Eco-friendly elephant tourism thrives in the wild wonderscape of Thailand’s Golden Triangle.
BY AMBER GIBSON
The lush, hilly jungles of the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar converge, are breathtakingly beautiful, their emerald canopies rolling into mist-veiled mountains and winding rivers that catch the light like ribbons of gold at sunrise. The region has a long and complicated history, infamous for being the world’s leading producer of opium for many years, but today the Thai side of the Golden Triangle thrives as a tourist destination rich with cultural attractions, national parks, tranquil rural landscapes, and a strong focus on elephant conservation. Peaceful and safe, the area is dotted with small villages, each with its own distinct personality. It’s possible to take day trips into Myanmar and Laos as well, though you’ll want to stay overnight in Thailand for the region’s highest-quality accommodations.
Know Before You Go
There are no direct flights from the United States to Thailand, but travelers can connect through major Asian gateways like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. From Bangkok, it’s a short 80-minute flight to Chiang Rai with more than a dozen nonstop daily flights on airlines like Thai Airways, Thai AirAsia, and Thai Lion Air. From Chiang Rai International Airport, it’s a one-hour drive to the Golden Triangle.
Elephants are Thailand’s national animal, revered for their wisdom and strength. They have been used for war, transportation, and the logging industry over the years, but today they are critically endangered and there are only a few thousand wild elephants left in the country. There are several thousand domesticated elephants in Thailand as well, many used unethically for animal tourism. The elephants at both Four Seasons and Anantara are rescued domestic elephants that cannot be re-released into the wild, and both resorts partner with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation to support wild elephant conservation and captive elephant rehabilitation.
Attractions
Treetop Dining
[pro_ad_display_adzone id="20780"]
A new addition at Anantara Golden Triangle in 2024, guests are hoisted 170 feet into the air with panoramic views of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos across the Mekong River. The sturdy basket fits four guests comfortably and is available for breakfast, lunch, happy hour, and dinner with a customized menu. Breakfast is a great chance to glimpse the elephants grazing below through provided binoculars and spot birds swooping across the sky. There’s a leather embossed map to get your bearings, and a walkie-talkie to communicate with a butler on the ground.
Hall of Opium Museum
Located at Golden Triangle Park, this museum offers a thoughtful and sobering history of the region’s opium trade through interactive displays and multimedia presentations, including an artificial poppy field and a model Chinese tea house where people came to smoke opium. Exhibits detail the opium wars and stories of drug smugglers with accompanying artifacts, explaining the battle against poppy growing and adverse impacts of drug addiction on individuals and society. It’s a heartbreaking history but worth a visit to better understand the destination.
Where to Stay
Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle
This Bill Bensley-designed all-inclusive escape has just 15 glamping tents (and a two-bedroom lodge) decorated with one-of-a-kind vintage décor and canvas door flaps leading to a spacious terrace and outdoor shower. Faux ivory tusk faucets, fine wickerwork, and leather desks transport you to the 19th century. Enjoy a milky bath with rose petals while sipping on local herbal tea at the open-air jungle spa. Sundowner cocktails are served by pulley from a bucket at Burma Bar and each morning, you can feed elephants cucumbers, carrots, bananas, and watermelon at breakfast. All guests are invited to walk with the elephants and their mahouts (elephant handlers) through their natural habitat, while dressed in a traditional blue cotton mahout outfit and sash.
fourseasons.com/goldentriangle
Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort
A thundering drumbeat welcome and pineapple cake at check-in greet guests at this iconic resort, with 63 rooms and suites unfolding across 160 acres. New Mekong Explorer suites debuted last year, blending Thai Lanna design with colonial influences, featuring antique travel trunks, rich dark wood, elephant motifs, and a spacious balcony with a Thai-style daybed and jungle views. Locally made amenities include indigenous handmade soaps, artisan minibar snacks, and turndown gifts, with local art on display and for sale in the lobby. Masterful Thai massages await at the spa, and a sparkling infinity pool and cabanas overlook the serene valley beneath. Sustainability is a core value, with solar panels powering much of the resort, plus an on-site garden and beehives supply herbs, produce, and honey.
