Ultimate Husky Dog Sledding Experience In Latvia - Private Tour From Riga

Absolutely terrible experience. They cancelled the trip 30 minutes prior to leaving without any notice

We had a great wintery afternoon with the dogs & our husky ride, in a beautiful snowy forest! Our guide Paul was very friendly and shared local knowledge about Riga. He also gave us some great recommendations for places to visit for the rest of our stay! A great afternoon!

I booked a tour (husky sledding) for my partners birthday over a month ago. The booking was confirmed, they took the money. Less than 2 days before the tour they told us they were overbooked and didn’t have space for us. They finally cancelled and refunded less than 24 hours before we were due to go. This is a popular tour and there were no spots with other tour operators. My partners birthday surprise didn’t happen. If I had cancelled less than 24 hours before they would have kept my money, we didn’t even get an apology.

We opted for the private tour with pick up at our hotel, Paul our driver & guide arrived on time, but we had been advised the day before that another couple would be on the trip with us as it was an extremely busy day for this excursion. The journey to the dogsledding was about 45 minutes, Paul was very cheerful & gave us lots of information on the way. When we arrived….oh wow what an experience, you could pet the dogs, they were so friendly & loved having fusses & belly rubs, I was in heaven spending time with them! Sorry, the staff were great too! Got carried away with the dogs lol. When it was our turn, we had clear instructions on what to do, I sat on the sledge, hubby had to be the musher both ways, as I had a bad leg unfortunately, Paul took photos before we set off, the dogs get so excited when they are going for their run barking & howling, then we were off, I think it was the owners who were on a quad bike came along as well & controlled the dogs at the roundabout & off we went again, it was such great fun I didn’t want it to stop! There was mint tea available which was very welcome, also you could have a taste of Latvia’s local drink Black Balsom, we had the Blackberry one, very tasty indeed, warmed our insides a treat lol. You could also buy mugs & fridge magnets with the dogs photos on them and a selection of gloves, mittens, socks, scarves ect made from the dogs undercoats, hubby bought a pair of mittens, quite expensive @ 35 euros but they kept his hands soooo warm! Paul then took us for a walk through the snow covered forest, it was so beautiful! We walked up a lot of snow covered steps up to the Watch Tower, with another heck of lot of steps to the top, these were gritted so didn’t have to worry about slipping, I did come down backwards though to be safe! The view from the top was breathtaking & worth the climb! Paul was very patient as I couldn’t climb up that quickly, so thank you so much for your help! When it was time to go, we could get dropped off at the hotel or in the town, which was great!

Omg this was literally soooooo good! Please if you are hovering over the pay button because it’s expensive… it is worth it! What an absolute dream of a day. We had perfect snowy weather (although if there is no snow, they have sleds with wheels!) and sunshine, the dogs are so excited to see you and run and you actually drive the sled yourself! I assumed I’d just sit there and be driven but it was so cool doing it yourself. After we went for a walk to the watchtower where Paul our guide talked about Riga and the forest. It was just such a magical day! Go for it!

It was amazing would recommend this to anyone going to Riga it is a must. They look after the dogs well.

You travel about 45 mins from Riga city centre to a forest where you will be met on arrival by the howling of the huskies as they are keen to get sledging The huskies are very friendly to humans but not to other dogs being walked nearby !! You get a chance to both sit in the sledge being pulled by the huskies and also standing on the runners at the back The huskies basically know what they are doing - so you don’t have to worry about steering along the track - you can swap over between driver and rider at half way point Total ride is about 6-7 mins long Was a very different and great experience

Once in a life time experience. My young adult children loved every second. The guide was so nice and professional. Highly recommended.

An amazing experience, pick up from hotel and drop off. Time spent with the huskies. They are so affectionate. Sledding was brilliant. Well organised and the team are all very friendly and welcoming.

