You Can Stay There...
The Story Has It guide to holidays with literary and cinematic backstories.
Welcome to Story Has It where we share the human stories behind films, songs, books and more.
With summer break on our minds, we started daydreaming about a Story Has It travel bucket list of places steeped in stories. Lucky for us, writers and filmmakers have left behind a trail of fascinating stays across the globe.
A few years back, I stayed at the Hotel Continental Saigon, Vietnam, where Graham Greene wrote parts of The Quiet American, overlooking the Opera House. Our room was huge with the high ceilings you only find in old hotels, all-wood decor with a grand arch (more wood) dividing sleeping and living spaces. It was dated, just as you’d want it to be. (If I had a rich old aunt, I’d have met her on their Continental Patio for breakfast gin).
There’s something magical about being in that same space a story was born, only separated by time. So, where else should we go? We’ve cut it down to our top five story-steeped stays … and a few special mentions.
1. Barnhill, Jura: George Orwell’s (very) remote writing retreat
On the wild Scottish island of Jura, at the end of a private 4-mile track, sits Barnhill - the isolated farmhouse where George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. He first arrived in 1946, seeking solitude and escape, his health already in decline. Against the odds, he completed one of the 20th century’s most defining novels here.
Barnhill remains much as Orwell would have known it. There’s no mains electricity - just a generator - and no easy access; motor vehicles are not permitted on the 4-mile track! But you’re rewarded with sweeping views towards the sea, red deer at your window, and the thrill of staying somewhere that helped shape modern literature.
Yes, you can rent Barnhill - from the same family who let it to Orwell himself.
2. Schloss Leopoldskron, Salzburg: The sound of childhood
Fans of The Sound of Music - this place is sacred ground! This rococo palace just minutes from Salzburg’s Old Town in Austria was the Von Trapp family home in the beloved film. Most of what you saw on screen remains (minus the iconic white gazebo, which had to be moved thanks to one too many tourists trying to recreate ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’).
You can book a stay at the palace or join a Sound of Music tour, which weaves together behind-the-scenes film stories with the hotel’s own dramatic history. Once owned by renowned theatre director Max Reinhardt, the palace was confiscated by the Nazis during World War II. Decades later, Max’s son secured the film rights - and through his connections, turned his father’s former home into a cinematic landmark.
3. Hotel Sidi Driss, Tunisia: Luke Skywalker’s childhood home
If you've ever wanted to sleep on Planet Tatooine, now's your chance. This Berber troglodyte house in Matmata, Tunisia - often called the Star Wars Hotel - was used as Luke Skywalker’s home in A New Hope. With its sunken courtyards, cave-like rooms, and dusty clay walls, it provided the perfect setting for the Lars Homestead.
Beyond the movie magic, the architecture offers a glimpse into the lives of the nomadic Berber people who built these underground homes to survive the desert heat. You can even dine in the hotel’s restaurant - the very spot where Star Wars was filmed.
4. Hotel Belles Rives, Juan-les-Pins: The Fitzgeralds’ Riviera playground
Once the private villa rented by Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920s, this family-run seafront escape on the Côte d'Azur, was the setting of some of the wildest Jazz Age parties (how much would you have loved to be a mysterious guest at their Riviera gatherings?). Buoyed from the success of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald spent their two-year stay writing short stories and working on Tender Is the Night, his final novel.
Now a chic Art Deco hotel, the Belles Rives still shimmers with Gatsby-esque charm, from its tiny vintage elevator to the Fitzgerald Piano Bar. Room 50, known as the Fitzgerald Room, is a favourite among literary enthusiasts and books up fast.
5. Pera Palace Hotel, Istanbul: Agatha Christie’s mystery getaway
Built (aptly) for hosting passengers of the Orient Express, the Pera Palace in Istanbul, Turkey is pure time travel. Story has it, Room 411 is where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express (and where some believe she may have stayed during her infamous 11-day disappearance - do you know about that?). The hotel embodies old-world elegance, with a famous 19th-century cage elevator, huge chandeliers, and an impressive guest list that includes Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, and Josephine Baker.
Who’s coming?
Special mentions: Dream-worthy detours…
Eilean Shona, Scotland: A real-life Neverland. This car-free private island off the west coast of Scotland is where J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, rented a holiday home for the summer in the 1920s, joined by Michael Llewelyn Davies and some friends (Michael and his four brothers had been the inspiration for Peter Pan, the Darling brothers and the Lost Boys). Barrie worked on more stories and got to see his Peter imaginings come to life.
The Stanley Hotel, Colorado: In 1974, Stephen King and his wife Tabitha stayed at the Stanley on its final night before winter shutdown - and were the only guests in the entire hotel. As King wandered the long, empty corridors, the eerie silence sparked the idea for his next horror: The Shining.
Finca La Vigía, Havana, Cuba: This whole list could have been Ernest Hemingway-themed, but here’s one for a day visit. After renting this hilltop home, Hemingway used his For Whom the Bell Tolls royalties to buy it - and lived here for over 20 years. Though you can’t go inside, the house has been preserved as he left it, and you can peer through open windows and doors to glimpse the writer’s life in Cuba.
Woodlyn Park Hobbit Motel, New Zealand: Sleep like a Baggins in a hillside hobbit hole just outside of Waitomo. Built two years after the final Lord of the Rings film, these two motel units are tucked beneath a grassy hill where sheep and a resident donkey graze overhead. From the outside, they look straight out of the Shire - but inside, they’re fitted for humans and a comfortably-sized stay!
Wonderland House, Brighton: In this six-bedroom townhouse near the Brighton seafront, Alice in Wonderland spills out of every room. Each space is themed after a different character - from chequerboard floors to teacup chairs and Queen of Hearts bunk beds. You can dine at the Mad Hatter’s Banqueting Table in a stay where it’s always tea time!
You’ve reminded me that I stayed at the Hotel Metropol in Moscow which is the one A Gentleman in Moscow is based on. Amor Towles did write some of the book in one of its rooms. It was famous for so many things - but the fact that its American jazz bar remained open well into the Bolshevik era is what stayed with me.
Literary pilgrimages! Love this. I desperately want to travel to Prince Edward Island and do an “Anne of Green Gables” trip. I looked into it for this Summer but travel is $$. Then I thought perhaps when I’m through writing my series in time for next Summer, I’ll go and it’ll be a treat.