount of road work to get to places but horses 100% in traffic.Big effort to box horses so could go to different areas.Guides made sure everyone was happy with the pace and would split up if some less confident. Gave us lots of information on local flora and fauna and made it all great fun.
Brilliant way to combine riding, seeing the Island and some cultural trips.The full day lakes ride will never be forgotten, it was stunning.We were lucky to have clear views and sunshine.Note when it does rain you will get seriously wet but we only had 1 wet day out of 6.
Worth a walk to local beach to swim
(Olwen from In The Saddle - We are so glad you enjoyed this wonderful riding holiday in the Azores).