Where to Go in 2024

From the butterscotch beaches of Normandy to the white sands of a Thai island, these four vacation destinations offer scenic beauty with a rich story.

- By Adam Erace

Koh Samui

What despicable shenanigans will the entitled White Lotus guests get up to next? Little is known about season three of the soapy HBO show, set in an ultra-luxury fictional hotel chain. But we do know its setting: Thailand.

The new season is unlikely to be released before 2025, so now is the time to book a trip, before the wild tourism boom unleashed upon Sicily (the location of season two) visits the Southeast Asian nation.

A stunning beachside Four Seasons resort has stood in for the White Lotus hotel in each of the first two seasons, and the company boasts several luxurious properties in Thailand. But our money is on the Four Seasons Koh Samui, on a lush, mountainous island in the Gulf of Thailand whose waterfall-laced, rainforested interior tumbles down to palm groves and turquoise coves.

Once a backpackers' haunt (it makes an appearance in Alex Garland's iconic 1996 novel The Beach), Koh Samui has turned toward the luxury market in recent decades, and 2024 will be its big post-pandemic moment, with new island infrastructure, the arrival of the Michelin Guide, and resorts dropping new spas and beach clubs like coconuts falling from the palms.

Designed by the renowned Bangkok- and Bali-based hotel architect Bill Bensley, each of the 70 freestanding lemon-scented villas at the Four Seasons (from $843 a night) has its own infinity pool overlooking the sea.

The tragic White Lotus heiress Tanya McQuoid would have loved it here.

Kangaroo Island