Siam Insect Zoo

Siam Insect Zoo is a live-insect breeding farm and walk-through discovery garden in Mae Rim, founded in 2006 by Thai entomologist Pisuth Ek-Amnuay. It’s ticketed — 200 THB for a foreign adult, 80 THB for a Thai adult (100/60 THB for children) — and open daily 09:00-17:00 with last entry at 16:20.

The garden sections are planted specifically to attract and sustain live insects rather than displaying them behind glass — beetles, stick insects, and butterflies move through the foliage as you walk the paths, with indoor cases holding preserved specimens and breeding displays for a closer, more structured look. It’s a small-scale, specialist stop: 45 minutes to an hour covers it properly, and it works best as one leg of a longer Mae Rim day rather than a destination on its own.

Insider Tip: Insect activity is noticeably higher in the cooler morning hours — visit before 11 AM if you want to see more than a few sleepy specimens tucked into the shade.

Watch out: Some displays house live insects rather than static props, so keep an eye on small children around the enclosures and follow staff instructions on what can and can’t be handled.

The zoo sits about 20 minutes’ drive north of central Chiang Mai in Mae Rim, a district built around exactly this kind of specialist, family-oriented stop — Mae Sa Waterfall and the Orchid Garden and Butterfly Farm are both a short drive away and pair naturally with a morning here. Paths are shaded but uneven in places; closed-toe shoes are the practical choice over sandals.

There’s no public bus route out here — a songthaew (shared red truck taxi) from central Chiang Mai, a rental car, or a private driver covering the Mae Rim loop are the realistic options. Most visitors combine the stop with two or three other Mae Rim attractions rather than making the drive for this alone, since the visit itself is short. Bring a bit of cash for the on-site shop, since card acceptance at small specialist attractions like this one can be inconsistent outside Chiang Mai city.

It won’t hold anyone’s interest for a full day, but for the time it takes, it delivers close-up encounters with live insects that a conventional zoo enclosure doesn’t offer — a solid, honestly modest addition to a Mae Rim itinerary rather than a headline attraction.