Aftentur på Mallorca: Ridning, middag og dans

Wow! Phenomenal day out. Can’t stop thinking about the incredible experience my sister and I had at Rancho Grande. Despite staying 45 minutes away in S’Arenal, a lovely member of staff picked us up at 15:45 and drove us through scenic Mallorca to the ranch. We arrived and were given a delicious cup of sangria by an friendly cowboy and had our ‘Wanted’ photo taken (available for purchase later). As we were some of the first to arrive, we had a chance to explore the ranch and meet all the lovely animals including the vocal parrots, budgies, llamas, emus/ostriches, guinea pigs, peacocks, pigs, geese and of course the horses. After a very reasonably priced Prosecco which we bought at the bar (only €4.5 for a glass) we kitted up and went to meet our horses, Tequila and Cocacola. Like the majority of the group, we opted to take it easy on a gentle hour long walk with experienced cowboys accompanying us. More experienced riders had an opportunity to enjoy a trot/canter/gallop in a separate group. What I loved also was even those who didn’t fancy riding a horse were given an old western style wagon ride instead, which looked really fun. Once the trek finished, we relaxed for a while, explored the ranch again, before a wonderful country singer performed on stage. Later, under her instruction, we had a chance to learn and perform a line dance together. We were also lucky enough to get a photo with the parrots on our shoulders! Then we went for a delicious bbq dinner with bottles of wine, sangria, Fanta and water all available at no extra cost. The authentic cowboy staff gave out lovely bbq chicken skewers, pork chops, salad, bread, garlic aioli and jacket potatoes - so delicious! After dinner, we all settled down for a spectacular show of fire dancing, flamenco dancing and, the stars of the show, horse performances. We were blown away! Then to top it all off, we were driven back to our hotel on the other side of the island. We arrived back quite late, about 00:15, but we were very grateful for the safe, worry-free drive home. What an experience! Thank you so much, Rancho Grande. I promise you won’t regret booking this experience for next summer!

Very nice people. Good horses. Highly recommended. It was a great night. After dinner, there was another show program. It was fun!

A great overall package, here the price-performance ratio is right. The riding was a lot of fun and the horses were all very relaxed. The dinner and show were really great too. The other animals on the ranch, such as the parrots and the funny turkey, also inspired me.

All i can say is this was fantastic from minute one. Staff were very friendly and spoke great English and many other languages. The riding was brilliant , been a long while since I last rode but they made me feel comfortable before we started. Food was lovely and the entertainment was outstanding. Would recommend this to all. Def 5 star . Also made some new friends.Thank you all.

