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[title]HBO's The White Lotus is back with a bang for season 3, with this season’s motley crew of ultra-rich travellers setting up camp in a luxury wellness resort on Thailand's second-largest island, Koh Samui. The show, culminating with the season finale on April 6, has inspired an uptick in travellers interested in visiting the island this year – but how accurately does it portray life on Koh Samui?
I’ve been based in Thailand on and off for a decade and have spent several months in Koh Samui over the years. It's been interesting seeing familiar scenes of Thailand's incredible natural beauty, top-notch hospitality, delicious food, and healing modalities play out on the screen – despite the characters being delusional, unaware and incredibly out-of-touch, as is standard for The White Lotus. Here's what the show captures well and what's totally inaccurate.
This post contains spoilers for ‘The White Lotus’ season 3.
The island's wildlife and natural beauty
Lush jungles, spectacular beaches, boats sailing through glassy waters… wild monkeys? While monkeys feature prominently in the show, there actually aren’t any wild monkeys living in the jungle on Koh Samui (but there are monitor lizards). Unfortunately, there are snake farms on the island where cobras are forced to perform for tourists – though it’s doubtful it’d be so easy to let them loose as Rick does in episode 3. Pong-pong trees are commonly used in landscaping at luxury resorts in Koh Samui, and their seeds are indeed poisonous.
Boatloads of island-hopping tourists sail along Koh Samui’s glassy waters to nearby limestone karsts and islands, as do the private charter yachts like Gary-Greg’s (which – believe it or not – you can actually rent, for a modest $200,000 a week).
The show inaccurately states that the devastating 2004 tsunami hit Koh Samui, however, it did wreak havoc on Phuket.
Read more: Where is ‘The White Lotus’ filmed? All the hotel locations featured in the new hit third season
Buddhist culture in Koh Samui
Buddhism is the main religion practiced on Koh Samui and influences much of the island’s culture and traditions. There are temples all over; the temple Piper visits is Wat Phu Khao Thong, and while it’s open to visitors, it doesn't offer a year-long meditation course.
Would Kate, Jaclyn and Laurie really get that soaked by local kids with water guns during Songkran? That’s par for the course at this Buddhist festival, where people toss water to wash away bad luck from the year before. The lively celebrations take place all over Thailand in April, including in Fisherman's Village, the walking street in Koh Samui where the scene was filmed. When it’s not taken over by water fights, it’s a great place to shop for artisanal crafts.
The show’s depiction of the Full Moon Party, where Lochlan, Saxon, Chelsea and Chloe rave at Haad Rin Beach on Koh Phangan island, is just as wild in real life – neon lights, cocktails served in buckets, and cross-faded attendees included. However, real Thai full moon culture is based on the Buddhist calendar and is a time for meditation.
Tourism in Koh Samui
The show realistically portrays the worst of Samui’s tourists, from entitled affluent travelers causing scenes to hippies in harem pants like those at the airport when Rick flies to Bangkok. Tourists love the shooting range where Gaitok practices – Koh Samui Shooting Range – and Muay Thai fights (like the one Gaitok and Mook attend) at the island’s many stadiums.
There's an abundance of cannabis dispensaries, but smoking weed in public like Rick does is illegal. The drugs the Full Moon Party crew took are definitely illegal, but Victoria's prescribed lorazepam is legal.
Kate, Jaclyn and Laurie find themselves at a ‘budget hotel for retirees’ – a slightly ageist term, sure, but it’s true that Koh Samui has its share of mid-range all-inclusives alongside White Lotus-esque luxury resorts. There are beach clubs, too, but Café del Mar, where Kate, Jaclyn and Laurie party, is in Phuket (the largest island in Thailand) and nowhere near Samui.
The spa seen on the show is also in Phuket, at Anantara Mai Khao. Wellness is big business in Koh Samui, so it’s no surprise this season’s White Lotus hotel is the most wellness-focused resort yet, where phone usage is banned and treatments include posture classes and meditation sessions.
‘Losers Back Home’ are real
‘Losers Back Home’ (LBH) and ‘Loser at Home, Baller in Asia’ (LAHBIA) are common colloquial terms in Thailand. Like Gary-Greg and Rick, LBHs are white western men who are often drunks, over 50, balding and retired. Again, it might seem harsh, but their depiction in the show isn’t far off reality. Afforded with white privilege, these self-important men arrive in Thailand able to stretch their capital due to the lower cost of living and enjoy a quality of life that wouldn’t be achievable at home. While I haven't seen LBHs at wellness resorts around Thailand, I do see them hanging around in areas known for sex work.
The ‘White Lotus Effect’
Just as it did for Sicily’s Taormina, the setting for season 2, The White Lotus is already contributing to a tourism spike in Koh Samui. There's been a 65 percent increase in searches for Four Seasons Koh Samui, the primary filming location, on Hotels.com. Webjet’s bookings to Koh Samui surged by 28 percent in February. The upcoming Songkran festival in Koh Samui is expected to be the top destination for the annual festival this year.
Before The White Lotus, Koh Samui was already seeing the adverse environmental effects of rapid development, including record-high sea temperatures in 2024 and water scarcity. The ‘White Lotus Effect’ fuels the tourism economy, with many locals employed in hospitality like hotel workers Gaitok and Mook, but also brings a boatload of problems. Set-jetters would do well to understand the show is satire – and try not to make the same missteps as its hapless characters.