Horse Holiday!
On vacation or on a business trip in Asia? Have a terrific sportive, relaxing, and refreshing break! Choose one of our tourist packages below or follow an intensive course at Havana Horses. Your holiday can last as many days as you want and the program will be tailormade!
Do you wish to get closer to yourself, and to the horse? Do you want to become more balanced, both in body and mind? Be ready for a life-changing experience with an Empowering Natural Horsemanship & Yoga Retreat!
Empowering Natural Horsemanship & Yoga Retreat
An amazing experience: our Empowering Natural Horsemanship & Yoga Retreat programs of 2 to 10 days for horse riders!
The program will be adapted to your wishes, but will certainly contain:
Iyengar yoga, yoga with, yoga for, and yoga on the horse, communication with the horse at liberty, groundwork & leadership skills, straightness training, natural horse riding and mindful trail rides out.
We run these programs for one participant, but you can also come together with your horse loving friend or spouse - it will be a life changeing experience! The itinerary of an Empowering Natural Horsemanship & Yoga Retreat will be adapted to your personal wishes, and can also include temple tours, mindful walks through the village and the ricefields, a visit to a home industries, a cycle tour around the Borobudur, and more!
Yoga next to the horses.
Yoga on horseback.
Straightness Training, or Yoga for the horse.
During your Yoga & Natural Horsemanship Retreat you will stay in Havana Horses Lodge on the premises, which we opened in July 2019.
Havana Horses Lodge
Havana Horses Lodge is built in one of our horse paddocks! This upcycled old Javanese house has a beautiful view; to the rear there are vast coffee plantations, and to the front there is our spacious horse paddock. On the verandahs you can relax and watch birds and squirrels in the trees, and our horses roaming about in the paddock.
There are 2 bedrooms with double beds, which can accommodate 4 people at a time for overnight stays, with bed & breakfast, and also lunch and dinner can be booked. You have access to a private kitchen, and a spacious living & dining room.
We have built a beautiful natural swimming pool to the front of the Lodge, perfect to unwind after a day with the horses. The Havana Horses Lodge is reserved for horse lovers throughout the year. The Lodge can be booked directly through us.
The natural swimming pool.
Tourist Packages
3-Days Package You will stay the (2 or 3) nights in the Havana Horses Lodge, in between the green plantations and overlooking the horses roaming in the paddock.
In the mornings you have lessons in natural horse care, communication with your horse, basic principles of groundwork and liberty training, and riding skills - natural riding with the bareback pad, and depending on your own level of riding, dressage and jumping skills on a loose rein.
After the morning session you can relax on your comfortable terrace in the Lodge and enjoy a Javanese lunch. Before starting the afternoon session you can refresh yourself by taking a dip in the natural swimming pool.
Depending on your level and riding skills, in the afternoons we can deepen our leadership skills with groundwork, longeing, liberty work, and you will learn all about Straightness Training - Yoga for the horse! Or, we go on a trail ride on horseback to explore the environment of our authentic village (kampung) and the beautiful rice fields (sawah) with a view of the mountain Merbabu and the dangerously beautiful volcano Merapi.
Look at this impression on Youtube that a guest made after her visit in September 2014!!
The program will be adapted to your level and is therefore suitable for beginners, intermediate and advanced riders.
This 3-days package includes 3 lesson sessions, 3 trails on horseback, 2 nights and all meals and drinks; including transfer from the airport (Semarang or Solo) or station (train or bus).
Price indication: between € 125,00 and € 150,00 per pax per day. Please note that prices are subject to change. Contact us for more information, exact prices and tell us your individual wishes.
1-Week Package (8 days) You can arrive on any day of the week that is suitable for you. You will stay the 8 nights in our Havana Horses Lodge, in between the green plantations and overlooking the horses roaming in the paddock.
In the mornings you have lessons in natural horse care, communication with the horse, groundwork and liberty training, and you will learn all about Straightness Training - Yoga for the horse! Then we can develop your riding skills (natural riding, dressage and jumping on a loose rein).
After the morning session you can relax on your terrace in the Lodge and enjoy a Javanese lunch with loads of fresh vegetables.
