‘If role-playing as Tanya McQuoid doesn’t float your super-yacht, there are plenty more reasons to visit these shores’

Thailand’s tourism numbers have not quite recovered post-pandemic – but 2024 is likely to change that, as hit television show The White Lotus heads to the Land of Smiles for its third season. Casting is rumoured to be underway and, more suspiciously, the Four Seasons Koh Samui is closed throughout the January to March high season.

While it seems highly likely that the Emmy-winning show will stick to the Four Seasons formula of previous series, its producer Mike White has also been spotted by the pool of the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok and on the beach at Amanpuri in Phuket.

If role-playing as Tanya McQuoid doesn’t float your super-yacht, there are plenty more reasons to visit Thailand’s eclectic shores. The Jim Thompson Museum in Bangkok has had a major upgrade, adding new storytelling rooms, interactive installations and a restaurant. Meanwhile, two major luxury hotels – Aman Nai Lert and Six Senses The Forestias – are opening in spring and summer, respectively.

There are also plenty of new ways to get around, from the opening of Bang Sue Grand Station (South-east Asia’s largest train station), to a new Bangkok Airways route linking Lampang and Mae Hong Son. This year will also see the country’s first network of amphibi

Thailand

ous aircraft take off – offering the kind of leather-lined luxury previously only available to characters in The White Lotus.

How to do it

Scott Dunn (020 3393 0884; scottdunn. com) offers a 10-night Thailand itinerary from £6,100pp, B&B, including three nights at the Peninsula Bangkok, seven nights at the Four Seasons Koh Samui, flights and private transfers.

Lee Cobaj is a Hong Kong-based travel writer who previously lived in Phuket and returns on an almost monthly basis to sate her cravings for Thai food and back-popping massages.

i Like a film set: will the Four Seasons Koh Samui be the location for the third season of hit series The White Lotus?