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Luke Evans was always meant to be a citizen of the world — hopping around the globe filming blockbuster franchises like The Hobbit trilogy and Fast & Furious films and live-action Disney remakes like “Beauty and the Beast” and “Pinnochio,” starring in West End musicals, and traveling to dream destinations every chance he gets in between. Yet the jetsetter’s lifestyle started within a much smaller circumference.
“I come from a very working-class family, so money wasn’t free and easy,” the 45-year-old told Travel + Leisure of his childhood in Wales. “We would have to think about how much money would be spent on holidays.”
Born in Pontypool and raised in Aberbargoed, his early family getaways were “caravan holidays” — UK speak for a camper road trip — with his and his cousin’s families packed into his dad’s Ford Cortina, towing a three-person camper. They’d venture through the UK’s coastal towns and forests, including places like the Forest of Dean, Aberystwyth, Tenby, Saundersfoot, and Cornwall. “We rarely ventured out of Wales because it was on our doorstep,” he said.
The first plane trip he remembers taking with his parents was to Benidorm in Spain, which he calls an “acquired taste.” “It was cheap and cheerful, and that’s what we could afford, so we made the most of it,” he said, recalling “fond memories of [his] time there.”
Those early wanderings planted a seed deep in Evans’ soul. Now his passion for travel stretches through every fiber of his being, as well as onto his Instagram posts and into the pages of his memoir, Boy from the Valley: My Unexpected Journey, which hit shelves in November. “The best gift you can give yourself or someone else is traveling,” he said. “It contains you as a human being. It can make you see the world and see human beings in a very different way.”
Over the 2024 year-end holidays, Evans embarked on a vacation he’d long dreamed of, going to Cape Town and Botswana. The idea for the trip started with a twist of happenstance. For more than a decade, every time Evans has been in Ibiza, where he has a house, he would also spend a day or two at the family-run agrotourism property Atzaró Hotel. “I’ve always loved my time there, and last year, I saw these postcards on the counter of these other places they had, like an amazing hotel in Cape Town and a safari in Botswana.”
With Luke Evans
Favorite Great Britain filming location?
Probably Pembrokeshire. I did a show called The Pembrokeshire Murders. And as much as the story itself was grim, the place where we stayed was called Solva, a tiny little fishing village, maybe not even a village, it’s so small. It has its own little natural bay, and the mountains roll into the ocean. I rented this little cottage on the side of this mountain. I never wanted to leave! When we finished the TV show, I was gutted I had to give up this house because every morning I would look out and it would be so dramatic. It was just magical. It’s a really special place.
Must-see theater production in London now?
Always try and get a ticket for anything that they’re doing at the Donmar Warehouse — it’s a very small, independent theater with very hard-to-get tickets, but whatever they do, it’s brilliant. It’s where my career began.
Most underrated London tourist activity?
Everybody must walk the South Bank — I would walk from the Houses of Parliament, cross Westminster Bridge, take a left, and just keep walking. You’ll see the view of London from the south side of the river with St. Paul’s Cathedral and all the big skyscrapers in the City of London. You end up at Tower Bridge, which is magnificent to see day or night. Then behind Tower Bridge, where all the docklands warehouses used to be, it’s now just markets, restaurants, and boat journeys, and it’s really special.
Best beach in Wales?
Newgale.
Co-star who would be the best travel buddy?
I wouldn’t mind traveling with Helen Mirren. I think me and her would enjoy traveling together. We would definitely go off the beaten track — and we’d taste everything. I think she’s that kind of woman. She’s brave, and she just goes for it, and I think she’s probably very fun to travel with.
Travel Resolution for 2025:
Travel more, discover new places, and just keep ticking off those places I’ve never been. I’m reading an amazing book called “An African History of Africa” right now, and we’re just on Egypt and the pyramids and the pharaohs. I’ve never been to Egypt, so that’s probably close to the next top of my list of places I’d like to visit!
Starting in the South African city, he was immediately stunned by Atzaró Cape Town’s location. “It’s not that big, but it’s literally — no word of a lie — it’s at the foot of Table Mountain,” he marveled. “From front of the hotel, you could see the whole layout of Cape Town, with the bay, sky, ocean, Lion’s Head, and Devil’s Peak, in a 360-view. It was absolutely beautiful. I could have stayed there longer.”
The manager of the hotel, Xander, didn’t just play host, he also doubled as Evans’ hiking guide, skipping the aerial cableway shortcut up Table Mountain and leading him up the two-hour trail of humongous steps. “I hate cardio, but if cardio was like that every day, I’d probably do it,” the action film star admitted. “Every 20 minutes, we’d stop and turn back to the view and we’d elevated another 500 feet. Then we got to the top — and it really is flat!” The exertion to earn the elevated view all the way down to Camps Bay was well worth the effort, he said, calling it “satisfying” to have gone up the hard way.
Courtesy of Atzaró Cape Town
After that, he headed up to Atzaró Okavango, where he was immediately greeted by two giraffes wandering in the field, followed by a couple of warthogs. Immediately, he knew this safari experience was going to be special. “You have to be escorted back to your residence at night because there are natural animal pathways through the residence for the animals like leopards, hippos, buffalo, monkeys, baboons, warthogs, and aardvarks,” he said. “It’s extraordinary.”
