Top Pick - Full Or Half Day @Elephant In Wild Sanctuary Chiangmai

Be forewarned, this is an incredible day, but come prepared for the hike! This is NOT a leisurely stroll. It’s a challenging climb along an elephant trail with plenty of elevation changes, covering nearly 4 kilometers round trip. You’ll ford the river several times, and your feet WILL get wet. Wear appropriate hiking clothes and, most importantly, proper hiking footwear. Don’t underestimate the hike! Our guide was great, and the elephants were absolutely incredible and surprisingly affectionate. Definitely one of the highlights of the day. The rafting isn’t particularly challenging. Maybe Class II rapids at best, but it’s a fun way to wind down and finish off an otherwise amazing day.

Wonderful experience with the elephants. Happy to see that they are very ethically treated. Our guide was terrific. I really enjoyed the direct interaction with the elephants. Highly recommended.

It was amazing experience, Guide Mint is very supportive looked after us very well. We felt safe with them.

Excellent experience and the tour guide was very nice would recommend to friends to do the experience

We had a great time in this sanctuary. Feeding and petting the elephants is an unforgettable experience. Our tour guide Min was really nice

This tour is very professional and was carried out well. The pick up was really on time, around 8am as conveyed. The drop off was also around 530pm - 6pm as stated. Our guide, Tha Tha (unsure if I mispelled), a young 24-year old male guide is very friendly and helpful throughout the tour, especially during the hike where he will point out suitable paths/rocks for us to walk on. He also helps takes photos and videos using our phone throughout the tour. The hike was better and more challenging than I expected. Your shoes will get wet due to stream crossings, so be prepared. The pace of the hike was quite fast as its about 1 hour uphill, 20 mins swim at the waterfall and 1 hour downhill. Its more fun to hike in a group with people looking out for one another. The rocks are slippery. I survived because I wore sports shoes. I dont know how one guy in my tour managed to hike well with slippers. So it depends on your ability. Our guide also explained really well during the Elephant tour. It went on for a good 10-15 minutes of explanation, followed by food preparation for the elephants (cutting of fruits). Afterwards, we fed the elphants and bathed them in the river. One feedback I would provide to them is to let the elphants chill and relax in the river if they want to, instead of asking them to get out of the river just because the tour is ending. Thats the whole point of a sanctuary afterall. Overall, I would highly recommend this tour. The 5 year old baby elephant, SongKran is really friendly, sociable and cute. The adult elephants are really majestic, gentle and cute too. The river rafting (approx 3km distance) at the end was fun too. A nice, relaxing way to end the tour.

Our guide Sak was excellent with good energy and a lot of interesting facts. We picked the half day so missed the the rafting and trekking but the rafting did look very fun. It would have been good to see the elephants in their actual sanctuary as well just to observe. The experience is not technically completely ethical as their is interaction with them via feeding and bathing but the do seem to care about the elephants and take good care of them.

Very fun experience. Elephants were really very well behaved and everyone had a lot of laughs. So good to see these magnificent animals well taken care of.

Pick up was smooth and right on time, experience was amazing, clearly once in a lifetime, songkran the baby elephant is super cute and fun to play with.

I had an amazing experience. Hiking in the jungle, spending time with elephants, rafting—everything was fun. The guide was very communicative and enjoyed the experience with us. He could also speak a little Japanese, so I would recommend this tour to Japanese people as well!

Loved our tour wide gave us very good information. The hike was breathtaking I love to be active so was great to see a waterfall. The elephant was just something I never thought I would experience

Feeding , playing and bathing the elephants is an experience we will never forget. We started by changing clothes then rode a small truck on a rugged road then we reached the sanctuary . We re information on elephant highlights. Then we cut some watermelon to feed them mixed some vitamin food and we started feeding and interacting with them. The hugs the blow kisses the dancing was awesome. Then we hiked up the mountain them down towards the river and started bathing them . They blow ofd some water from their trunk yo get is wet

We thought that we would learn sth about the elephants and observe them, but the trip turned out to be a terrible place, where elephants are getting touched, and we should feed them. So not ethical at all! We asked the owner some questions about the elephants, like where they are from and where they live and she had no good answer to that and tried to not to talk to us anymore the rest of the trip! The elephants also didnt look that healthy! So if you want to do a ethical trip to elephants or want to learn something and not just want to have a foto with one, this is not the trip for you! Further i dont understand why they didnt wrote in the description of the tour that this trip is just touching and feeding!

