‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Filmed in These Picturesque Thai Hotels
If you watched Sunday’s Season 3 premiere of “The White Lotus” on HBO, you may have woken up with a Monday diagnosis of wanderlust.
Sure, the drama from Emmy-winning creator and showrunner Mike White centers on the darker shades of humanity — and systematically climaxes in at least one death of a character we have come to love over their one-week stay in paradise. But the backdrops of Hawaii, Sicily and now Thailand are mouthwatering and awe-inspiring enough that we can forgive little things like murder and manipulation if it means enjoying a chilled cocktail, a pool full of eye candy and a bottle of SPF 50 in the lead-up to disaster.
“The White Lotus” Season 3 might feature its most exotically intoxicating locale yet: Thailand. The series has built its reputation through incisive and lurid depictions of American wealth, tensions between class and race and other taboos that keep the human condition ticking. As TheWrap previously reported, each season has been a major tourism boon for their respective destinations while also benefitting the local economy through production costs, hiring of local talent and more.
Production of the first two seasons of “White Lotus” contributed $12.9 million and over $40 million, respectively, in direct spending to the local economies of Maui, Hawaii and Sicily, Italy, according to HBO, while Season 3 has contributed a collective $36.9 million to the economies of Koh Samui, Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand.
It’s no wonder, then, that for Season 3, there was international interest in securing the acclaimed drama’s next setting. The Tourism Authority of Thailand governor, Thapanee Kiatphaibool, previously said she expects a “significant boost” in tourism from “The White Lotus” Season 3, adding that the spotlight on Koh Samui, Phuket and Bangkok will “solidify its position as a top travel destination” and give the show’s global audience a “deeper appreciation for Thai culture and traditions.” The agency is forecasting between 36 and 39 million international visitors in 2025, generating between 1.98 trillion and 2.23 trillion Baht ($58.1 million to $65.4 million) in tourism revenue.
So, are you interested in getting in on the “White Lotus” tourism fun yourself? Season 3 features some stunning settings, particularly in its hotel stand-ins for what’s intended to be the greatest hotel and spa resort in the world: The White Lotus.
The main setting for “The White Lotus” Season 3 was again a property of the Four Seasons: the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, located on the nation’s second-biggest island. However, while the Four Seasons serves as the primary setting for filming — showcasing the luxury hotel destination’s restaurants, gyms, pool villas and more — the bar we see our White Lotus guests attending in the premiere of Season 3 was filmed off-site at the nearby Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort’s Singing Bird Lounge.
Anantara also served as the series’ hotel lobby, security station, driveway and jewelry store in its sister location on the island, the Anantara Bophut Koh Samui. Other Koh Samui hotel locations standing in for the titular White Lotus were the Am Samui Resort Taling Ngam and the Cape Fahn Hotel.
But not all of Season 3 was filmed on the same island. Phuket was also used for many scenes featuring Belinda (a returning Natasha Rothwell from Season 1). Her scenes were primarily set at the Anantara Mai Khao Phuket resort.
Dinner scenes, meanwhile, were also mostly filmed in Phuket at the Rosewood Phuket’s luxury Ta Khai restaurant.
Viewers should also keep an eye out for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, which appears in the Season 3 trailer.
In addition to Rothwell, “The White Lotus” Season 3 co-stars Michelle Monaghan, Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jason Isaacs, Lalisa Manobal (aka Lisa), Sam Nivola, Lek Patravadi, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Tayme Thapthimthong. Additional cast for this season includes Nicholas Duvernay, Arnas Fedaravičius, Christian Friedel, Scott Glenn, Dom Hetrakul, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Julian Kostov, Charlotte Le Bon, Morgana O’Reilly and Shalini Peiris.
“The White Lotus” Season 3 airs Sundays on HBO.
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