Courtesy of Atzaró Okavango
Every turn of the head was a wonderment of wildlife, spotting hippos from his luxury wooden apartment residence to driving toward a dried-up lake and seeing 30 giraffes, from newborn to elderly, and even catching them fighting with their horns and swinging their necks. Even more unbelievable, they witnessed an action-packed kill involving wild dogs catching a baby gazelle. At another point, a cheetah walked right in front of their truck as they sat and watched in silence. Every blink of an eye was another slice of animal kingdom drama playing out in front of them.
“On our final drive, our guide, Albert, spotted the leopard, which is probably one of the most elusive animals to see,” Evans said. “I mean, they’re so camouflaged and he drove us right next to this incredible animal. And we didn’t just see one, we saw two.”
During one night drive, the driver turned off the engine as they sat staring at the sky with no light pollution. “It was like a cacophony of frogs, insects, and animals — it was deafeningly loud,” he said. To preserve that natural magic, Evans recorded the natural soundtrack. “Now I go to sleep with it every night!”
Beyond personal vacations, Evans’ work has granted him an even greater gift of not just popping in and out of a place, but really getting to know destinations across the globe. His most recent release, “Weekend in Taipei,” which debuted in November, filmed on location in Taiwan’s capital, where he traversed the city from the mountains and Taipei 101 skyscraper down to a fishing village — and of course indulged in the famous local eats.
“We had Din Tai Fung about 72 times, and we ate all the food that was given to us — and even attempted the stinky tofu,” he said. “If you can get through the smell, it’s fine.” He said his driver would go into local markets and come out with plastic bags filled with duck pieces, from the gizzards to the beaks, and he had a taste of it all. “Everybody was so gracious and really welcoming, like so kind,” he said.
Similarly, during his time in New Zealand filming The Hobbit trilogy, which came out between 2012 and 2014, Evans immersed himself in all things Kiwi. “I drove on my own for a week from from the top of the South Island all the way down to to the Fox Glacier and the Franz Josef Glacier, and I heli-hiked onto the glacier and drank thousands-of-years-old water from a river stream through the middle of the glacier,” the adventurer said. He also spotted whales, experienced Rotorua’s hot pools, enjoyed the high-quality, grass-fed meats — and even learned to beach fish Kahawai. “I lived a life,” he reflected. “I really lived it!”
The folks down there made an impression on him, too. “People there are very charming, very kind, very happy, and they say hello to you as you walk down the street, which I’ve always loved,” he said. “In fact, when I came home to London and I walked down the street and no one even caught my eye, I felt I’d lost that personal touch like how Kiwi people are.”
Wandering the world with such an open heart and mind has allowed Evans to reflect on all those global encounters. “I realize we are all one,” he said. “We just all look different, eat differently, live differently, sing differently, and everything is different, but we are the same. That’s something I’ve really understood on a much more deep spiritual level from traveling.”
Luke Evans
I realize we are all one. We just all look different, eat differently, live differently, sing differently, and everything is different, but we are the same. That’s something I’ve really understood on a much more deep spiritual level from traveling.
— Luke Evans
Evans is just as welcoming to travelers looking to explore the places he knows so well, like London, where he’s lived for 27 years. To start, he said every first-timer needs to check off the essentials, including Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London, and Tower Bridge.
But after that his advice is “to step out of the obvious places” and head over to the older parts of East London, including Whitechapel, Bethnal Green, Shoreditch, and Dalston. “These are stunning areas, and there’s always something going on,” he said, explaining there are antiques and food markets, a canal that winds through the area with pathways alongside it, beautiful strolls in Victoria Park, and pools at London Fields.
On Sundays, he loves the Columbia Road Flower Market, where you turn onto a Victorian street and “it’s a jungle with banana trees, palm trees, flowers, everything you can imagine.” Then he said to head to The Royal Oak, where they do an amazing Sunday roast and pint of Guinness, before wandering the backstreets, stumbling upon cafes and vendors hawking their wares. “It’s a very special place,” he said.
When it comes to Wales, Evans suggests travelers head to the Pembrokeshire coastline, which is “absolutely stunning,” with castles dotting the scenery and “more UNESCO beaches than you could swing a cat at.” Also worth pinning on maps: Temby, the mountains in Anglesey — including the tallest, Snowdonia, which you can hike or ascend by steam train — and one of the oldest and smallest cities in the world, St. David’s.
“The beaches there are stunning, the wildlife in the waters is so crystal clear, you see seals and dolphins, and there are the best fish and chips you’ll have in Wales,” Evans raved. “The Welsh people are lovely — they’re welcoming, they’re curious, they’re really great people. I’m very proud to be one of them.”
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Best road trip in Wales?
Driving to Pembrokeshire—and I would add a foot trip: the uninterrupted coastal path. It’s 870 miles, and it goes all the way up the coast of Wales. You can camp, and stop and stay in B&Bs all the way to the top.
One thing you always pack your carry-on?
My noise-reducing AirPods because I can’t sleep with the headphones they give you on the plane. But I can in AirPods I can, and it reduces all the sound of crying babies and noisy air staff, whatever it is, you don’t wake up! I sometimes find that the noise of an airport can sometimes be very all consuming, so sometimes I just put them in my ears to feel a little calmer walking through chaos.