When you book a tour of a country you’re not at all familiar with the very least of your expectations lies in seeing and learning something new. Pinpon and his wonderful team gave us something that went far beyond those expectations. His infectious laughter and timed humor made hiking in the Chiang Mai jungle as memorable as the beauty of the nature we were surrounded by. His deep connection and knowledge to the land gifted us an experience that we would never have had otherwise and made this a highlight of our time here in Thailand. Getting to care for the elephants in the Sanctuary was unforgettable and white water rafting was the cherry on top of the perfect day. We can’t recommend this experience enough!

Must do! We had a wonderful time. The guide was very knowledgeable and fun. Being with these beautiful animals was amazing from feeding them to washing them. Could not be happier. Don’t miss out on this experience

Excellent trip- day included a 2hour hike, lunch, elephant feeding & bathing, and rafting. Was very fun and would recommend. Our tour guide Chicken was great! Lunch was excellent. Would rate this 4/5 because they should’ve warned us that the hike was moderate to difficult, a lot of bamboo bridges, rocks and it was very slippery. Would do it again but more prepared with water shoes and no backpack.

Absolutely wonderful! The guide was knowledgeable and clear. Interacting with the elephants was amazing. Best day here so far!

While the experience with the activity was excellent the pick up drop and subsequent support by Viator was very poor. When I booked Viator agreed to pick us up from our hotel Vernada resort. Previous evening the your operator messaged saying that they cannot pick up from hotel instead they asked us to come to Central Chiangmai airport ( it is a mall) . We didn’t have a choice because of last minute. The operator dropped us back same place. We incurred TBH 1300 for our pick up and drop. I escalated to Viator customer service and they didn’t have the courtesy to respond. So much for such a big company !!!

Elephants and rafting was an excellent full day trip. Our guide Tata picked us up at our hotel promptly.  Our van had 9 people, a small manageable size. First we hiked to waterfall. It is about 5km round-trip. I'd say it is a moderate hike. Uphill in places, steep, rocky lots of roots and mud, narrow with drop offs. Toward the end there is some moderate boulder scrambling within the cold river bed. If you like hiking, it is very good. Not too crowded. Tata went the extra effort to help my wife in some precarious areas and river crossings. At the end you are rewarded with a nice waterfall in the jungle. I thought it was too cold to swim, but others swam anyway. Next we had the included lunch. It was authentic Thai food and pretty good. Tata gave us (to borrow) tee shirt and shorts to change into for the elephant encounter and rafting. It is very muddy and wet. Good to change clothes. The Elephants are retired and rescued animals now living free range on a jungle farm. We fed them, they slobber on you. And took lots of pictures.  Then we followed them down to the river on a short walk to bathe them and play in the water. You splash them, they squirt you. Everyone gets very wet.  After the elephant bath and massage, we did our third activity.  Class 2 river rafting (small rapids). It was beginner stuff, but still fun with some drops and swirls. Finally,  we changed clothes back at the restaurant, and the van drove us back into Chiang Mai and to our hotel. All together,  door to door, it was about a 10 hour trip. Very worthwhile,  fun day. No problems or screw ups, well managed.  Reasonable price for the program of three activities.  It would be difficult to do it all independently without the guided tour. Highly recommended.  

It was a great tour, a very nice guide. The rafting was ok, the trecking tour very nice (but be prepared to get wet) and the meeting with the elephants was lovely (and they seemed to be taken good care of)

Great experience, especially the elephants. The hike should come with a warning though, would be very difficult for a lot of people (rocks, rapids, climbing etc).

Wonderful experience totally worth it. The tour guide was very friendly and helpful. You’ve got to see elephants in Thailand! Highly recommend.

We had an amazing day! Our guide 'chicken' was absolutely fantastic we couldn't have asked for anyone better! Seeing the elephants and getting a chance to feed them felt amazing! The rafting was great fun and we felt safe the whole time. The lunch was great and there was extra if you needed. The hike was so much fun. We are both active and although the hard isn't hard there are lots of river crossings/bridges. Would absolutely recommend wearing water shoes for the whole thing!! We took hiking shoes/trainers but with the amount of river crossings were much better in our water shoes! Couldn't recommend enough!!

Lovely half day trip to see the elephants well cared, for and free to roam. We fed them and could give them a mud bath. The guide was informative , amusing and clearly cared about the elephants. We were overlooked for pick up but the company were apologetic and rectified this by sending another vehicle to meet up with the main tour.

