The Beach: From Bangkok to Maya Bay

Richard begins his search for paradise in a drab travellers' hotel on Khao San Road, where he meets a young French couple, Françoise and Étienne. The film sets him out from the street's "bustling backpack melee". Khao San has grown into a world-famous "backpacker ghetto", and Susan Orlean called it "the place to disappear". In the high season the road sees 40,000–50,000 tourists a day.

Visitor guidance: A public street in Bangkok; around Songkran (13–15 April) it turns into a huge water fight.

The film's fleabag hotel was shot at the On On Hotel in Phuket. Here Richard meets Daffy, a mentally unstable Scottish traveller who tells him of a pristine, uninhabited island in the Gulf of Thailand with a beautiful hidden beach. Richard then learns that Daffy has died by suicide and left him a map. The map on screen was drawn by Alex Garland, author of the novel, who is credited as cartographer. Filming ran from January to April 1999.

Location precision: The story puts the hotel on Khao San Road; only its interiors were shot at the On On Hotel in Phuket, and no pin was available for it.

With the map in hand, Richard, Françoise and Étienne travel to Ko Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand whose first tourists were mostly backpackers. There Richard meets two American surfers, Zeph and Sammie, who have heard rumours of the island, and he gives them a copy of the map. Ko Samui mattered offstage too: in August 1997, Boyle, Macdonald and screenwriter John Hodge went to Thailand, specifically Ko Samui, to scout for locations.

Location precision: The film names the island but no particular spot on it; the pin marks the middle of Ko Samui.

Crossing the island, Richard, Françoise and Étienne jump off a large waterfall and meet Keaty, who brings them to a community of travellers. On screen, the cast leapt from a high cliff at Haew Suwat Waterfall in Khao Yai National Park, in central Thailand. The fall is at the end of Thanarat Road in the centre of the park, about a three-hour drive from Bangkok.

Location precision: The waterfall in the story is on the hidden island; the pin marks the Khao Yai fall where the jump was filmed.

Visitor guidance: The park is about a three-hour drive from Bangkok.

The community's secret beach is Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Le. In the story, leader Sal explains that the farmers allow the travellers to stay so long as they keep to themselves; one night Françoise invites Richard to the beach and tells him she is falling in love. The effects crew digitally added some of the surrounding mountains in post-production. The bay closed to visitors in 2018 because of overtourism and reopened in 2022 with no boats, no swimming and a one-hour limit.

Location precision: The island in the story is invented; the pin marks Maya Bay, the beach where the film was shot.

Visitor guidance: Since the 2022 reopening there are no boats, no swimming and visits are limited to one hour.

Sal selects Richard to go with her on a supply run to Ko Pha Ngan. There they meet the American surfers, who are preparing to search for the island and mention Richard's map. The island is no stranger to the story: Ko Pha-ngan featured prominently in Alex Garland's 1996 novel The Beach, from which the film was adapted.

Location precision: The film names the island but no landing spot; the pin marks the island itself.