The Hollywood Reporter and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change.
The Real Star of ‘The White Lotus’ Is the Four Seasons: These Are the Five-Star Hotels to Book Before Season 3 Inspires a Reservation Rush
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission.
Philandering partners, murder for hire, prickly family dynamics, duplicitous sex workers, dangerous gays, existential crises galore: the personal lives of The White Lotus‘ deeply flawed guests may not be enviable, but there’s a lot to admire about their vacation style.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Returning for its third season on Feb. 16 on HBO and Max, the Emmy-winning series features the fictitious resort chain, the White Lotus, as its five-star backdrop, where privileged characters enjoy tricked-out suites, five-star service and impeccable food and drinks. In reality, the filming locations are Four Seasons resorts around the world.
Related: The White Lotus Teams with Abercrombie & Fitch on a Resort-Ready Clothing Collection
The first season was filmed domestically at the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea when the property was closed to guests amid the COVID lockdown. The second season headed across the Atlantic to Italy’s Four Seasons Taormina, off the coast of Sicily, and the third installment explores Thailand from the Four Seasons Koh Samui. (The network and the Tourism Authority of Thailand previously revealed that the show’s hotly anticipated third season would be filmed in the country, including locations such as Bangkok and Phuket.)
The White Lotus season three comes after the HBO series announced a global partnership with Four Seasons, and show-inspired pop-ups are expected to take over Four Seasons Westlake Village in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
Created by Mike White, the series’ latest cast includes returning star Natasha Rothwell from season one alongside Emmy-nominated Fallout actor-turned-eyewear designer Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Scott Glenn, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Leslie Bibb, Blackpink singer Lisa, Dom Hetrakul, Tayme Thapthimthong, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, Lek Patravadi and more.
The White Lotus first premiered in July 2021 and starred Rothwell as well as Murray Bartlett, Jennifer Coolidge, Natasha Rothwell, Connie Britton, Alexandra Daddario, Fred Hechinger, Jake Lacy, Sydney Sweeney, Brittany O’Grady, Steve Zahn and Molly Shannon. It continued in 2022 with the Sicily-set second season, and Coolidge returned to join a new cast that included Italian breakout stars Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Grannò, F. Murray Abraham, Meghann Fahy, Theo James, Aubrey Plaza, Haley Lu Richardson, Leo Woodall, Adam DiMarco, Tom Hollander and others.
Related: Ten Hollywood-Famous Airbnbs for Experiencing Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows In Real Life
Ahead of the third season’s Feb. 16 arrival, let these White Lotus seasons inspire your own travels with a stay at one of the real-life properties used in the show. BYO interpersonal predicaments and dramas — or even better: just leave them at home.
Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea
Room rates from $902 per night
This Maui property served as the filming location for season one while the resort was closed amid the pandemic shutdown. Set on 15 acres of the Wailea Coast, the 383-room oceanfront destination has an adults-only infinity pool, a futuristic med spa by Next Health, and three of the state’s most buzzed-about restaurants (the newly overhauled Ferraro’s Restaurant and Bar, plus Spago Maui and DUO Steak and Seafood.) The Pineapple Suite is not a real thing. But the rooms and suites on the eighth-floor club level offer V-VIP treatment, including access to a posh lounge with continually rotating food service options, attentive concierge service, and expansive ocean and pool views.
San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel
Room rates from $1,246 per night
Earlier incarnations of this historic Italian property in the Sicilian coastal town of Taormina welcomed guests including Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Princess Margaret and Audrey Hepburn. It became a Four Seasons in 2021, and the filming location for White Lotus’ second season not long after. The property consists of a wing built on the site of a 14th-century convent, as well as a second wing in a structure added in 1896. The resort now blends chic modern style with historical frescoes and original relics, with 68 rooms and 43 suites in all, plus that eye-popping 69-foot-long infinity pool overlooking the Ionian Sea. Executive chef Massimo Mantarro oversees the F&B here, which matters a lot if you’re taking every single meal on property, like the White Lotus guests.
Four Seasons Taormina reopens for the season on March 1.
Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui
Room rates from $751 per night
The Four Seasons’ island property off the east coast of Thailand, Koh Samui played a starring role in season three of The White Lotus. It has 60 pool villas and 11 private residence rentals for luxurious accommodations. The main pool is located adjacent to the white-sand beach, around which attendants regularly circulate with ice water, chilled towels, and water spritzes. (Each villa also has its own private pool.) There are two tennis courts, a muay thai boxing ring, and the dreamy Secret Garden Spa with five treatment rooms.
Four Seasons Bangkok
Rooms from $739 per night
Bangkok is a dizzying urban environment, but the Four Seasons manages to feel like an escape. Located along the riverfront at Chao Phraya River, it has 299 guest rooms with abundant natural light, and river views from striking outdoor pools. The on-site BKK Social Club ranked as the No. 1 bar in Thailand and third in Asia by The World’s 50 Best Bars. The hotel is also home to the only Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant in Thailand, Yu Ting Yuan, as well as a Michelin-recommended Italian restaurant, Riva del Fiume. Its recently opened Urban Wellness Centre sprawls over nearly 27,000 square feet of dedicated wellness space.
Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle
Room rates from $2,648 per night
Tucked into northern Thailand, near the borders of Myanmar and Laos, at the meeting of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers, this luxurious tented camp is a lush, otherworldly escape in the area known as the Golden Triangle. Here, guests can trek elephants through bamboo jungles and mountain trails. There are 16 tents in all (one of them, the Explorer’s Lodge, has two bedrooms), which evoke 19th-century adventure expeditions with hardwood floors and traditional thatched roofs. An open-air spa overlooks the jungle valley.
Four Seasons Chiang Mai
Room rates from $530 per night
Located in the verdant Mae Rim Valley overlooking Doi Suthep Mountain range and tucked within rice fields, this peaceful retreat is a wellness-seeker’s paradise. Done in the Lanna Kingdom style that blends regional cultures of Burma, India and China, the Four Seasons Chiang Mai resort is laid out to resemble a Thai village, with pavilions surrounding a working rice farm. The 32-acre property features landscaped gardens, rice terraces, lakes, lily ponds, waterfalls and a rice farm with its own family of water buffalo. There are two infinity pools by the rice paddies, plus hot and cold whirlpools and a yoga barn available from sunrise to sunset.
This story was originally published on Feb. 23, 2024.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.