If you are a dog person, which i very much am, this is a must do! What a great activity! Picked up by Gints who was very friendly anf he informed us about different parts of the city and things we passed on the way. We were also talking about the working dogs and his own digs on the way and he is very much a dog lover, and we got to meet his own king charles spaniel 😁 We were taken to the forest where the dogs were all ready and waiting and we were talked through some of the different dogs stories. All but one of the dogs was super friendly (some of them are rescues, so please dont judge that one, theyre allowed to be wary of strangers), and all of the others were very much willing to play and have cuddles and some are absolute posers for photos! Theyre working dogs and you can tell they are looked after very well, and they get so excited when a team is being put tigether and they are all howling to be picked. They clearly love what they do 🥰 They have little magnets and keyring and things of each of the dogs and we have a holiday memory box so we got a magnet of "Honda" as they were on of our favourites (most of the dogs have their name on their harness). Also absolutely loved one of the endurance race dogs who was just full of personality, tried not to pick favourites, but he was absolute mischief and I found him hilarious 😁 "Gerda" and "Blackey" were amazing too 😍 they all were, but im digressing from the activity. We took a little walk to the lookout tower whilst other people were taking their turn on the cart/sled and as someone scared if heights i challenged myself to go up it! I got 3 sets of steps up and my legs went like Bambi so I failed, but I gave it a go 😅 see if you can go to the top! Hot drinks and gingerbread cookies are provided to keep warm and fed whilst we take our turn and they fully explain how to steer and speak to the dogs during. They also explain each dog's job and how they pick teams that can work together as not every dog can work with every dog and different dogs work better with others ("Iron" was an absolute little powerhouse, love him ❤️). I was a bit nervous about getting something wrong tbh (not that I would show it), but the staff are all really friendly and informative and I had nothing to worry about at all it was quite easy and it was just fun 😁. You have the opportunity to switch steering at the other end of the trail if you want, but my Mrs didn't want to drive so I did it the whole way. Gints also took videos of each of us arriving back to the start/finish line, which he kindly sent us! We finished off with a black balsam and we were taken back to our hotels. We got an unbelievable amount of photos, we had an amazing morning, and I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves dogs!

What an amazing experience! Our expert guide Tomass made it such an enjoyable trip, with an informative drive to the forest, plenty of time to get to know the dogs and give them cuddles, with local drinks to try, and of course the main event was a very exciting ride with the huskies!! Afterwards we even went for a walk to a viewpoint to see the sights from very high up- all wonderful extras that we didn’t expect- it really was above and beyond!! The trip was so easy, with pickup right from our hotel, guidance with information and advice about places to visit and eat nearby, and Tomass made sure to take lots of photos and videos of us on our adventure to remember it all! Thank you!!

We were collected by Gints from our accommodation in Riga. The journey time was a leisurely 40 minutes into the countryside, where we met up with the dogs. They were really friendly, well looked after, ready and eager to be harnessed up to the sleds. Being Spring, the snow had gone, so the sleds had wheels on, like an elongated trike! We took turns in being the Musher and the passenger. Great fun and afterwards had a walk out to a fire watch tower. Fantastic views from the top. The trip was well organised, fun and we got to see the beautiful forests.

Took part in this activity for my birthday, which made it extra special. Tomass picked us up on time and gave us lots of history on Latvia, which was fab. The huskies are so well looked after, and were excited to see you and have cuddles. There was no rush and could take lots of pictures too. The recordings sent to us were so nice and was a memorable experience. Highly recommend this trip to fellow dog lovers ❤️.

Bit of a joke really. Told you have to cancel 24 hours in advance, yet they cancel on you 12 hours before you’re set to go. Not only that, we were offered an alternative and then 1 minute later the trip was cancelled. Slightly bemused by the whole situation and frustrating to not be made a bit more aware of the situation. Very frustrating as we were looking forward to this experience.

Paul, our guide, picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the Riga countryside. He was super friendly throughout both the ride and our stay while waiting for our turn to be on the sled. He gave us tips on what to do and where to eat in Riga and allowed us to get to know and pet the dogs both before and after our ride. All the dogs were beautiful and super friendly, excited to be the next ones to run and have fun. We got to drive the sled after a quick explanation and change seats halfway through. The dogs looked like they were having the time of their lives! To sum it up, this is a must-do experience while in Riga during the winter - 100% recommended. Paul was the cherry on top after a beautiful experience!

