Some cities tolerate horses. London celebrates them. From the Royal Guards exercising on Rotten Row at dawn to the thunder of hooves at Ascot, the horse has never really left this city — or the countryside that surrounds it. For Equestrian Destinations, a trip to the greater London area meant one thing: three rides, three extraordinary hotels, and three very different ways to experience one of the world’s great equestrian regions from the saddle.
The Royal Ride — Fairmont Windsor Park & Wayside Stables, Windsor
Forty-five minutes from London and a thousand years of history in every direction. Windsor Great Park is one of the most extraordinary places in England to ride a horse, and our guide Ed — a Wayside veteran who has spent over thirty years navigating its paths — knew every inch of it.
It was Ed who told us, quietly and without ceremony, that the late Queen Elizabeth II had taken her last ride here in Windsor Great Park, just days before heading to Balmoral, where she ultimately passed. To ride until the very end. It is a dream most of us quietly hold. Hearing it said aloud, on horseback in this park, made it land differently.
We rode on. Past a massive herd of deer spread across the meadow, their antlers extraordinary against the autumn sky. Then up a gentle hill, and there it was: the Long Walk, stretching two and a half miles toward Windsor Castle. It is a view familiar from photographs — and breathtaking in person. But on horseback something shifts entirely. You are no longer looking at the scene. You are inside it. The pedestrians below stopped to photograph us as we passed. It is easy to forget, as an equestrian, how extraordinary this is — until strangers stop to remind you.
The Fairmont Windsor Park makes the ideal base: a property at the edge of the park, where the hotel’s equestrian package in partnership with Wayside Stables pairs seamlessly with the two-hour guided hack. After the ride, afternoon tea at the Fairmont is exactly the right next move. For those wanting more, Windsor Castle’s self-guided audio tour could fill an entire afternoon — and planning around Royal Ascot, the Royal Windsor Horse Show, or a polo afternoon at the Guards Polo Club makes for a trip that is thoroughly, unapologetically equestrian from start to finish.
The Champagne Ride — Coworth Park, A Dorchester Collection Hotel, Ascot
Also forty-five minutes from London, but an entirely different world. Coworth Park sits on 240 acres of Berkshire countryside and is the only hotel in the UK with its own polo fields. Its equestrian credentials are serious. Its hospitality is impeccable. And it announces itself from the moment you arrive.
On the coffee table of my Stable Suite — originally working stables, now transformed into something quietly extraordinary — sat a small white box with gold lettering: Coworth Park, Ascot. Inside, a gold-dipped chocolate horse. I told myself I would simply admire it. I had eaten half of it before I reached the bath. That is Coworth Park in miniature: effortless, considered, and very difficult to resist.
The Champagne Celebration Ride is much the same. A one-hour guided ride through the estate’s rolling grounds, past polo fields that have hosted princes, through wildflower meadows and quiet Berkshire countryside — finishing with a glass of Veuve Clicquot raised on horseback outside The Barn. The property notes that smiles are guaranteed. They are not wrong. Later that evening, settling into the Manor House bar with a cocktail called Sport of Kings — named after the property’s polo heritage — it was clear that everything here points in the same direction.
Beyond the horses, Coworth Park keeps going: archery, falconry, clay shooting, an award-winning spa, and afternoon tea that is non-negotiable. A night here has a way of turning into two. Plan accordingly.
The City Ride — Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park & Hyde Park Stables, London
Most great cities have lost their horses entirely. London never did. Hyde Park Stables has been offering rides through Hyde Park for generations, making it one of the last working mews with horses in central London — and one of the most singular riding experiences anywhere in the world.
What strikes you first, arriving at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, is the ceiling of your suite. The pattern had me staring for longer than I’d like to admit before I understood it: a precise rendering of Hyde Park’s paths, mapped directly above the bed. Intentional, it turns out, down to the last detail. That kind of thinking runs through everything at this hotel — and through the Hyde Park Riders package it has built with Hyde Park Stables.
A privately guided hack through the park and down Rotten Row. A full English breakfast with park views. A £100 spa credit. A bespoke hand-drawn map of your personal ride route to take home, alongside a pair of Holland Cooper riding gloves. For younger riders, a Le Mieux plush horse. And for those who have ridden this park before — as my family has, across three generations stretching back to 1967 — the particular comfort of a tradition that has found its perfect home.
To canter down Rotten Row is to carry history with you. The Mandarin Oriental, it turns out, understands that completely.
Finish the day with afternoon tea at The Rosebery, a visit to Harrods across the street, or simply linger on the balcony and watch the park below. It is, in every sense, London at its very best.
A Note on Booking
All three rides can be booked directly with the stables for those with limited time — Wayside Stables in Windsor (two-hour hack from £145 per person), the Coworth Park Equestrian Centre in Ascot (Champagne Celebration Ride £155), and Hyde Park Stables in London each welcome visitors independently of the hotel packages. The packages, however, are worth every bit of the experience they add.
Full in-depth articles on each destination — with practical tips, what to expect, and everything you need to plan your own visit — are available at equestriandestinations.com.
In collaboration with the Fairmont Windsor Park, Coworth Park Dorchester Collection, and the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London.