Many epic trips are planned around spotting lions on an African safari, watching herds of bison in Yellowstone National Park, or swimming with whale sharks, but you don’t have to plan a trip to one of these destinations to have an up-close encounter with an animal. In fact, there are plenty of Airbnbs where you can come face-to-face with fauna—both wild or in a farm setting—from the comfort of your own temporary home. We’ve collected eight properties for animal lovers, all of which have been vetted as part of the site’s Guest Favorites designation, and the experiences run the gamut from watching penguins in your backyard to hanging out with fluffy alpacas or Highland cows.
Note that Airbnb has strict standards regarding ethical engagement with animals, so you can be sure that the ones you encounter during your trip are well treated and not exploited for tourism.
Three-bedroom barn loft at an Upstate New York alpaca farm
- Location: Roscoe, New York
- Sleeps: 6
- Book now: airbnb.com
New York City dwellers craving a bit of nature will love this sprawling alpaca farm, located on one of the highest peaks in the Sullivan County Catskills, about two hours north of Manhattan. Family-owned Buck Brook Alpacas offers a three-bedroom loft apartment above a barn that houses alpacas, llamas, Angora rabbits, chickens, and a potbellied pig named Daisy. Your stay includes a free farm tour, but you can also add on walks and yoga sessions with the impossibly cute South American creatures. And if petting their fuzzy fleece inspires you to invest in some wool products of your own, you’ll be happy to know that your stay comes with a 10 percent discount at the farm store, which sells blankets, gloves, sweaters, yarn, and even crocheted alpacas.
Walk in a winter wonderland with reindeer at this cabin in Swedish Lapland.
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Arctic reindeer cabin in Swedish Lapland
- Location: Poikkijärvi, Sweden
- Sleeps: 2
- Book now: airbnb.com
There may be no better introduction to Lapland than this cozy cabin, owned by a Sámi family and located in the village of Poikkijärvi, about a 20-minute walk from the famed Icehotel. Three reindeer live on-site during the winter (through about April 1), and an overnight stay includes a feeding session with them. The digs are rustic but comfortable: You’ll be staying in a cottage with a wood-burning fireplace, and just outside, there’s a separate building with a sauna, a compost toilet, and a cshower that’s shared with another rental unit, the Glass Cone. Minimal light pollution means optimal aurora borealis–viewing conditions, and snowshoes are available for trudging through the snow-covered wilderness.
About 40 penguins live in the backyard of this gorgeous villa in Simon’s Town.
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A luxury villa outside Cape Town with penguins in the garden
- Location: Cape Town, South Africa
- Sleeps: 8
- Book now: airbnb.com
About a 45-minute drive south of Cape Town, Simon’s Town attracts day trippers thanks to its colony of African penguins at Boulders Beach. If you want to spend more time with these tuxedoed waddlers—who prefer sandy beaches to icy shores—book this four-bedroom villa, which is decorated with paintings by the artist who used to live here and comes with bikes, snorkeling gear, and an inflatable boat for exploring the surroundings. Thirty years ago, landscapers from South Africa’s famed Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens planted the garden out back, and it now attracts about 40 resident penguins, who bed down and nest in and among the vegetation. The only slight downside—if you can call it that—is noisy neighbors: The listing warns that you can often hear penguins making their donkey-like braying call late at night or early in the morning.
These shaggy Scottish cows are an added bonus at the already-beautiful A-frame treehouse in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley.
Courtesy of Airbnb
A-frame tree house in British Columbia with Highland cows
- Location: Chilliwack, British Columbia
- Sleeps: 2
- Book now: airbnb.com
Known for their shaggy coats, long horns, and friendly demeanor, Highland “coos” are an Instagram-friendly breed of Scottish cattle. But you don’t have to travel to the British Isles to hang out with a few on your next vacation. A mini herd lives on the grounds of this one-bedroom, A-frame tree house, set among forests and pasture land about 60 miles east of Vancouver in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. When you’re not busy feeding the cows grains or sliced apples, you can play bocce, sit by the fire pit, or soak in the outdoor wooden hot tub. The stylish interiors include a green-tiled rainfall shower with homemade soaps and a lofted bedroom (reached via a ladder) with bamboo sheets and a pair of skylights perfect for stargazing.