Paul was our driver and guide, and he was absolutely fantastic. Really knowledgeable and friendly. We had such a fantastic time. I would highly recommend this husky sledge trip. Seems like we had all huskies to ourselves. Sledging was fantastic fun too I think Paul really made our trip. A great tour company would use again.

Fantastic experience, starting with our guide Paul. Really knowledgeable about local history. Dog sled was amazing, the animals are very well cared for and couldn't wait to get going.

The most amazing bucket list experience! The views from the forest were beautiful, especially at the top of the viewing tower and all of the huskies were really friendly. Our private tour guide, Paul, was brilliant! He answered all of our questions, gave us a history of Riga, and helped take lots of photos. Overall, a 10/10 experience, would definitely recommend this if you’re visiting Riga.

We had an amazing time, Tom the tour guide was fantastic he took us to the tower to see the view of the park which was an amazing view while waiting to go on the husky ride. The husky ride was so good defo the highlight of the trip! We were able to cuddle and stroke the dogs they were so friendly overall excellent experience well worth the money!! Thank you

We had a fabulous snow filled ride! Paul picked us up and drove to the ride. He was a fabulous guide, telling us Latvia history. Spending time petting the sled dogs was wonderful and we both truly enjoyed this!

This is a great experience, riding through the forest of snow being pulled by 6 dogs who look like they’re having a blast. Our guide Paul picked us up from the hotel and took us to the forest area where you ride on the sleigh as a passenger for about 15 mins then swapped over to drive the sleigh on return. Then Paul took us to the top a wooden tower to overlook the forest canopy for cool photos. Fully recommend this experience, perfect day out.

Absolutely amazing experience Toms was a brilliant guide, very helpful and knowledgeable about the dogs and the area. Had lots of fun giving the huskies cuddles, would highly recommend this trip to anyone

Glad we chose the Ultimate Husky Dog Sledding, we were picked up at the hotel, had the guides full attention and had one of the best experiences we have had for a long time. If you like dogs, or even if you don't, you couldn't fail to love these dogs. We were very fortunate that we had snow, lots of it which for us added to the experience. After the sledding a walk through the forest and up the viewing platform, an experience in itself! The whole experience was 5 star, the dogs were gorgeous and if you get Paul as your guide you really have won the jackpot. He was brilliant, so informative, friendly and easy to talk to. A brilliant excursion worth every penny.

Excellent excursion and a highlight of our trip. Guide was friendly and cahhty and picked us up on time at our hotel. Experience was quite brief but this was good for us as we still had the whole afternoon to explore in Riga. Good way of seeing a little bit of countryside outside of the city

We had so much fun with the sledding, all the husky dogs are super friendly so you can play and cuddle with them while you wait, the owner was super nice and easy to speak to, and our transfer man was also very friendly. Overall great experience. Would 100% recommend to go with these people

A brilliant experience from start to finish! We were collected and dropped off from/to the hotel. Our guide Gints was fabulous! He told us so much about the huskies as well as Latvia in general. A lovely man!

Good orginised tour, frendly guide. Good knowlegend, if you visit riga, deffently book this tour....

I do not recommend booking with this company. I booked this experience on 20/01/23 and paid in full (£178 for two people). I also received a confirmation and reminder of this booking in the run up. We had only gone for a short city break so I’d planned the time slot and date to accommodate our plans. On Monday 6/2 we had booked to get picked up at 11am from our hotel. At 11:30am no one had shown up, so I called the company who were carrying out the tour. I called from no caller ID (which was an accident as I often have it off for my job) and explained that we were still waiting to be picked up. The male on the other end of the phone asked for no details, but said he would call me back. He called me back within two minutes and said they’d been a mix up and they do not take bookings for Mondays. I explained that I booked and paid for it over 3 weeks ago. To which he said was a mistake. I do not believe this was an honest mistake, as the fact he could retrieve my phone number and booking details so quickly shows they had my booking on the system. They’d made no attempt to contact me within the 3 weeks to explain that my booking could not be fulfilled. The man then said we could go the next day at 9:20am, from the old town for €75 each if we paid in cash. He added that if we wanted hotel pick up, this would be an extra €10 pp. Meaning for our same experience it would be €85 each with the “discount”, he even stated it would be with another couple who were also booked on. I tried to explain that I do not see how €15 discount per person is enough to make up for their mistake. We were flying home that day on the late flight, so it would’ve left us hoteless and leave us nowhere to warm up and dry off afterwards. Ultimately even with the discount we were still looking at paying £150, to an experience that no longer suited us. it is not a cheap experience so we felt insulted by how this was dealt with. After some messaging he came back and said it would be €75 with the hotel pick up each. I had already requested my refund at this point through Vivator. Which like all refunds takes 3-5 days. Meaning we were £178 out of pocket for our last day there and did not therefore have the funds to pay for a new experience. I looked at other companies that offered the exact same experiences, one company was offering it for €75 including hotel pick up, which was their companies ‘discounted rate’. Ultimately we feel completely let down by this company and do not believe they understood their error. I could understand if I’d only booked it a few days prior, but the fact it had been booked for three weeks and not a single person contacted me within this time period to make me aware of the fact the experience could not go ahead is shocking. This was an expensive experience that we were really looking forward to and was a once in a life time opportunity. I do not recommend booking through this company. The only positive of the whole thing was how quickly the refund was authorised.

