How Much Does a Trip to ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Luxury Locale Cost?

On Sunday, with more than a month of winter left, HBO will transport millions of viewers to the serene beaches of Thailand with the Season 3 premiere of its hit show “The White Lotus.” And while fans of the show know not to trust the veneer of tranquility at this fictional resort chain, who can blame them for fantasizing about taking their own trip to the White Lotus Koh Samui? 

Set-jetting—the travel trend of vacationing where one’s favorite TV shows and films are set—has taken off in recent years, spurred in part by the wild success of the HBO satire and a post-pandemic boom in international travel. According to online travel booking firm, Hopper, interest in Thailand has already increased in anticipation of White Lotus’s third season.

So what does a trip to the site of the White Lotus Koh Samui cost? Start saving now, as we break down how much a one-week trip to this luxury locale would set you back.

Hotel

A one-week stay at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui—where Season 3 was filmed—will easily set you back more than $10,000.

From Nov. 1 to 8—the first week of peak tourist season in Thailand, which runs through February—the resort’s least expensive room, the 1,100-square-foot Serenity Pool Villa, costs $1,519 per night (including fees), for a total accommodation bill of $10,633, before taxes. One upside: The rate includes breakfast! 

If you’re not horrified by that price and can manage the splurge, you could shell out $2,944 a night to have direct access to the hotel’s private beach from a roughly 1,350-square-foot Beach Villa with Pool. 

For larger groups, the resort’s most expensive offering—the more than 16,000-square-foot, five-bedroom Residence Villa with Pool, which accommodates up to 15 people and comes with a personal assistant—costs $11,062 a night. 

Dining and Amenities

Main courses at the hotel’s Koh Thai Kitchen range from 450 Thai baht (THB)—$13.30 as of this writing—for vegetarian stir-fries to THB 1,850 ($54.74) for Australian lamb or tenderloin. Lobster spaghetti at the more upscale Pla Pla will cost you THB 2,500 (about $74) and mai tai on the resort’s verandah will put you back THB 480 ($14.25).

If you’re feeling a little sluggish after a big meal, you can take an hourlong THB 2,500 ($74) private lesson in Muay Thai, an ancient Thai martial art. Or do the exact opposite and relax with a 60-minute massage at the resort spa, starting at $175, or the 2.5-hour, $1,069 “Secret Night Ritual,” described as “a four-hands healing journey, combining Tibetan singing bowls and a warm lava shell massage by the sea, followed by a coconut and lotus petal bath in your private villa.”

Adventurers can choose from a few different full-day and overnight excursions that take them to nearby islands in the Gulf of Thailand, or they can rent one of the resort’s two yachts and choose their adventure. Prices for those, however, are unlisted. 

Getting There

Koh Samui has a modest international airport, serviced by flights from elsewhere in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and mainland China. That means there’s no chance of a direct flight from anywhere in the U.S.  

As of this writing, a round-trip ticket from Los Angeles to Koh Samui, with stopovers in Taipei and Bangkok, costs about $1,200. If the thought of transferring twice sends a shudder up your spine, you can pay an extra $200 to fly United Airlines to Hong Kong before hopping on a Bangkok Airways flight to Samui. But be warned: the 11-hour layover in Hong Kong—from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.—may test your patience.

Two-stopover flights out of New York cost about $100 more than comparable L.A. flights. But the layover-averse may want to consider a different destination: As of this writing, the one-stop flight from New York to Koh Samui in early November costs about $7,700 on Cathay Pacific.