After reading the description of this experience and the reviews, my friend and I decided to book via Viator. However, we both felt very mislead by what we thought this tour would entail and what actually happened. It was by far the worst travel tour experience we both have had and we’ve traveled and done tours in many different countries including Brazil, Mexico, France, England, and Rwanda. First, I followed the instructions in the listing and emailed to confirm transportation would be needed for my friend and I from the pickup location near Palma (it was about a 20 min taxi ride away). I received confirmation back from the tour company, No Frills Excursions, that we would both be picked up. However, when the van arrived, the driver was only told there would be 1 person, so he didn’t have enough room in his van. Luckily, he called a colleague who was nearby and had space in his van, but it meant my friend and I had to be separated. The driver seemed frustrated but apologetic making me think this is probably something that has happened to him before. The drive to the ranch took about an hour and the ranch is located near the north end of the island which we had not had an opportunity to explore. However, if you are prone to car sickness, take a Dramamine. Upon arrival at the ranch, this is where the chaos begins. The experience description on Viator mentions NOTHING about the number of guests that will be a part of the experience. My assumption was that the group would likely consist of maybe 20-30 people max—I was VERY wrong. In our session, we counted based on the tables/plates for dinner and there were approximately 150 people who did the combined ride, dinner, and show. What’s even more crazy is about another 80 people after we finished and did a la cart dinner but stayed for the evening show. So the total number of guests at the ranch was close to 250 people. We were in the first half of the 150 to arrive so we road horses first. The second group road after us so they probably had to wait about 30-45 mins before getting to ride and we had to wait about an hour before we could have dinner while they were riding. Next is when the absolute chaos happened. Imagine approximately 75 people, all speaking 3-4 different languages, mounting horses after getting only about 3 mins of instruction. They did tell the group to divide up based on horseback riding experience, but only 4 people chose to be in the canter/trot group and about 20 people chose to ride in the wagon. This put about 40-ish people in the beginner /walk group. I grew up riding horses so I felt comfortable, but my friend didn’t have any experience riding before so I planned to stay by her and help her if needed. That didn’t happen because they split us up when mounting and there were so many people on horses who didn’t know how to control them I couldn’t even navigate over to her because I was busy moving my horse out of the way when people came charging right at us. A couple of the horses also were frustrated by being piled up on each other and one spooked into another horse and rider but luckily staff was close by and grabbed the reins. They also instructed us to ride in a single file line so I couldn’t ride up ahead to try and get to my friend either. At this point I regretted not going in the more experienced group because at least they got to ride and not have to be in a mass of people and horses which made what is supposed to be a relaxing experience pretty stressful. The dinner and show were fine with the highlight being the horse performances but we didn’t depart the ranch until after 11 and it felt very chaotic to make sure you made it into the right van headed towards the correct destination. There was little to no instruction about the return portion of the trip but at least my friend and I were able to stay together. I think the staff of the ranch managed to handle this mass of people in the best manner that they could but I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t feel overwhelmed with that many people. The staff that accompanied us on the ride did a good job helping and keeping the horses in line but then they also were serving dinner and dealing with guests after the ride. I honestly don’t know how they do this multiple days a week, dealing with this many tourists and maintaining their sanity. I guess it’s a testament to their character and how they are able to bring in income for their family. Ultimately, had we known how large the group of guests would be, we never would have booked this tour and would have looked either for a small group ride or arranged to do another activity since this consumed 10 hours on our vacation. It seems like the tour company just wants to have as many guests as possible with little regard for the experience and safety for both the guests and ranch staff. I would hope they would limit the number of riders at a time or do a better job keeping track of the number of riders in each category going forward. I would not recommend this experience unless you are accustomed to doing large tour group experiences.

So much fun! Very comprehensive experience, amazing value for money and good for all confidence levels. Everyone is super friendly and the bbq dinner was really yummy

Great experience overall. Highly recommend. Excellent food and entertainment as well as a fun horse ride for all levels.

We had such a fun time! As beginners, we weren’t quite sure what to expect, but the whole experience was easygoing and relaxed. The horses were pretty good at following one another in a line, so we could just enjoy the ride and take in the scenery. After the ride, there was some time before dinner to grab a drink from the bar and purchase the souvenir photos if you wanted to. Dinner was great, better than we expected, considering there were so many people to feed. It was tasty and there was plenty of food and also wine on the tables. The evening show was a nice surprise. We kicked things off with a bit of line dancing, followed by a show featuring flamenco, horse dancing and fire dancing. A brilliant way to spend an evening and we’d happily do it again!

Such a great experience. Our driver picked us up near Palma and took us all the way to the North Side of the Island. If you are a new rider they take you on a leisurely ride through the nearby hills. If you are more advanced then it’s a faster ride by the sea. The ranch is gorgeous. So many animals walking around. The horses and guides are wonderful. The dinner after wards was perfection! We met really great people during dinner. It was a wonderful experience. The line dancing was fun. Then the show afterwards was AMAZING. Can not recommend this trip enough! The ranch is great for people all ages. They have covered wagon rides for people who don’t ride! Will be recommending it to all my friends.

Absolute incredible Ranch!! Staff were absolutely amazing hard working and incredibly knowledgable about the horses and the area and the history of the ranch. Made everyone feel at ease when riding making sure everyone was ok and comfortable and they were great with the children riding filling them with confidence. Upon return we were met with sangria and a lovely singer whilst we waited for dinner, the line dancing was absolutely fantastic really added to the atmosphere and the show was insane. Would 100% recommend this excursion.