We were initially booked on a different tour but, due to lack of snow we were contacted in plenty of time and were offered an alternative tour. Paul was our guide and he collected us from our hotel. Car was very comfortable and Paul gave us lots of facts and historical information on the 1.5 hour drive to the sledding location. Sledding guides Nikolai and Elsa were great hosts and care greatly for their dogs. We had plenty of time to meet all the dogs and to learn how to sled. Time on sled was 15-20 minutes with the chance to both drive and sit. It was really fun and there were beautiful views as we travelled down the track. We returned to mulled wine and ginger biscuits and the chance to buy souvenirs of our favourite dogs. Would highly recommend. The service was brilliant and you could tell that all involved wanted to make this a great experience.

Absolutely worth to try! My wife and I joined the husky, dog sledging event. Paul picked us from hotel very friendly, informative and punctual. We were welcomed by Gints the host real professional and he gave us instructions also answered some of questions we had. Before and after experience we had chance to take some photos and spend time with huskies. All in all very nice experience. Thanks all!

We were picked up by Gints, who was very punctual, at our hotel. It took us 30-40 mins to get to the Ogre Forest and we were welcomed by the dogs. We spent 15-20 mins getting to know the dogs which were all very lovely and well-tempered. After meeting the dogs we got some instructions on how to steer the sledge. The ride was amazing. We then went for a picturesque walk and climbed to the top of viewing tower. Gints was very nice and chatty. Highly recommended!

This is a real bucketlist experience! Our wonderful guide (I forgot her name :( ) picked us up from our hotel in Riga and drove us to the national park of Latvia. On the way their she gave us information about the dogs, the origins and history behind the pack. Once we arrived in the absolutely beautiful surroundings (we were lucky there was still some snow!) we could already see about 20 (!) dogs waiting for us. The dogs were very enthousiastic and were really howling to get to tow the sled. Only 6 dogs get selected each time. Great was our surprise we were to drive to sled ourselves, wich was actually very thrilling and easy! Halfway you get the chance to change seats with your better half. One of the guides on snowmobile always accompanies you so nothing can go wrong. Very very nice experience! After the tour we got the chance to cuddle with the dogs for as long as we wanted. Once we were ready, our guide took us for walk in the red pin forest and to a vantage point looking over the surroundings. All in all would really recommend this tour if you are ever in Riga during the winter. Guides were very friendly and gave lots of information!

We had a great time, Paul was fantastic. It was myself, my wife, 4 year old and 7 month old, we had loads of time to cuddle with the huskies. As my 7 month wasn't going on the sled they let my 4 year old go on twice at no extra charge which she loved, the only problem now is she keeps asking if we can get a husky!

Absolutely amazing. This unique experience exceeded all our expectations. The guide (Gints ) was extremely friendly, explained all very well, and was very punctual. We had time to interact with all the dogs before the ride (all very excited by quite friendly), which we really enjoyed. The ride itself was incredible - just us and the dogs in the wilderness. This is one to repeat if ever I come to Riga again. Thank you Gints and Allure Tours

Great people, great experience! The dogs are happy to be cuddled and are great and sweet. They are great pulling friends.

