Caballerizas Reales — Attraction in Córdoba

I have struggled to grade this place. I would have given the stunning horses, amazing horse riding, beautiful venue, general organisation and professionalism of staff an easy 5 stars. Well worth a visit even if you are not a horse person. But the experience was almost completely spoiled by the lack of consideration by the crowd and control shown by the organisers of the audience behaviour. A large business group turned up 5 minutes late, walked casually in front of the audience at the start of the performance, talked all the way through the performance, did e mails on their mobile phones and wandered off to get drinks from the on site bar right across the front of the audience continuously during the performance. One of the group, who clearly fancied himself as a bit of a big noise stamped his feet loudly all the way through the performance like a flamenco dancer as well as talking over his shoulder to his group. Another group of maybe 60-80 people, with some kind of tour guide arrived 25 minutes late and had to queue across the front of the already seated audience to get to their seats. I missed at least 5 minutes of the performance due to people standing right in front of me in a solid line. The same group decided they did not want to stay after only 10 minutes and filed back in front of the audience. There were lots of cheaper empty seats available on the other side of the stadium. I hold the stables responsible because they should either refuse entry to people who turn up so late or seat them or make them stand so that they don't interfere with other people's enjoyment. The stables should also close the bar during the performance and only open it before the performance and during the interval. There should be a polite way of asking audiences to respect the performers by remaining seated and quiet during the performance (perhaps some simple signage). Twice during the performance horses appeared startled by noise from the seated area and I would have thought it in the interests and safety of the horses and riders to ask for consideration from the audience. All of the noisy disruptors and late arrived were older profession looking Spanish and non seemed embarrassed by thier arrogant behaviour. It has left pretty poor impression of expectations made of audiences in Spain. I feel sorry for the performers and horses, they have...

We visited the royal stables for a show last night. I love horses and have ridden since I was 4yo, so was excited to see the Andalusian breed while in Cordoba.

We bought the slightly more expensive tickets (20 euro pax), which gave us early access to the stables to see the horses as they were prepared for the show. It also gave us reserved seats with a central view. The show was sold out and the audience appeared to love it. There was lots of applause, especially as the horses performed more technically advanced moves.

We were sat with a few other couples, who said they did not know much about horses, but they said they absolutely loved it. The Andalusian is a beautiful breed and it was wonderful to see them here, and observe their classical-led training.

The show structure was also well organised and slick with a bar serving drinks at a reasonable price, numbered seats, cooling systems over the seating and an opportunity for all ticket holders to visit the horses after the show. We could not take photos during the show so it was a nice opportunity for everyone to get some pictures.

I would love to return to see the horses training in the day ahead of the show, which is also an option for visitors.

The stables and turnout of horses and riders was also immaculate. I just need a large lottery win for a setup at home...

This horse show is a must see if you are visiting Cordoba. We really enjoyed the show and the animals seemed to be well treated. The mix of Flamenco dance and riding is really special.

We bought the tickets in advance through GetYourGuide. No need to wait in the line as seats are automatically assigned. You can chose to buy premium tickets, but actually all seats have a nice view, although you’ll have no back support on the standard seats. For the 70 minute show, that was fine for us.

You can purchase drinks and snacks before the show and in the 10 minute break. There was no price list. We paid 10 EUR for a beer and a small bottle of white wine, which we found a bit expensive.

After the show everybody could go to the horse boxes and watch and even touch some of the gorgeous animals. We appreciated this a lot.

During the show it is strictly prohibited to take photos or videos. This is enforced through personnel operating with walkie talkies. However, sitting in a separate VIP area in front of everybody, we could see the general manager Javier Gómez González, obviously with a special guest, who had her phone out filming throughout the show and of course not being hunted down by the „smartphone police“. That seemed extremely unfair in our opinion. We thought Mr Gómez González should have shown more respect to his...