Exclusive look: Where the latest White Lotus was filmed

In this serenity, a meditation session is about to start. "Close your eyes," intones Doctor Amrita. "Inhale, and breathe out..."

Then: crack! A gunshot.

Screams, more shots, guests fleeing, monkeys shrieking. We're at The White Lotus, and all hell is once again breaking loose in paradise.

Season three of the hit HBO drama about bad people in beautiful places has just begun with a bang, and this time the opening crime scene unfolds in Thailand, amid the sumptuous surrounds of Anantara Mai Khao Villas, Phuket.

On screen, as bullets skim the lagoon, a freaked-out Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) leaps into the water and prays to Buddha - just before a corpse floats into the frame among the lotus blossoms.

Even by The White Lotus standards, this is a disastrous vacation. How did we get here? If you're a fan, you know what happens next. Flashback.

Just like The White Lotus tourists, we're in Thailand, checking into a fabulous hotel. But unlike those troubled travellers, we'll stay at two more before our island sojourn is done.

In a show where the location shares top billing, the first two seasons' postcard settings in Hawaii and Sicily had set the bar high.

Perhaps for this reason, or maybe courtesy of a budget inflated by Emmy success, TWL creator Mike White sourced an all-star cast of luxury lodgings on Koh Samui and Phuket, then spliced their best bits together to create his most stunning fictional hotel yet.

It's a departure from previous seasons, which featured just one real-life property each: in Hawaii, the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea, and for Sicily the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace in Taormina.

While there's still a Four Seasons presence, the upscale Anantara hotel group steps into the spotlight, with key scenes shot at three properties: Anantara Lawana Koh Samui, Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort and Anantara Mai Khao Villas, Phuket.

With additional footage of picturesque beaches, temples and villages on both islands, it's a tantalising tour itinerary for the armies of "set jetters" who turn to movies and shows for travel inspiration.

Want to see an A-list entrance? Come to Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort, where you arrive via a long wooden drawbridge then follow a palm-lined avenue to a statement fountain formed by three frolicking monkeys.

In the lobby, traditional Thai architecture soars to cathedral grandeur with a vaulted ceiling and a car-sized chandelier. Through a white archway, a long green finger of lagoon extends towards the beachfront. This centrepiece, the handiwork of acclaimed landscape architect Bill Bensley, boasts the largest lily pads I've ever seen. You could serve a family dinner on each one.

Anantara Bophut's unforgettable first impression scored it the role of The White Lotus's facade, entrance and lobby. And it's no wonder the resort, which turned 20 last year, aced the audition - it was already in character. Lotuses are ubiquitous: in the lagoons and lush gardens, carved into footpaths and as statement silver handles on towering timber doors.

The surroundings are extravagant to the last petal and fronted by an infinity pool overlooking the sparkling sands of Bophut Beach and the Gulf of Thailand beyond. From the balconies of 106 rooms and suites, every vista is green or blue.

And then there's Bensley's showpiece spa, a 3000 square metre oasis-within-an-oasis behind tall pink adobe walls, where treatment pavilions rise from the gardens like temples.

I'm allowed a peek at the room where on-screen spa therapists Belinda and Pornchai exchange massages in episode two, before I enjoy a muscle-melting Thai massage from a very real and very skilled therapist.

The real-life treatment menu is an encyclopaedia of indulgences, with signatures like Anantara Bophut Coconut Dream, involving deep massage with coconut shells and warm coconut oil.

Tantalising plot clues remain. The hotel's library lounge was transformed for filming into the show's hotel gift store (the on-screen changing room, left behind, is now a reading nook) and the scene of episode two's armed robbery. An ambulance races down the driveway in the show's trailer. Dubious characters exchange menacing stares beside the monkey fountain.

I've seen more than my share of inviting bars, but Singing Bird Lounge, framed by spreading boughs and sparkling ocean, is one of the loveliest. Its clifftop forest setting is so magical you half expect to meet talking animals.

The outdoor watering hole at Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort honours the surrounding jungle bird life at Chaweng, on Koh Samui's northeast coast. Cocktails, crafted with local produce, are named after native birds. Except for three new drinks.

Ever since the bar's screen debut, the menu boasts a White Lotus Mirage, with tea-infused gin, calamansi juice and Chulalongkorn rose syrup, and cocktails named after TWL characters Mook and Gaitok.