This was a wonderful experience. We were picked up at our hotel at 9:30 a.m. and were dropped off about 5 p.m. We had a full day adventure. We had a hike in the jungle up to a beautiful waterfall. It was very muddy and challenging due to the rainfall the day before, but was great! We enjoyed making snacks for the elephants, and feeding them. We then bathed them in mud, and washed them off in the river, while they sprayed us with water! We then had a really fun rafting experience down the river. Muay was a great guide, and lots of fun. Highly recommended excursion!

A wonderful day filled with laughter and excitement! Started the day with the walk to the waterfall (which was absolutely magical- would 100% recommend swimming there!). Lunch was delicious and our time feeding and walking and washing the elephants was something out of this world! Rafting was a very thrilling way to end the day! Our guide Chichi (not sure about spelling) was incredible!

Despite the heavy rain/mud, we had a great experience. The transportation took a bit long (~2 hours each way), but it was more than worth it for being able to feed/play with elephants, seeing them in their natural habitat, rafting, and climbing the sticky falls. Our guide was patient, engaging, and ensured that everyone had a good time. It was a bit disorganized (groups were splitting off to do different activities), but our guide made sure everyone was accounted for at all times. This activity was absolutely NOT suitable for older folks / people who need accessibility accommodations. Our group was predominantly young and active, and even we were skeptical about the amount of trekking through the knee-deep mud with lots of rocks and debris, then getting into the muddy river with the elephants. Then certain paths of the sticky falls were extremely steep; we were encouraged to walk up the falls, but there are stairs with handrails as well. This activity was particularly enjoyable because it was very apparent that the elephants are treated ethically. Many were rescued from cruelty, and they got to freely roam about the sanctuary / had a great relationship with their handlers. I would highly recommend this activity if you're active and open to adventure.

We had an unforgettable experience at Elephant in Wild Sanctuary in Chiang Mai. Everything was well organized from start to finish, and the two local guides made the day truly special. They were friendly, knowledgeable, and created a warm and genuine atmosphere throughout the tour. It’s worth noting that the trekking was much more challenging than expected — the terrain was steep, uneven, and full of ups and downs, with several river crossings and muddy sections. Everyone in the group, regardless of age, agreed that it was tougher than anticipated. That said, it was also what made the day so memorable. The route took us deep into nature, far away from tourist crowds, and offered incredible scenery along the way. Meeting the elephants in their natural environment after the hike felt like a real reward. The guides were patient, fun, and made sure everyone stayed safe and comfortable. Their respect for the animals and passion for their work was obvious and truly inspiring. All in all, an amazing experience — authentic, responsible, and full of adventure. Be ready to sweat a little, but it’s absolutely worth it.

Had such a great time here with the elephants. Enjoyed feeding them and playing with them in the river. Staff was really friendly. Rafting was so much fun. Would recommend!

The hike is not easy but well worth it, make sure you are happy for your shoes to get wet because they will. The elephants were good fun, who would know how hard the are to bath and mud pack and the rafting was also great fun. Tony was an excellent guide funny and very helpful

I really enjoyed the waterfall and the elephants; I just expected a little more of the rafting. The guides and the driver were really great and did a good job.

Amazing experience! Our guide was very kind, the food was good, I loved that it was a small group so it felt a personalize experience with the elephants. I loved all the activities with the elephants

Great tour! Hope to waterfall was amazing. Elephant care was fun and white water rafting was crazy! Would highly recommend this trio event day trip. Muay or guide was great!

Loved this trip. Got to do a cool nature hike up to a beautiful waterfall. My 6 & 9 year old daughters did me proud and had fun on the way. Then after a great bite to eat we got to feed the elephants, bath the elephants, and mud the elephants. Great fun with amazing creatures. The trip culminated in a rafting trip that had some decent rapids but nothing to concerning to be out there with family. Great fun and good times. I highly recommend this for your outdoorsy activite family.

A magical experience in Chiang Mai 🐘🌿 We fed and bathed elephants in their natural sanctuary... unforgettable family time with my wife, daughter and mom! ❤️🌍 Also great service from our guide Mint, the driver, all the staff and elephant keepsr.

Wow so great day, the hiking was beautiful and challenging, you will cross some rivers so make sure to were a good shoes, but they will be dirty. So worth , the waterfall..... The Elephant was so great also, worth the visit. Then we did also rafting and it was good. I recommend this whole day activity.

