Wander Women Thailand:
Post-Retreat Elephant Extension
Koh Samui, Thailand
April 15-17, 2025
Not ready to head home yet? Join us for a two-night post-retreat extension to the neighboring island of Koh Samui to complete your Thailand adventure by coming face-to-trunk with an elephant!
Extend you adventure with a stop at Koh Tao’s big sister island on your way home. We’ll hit the ultimate Thailand bucket list moment of meeting elephants, Thailand’s national animal, at a saddle-off sanctuary that supports ethical interactions with these gentle giants. And in case you’re left feeling like you need a holiday from your holiday after getting scuba certified, we’ll help you seal in the vacay vibes with an afternoon of ultimate bliss at the trendiest Koh Samui beach club to toast to the trip of a lifetime.
We can’t think of a better way to round out an adventure to the Gulf of Thailand!
The Details
The Elephant Extension takes place immediately following the Wander Women Koh Tao: A Beginner Dive + Yoga Retreat from April 15-17th, 2025. The cost, including just about everything, starts at $850.
What’s Included
• Two nights accommodation at a chic boutique hotel
• Two breakfasts + two lunches
• Temple tour
• Elephant Sanctuary tour
• Entrance to a trendy Samui Beach Club
• Daily yoga
• All local transportation, including ferry transfers between islands
• Professional photos
What’s Not Included
• Alcohol
• Meals not included in the itinerary
• Transport back to Bangkok
• Mandatory travel insurance
The Itinerary
Subject to change, but you’re going to have a magical time — here’s the general idea!
Day 1: This morning we bid goodbye to Koh Tao and take a short ferry across to Koh Samui. We’ll indulge in the most Instagrammable lunch of the trip before heading to our hotel for some chill time poolside — or indulging in an optional onsite spa treatment, or a nap! Stay zen with a yin yoga class in our onsite studio. In the afternoon we’ll visit two of Samui’s grandest temples, unique to anything you’ll have seen if you joined, the Pre-Retreat Bangkok Extension, before cheers-ing to an epic final few days in Thailand at a vibey sunset restaurant.
Day 2: Start today with an animal-themed yoga class and a delicious breakfast before we spend the morning at a sanctuary for elephants rescued from the logging industry! This is a cruelty-free experience where no riding will take place — but we promise, it’s so much more meaningful to connect face-to-trunk! We’ll have the opportunity to see these gentle giants in their natural habitat, hear about the amazing work the sanctuary is doing and even feed them their lunch. After we have had our lunch, it’s time to celebrate. Spend your last afternoon sipping cocktails at a chic beach club and topping up that tan. Our final stop is the charming Fisherman’s Village in Bophut, a great place to do any last minute shopping before heading home.
Day 3: Farewell breakfast and pool-time before checkout — and planning the next adventure.
Where We’ll Stay and What We’ll Eat
We’ll stay in a stylish boutique hotel with pools and plenty of places to luxuriate at the end of an active trip! Shared rooms have either one large bed or two singles for sharing.
For meals, we’ll mix it up! From lunches alongside elephants to a cute sunset bistro dinner, a choose your own adventure night market feast and the cutest custom smoothie bowls you could ever imagine. Breakfast will be daily at our hotels. All diets can be accommodated.
Meet Your Hosts
For this retreat you will be team hosted by travel enthusiasts and hostess with the mostesses — Alexandra Baackes and Nik Turnbull!
Alexandra Baackes is the founder of Wander Women Retreats and Alex in Wanderland as well as a PADI Divemaster, an AmbassaDiver, and a Women Divers’ Hall of Fame Associate Member. She also called Thailand home for the better part of seven years and Koh Tao is where the Wander Women magic all began! Alex has worked in the dive industry as an underwater videographer, a writer for publications like Sport Diver and Scuba Diver magazines, she is also a RYT 200 Registered Yoga Teacher, an RYT 50 Aerial Yoga Teacher, a Buti Bands and Sculpt instructor, and a regular yoga practitioner for more than a decade — she can’t wait to practice with you.
Koh Tao is also where Alex met Nik, who currently calls this tiny paradise home. As Wander Women Retreats Manager, Nik is usually your gal behind the scenes, but has also hosted retreats with us in Jordan and the Maldives, with more soon to come! Nik has worked in the travel industry for over 10 years, tour guiding and managing operations around the world. She is also a Divemaster — trained on Koh Tao — and has worked in marine research and conservation in her native Australia.
Join Us
Your deposit will be the first of three total payments for this extension to Wander Women Koh Tao: A Beginner Dive + Yoga Retreat, spread into convenient monthly installments. This extension requires a minimum number of guests to run. We will notify you when it is a guaranteed departure! Until then, please do not book non-refundable airfare.
Can’t make this one? Don’t sweat — sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know when enrollment opens on future retreats. Don’t hesitate to email us at retreats@alexinwanderland.com with any and all questions or concerns over if this is the right retreat for you. We’re always here to chat.
Wander Women Koh Tao: Post-Retreat Elephant Extension, 2025
$850.00 – $1,050.00
F.A.Q.
How do I get home from Koh Samui?
There’s an international airport right on Koh Samui (USM) with several daily flights to Bangkok, and further abroad, making it seamless to connect back home.
I’ve heard warnings about elephant experiences in Thailand. Is this one really ethical?
The park we are visiting is a partner to Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, largely regarded as the gold standard for elephant rescues worldwide. It does not offer elephant rides or elephant bathing, both of which are understood to be disruptive or harmful to the creatures we are so honored to meet! Instead, we will feed, observe and walk with these beautiful animals up close.
The elephants we will visit have previously endured a hard life working for tourist’s entertainment or in the logging industry; a stark contrast to the dignified, peaceful lives they now enjoy. The goal of the sanctuary is to provide a happy home in nature for the herd where they are free to express their natural instincts and receive the care and respect they deserve. Visits like ours are what fund the care these elephants receive to live out their life in peace.
The concept of elephant care and welfare at this rescue was created by Lek Chailert, world renowned elephant conservationist, founder of Save Elephant Foundation and the world famous Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. Lek is at the forefront of ethical elephant tourism in Thailand and throughout Asia, was named one of Time Magazine’s Heroes of Asia for her work in conservation in 2005, and was invited to Washington DC in 2010 by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to be honored as one of six Women Heroes of Global Conservation. Alex was lucky enough to meet Lek personally in 2015 — a true Wander Women if we ever met one!
