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Philandering partners, murder for hire, prickly family dynamics, duplicitous sex workers, dangerous gays, existential crises galore: the personal lives of White Lotus visitors may not be enviable, but there’s a lot to admire about their vacation style.
HBO officially announced alongside the Tourism Authority of Thailand that the show’s hotly anticipated third season would be filmed in the country, including locations such as Bangkok, Phuket and Koh Samui.
Created by Mike White, the Emmy-winning drama series — which streams on Max — sets up its deeply flawed guests at the fictitious resort chain for five-star getaways, complete with tricked-out suites, five-star service, and impeccable food and drinks. In reality, the filming locations are Four Seasons resorts around the world.
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There are four Four Seasons properties across Thailand. And while reps for Four Seasons wouldn’t confirm the precise filming location on the record for The Hollywood Reporter, our reporting points to more than one of these properties showing up on screen — as well as the likelihood that filming is taking place at the Koh Samui location right now. (The first season was filmed domestically at the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea, when the property was closed to guests amid the COVID lockdown. The second season headed across the Atlantic to Italy’s Four Seasons Taormina, off the coast of Sicily.)
White Lotus season three will star Leslie Bibb, Dom Hetrakul, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey and Tayme Thapthimthong.
Ahead of the third season’s expected premiere in 2025, let these White Lotus seasons inspire your own travels with a stay at one of the real-life properties used in the show. BYO interpersonal predicaments and dramas — or even better: just leave them at home.
Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea
This Maui property served as the filming location for season one while the resort was closed amid the pandemic shutdown. Set on 15 acres of the Wailea Coast, the 383-room oceanfront property has an adults-only infinity pool, a futuristic med spa by Next Health, and three of the state’s most buzzed-about restaurants (the newly overhauled Ferraro’s Restaurant and Bar, plus Spago Maui and DUO Steak and Seafood.) The Pineapple Suite is not a real thing. But the rooms and suites on the eighth-floor club level offer V-VIP treatment, including access to a posh lounge with continually rotating food service options, attentive concierge service, and expansive ocean and pool views.
San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel
Earlier incarnations of this historic Italian property in the Sicilian coastal town of Taormina welcomed guests including Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Princess Margaraet and Audrey Hepburn. It became a Four Seasons in 2021, and the filming location for White Lotus’ second season not long after. The property consists of a wing built on the site of a 14th-century convent, as well as a second wing in a structure added in 1896. The resort now blends chic modern style with historical frescoes and original relics, with 68 rooms and 43 suites in all, plus that eye-popping 69-foot-long infinity pool overlooking the Ionian Sea. Executive chef Massimo Mantarro oversees the F&B here, which matters a lot if you’re taking every single meal on property, like the White Lotus guests.
Four Seasons Taormina reopens for the season on March 1.
Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui
Pull up the registration for this Thailand hotel right now and you’ll see it’s blocked off entirely from January through March. That’s a pretty good indicator that filming is happening now. The Four Seasons’ island property off the east coast of Thailand, Koh Samui has 60 pool villas as well as 11 private residence rentals for luxurious accommodations. The main pool is located adjacent to the white-sand beach, around which attendants regularly circulate with ice water, chilled towels, and water spritzes. (Each villa also has its own private pool.) There are two tennis courts, a muay thai boxing ring, and the dreamy Secret Garden Spa with five treatment rooms.
Four Seasons Bangkok
Bangkok is a dizzying urban environment, but the Four Seasons manages to feel like an escape. Located along the riverfront at Chao Phraya River, it has 299 guest rooms with abundant natural light, and river views from striking outdoor pools. The on-site BKK Social Club ranked as the No. 1 bar in Thailand and third in Asia by The World’s 50 Best Bars. The hotel is also home to the only Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant in Thailand, Yu Ting Yuan, as well as a Michelin-recommended Italian restaurant, Riva del Fiume. Its recently opened Urban Wellness Centre sprawls over nearly 27,000 square feet of dedicated wellness space.
Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle
Tucked into northern Thailand, near the borders of Myanmar and Laos, at the meeting of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers, this luxurious tented camp is a lush, otherworldly escape in the area known as the Golden Triangle. Here, guests can trek elephants through bamboo jungles and mountain trails. There are 16 tents in all (one of them, the Explorer’s Lodge, has two bedrooms), which evoke 19th-century adventure expeditions with hardwood floors and traditional thatched roofs. An open-air spa overlooks the jungle valley.
Four Seasons Chiang Mai
Located in the verdant Mae Rim Valley overlooking Doi Suthep Mountain range and tucked within rice fields, this peaceful retreat is a wellness-seeker’s paradise. Done in the Lanna Kingdom style that blends regional cultures of Burma, India and China, the Four Seasons Chiang Mai resort is laid out to resemble a Thai village, with pavilions surrounding a working rice farm. The 32-acre property features landscaped gardens, rice terraces, lakes, lily ponds, waterfalls and a rice farm with its own family of water buffalo. There are two infinity pools by the rice paddies, plus hot and cold whirlpools and a yoga barn available from sunrise to sunset.
