Excursion to the Ranch, the most popular destination for children
After hearing so many positive comments from friends about the Ranch we finally decided to visit it. My children, 7½ and 4½, a girl and a boy respectively, had been looking forward to this excursion for a long time. In this article I will describe my experience and you will see several photos.
First of all, it is located about half an hour from the Isthmus of Corinth, in Sofiko Peloponnese, among pine-covered mountains. Rather innovative in concept, it is built like a Wild West ranch and quite interesting in the eyes of a small child. With a saloon, a church and an entire village it is as if it came out of the pages of a comic book. However I who am older had the feeling that the Dalton brothers would emerge from the saloon door ready to rob the bank again.
The advantage of the Ranch is the sports activities as it provides a wide range of modern fields: football, basketball, tennis, archery, swimming pool, rodeo and climbing. Under normal conditions they operate with instructors on weekends according to the program posted on the website. As for when they are not available to the public I describe it below.
Apart from a day trip other ways to visit are at the summer camp, with children's sports clubs and on a school trip. In these cases the children spend the night in the hostel for which I did not go inside and I cannot express an opinion.
Right from the entrance it puts you in the Wild West feeling with a wooden carriage waiting for photos. The first activity is the horses and ponies that the little ones can pet, take photos and ride for a short ride with an escort. The child may be afraid to ride them but it is worth an encouragement. My children happily rode them and were more than happy to do so.
At the train
Then we got on the Ranch train for a very nice ride around where we saw the goats and deer. This was also a very nice activity, I received many smiles. The train is a road roller that has been given the appearance of a steam locomotive and pulls the carriages at a satisfactory speed, neither slow nor fast, so you can comfortably see the landscape.
These activities, namely the pony or horse ride and the train, are included in the ticket price and you don't have to pay extra. Children can do these activities as many times as they want.
At the church you will find bicycles for all ages for endless rides. My children took the small bikes, as they are young, but there are also larger ones and even four-seater ones. The free space there is large and they can take their rides without requiring special supervision.
A football field
What we didn't know is that we should have contacted in advance about the availability of the fields. On the day we went it was hosting children's sports clubs so the fields were not open to visitors. So it's a good idea to call before visiting to find out so you don't get stuck like we did.
As for food it has a restaurant and a bar. Because of the sports clubs we couldn't find a seat in the restaurant. In the bar you will find fast food such as club sandwiches and burgers, as I saw in the menu. We chose to eat straws souvlaki in the canteen in the square where they were grilling them at that time.
The entrance costs 9 euros and an online reservation is required which you can make through the website.
The one and only objection I have is about the location in the dense pine forest which is dangerous in case of fire. Furthermore it has only one escape route and there is no alternative route. However a firefighter friend of mine told me that in case of fire the Ranch is evacuated long before there is a problem. He had already gone to the Ranch himself for evacuation when a fire was a long way away. In the end it did not reach the Ranch and everything returned to normal.
See some more photos below.