Surrounded by gum trees, this cabin offers a front-row seat to watch native Australian wildlife.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Mountain-view cabin in a New South Wales wildlife sanctuary
- Location: Walang, Australia
- Sleeps: 3
- Book now: airbnb.com
In the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, about 110 miles from Sydney, sits the Conmurra Wildlife Sanctuary, which is part sanctuary for endangered species and part natural haven for wild Aussie critters. Across their 167-acre woodland property, the owners have taken down old farm fencing, removed invasive predators (cats and foxes), planted native seedlings, and installed nest boxes, and the results have been impressive: The area now attracts wild kangaroos, wallabies, possums, wombats, kookaburras, owls, and sugar gliders, and enclosures house endangered species such as bettongs and bandicoots. You can stay on-site in the studio-style mountain-view cabin, which sleeps three, or the homestead guesthouse, which sleeps seven across two bedrooms. Visits include guided sunset walks and the chance to meet the resident dingoes, Kimba and Kela.
At this retreat in the middle of bustling Bangkok, you’ll share the aviary space with plenty of birds.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Tree house in a private Bangkok aviary
- Location: Bangkok, Thailand
- Sleeps: 3
- Book now: airbnb.com
Bangkok is a bustling metropolis, but it has beautiful pockets of green hidden throughout. Among the most surprising is this private aviary, which is filled with tropical plants and birds, where you can stay in a tree house–style cabin at the heart of it. There’s a garden swing over a fishpond and a fern-covered tower with a staircase leading up to an observation deck overlooking the aviary and the city beyond. A treetop bridge connects an en suite bedroom (with a queen-size bed and a sofa bed) and a living and dining area. Residents of the aviary include a hawk, pheasants, chickens, parrots, and more.
Because of its location on a biological corridor, this Airbnb is a great place to see wild monkeys, like this inquisitive spider monkey.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Off-grid bungalow with four species of monkeys in Costa Rica
- Location: Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
- Sleeps: 2
- Book now: airbnb.com
This off-the-grid, solar-powered eco-lodge sits in a biological corridor in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, so you’re bound to see wildlife throughout your stay. The main attractions here are the four varieties of monkeys—squirrel, spider, white-faced capuchin, and howler—that feed, play with their babies, and scamper around the surrounding trees. There’s a semi-private beach perfect for wading and all-ages surfing, and in season (July–August, October–November), you can see whales swimming and jumping just offshore. The hosts will set up other excursions in the area, too, including bird-watching, horseback riding, and even kayaking among bioluminescent plankton. Besides this one-bedroom glamping experience (Spider), superhost Silvina owns two more bungalows (Titi and Howler) and a two-bedroom private house that sleeps four.
From the dreamy outdoor bath, you can watch sheep in the meadow as you take in the sunset.
Courtesy of Airbnb
Modern sheep farm retreat in New Zealand
- Location: Rotorua, New Zealand
- Sleeps: 2
- Book now: airbnb.com
You’ve probably heard that in New Zealand, sheep outnumber humans at a ratio of five to one—so you’re practically guaranteed to have an ovine encounter during your trip. You can make that a certainty by booking at the one-bedroom Wildberry Cottage, which opened in 2020 in the countryside outside the geothermal hot spot of Rotorua. The modern farmhouse is inspired by Scandinavian design, with pieces collected during the owners’ travels in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. You can walk freely about the farm, feed the woolly neighbors, and spend some quality time with the heading dog, Ruby, whom the hosts describe as follows: “She is obsessed with her tennis ball and may turn up begging for you to play with her.”
