The White Lotus Tour of Koh Samui

Most people land here with one question, so start with that.

The White Lotus resort is the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, and you cannot wander into it. It sits on Laem Yai Bay at the island’s north-west tip, built in 2007 on an old coconut plantation, with 60 pool villas plus 11 residences. The villas on screen are real guest villas. The resort scenes were shot in February and March 2024, and for those weeks the hotel took no outside bookings and was full of cast and crew.

So the only way into a villa is to book one. Without staying, you get into the grounds by booking a table: Pla Pla on the water, the KOH Thai Kitchen or the CoCoRum beach bar. Third-party sites describe a day pass as well, but we have not seen the hotel confirm it. What a night costs, and who gets in has its own page.

What anyone can buy is the water. In episode one the new guests arrive by boat, and the limestone islands behind them are Ang Thong, a marine park of 42 islands about 20 km west of Samui. A day out there costs about $83. That is the trip this page is built around.

What the Ang Thong day shows, and what it doesn’t

The day we recommend is run by Blue Stars Kayaking. A van collects you from your hotel and drives you to Nathon pier on the west coast, and breakfast is served on board while the guide explains the day. The first stop is Koh Tai Plao, where you take a kayak through rock tunnels, overhangs and small caves. Lunch comes as the boat moves on to Koh Mae Ko, where a short, steep climb ends above the Emerald Lake. The last stop is Koh Wua Talap. You can lie on the beach, paddle round the islet next to it, or climb to the viewpoint over the whole park.

It takes about ten hours. The THB 300 park fee is included, which is not true of every Ang Thong ticket, and the operator has 855 reviews at 4.7.

Now the limits. No tour enters the resort, lands on its beach or goes anywhere near the villas. In the show the park is scenery, not a set: it appears behind the guests’ arrival, and that is the only scene any source places there. Even the arrival is cut from two coasts, since part of it was shot at Ya Nui Beach on Phuket. The yacht in episode four was moored at Yacht Haven Marina on Phuket, on the Andaman side, and no boat from Samui reaches that water. We also won’t promise you a view of the Four Seasons from the deck. Nobody we have read says you get one, and we have not photographed it ourselves.

The other thing to know before you pick a date: the park usually closes to boats from 1 November to 15 December, and the weather moves the edges. If your trip falls inside that window, no operator can take you in.

If you want one day on Samui that touches the show, this is the one. You get the islands from the opening episode, from a kayak, at a price that already includes the park.

See dates for the Ang Thong kayak day →

The tour with the show’s name on it

One listing is called Koh Samui: White Lotus Sailing to Ang Thong Marine Park. It is a 9.5-hour sailing day run by Koh Samui Advisor, at $148. Its description promises what the other Ang Thong days promise: the 42 islands, kayaking in sea caves, snorkelling and the walk up to the lagoon. The name is the operator’s choice. Nothing ties it to HBO or to the Four Seasons.

We don’t recommend it yet, and the reason is simple. It is a new listing with no reviews. The version we read also doesn’t say where it leaves from or what the price includes. It may well be a lovely sail. Right now, though, you would pay $65 more than the kayak day for a sailing boat and a name, with no guest yet to tell you how it went. When reviews come in, we will look again.

Here is how the Ang Thong days on this site line up:

The boat-day guide goes through each of these in more depth, and angthongtourreviews.com compares every Ang Thong boat in detail if you want a wider field than this site covers.

Where season 3 was really shot

Season 3 was filmed between February and August 2024 and aired from 16 February to 6 April 2025. The resort you saw is a composite of several hotels.

On Samui, the Four Seasons supplied the villas, the pool, the beach and the gym with its boxing ring. Anantara Bophut, about 25 minutes’ drive east, supplied the lobby, the entrance and the jewellery shop, and the Singing Bird Lounge at Anantara Lawana in Chaweng turns up as a bar in episode one. The monastery where Piper meets her monk is Wat Phu Khao Thong at Mae Nam, the temple with the dragon staircase. The Full Moon party was stitched together from Haad Rin on Koh Phangan, the Fisherman’s Village night market in Bophut and Choeng Mon beach.

Phuket carried more than people expect. Belinda’s wellness centre is Anantara Mai Khao, the dinner scenes at Ta Khai are the Rosewood, and the yacht sat at Yacht Haven Marina. In Bangkok the hotel is the Mandarin Oriental, the only Bangkok hotel used, Bamboo Bar included. Big Buddha appears on a lot of location lists. We found no source that puts it on screen.

The full list, with what a visitor can actually walk into, is in where season 3 was filmed.

The fight night was on Phuket

The Muay Thai evening that Kate, Laurie and Jaclyn spend ringside with Valentin was filmed at Bangla Boxing Stadium in Patong, on Phuket. It was not shot on Samui, and the Bangkok version that circulates online has nothing behind it. The only ring on Samui that made it on screen is the one at the Four Seasons.

Samui has its own stadiums, and two of them sell tickets here. Phetch Buncha runs fights on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 9 pm, $45, with 1,320 reviews at 4.8. Samui International runs Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, also $45. You get the same sport and the same Wai Khru ceremony before the bouts. You don’t get the location. If the Phuket scenes matter more to you than the resort, Phuket or Koh Samui weighs the two islands as a base.

What the show did to Samui

The numbers that have an owner are these. Expedia reported flight searches to Koh Samui for March and April 2025 up 30% on the year before. Minor Hotels, which owns the Anantaras, said website traffic to its three filming hotels rose 104% and direct online bookings 41% in February 2025.

Thailand as a whole went the other way. Foreign arrivals fell in 2025, and to 26 September 2026 they were down another 3.65% on the year, by the tourism ministry’s count. The show moved searches for one island and its luxury hotels. It did not move the country.

It is also not getting any fresher. Four Seasons and HBO announced a global partnership in early 2025, and that partnership is now over: season 4 moved to the south of France, to hotels outside the group. The islands were there before the show and will be there after it.

Before you book

Samui’s weather runs opposite to Phuket’s. The wet months are October to December, with November the worst of them; January to April is driest, and May to September is mostly dry. That is also why the park shuts in November. Rough seas cancel boats, and the kayak day cancels free up to 24 hours before, so book it early in your stay and leave a spare day behind it. How many days Samui needs works through the split.

The kayak day is not for everyone. The operator lists it as unsuitable for children under 5, people over 70 and anyone over 115 kg, and the climb at Koh Mae Ko is steep. If the resort is the point, book a table at Pla Pla or CoCoRum ahead and go in as a restaurant guest. If the islands are the point, this is the day.

Check availability for the Ang Thong day →