There aren’t a lot of options for horse riding in or near Cairns or Port Douglas, but there are a couple of places I can tell you about. Horse or pony riding is available as day tours, for 1 hour, 1.5 hours, for multiple-day horse-riding experiences and as courses, classes and lessons. Possibly your best option would be to head into the Daintree, beach and rainforest horse riding is available from Cape Tribulation.
Horse Riding From Cairns
You can take a day trip from Cairns to a riding stables near Kuranda. This is an 8 hour full-day trip and it gives you 1 hour of riding, plus 3 hours to explore Kuranda. There are various wildlife parks, market stalls, and Barron River Falls to explore in Kuranda. You can find full details of the activity here.
This tourincludes horseback riding on rainforest trails, again, from Cairns, visiting Kuranda.
You may also combine horse riding with quad biking. This tour is suitable for kids with child-sized equipment. A pick up service from Cairns is optional. Find full details here.
For beach horse riding you can go to Cape Tribulation, those details are in the Cape Trib section, below.
Horse Riding on The Tablelands
Julatten is about a 40 minute drive from Port Douglas, 30 from Mossman, and almost 2 hours from Cairns. There is a horse riding facility in Julatten, Black Mountain Hideaway. The Black Mountain Hideaway website is here, it’s very slow to load but it usually works eventually.
Black Mountain Hideaway offers 2-hour trails, 4-hour trails and riding lessons, for beginners or experienced riders. You can also take a Jillaroo Course here.
Horse Riding from Port Douglas
There used to be a riding stables at Wonga Beach, near Port Douglas. This place has now closed down. From Port Douglas you’d probably want to look into Black Mountain Hideaway riding stables in Julatten or rides at Cape Tribulation. The link is above for Julatten. Cairns is about 1 hour’s drive from Port Douglas if you’d like to book one of the Cairns trips.
There are no horse riding options on Four Mile Beach that we know of currently. You can ride on the beach at Cape Tribulation. You’ll need to cross the Daintree Ferry to get up there, factor in the cost of that, it’s about $49 return for a car currently. You can find more information on the ferry here. The drive from Port Douglas will be two to three hours.
It might be better to stay overnight in or near Cape Tribulation and have a horse-riding mini-break. We recommend Cape Trib Beach House.
Horse Riding from Cape Tribulation
Cape Trib Horse Rides can offer you horse riding in the Daintree Rainforest and on the beach. Your guide will determine if it’s safe to take the horses into the water on the day. Cape Tribulation has crocodiles and stingers in season and you shouldn’t swim up there. This tour is a mid-morning horse ride. Alternatively, take an afternoon horse ride. Both treks are 1.5 hours long.
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