The dreamy island of Bali is probably better known for surfing and stylish smoothie bowls than horse riding… but that didn’t stop me from trying! Muara Adventure is a comfortable 15 minutes Gojek ride from my Airbnb, so it’s the first place I visited.
The Location
Muara Adventure is a few kilometers north of the tourist town of Sanur. The stables are 300m from a stunning black volcanic sand beach surrounded by rice fields. Even though it’s a part of Denpasar, the busy administrative capital of Bali, it’s a very quiet area.
How to get there
It’s very easy to get to Muara Adventure! I personally use Gojek (Indonesia’s version of Uber) and it cost about 20,000 IDR to reach the stables from Sanur ($1.5). You can rent a scooter pretty easily in Bali, so if you’re riding – there’s plenty of parking space available.
Public transport isn’t the strong suit of Bali, but in turn Gojek is widely available so you won’t have any issues coming or going!
Facilities
The facilities include covered stables, open-air arena, grazing paddock and a very aesthetically pleasing bamboo cafe & restaurant.
Muara Adventure is a family run business started by Ibu Ketut on August 3rd, 2020 and they offer horseriding activities, ATV rides and cabrio VW tours.
The young team took very good care of me: they have strong coffee to get your energy up before your ride and homey nasi goreng (fried rice with vegetables and meat) for after.
This isn’t a tourist trap! So expect honest prices and big smiles. A cup of coffee is less than 1$ and a plate of nasi goreng between 2-4$.
A fun highlight of Muara is a bamboo structure which is perfect to take photos… if I were any good at that. But here’s what it looks like:
Horses
Balinese horses aren’t as big or strong as regular thoroughbreads, so the horses at Muara are on the small side compared to what I was used to seeing in Europe.
They have 8 horses in total and it looks like all of them are ponies. They’re all very well cared for by the team and treated like family. Well fed, groomed, showered, hugged and kissed!
I rode a grey horse called Satu. He’s a 7-year old “bomb-proof” gelding. I saw him with kids and influencers in flip-flops, and he is nothing but calm and chill!
He trusts the instructor completely, and is very safe for beginner riders while being fun for “rusty intermediates” like me!
Here’s me, happily trotting back to the stables from the beach.
Experience
Now for the fun part! I came to Muara Adventure twice so far, for 1h rides each time.
Regular price: 600.000 IDR ($40 USD)
Price I paid: 540.000 IDR ($35 USD)
I was a bit hesitant at first. To be honest, Indonesia doesn’t have great healthcare so the risks of falling off a horse and hitting your head on a stone are even scarier!
Ibu Ketut and her family took amazing care of me instead. They lent me boots and a helmet, and made sure I was as skilled as I said I was by making me go a few rounds in the closed arena before heading out for my beach ride.
Satu was a bit sleepy and my leg and voice commands did very little to wake him up in the arena!
We then headed out to the beach which is connected to Muara Adventure by a short gang (alley not accessible by cars). The instructor had my horse on a lead while he was on his own pony for extra caution.
And well… as soon as Satu smelled the fresh ocean air, everything changed for the better! It was amazing to spend an hour trotting and galloping up and down the black sand beach. Boy, those small horses can RUN!!
The horses were very sure footed and did not get spooked at all – not even by noisy construction machines, fishermen, surfers and half naked meditating men.
When I went back the second time, I opted for a rice field + beach walk because I wanted to see more of the surrounding scenery. It was SO worth it! Once again: horses were great even when they were surrounded by heavy traffic or barking dogs.
Both were super fun, completely safe rides. Even though my bahasa indonesia is not nearly enough to communicate fluently with the instructor – we made do with hand gestures and lots of smiles.
My posture can improve, but the view and experience doesn’t get better than this!
All my photos & videos were taken by a member of the team – for 200.000 IDR they edited and sent me a huge Google Drive folder of photos and videos. Score!
What else to do in the area
The easiest thing to do is to get an iced coffee and walk over to the beach for a swim! Watch out though, there’s no shade or facilities other than the La Palma beach bar which has beanbags and a dip pool.
If you, like me, travel with a significant other that is not into horses, here are a few ideas:
- Brunch in Sanur (Akaya, Warung Kecil or Barbarossa are some of my favourite places)
- Kebon Vintage Cars
- La Palma beach bar (walking distance from Muara)
- Nest Spa for a relaxing balinese massage
Muara Kopi is actually very good for working for a few hours – plenty of plugs and fast wifi available.
Muara Adventure Contact info
Flying to Bali? My favourite airline is AirAsia. Affordable flights, tasty in-flight meals, and great service – not to mention lots of routes across Asia.