Rare earth (RE) ions implanted GaN films were studied by optical spectroscopy and RBS techniques. Sharp emission lines due to intra-4fn shell transitions can be observed even at room temperature for the Eu3+ and Pr3+. The photoluminescence spectra recorded by the above band gap excitation reveal dominant transitions due to the 5D0→7F1,2,3 lines at 6004, 6211 and 6632 Å for the Eu3+ and 3P0,1→3F2,3 at 6450 and 6518 Å, respectively, for the Pr3+. We report on the temperature dependence of the intra-ionic emissions as well as on the lattice site location of the RE detailed angular scans through the ⟨0001⟩ and ⟨1011⟩ axial directions; which indicates that for Pr, complete substitutionality on the Ga sites was achieved while for Eu a Ga displaced site was found.