Thailand Filming Locations – The Beach (2000)

This Danny Boyle directed adaptation of the classic Alex Garland novel starts off with Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) looking at the giant Buddha which you may think is the famous reclining one at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. However, it was made of polystyrene and was actually filmed in Krabi.

Once I’d met up with Ethan in Bangkok Airport we flew to Phuket late at night and checked into ‘On On’ Hotel at 19 Thanon Phang Nga which played the part of the rundown Khao San Road guesthouse. An absolutely huge room at a ridiculously low price (less than £3) which provided us with enough reference points to keep any ‘anorak’ happy.

The scene where they jump off the waterfall is the Haeo Suwat Falls in the Khao Yai National Park which is north of Bangkok. Regular buses from Bangkok can take anywhere between 3-4 hours, and you can catch them from the northern Bangkok station.

The next day we went on a boat tour with the most famous location being Maya Bay which was used as the secret beach. Whereas Leonardo and co had it all to themselves we had to share it with thousands of other day-trippers and a fleet of boats docked in the bay. As beautiful as it was, time there was too short for us to really savour the moment. Below are a mix of screenshot grabs and my photos.