anantara.com/en/golden-triangle-chiang-rai
Jungle Bubbles at Anantara
For the most exclusive and intimate elephant encounter, book an overnight stay at the Jungle Bubbles at Anantara and you’ll have a pair of elephant friends all to yourself. Jungle Bubbles are booked in addition to a room at the resort, and include a multi-course Thai or Western dinner served al fresco with elephants just a few feet away munching on sugarcane. There are one- and two-bedroom bubbles available, and the two-bedroom bubble includes a hot tub and an even more spacious deck. Fall asleep looking at the stars and wake up with the sun before walking alongside new elephant friends and a naturalist guide, wearing a traditional mahout outfit and boots.
anantara.com/en/golden-triangle-chiang-rai/experiences/jungle-bubbles
Day Trips and Tours
Royal Enfield Side Car Tour
Zip through the resort, around town, and into the rice fields to explore the surrounding region in a sidecar with a local guide. Stop at the Golden Triangle viewpoint for photos before visiting a nearby Buddhist temple, then venture into the surrounding farmland where rice, pineapples, and tapioca are grown. The 90-minute tour can be customized to any particular interests so feel free to make requests. Helmets are provided, and consider bringing a cold beverage as the afternoon sun can be relentless.
anantara.com/en/golden-triangle-chiang-rai/experiences/side-cars
Doi Mae Salong Chinese Village
Tea lovers can venture to Doi Mae Salong and neighboring tea plantations for a private guided half or full day tour. Shop for colorful handcrafted clothes and accessories by hill tribes like the Akha and Yao at the town market, along with an array of wild rice and prized Traditional Chinese Medicine ingredients like goji berries, red dates, and ginseng. The Mandarin-speaking community also produces exquisite high mountain oolong tea, and guests are welcome to taste through a selection at 101 Tea Plantation, where Four Seasons sources their tea, and purchase some to take home.
Dine and Drink
Nong Yao
Four Seasons Golden Triangle’s main restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, featuring Thai, Laotian, and Burmese delicacies along with more standard Western fare. Fresh tropical fruit, including local phulae pineapple, and housemade ice creams and sorbet are a highlight. Try something new, like khai pam, grilled eggs with crab meat in banana leaves, or deep-fried butterfly pea doughnuts served with homemade warm soy milk and Thai tea jam. Produce, coffee, and tea are sourced locally to the highest standards.
fourseasons.com/goldentriangle/dining/restaurants/nong_yao_restaurant
Khantok Dinner
Experience a family-style royal Lanna Kingdom feast at the edge of the river while lounging on Thai kapok daybeds under glittering paper lanterns. Authentic northern Thai dishes like aromatic lemongrass- and galangal-flavored sai ua sausage and holy basil sea bass grilled in banana leaves are served on round rattan trays atop intricately embroidered table runners. This private experience is best booked in advance and the chefs will happily accommodate any dietary restrictions, with great plant-based soy substitutes for meat.
fourseasons.com/goldentriangle/dining/culinary-experiences/exceptional-dining/kanthok-dinner
Samsarn
A more elevated option to Anantara’s lavish buffet, Samsarn is open for dinner nightly, led by talented young Thai chefs presenting modern fine dining with a local twist, with ingredients hanging overhead from the open kitchen. Guests are given a drop of makwaen oil, similar to Sichuan peppercorn, on the wrist like perfume to awaken the appetite before an amuse bouche shrimp cake with northern Thai chili mayo and passion fruit pineapple mocktail. Ruby fish from the Mekong River is steamed in bamboo with Lao semi-dry curry and bamboo shoots, and the Lanna mille feuille showcases sumptuous single-origin Doi Chaang chocolate ganache and Doi Tung macadamia praline.
anantara.com/en/golden-triangle-chiang-rai/restaurants/samsarn