I pull up a stool at the circular thatched bar, in the exact same spot where glamorous Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) alights elegantly in episode one. I can't help glancing over at the seat in the far corner. No spoilers, but it's where a certain bald villain from previous seasons reappears, glowering over his cocktail.

Real-life guests are far happier, as you would be, basking in such beauty. The resort's 122 rooms and villas display the region's traditional Thai-Chinese style - a sort of shophouse-chic with layers of decadent details. My Pool Suite is a walled retreat with hand-painted fabrics and private plunge pool, complete with a swing for easy toe-dipping.

The 120-year-old fig tree at Singing Bird has spread unhindered and its sprawling clifftop canopy is home to the resort's flagship restaurant, Tree Tops. Up amid the branches, little wooden stairways connect eight private dining sala (pavilions), suspending you over ocean panoramas. It is quite literally a bird's eye view - if that bird happened to be partial to Thai oyster gratin with oscietra caviar paired with a fine drop from a 170-strong wine list.

The five-course menu of local-produce showstoppers from chef Joo Costa has made Tree Tops a foodie destination, but it's also deliriously romantic, especially when sunset's alchemy turns the sea from blue to gold beyond the candlelight.

It's a scene to melt the hardest heart. Did it heal those dysfunctional TWL couples?

"Well, one friendship starts here at the bar," says a Singing Bird bartender, and this I believe, because his drinks - especially Violet Crow, made with local Chaweng Bay rum and butterfly pea - sing with good vibes.

Cut to the northern tip of Phuket, and 11 kilometres of creamy sand at Mai Khao, the island's longest stretch of beach.

In front, the Andaman Sea; behind us, the lush beach forests of Sirinat National Park. In between, Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas, where southern Thai-style pavilions fringe the idyllic lotus lagoon from episode one's opening shootout.

Raised pathways meander across ponds, through verdant groves and over timber bridges.

Wandering these gardens, you encounter all kinds of enchanting tableaux - a turning water wheel, a jewel-hued bird, a garland-draped shrine. Making this sanctuary a crime scene seems - well, criminal.

I'm staying in a Lagoon Pool Villa and find it along a bamboo-lined path, at the top of its own small stairway. Behind timber double doors, in a private walled garden, this mini-mansion wraps around a mosaic-tiled pool with a deep inset bath, flanked by a sundeck, sun loungers and a dining pavilion filled with big, soft cushions.

Huge sliding doors connect indoors and out, so you could almost step from your bed right into the water. Pillow to pool.

Days at Anantara Mai Khao involve strolling through the gardens from one indulgent experience to another, finishing with flower-themed sundowners at lagoon-side bar, BUA - the Thai word for lotus.

On the way to the spa for a sound healing session, I come across the golden Hindu spirit house where spa therapist Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) places an offering in episode one, hoping for better times ahead.

The resort's spa is another Anantara wellness wonderland, with treatment pavilions set around the lagoon. I'm in the prettiest of them all; glass-walled, like a bubble on the water. The hypnotic tones of Himalayan singing bowls soothe me into deep contentment.

And then I open my eyes and realise where I am. It's that pavilion.

I can't help looking at the glass, wondering if it's about to shatter under fire again, and if I'll have to jump into the lagoon and flee through the lily pads.

Wait! There's something floating in the water. Something big. I freeze - and then relax. It's just one of the resident water monitors taking a lazy swim. There's no body, no gunfire, no screams. Just blue sky, birdsong and deep, blissful serenity. I sigh and surrender to the peace.

And then I meditate on how much better these White Lotus Hotels are in real life. The decadence comes drama-free, and the closest you'll come to a stressful situation is the tough choice between a Thai Warrior Massage, stroll on the beach or a Whisper of the Lotus cocktail.

Best of all, there's a much happier ending: everyone goes home in one piece.

Getting there: Thai Airways flies twice daily from both Melbourne and Sydney to Bangkok, with connecting flights to Phuket and Koh Samui,

Staying there: The Lotus Awakening Escape package brings The White Lotus to life with a four-night Phuket and Koh Samui luxury retreat including spa, dining and cultural experiences at all three Anantara resorts featured in season three - Anantara Lawana Koh Samui, Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort and Anantara Mai Khao Villas, Phuket. From $2790

Explore more: anantara.com

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The writer was a guest of Anantara Hotels and Resorts.