Amazing experience The team is incredible and this was an amazing moment I highly recommend, that’s a once in a lifetime experience

Fantastic experience even without the snow the huskies were a delight! Gints made us feel at ease and answered all our questions on the gorgeous Latvia and provided useful recommendations.

Allure Tours Latvia was amazing from the very beginning even when we were just sending emails before we arrived. We had a family outing. Gints our guide was so informative, puntual and made us feel we were in very capable hands. we had two experiences that day:Husky sledging and the soft bob, we highly recommend combining both together. Prices were correct and service superb. At the end Gints took a detour to drop us at a Latvian restaurant, brilliant authentic food! And drinks! Thank you Gints! You Made our trip memorable. The Bales x

Amazing. The dogs are so friendly and happy, the experience was loads of fun even though there was no snow unfortunately. Went for a forest walk also, where we were taken up a watchtower with a breathtaking view.l Would definitely recommend - it is an experience not to be missed!

In the expectation that there would be snow in February in Riga, we booked a husky ride experience because, well why not and when were we ever going to get the opportunity again? No snow (blame global warming) but it doesn’t matter - they have wheeled sleds as well! And it was just really good fun. Not the cheapest of activities, but very well run - our fluent English speaking guide picked us up from our hotel bang on time, gave us some really interesting background information on Latvia and Riga in the 30 minute drive to the forest, and was very polite and helpful. On arrival we were able to meet the dogs, cuddle them (which is unusual) and learnt that they were all rescue dogs who were being given a new lease of life. These dogs live to run, and boy can they run!! Five of them pulled my wife and I (neither of us exactly waifs) at up to 30kph and it was just really good fun; I got to drive the sled (well, hang on mostly because the dogs go where they want to!) - My wife preferring to take the passenger seat. All too soon it was over, but our guide then took us for a short walk through the forest and up to the viewing platform from where you can see literally as far as the eye can see over these vast forests. Such a beautiful setting. Delivered back to our hotel on time and after a further chat about the Russian occupation and life under the soviets. We thoroughly recommend this activity - professionally run and really good fun. It wasn’t cheap, but well worth every penny.

We very much enjoyed our half day Husky sledding experience with Gints. He was on time and stayed with us the for whole experience, providing running commentary along route to the forest about Riga and Latvia history. We didn’t know what to expect as we have never done sledding before. The dogs were friendly and well looked after. As soon as we arrived, they were eager to get going. We took many photos with them, they were tame and never threatening to bite. We was unfortunate that there wasn’t snow at the time which would have be even more picturesque but we still enjoyed it. After sledding, we headed into the forest to climb a tower, some great views from the top. Once we finished in the forest, Gints took us to the nearby town of Ogre for lunch in a place called Senjorita Kukū, the lunch here was superb, a nice finish to the day. Overall, we enjoyed our experience with the dogs and Gints, I highly recommend giving it a try. Thanks very much.

I have booked a husky ride with the tour and they have made the experience a wonderful one even though Latvia had no snow on my visit. The tour leader Gints encouraged us that the experience would still be enjoyable even though there was no snow at all. Also a good English speaking tour leader ( Gints)

Unfortunately our excursion was cancelled at short notice, no one replied to our mail or Whats app

Great organization, good communication, super nice people, lots of information, very dear animals - a wonderful experience

Very special, fantastic experience. Once in a lifetime and that on your birthday. Highly recommended, even if it's not your birthday

The kid was very good, although it was so cold that I recommend wearing lots of socks because your feet will freeze.

Fue un regalo para nuestra sobrina que cumplía años durante el viaje. Y desde luego fue un dia inolvidable. Pudimos estar con los perros después nos enseñaron a llevar el trineo. El paseo fantástico. Nos dijeron si queríamos ir hasta una torre desde la cual se ve todo el bosque. La vista preciosa . El guia Paul fue formidable nos explico todo de su país y de la excursión y respondió a cualquier duda nuestra.La excursión nos hizo sentir como niños y tenemos un maravilloso recuerdo se lo recomendariamos a todo el mundo.