Mae Rim elephant sanctuary is a small, welcoming, ethical sanctuary less than an hour outside Chiang Mai. We had such a positive, personal experience here we are more than happy to recommend it.
Where is Mae Rim Elephant Sanctuary?
Mae Rim elephant sanctuary is in Mae Rim in Chiang Mai. It is around 35 minutes outside of Chiang Mai centre. However, Mae Rim elephant sanctuary will collect you from your hotel or hostel and bring you to their sanctuary.
Booking.comWhy choose Mae Rim Elephant Sanctuary?
Chiang Mai is a very popular place to ‘go and see the elephants’. We wanted that experience too. However, we also wanted an ethical, sanctuary. Not just a place that disguised itself as a sanctuary.
We trawled the internet and review sites for weeks before deciding upon this place. There is one big sanctuary in Chiang Mai that everyone seems to go to, has thousands of reviews and is the place that many recommend. However, we really wanted to find something smaller, personal and where we wouldn’t at any point feel like we were on a conveyor belt of tourists. Mae Rim had the kind of reviews we were looking for, so we took the plunge.
How to get to Mae Rim?
Mae Rim elephant sanctuary will arrange everything. We booked the half day morning tour and were collected at 7.30am by our driver and piled into a typical Thai taxi – a pickup truck with benches. With 5 other people onboard, we drove the 35mins or so out of town to the leafy green area of Mae Rim.
What is the experience like?
On arrival, our guide gave us some details about the 7 elephants currently at the sanctuary including their history and different characteristics before we interacted with them. We learnt where to stand, what to say and how to act when we were with of them which was very important information.
Afterwards, we changed into some matching plaid clothes – typical Thai jungle clothes apparently. They were comfortable and made sure you didn’t get your own clothes spoilt. We then left to fill up our bags with bananas and meet the elephants.
After filling up with bananas you are then able to meet and greet the elephants. They are hungry and full on but you can get close to them. There are only 6 elephants at the orphanage so we were able to interact freely. The guides were on hand encouraging us, taking the kids and lifting them up and helping us out a lot ensuring everyone was safe and comfortable and having the best experience.
Bathing the elephants in the mud river
This is something we had seen online and in photographs and hoped we could do. The elephants absolutely loved it, rolling around everywhere covered in the stuff. Unfortunately our kids were not so keen but eventually we all had a great time. A truly unforgettable experience.
River bath with the elephants
Our final Mae Rim elephant sanctuary experience was in the river, it was cold! The guides were splashing everyone and helping each other get clean after the mud bath. Unfortunately our kids were not sold. However, the guides were incredible and watched the boys so that myself and Phil could get fully involved!
Are there showers at the Elephant Sanctuary?
Yes of course! Once you finish in the river it is a short walk over to the pools where you can clean off and then get in the swimming pool. There are also private showers and toilets where you can get fully cleaned up. Be sure to bring a complete spare change of clothes for afterwards.
Lunch at Mae Rim Elephant Sanctuary
Lunch was one of the highlights of our time at Mae Rim elephant sanctuary. We were shown a table of ingredients and how to make our own Thai noodle soup. Which we all loved. The boys thoroughly enjoyed cooking for themselves. We then had the enjoyment of sitting and chatting with other people about the experience.
Taking photographs at Mae Rim Elephant Sanctuary
Throughout the experience there was a photographer at all times. It was difficult to take our own pictures in the water and the mud. We were shown our professional photographs and felt under no pressure whatsoever to buy them but they were so good we couldn’t leave them there. Cost us about 25GBP I think. Would recommend anyone going to do this and leave the phone/camera in the locker, it allows you to really connect with the elephants and protects the electronics from any mud damage.
Final thoughts on Mae Rim Elephant Sanctuary
We 100% recommend Mae Rim Elephant Sanctuary, they were everything we were looking for and more. We had a truly memorable morning with them. This was the most favourite day of the 3 week trip for all 4 of us. We have since been to other elephant sanctuaries in Thailand and wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending them. This felt totally authentic and real. A very positive experience.
If you have enjoyed reading our post on Mae Rim Elephant Sanctuary Chiang Mai then check out our post 5 Amazing things to do in Chiang Mai. Looking for a Thailand itinerary? Read our 3 weeks in Thailand itinerary. Alternatively, if you’re heading to Phuket then our 2 weeks in Phuket itinerary.
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Such a great post and elephants are one of my favorite animals
Nice blog, btw
Thank you so much, so glad you enjoyed. We love elephants so much too!
My favourite sanctuary in Chiang Mai! They treat their animals so well and look after their guests! Great post!
They really do don’t they, such an incredible place. So glad we found it!
Looks like you had an amazing experience 🙂 I did not see any elephants on my recent travels, but I will see some hopefully in the future 🙂
Nic | Nic’s Adventures & Bakes
Thank you, it was incredible – hope you get to see some elephants soon!