Where Was The White Lotus Season 3 Filmed? (& How To Visit)

5 months ago

We know it’s Thailand – but where?

This post may contain affiliate links. Learn more

It’s the question on everyone’s lips: where did they film The White Lotus season 3? If you’re looking to get ahead of the crowd at this suave hotel, lock your booking in now…

C&TH Responsible Tourism Guide

Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui

Where Was The White Lotus Season 3 Filmed?

The White Lotus season 3 was filmed at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, which stands in for the season’s White Lotus branch. The series was also filmed in Phuket and Bangkok, with some reports suggesting additional scenes were filmed at Anantara Mai Khao Villas – patently not a Four Seasons resort.

Et tu, Brute? Rather than betrayal, we think this could be part of Mike White and HBO’s lucrative deal with Thailand, which gifted production a 30 percent tax rebate – amounting to around $4.4 million – to lure production away from Japan and towards the southeast Asian nation. Anantara is a Thai hotel brand founded by American born Thai businessman William Heinecke. Coincidence? We think not.

Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui

Perched on the Gulf of Siam, the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui is a beachy and extremely secluded resort, with prime diving and snorkeling and supreme desert island vibes. Koh Samui is a small island off the east coast of mainland Thailand. Private yachts can be chartered, and we know how much Tanya loved boat trips… There’s also a spa amid the coconut groves, and we know Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), Tanya’s beloved masseuse and spa manager at the White Lotus Maui, is returning this season, so we think we will spend a bit of time here in The White Lotus season 3.

On the opposite side of mainland Thailand, on the north-west coast of Phuket – a large island in southern Thailand – Anantara Mai Khao Villas is a similarly lush and luxurious hotel, featuring a long stretch of golden, soft-sand beach fringed by the greenery of a national park.

A clapperboard commencing filming for The White Lotus season 3

Speculation initially fancied Japan as the far-flung destination of choice for The White Lotus season 3 after Hawaii in the first season and Italy in the second, but Variety exclusively confirmed that The White Lotus season 3 was set to be filmed in Thailand in March 2023 due to those aforementioned tax breaks, and filming finally got underway in February 2024.

In the first season, all of the action was filmed at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea in Hawaii, which was totally taken over for filming during lockdown. In the second season, production moved to the San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel in Sicily, Italy, with a whole new cast to boot (except for Tanya and Greg, of course).

If You’re Looking For Season 1 & 2 Filming Locations, Click Here

(L-R) Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James and Meghann Fahey in The White Lotus, courtesy of Warner Media.

Where Else?

Reports have circulated recently claiming The White Lotus will be filmed in Koh Samui, Phuket and Bangkok, three locations scattered across Thailand. Koh Samui is an island off the eastern coast in the south of Thailand, on the Malay Peninsula, and we think it’s home to the White Lotus hotel we will see in season 3. To get there, however, our probably-American guests will most likely pass through the Thai capital of Bangkok. Will we see a body loaded onto a plane at Bangkok airport as we did in Hawaii in the first season? Only time will tell.

Phuket, meanwhile, is much closer to Koh Samui, situated on the western side of the Malay Peninsula. Taking a five hour car journey or a one hour flight, we can imagine some guests taking a trip here, too.

What Will The White Lotus Season 3 Be About?

With the filming location comes a season theme to match up. ‘The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,’ series creator Mike White told HBO behind-the-scenes after the second season wrapped. These seasons matched up well with their destinations, with Hawaii backdropping themes of wealth, privilege and colonialism, while sex-themed season two drew on Sicily’s amorous mythology.

‘I think the third season would be maybe a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality,’ White said. Read more about what we can expect here.