In the afternoons you can indulge in a yoga session especially designed for the horse rider, or you can choose to go on a trail ride on horseback to explore the environment of authentic village (kampung) life and the beautiful rice fields (sawah) with a view of the mountain Merbabu and the dangerously beautiful volcano Merapi. Depending on the time of year we will witness either the harvesting or the planting of the rice, Indonesians’ principal daily food. We will visit one of the home industries in the kampung that harvest and produce madu asli, genuine bees’ honey, or traditional gula Jawa, Javanese palm sugar – so typical for the Javanese spicy-and-sweet kitchen. Of course you will get the opportunity to ask all the questions you want to ask and you can buy the products for the local price.
Halfway the week we take a break and you can plan the day as you wish. We can help you with arranging your day trip. Tips: Discover Central Java from Salatiga.
The program will be adapted to your level and is therefore suitable for beginners, intermediate and advanced riders.
This 1-week package includes 7 morning sessions in Natural Horsemanship, 7 afternoon sessions of horsemanship or Yoga, 7 nights and all meals and drinks at your accommodation, Havana Horses Lodge. Including transfer from the airport (Semarang or Solo) or station (train or bus).
Price indication: between € 125,00 and € 150,00 per pax per day. Please note that prices are subject to change. Contact us for more information, exact prices and tell us your individual wishes.
Customized Horse Holiday (any number of days) We offer completey tailored Horse Holidays. Adapted to your wishes and skills, we will offer you, you and your friend or spouse, or your whole family, an attractive program including lessons in Natural Horsemanship, Straightness Training, trail rides, and yoga sessions for the rider! Besides, on request we arrange day trips for you to the impressive Borubudur temple complex, you can travel by train through the villages and swamps around Ambarawa and visit the Railway Museum, ride a local horse to the ninth temple on top of the Bandungan Mountain at the Gedong Songo ('Nine Temples') complex, and more!
Advanced horse riders can go on exciting trail rides on horse back, while other members of the family can join on the mountain bike! The program will be adapted to your level and is therefore suitable for all.
This Horse Holiday is an all in package including accommodation in our Havana Horses Lodge; breakfast, lunch & diner on location, and transfer from the airport (Semarang, Solo or Yogya) or station (train or bus).
Price indication: between € 125,00 and € 150,00 per pax per day. Please note that prices are subject to change. Contact us for more information, exact prices and your individual wishes.
Discover Central Java from Salatiga
Salatiga is an excellent base for discovering Central Java. Close enough to the cities Semarang, Solo and Yogyakarta for a daytrip. But less hot because of Salatiga’s higher altitude. There is a choice of budget and luxury hotels, as well as food stalls and restaurants.
Average travel times to popular destinations from Salatiga by car:
- Semarang: 50 minutes
- Ambarawa (Railway Museum): 30 minutes
- Bandungan Gedong Songo (9 temples): 1 hour
- Ketep Pass between Merbabu and Merapi: 2 hours
- Solo / Surakarta (batik city): 1 hour
- Yogyakarta (cultural city, Sultan’s Palace), Borobudur, Prambanan: 2 hours
- Dieng, Wonosobo: 4 hours
- Kopeng (Merbabu Mountain): 30 minutes
- Rafting and other outdoor activities in Magelang: 1,5 hours
Day-trips
We can help you with planning your day trips and arrange your ‘travel’, that is, a comfortable car with air conditioning and private driver who will take you swiftly to one of the above destinations. Prices are moderate, for instance, you can go on an amazing Borobudur day trip from Salatiga for about € 30,00 for transport only (2 -4 persons). We highly recommend to do a terrific cycling tour through the villages around the Borobudur. On the way you stop to learn how to make batik or pottery, and to taste the locally produced honey and/or coffee. It is such a nice way to see more of Indonesia!
Please note that prices are subject to change and depend on the season, the exchange and tax rates and inflation in Indonesia. Contact us for more information and exact prices.
Climate
In Indonesia there is a tropical climate, with a dry season of more or less six months and a rainy season of six months. The dry season starts in April and lasts till October. Then rain will start to fall until April, with the wettest month being January.
Dry season (above) and rainy season (below) at Havana Horses.
At Havana Horses, situated in a mountainous area, the fresh air and moderate temperatures are comfortable for horses as well as for people. With an altitude of about 800 meters, our village Tegalwaton is relatively cool. The average rainfall is 118 mm (145 rainy days) with the highest temperature in October (31.8°C) and the lowest in July (23.9°C). Although tropical, in the cool nights you will need a blanket!