Swimwear under a quick-dry top, and ordinary trainers you don’t mind getting wet.

Day one runs like our jungle trek day: you walk in the morning and you’re on the river in the afternoon, so swimwear goes on before pickup. A quick-dry shirt or rash guard over it helps if you burn easily. Darker colours are a good idea in the rainy season, when the river can run brown and very light clothes may stain. Cotton t-shirts and jeans soak through and stay cold — leave them in your overnight bag.

Ordinary trainers are fine for the jungle trek — they will get wet at the stream crossings. Trekking shoes or Teva-style sport sandals work too; flip-flops are not enough for the trek.

The trail crosses the stream five or six times. In the dry season you step across rocks; when there’s water you wade. Whatever you wear on your feet will get wet — that’s normal. You do not need to buy special water shoes. Flip-flops are fine for the river in the afternoon, just not for the walk. If yours look likely to slip off on the water, our staff tie them together and float them along with the group, and hand them back before you walk in to see the elephants.

Swimwear and a dry change of clothes for each day, an overnight bag with toiletries, sunscreen, insect repellent, a little cash, and a padlock if you have one.

• Swimwear plus a full dry set of clothes for each day (we give you a towel at camp, and the villas have towels, linens and slippers)
• An overnight bag: toiletries and clothes for two days
• Sunscreen, insect repellent and sunglasses — for the trail, the river and the elephant walk (we lend hats at camp if you’d rather not pack one)
• A light rain jacket in rainy season (June–October); a warm layer in the cooler months
• A sarong, t-shirt or light cover-up if you’d like to cover your swimwear for the elephant visit — it happens straight after the float, and our team carries a dry bag on the river so it stays dry until then
• Cash for drinks on the water and extras at camp — water and snacks are free; soft drinks and beer are sold on the tube and paid for at the end. Base camp takes cash only, no cards
• A small padlock for the free locker, or rent a key at base camp for a small fee

We provide a life jacket, a waterproof phone pouch, a glasses strap, a hat and a towel, free to borrow; Thai lunch, dinner and breakfast are included.

At base camp you’ll find a waterproof pouch for your phone, a strap for your glasses, a hat and a life jacket (put on at camp). After the river there’s a towel for everyone and four hot-water showers with shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Free drinking water, snacks, tea, coffee and Milo are out at camp, and there’s free WiFi (network “TubingChiangMai”, no password). Lunch is a Thai meal at base camp between the trek and the tubing — usually pad thai and fried chicken, made non-spicy, with condiments on the table. Tell us about allergies when you book and we’ll prepare something separate.

Jewellery, watches and anything you’d hate to lose in a river. Bring the luggage you need for the night — we’ll look after it.

Rings and watches come off easily in the water. Small bags, passports and cash go in the free lockers; a suitcase that won’t fit in a locker can stay in our office. On the water you carry almost nothing — your phone in the free pouch, and your insect repellent for the elephant stop. Your own phone, GoPro or camera is welcome on the river, but it’s at your own risk, so strap it to the tube.

A bed in the 16-bed dorm, or your own room at the villa — both about five minutes from base camp.

Both the dorm and the villas are about five minutes from base camp. The dorm sleeps up to 16; a villa gives you your own room at the pool villa, and each villa room takes two, with an extra mattress possible for a third. Dinner is cooked at camp at about 18:00, and breakfast at 08:00 the next morning is included whichever bed you chose. Booking for one? If you’d be the only guest staying over, we’ll tell you before the day, explain your options and let you decide. If you stay, someone from our team is on site with you all night, without exception.

Moderate. About 3.5 km there and back on a jungle trail that follows a stream, roughly an hour each way.

It’s a real trail, not a paved path — uneven ground, stream crossings, some up and down — but it isn’t technical, and the guide sets the pace for the group. If your knees aren’t what they were, or you’d rather not walk the whole way, tell the guide: you can rest and wait for the group at a comfortable point and walk back together, or wait at base camp and join the family for the river after lunch. The waterfall at the end is about 11 metres high — shallow enough to cool off in, not to swim — and the guide hands out snacks and water there.

If you added the elephant option: we land on the riverbank and walk into the riverside area where the elephants spend their day, about 30 minutes with them — observation only, no riding, no bathing, no feeding.

Near the end of the float the guide pulls the tubes in on the right bank. You walk into the area where the elephants spend their day and watch them forage, dust-bathe or come down to the water; the guide explains the elephants’ history while you’re there. Then it’s back on the tubes for a last short stretch to the normal take-out. Put insect repellent on before the elephant walk — mosquitoes gather around the elephants — and leave drones packed; they can frighten the animals. Seeing elephants in the river during the float itself is never guaranteed.

Day one: pickup at 07:30, trek, lunch, tubing, then the slide. Day two: breakfast at 08:00 and back in the city around 11:00.

• 07:30 pickup from Chiang Mai city, roughly a 5 km radius from the Old City (some days 08:00 if there’s a single group) — about 1 h 15 – 1 h 30 to base camp
• Briefing, change, lock your bag → 10-minute drive to the trailhead
• Jungle trek, about an hour each way, with time at the waterfall
• Thai lunch at base camp
• 2-minute truck ride to the put-in (the stretch beside camp is white-water, so we drive past it) → 50 minutes to 1 hour 15 on the tube depending on the water level, with the guide floating beside you, a waterproof speaker and a cooler of cold drinks
• The elephant stop, if you added it — about 30 minutes, then a final short float to the take-out and a 10-minute drive back to camp
• The SaGee waterfall slide, a 5-minute walk behind camp
• Hot shower, then the five-minute hop to your bed or villa room; dinner cooked at camp at about 18:00
• Day two: breakfast at 08:00, checkout 09:00–09:30, back in Chiang Mai around 11:00 with the afternoon still yours. Day two is yours unless you add an activity with one of our partners — you can still decide on day one, and we’ll tell you then how you get back to the city. Times are a guide, not a guarantee

Yes to non-swimmers — everyone wears a life jacket, the tubes are tied together and the guide is in the water with you. The river takes children from age 1 with an adult; the trek suits roughly ages 6 and up.

We float the calm stretch of the Mae Taeng — under grade 1 in low water, grade 1–2 at most in the rainy season. It isn’t rafting; the grade 3–4 rapids are on other sections of the same river, run by rafting companies. Whether the youngest can float depends on the river that day — in the calm low-water months even toddlers join; when the water is high the guide may set a higher minimum, and a child who can’t go in can wait at our base camp office while the adults float. The SaGee slide has a children’s section with no minimum age and a separate adults’ section; nobody is made to slide, the guide demonstrates first, and you decide. Pregnant? You can join the trek and the river up to six months. Every guest is covered by accident insurance — up to ฿500,000 medical per incident and ฿1,000,000 cover; we still recommend your own travel insurance as well.

Normal rain doesn’t stop us. Only a serious storm cancels, and the guide decides that on the day, on safety alone.

We read the community water-level marker at the bridge before the river. If the stream has been high for several days we use a backup trek route behind the village without crossings. If the river itself can’t be floated, the rest of the trip still runs and we drive that stretch instead; if the level stays unsafe, we move your date free of charge or refund in full.

The guide films the tubing and the elephants on an Insta360. If you booked on our website, the highlight video and your tour photos are included and sent to you after the trip.

With a small group you’ll usually have them before you leave camp (AirDrop for iPhone); on busy days we send a Google Drive link afterwards. We don’t film the waterfall slide, and trek footage isn’t guaranteed.