Florence Pugh has strong opinions about beach behaviour. Talking to Condé Nast Traveller UK ahead of her new Netflix series East of Eden, the actor named her biggest travel pet hate: people who slather on sun cream, then flop straight into the sand and act surprised when it sticks. Worse still, the lounger thief who moves your towel to the floor at 7am. "We can share," she says. "Why budge my stuff?"
When it comes to holidays, Pugh is firmly in the do-nothing camp. Her ideal day is a rhythm of sun lounger, sea, food, repeat — and her top spot for it is Greece. She praises the families who run the tavernas, the grannies who anchor them, and Greek food above all: grilled protein, vegetables, homegrown produce and, of course, tzatziki. Her verdict on the cuisine? "It's perfect!"
Her most magical travel memory also comes from Greece — but at the other end of the day. While filming The Little Drummer Girl, director Park Chan-wook shot her at the Acropolis after dark, when the site was empty and the floodlights lit up the pillars. She danced as her shadows moved across the ruins and calls the whole night a "pinch me" moment — an experience she says she'll never get again.
Her nomination for an eighth wonder of the world is closer to home: Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano rising over Edinburgh. She's always climbed it exhausted, and loves the payoff — a breather at the top, snacks, the view over the city, then down again for a good pint.
Elsewhere in the chat, she rates Auckland as a favourite city (with Tokyo a close second, for being "otherworldly"), and confesses to a souvenir habit that has flipped her completely: magnets. The rule is strict — either genuinely beautiful and ornate, or cheerfully awful. Prize of the collection is a little bottle of Lion Beer from a Sri Lanka trip, with liquid that sloshes when you move it.
Her childhood memories are pleasantly unglamorous: scorched shoulders in Spain, huge plates of albacore tuna with chunks of cucumber, fishing trips with her dad and brother Toby where every catch went back in the sea, and falling asleep still pretending she was at the bow of a boat. All of it adds up to a refreshingly honest travel philosophy: good food, low-effort days, and don't be the person who moves other people's towels.