Guide/ Driver is very polite & accommodating. Knowledgeable of what he does. Day is fully organized, and packed. However I have two main comments: 1/ there was no option at all for lunch food. It should be fine if the one served can even pass for an OK, especially this is Thailand where everywhere there are good food! Not even a fruits are available. Would have been really great to have those even if we have to pay extra. 2/ other groups had go pro in their rafting leg. we didn't. Had we known, we would have brought. Or should have an option for it even if it's additional charge. And at the end of the trip there was nothing to eat again so 8am to 5pm of activities with mediocre pad thai for lunch was all we had. These are things we propose to be improved on, as everything else are great. The whole adventure day was great, including the elephant sanctuary experience. It wasn't my first time for something like that but this one, you can see how elephants are respected and taken care of. Guests were briefed and everyone is so mindful.

I enjoyed the variety of activities provided on this trip. I enjoyed preparing foods for the elephants and helping the elephants bath. I also enjoyed the white water rafting and going down the rapids. The one thing the group can improve on is a better lunch for the group as their wasn’t a lot of variety and it is better that they can give us an option to purchase an alternative if we wanted too.

Brilliant day out four hour family of four. Kicked off with the jungle track to a waterfall, followed by lunch, feeding and bathing the elephants, and then finished off with the white water rafting. AK our guide was excellent. Would thoroughly recommend to all.

Great full of something to do tour. Started with a hike. So an FYI the hike isn’t bad but it is slippery so be mindful that makes it tougher also river crossings so closed shoes might be an issue. I had crocs for back up which weren’t the best as they were slippery making it harder. So was tough in that sense. Lots of up and down. So just be aware of that. Next stop elephants :great time with them. We also got to bathe them in the river. Was great. Also this sanctuary lets them out in the jungle so no cruelty. Was great feeding them and making medicines for them.ended with. Stop at the falls which was beautiful. Then there was rafting which was also great. They do give you clothes for elephant and rafting so we didn’t need our clothes or trunks. Yea do bring towel and shower gel maybe shampoo as they do let you shower before changing into your clothes. Our guide was awesome . Tony was knowledgeable made sure beyond appreciated took lots of pictures and sent them to us.he was great

We really enjoyed this day. Its a busy day with three activities which was great for the kids as it provided variety. The lunch was simple but very tasty. The highlight for me was the hike to the waterfall. Important to know however that this hike is not for the unfit or for beginners. It would have been helpful if the tour operators had advised us in advance that there would be a couple of small river crossings as waterproof shoes or sandals would have been more appropriate. Our shoes are still drying out almost 36 hours later! All in all a great day, and I would have given it 5 out of 5 if we had been advised of the need for waterproof footwear for the hike.

This is a great way to do a bit of everything. We went walking through the forest (on a relatively easy trail) until a wonderful waterfall. We prepared food for the elephants, fed them and had wonderful times taking pictures with them. The highlight for me was probably to go down the river in rafts, screaming with laughter as we were going through small rapids, and feeling how, in a split second we could fall in the water. I lovey it, and would definitively recommend it to someone who looks to have a wonderful day of varied and beautiful experiences and souvenirs. (Be ready to get wet, because you will get wet!... so take with you a second pair of cloth, and don't hesitate leaving everything in the bus as you go rafting)

Amazing tour! The hike was very fun, the guide was great showing us local plants and fruits. Swimming in the falls was so cool! The elephants were so friendly and treated very well, free to come and go as they want. The rafting was crazy and certainly a highlight! Would do this all again! The guide was great, very funny, slightly crazy!

An amazing experience!! Simply incredible! Impeccably knowledgeable and friendly guides that love their jobs! Great vibes. <3

This was a great experience for me and my adult children. We enjoyed participating in feeding the elephants, making medicine and walking with them through the jungle to the river. The guide was very helpful and knowledgeable.

Super nice staff, very fun welcoming atmosphere and very informative. The tour guide made sure we were all accommodated even with food restrictions. The elephants were playful and seemed happy. Perfect experience in chiang mai

Awesome day. Very natural environment - happy animals. Pad Thai for lunch . A lot of fun. Definitely recommend this half day adventure.

Challenging waterfall hike which was not well supported by the guide - not for beginners! It was a rough path requiring difficult crossings and climbing up and down rocks. Elephant experience was good and water rafting was a fun way to end the day

We were shown around by Min, they were super friendly. The hike was amazing, with a great view at the end. We also really enjoyed the free lunch, my wife and I are vegetarians and they were really accommodating.