5 Retreats Where you can Sleep Next to Animals

At home, you may follow a cliché rule of no dogs on the bed. However, who says you can’t do that when you’re on holiday? After all it’s not your bed. And lets actually make that a goat or a sheep. All around the world, there are places where the line between farm and forest, guesthouse and goat pen, fades entirely. Ok maybe you don’t get to exactly share a bed with a goat, but you know what we mean.

Welcome to the world of animal-sleep retreats: immersive, often off-grid stays that bring you eye-to-eye with certain creatures we often overlook. These are not the superficial and money-hungry petting zoos in disguise you may be familiar with. They’re sanctuaries, working farms, and cultural outposts where humans and animals coexist. 

Here are five of the most unforgettable places where the wild kids (goats, elephants, yaks and all) roam (and possibly sleep) beside you.

Mariaville Goat Farm

Minnesota, USA

At Mariaville, the goats don’t just bleat, they greet. This quirky Minnesotan micro-farm has turned animal interaction into an art form. Guests sleep in cozy cabins just steps from the pens and can book the ‘Goatie Cuddles’ package: think bedtime snuggles with warm, hay-scented goat companions and early-morning milk-and-granola sessions as the sun filters through the paddocks.

The whole experience becomes silly, soulful and surprisingly grounding. Owner-run and rooted in sustainability, the farm invites you to slow down and see goats not as gimmicks, but as gentle and emotionally intelligent beings.

Windy Goat Acres

Iowa, USA

Set in the rolling ‘Bohemian Alps’ of Iowa, Windy Goat Acres feels like the kind of dream you didn’t know you had. It is almost like a mix between hobbit-hut glamping and free-range farm life, where Nigerian dwarf goats bounce between yurts like oversized puppies. You’ll feed them at dawn, nap beside them in hammocks by noon and fall asleep to their gentle sighs under the stars.

The farmstead doesn’t just have goats however. You may spot peacocks, llamas and even potbelly pigs scattered along the land. Oh, and they’ve got kayaks for you to make a day trip from if you ever get tired of petting the various animals (which let’s be completely honest, is pretty close to impossible).

Mahouts Elephant Camp

Chiang Mai, Thailand

At this ethical sanctuary in the forests of Chiang Mai, former logging elephants are given space, dignity and freedom to roam. Guests can stay in simple bamboo huts near the river and follow certain daily tasks which are determined by the one and only elephants: feeding them banana snacks at sunrise, bathing them in jungle streams and learning the deep, ancestral bond between mahouts and their gentle giants.

The experience is tactile, humbling, and entirely off-grid. There’s no Wi-Fi, but there is a different kind of connection (cheesy? Yes. But so true).

Farm Sanctuary SA

Western Cape, South Africa

Nestled between the vineyards of the Western Cape, Farm Sanctuary SA blends animal welfare with art (yes, literal art). As an advocate for animal welfare, founder and director Joanne Lefson, started a project in which one of her sheep and pigs, actually know how to hold a paintbrush and swipe on the canvas. 

Guests sleep in a repurposed chapel cottage overlooking enclosures of rescued pigs, chickens, and sheep, including the world-famous Pigcasso and Baanksy, artistic barn animals whose works hang (and sell) worldwide. This is a sanctuary in which guests can help with feedings, attend guided tours, and leave with a deeper understanding of what it means to truly live alongside animals.

Yak-Milking Homestays

Western Mongolia

High on Mongolia’s western steppe, Kazakh nomads open their gers (traditional yurts) to travellers who seek an honest and authentic glimpse of the herder life. Whilst it may be easy to get distracted by the gorgeous and luscious landscape, animals such as yaks play a crucial role in day-to-day life. They are vital lifelines, milk sources, heat bearers and yes, bedfellows.

Guests learn to churn kumis (fermented mare’s milk), herd the animals on horseback, and sleep on felt-lined floors to the sound of yaks echoing across the valleys. This is by no means a curated retreat. It is a real-life adventure that you take right alongside the nomads, no exceptions.