The World's 10 Most Spectacular Polo Events

Polo is played in over 80 countries, across climates from the Tropics to the Arctic, on surfaces from Argentinian pampas to Swiss ice. Some events combine sporting excellence with settings so extraordinary that they transcend sport entirely — becoming experiences that belong on any serious traveller's bucket list.

These are the ten most spectacular polo events in the world.

1. Argentine Open — Buenos Aires, Argentina (November–December)

The undisputed greatest polo tournament on earth. Four teams of 10-[goal](/glossary/goal) players competing at Palermo — the sport's sacred ground. The standard of play is simply not matched anywhere else on the planet. When La Dolfina and Ellerstina meet in the final, you are watching two of the greatest polo teams ever assembled compete at the absolute limit of human ability on horseback.

**What makes it unmissable**: The combination of sporting excellence and Buenos Aires's extraordinary food, nightlife, and tango culture make this a complete travel experience.

2. Snow Polo World Cup — St. Moritz, Switzerland (January)

The frozen lake. The Alps in January. Horses at full gallop on snow and ice. St. Moritz snow polo is visually the most extraordinary polo event in the world — nothing else in sport quite matches the sight of Thoroughbred horses moving at speed across a frozen Alpine lake at 1,800 metres altitude.

**What makes it unmissable**: The combination with world-class skiing in one of Europe's greatest winter destinations.

3. Shandur Polo Festival — Shandur Pass, Pakistan (July)

At 3,700 metres above sea level, Shandur Pass is the highest polo ground on earth. The tournament — between traditional teams from Gilgit and Chitral — has been played since 1936. This is polo at its most ancient and elemental: played with freestyle rules that predate formal codification, on a ground with the Hindu Kush as a backdrop, watched by thousands of spectators who have trekked to reach it.

**What makes it unmissable**: There is nothing else like this in any sport. The combination of altitude, landscape, traditional culture, and sporting passion is genuinely breathtaking.

4. Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup — Cowdray Park, England (July–August)

English polo at its most beautiful, in the most theatrical setting in European polo. The Gold Cup final on an August afternoon at Cowdray — ruined castle, green Sussex hills, immaculate turf, the world's best players — captures something essential about English summer sport.

**What makes it unmissable**: The combination of world-class polo, extraordinary English countryside, and the social culture of summer England.

5. Royal Windsor Polo — Windsor, UK (May)

Polo at Windsor Castle — with the Castle itself forming the backdrop. Charity polo attended by the British Royal Family, in one of Europe's most iconic settings. Not the highest goal level, but the setting and occasion are unique.

**What makes it unmissable**: Windsor Castle as a polo backdrop is impossible to replicate anywhere else on earth.

6. Jaipur Polo Festival — Jaipur, India (October–November)

Polo in Rajasthan, against the backdrop of the Aravalli Hills and the pink palaces of the Maharajas. The Rajasthan Polo Club is one of Asia's most atmospheric venues, and the cultural richness of Jaipur — palaces, bazaars, festival culture — makes the polo experience part of a much larger sensory world.

**What makes it unmissable**: The combination of polo with India's most visually extraordinary city and its extraordinary Maharajas-era polo heritage.

7. Dubai Desert Polo — UAE (January–March)

Elite polo against a desert backdrop, with the Dubai skyline and sand dunes providing a uniquely 21st-century polo setting. The UAE winter season attracts world-class professionals and combines with Dubai's extraordinary hospitality ecosystem — Michelin-starred restaurants, luxury hotels, and desert safari experiences adjacent to the polo.

**What makes it unmissable**: The contrast between ancient desert landscape and ultra-modern city, all in one extraordinary polo weekend.

8. Snow Polo World Cup — Kitzbühel, Austria (January)

The Austrian alternative to St. Moritz — slightly less prestigious but equally spectacular, set against the backdrop of the Hahnenkamm and Kitzbühel's famous ski racing mountain. The après-ski culture of Kitzbühel is some of the Alps' most vibrant.

**What makes it unmissable**: World-class ski racing and world-class polo in the same destination on the same weekend — genuinely a dual sporting pilgrimage.

9. Abierto de Hurlingham — Buenos Aires, Argentina (October–November)

The Triple Crown's second leg, at the Hurlingham Club — one of South America's most historic sporting institutions. Less glamorous than the Argentine Open but with intense atmosphere and a more intimate spectator experience. Professional polo at 40-goal in a setting with genuine historic resonance.

**What makes it unmissable**: A complement to the Argentine Open for the serious polo traveller — the Triple Crown is better experienced as a full season than a single event.

10. US Open Polo Championship — Wellington, Florida (April)

America's most prestigious polo event, at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. The combination of world-class polo, Florida sunshine, the famous Sunday brunch culture, and the diverse international crowd makes Wellington's US Open one of the sport's most vibrant social events.

**What makes it unmissable**: The Sunday brunch experience at IPC is one of American polo's great institutions — fashion, socialising, and elite polo in equal measure.

These ten events represent polo in its most spectacular, most culturally rich, and most spatially extraordinary manifestations. Any one of them is worth travelling across the world to attend.