The third season of the HBO series “The White Lotus” took us to Thailand, and now fans are set-jetting to see Koh Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand and one of the central filming locations for the show. There are reasons that Koh Samui and Phuket, a tourist-heavy island on Thailand’s west coast in the Andaman Sea, are tourist meccas. But before you rush off to join the madding crowd, consider some of these other island destinations in the Land of Smiles.
Koh Samet
One of the closest destinations to Bangkok for an island escape, making it popular with Thai visitors, Samet lies 99 miles south of the capital (4.1 miles offshore). It is connected to the mainland by scheduled ferries and speedboats based in Rayong, a port city famous for its fresh seafood restaurants. You can get here by car or bus.The island is about four miles long and is as narrow as 500 feet where it tapers toward the south. While it is part of a marine national park, you wouldn’t guess that at Sai Kaew, where resorts cluster around the popular beach with a line of restaurants and nightly “fire shows”—young performers juggling or even spitting fire. Resorts farther away get quieter and are more relaxing, with a mix of rugged shoreline and short stretches of sand. The natural spaces are known to be rich with birdlife—birders have recorded more than 130 species.
