BANGKOK and BEYOND

The new setting for White Lotus, THAILAND has much to OFFER BEYOND beaches and backpackers

TEXT BY GISELA WILLIAMS

The “White Lotus effect” is real. Despite the dark nature of Mike White’s zeitgeisty social satire, the beautiful locations where the HBO series is set—five-star resorts in Maui (season one), Sicily (season two), and now Thailand—inspire a spike in tourism, no matter how many sordid murders occur on the show. Season three, set at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok (which celebrates its 150th anniversary next year), the Four Seasons on the island of Koh Samui, and the Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas on the island of Phuket, is sure to inspire the same frenzy. White Lotus’s latest setting dovetails with Thailand’s emergence as an increasingly buzzy creative hub, particularly its capital, Bangkok. The country’s new Destination Thailand Visa, which allows travelers to stay up to 180 days, is luring young remote workers,…

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Harper's Bazaar (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025

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