Tatooine: Tunisia, US, Chile
A must on the travel itinerary of any Star Wars fan is the desert planet of Tatooine, the setting for Luke Skywalker’s formative pre-Jedi years. Currently, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against travelling to Tunisia, the location for many of the planet’s exterior scenes (such as Luke’s family home). However, Death Valley in the US was also used as a backdrop for the planet, and visitors who stop at the Ranch at Furnace Creek Inn (doubles from $119) can follow the same trail to Jabba The Hutt’s Palace taken by R2-D2 and C-3PO in Return Of The Jedi.
Elsewhere, in the US the rustic desert accommodation at Bonita Domes in Joshua Tree national park (doubles from $90) gives a flavour of Luke’s childhood home, while the dry, rocky landscape and clear sky (albeit with only one sun, not two) of Chile’s Elqui valley conjures a sense of Tatooine. Stay in the geodesic domes at Elqui Domos (doubles from $155), built to make the most of the incredible night skies.
Dagobah: US, UK
Not many holidaymakers would choose a stay in the grimy, dank swamplands of Yoda’s stomping ground in The Empire Strikes Back. If lizards, snakes and wet marshlands are your thing, though – perhaps you intend to undergo a spot of arduous Jedi training – consider the Wildlife Gardens B&B in the “Cajun Country” of Gibson, Louisiana. Here, a rustic stop in one of its no-nonsense cabins costs $95 for a double.
For a dash of Dagobah life, without the damp and the danger, the Dome Garden in Puzzlewood in the Forest Of Dean (which is also rumoured to feature in The Force Awakens) is what Yoda’s modest hut would have been like had he been aware of the word “glamping”. A three-night stay for four in one of its cosy and sustainable tent domes starts at £343.
Coruscant: Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore
The planet-size city of Coruscant is the urban hub of the galaxy far, far away; its surface festooned with bustling, neon-bathed streets and thousand-storey skyscrapers. Earth, sadly, doesn’t have thousand-storey skyscrapers, but Hong Kong, the city with the most skyscrapers is as close to Coruscant as we get. A stop in its crowded heart doesn’t have to break the bank either: the YesInn Hostel @Fortess Hill has doubles from £30 a night.
Sprawling, futuristic cityscapes can also, unsurprisingly, be found in Tokyo, where an Airbnb stop in the quirky, sci-fi-esque metabolist Nakagin Capsule Tower costs £50 a night; or in Singapore, where it’s possible to find cheap lodgings: a futuristic pod birth in The Pod Hostel goes as low as £23.
Endor: US, Portugal, UK
The dense jungle of the home planet of the Ewoks was shot in Redwood national park in California, home of the world’s largest trees. It’s possible to hire a cabin right in the heart of the park for $159 a night, where elk roam free, though Ewoks, disappointingly, are absent.
As an arboreal species, Ewok dwellings on Endor were generally suspended high in the canopy, and you too can experience life among the leaves at Walnut Tree Farm in a quiet valley in Portugal’s Alentejo region (from £72 a night, sleeps 2). Just east of the surfing town of Aljezur you can spend your days at the beach every day or head further inland to the hill-top town of Monchique. In the UK check out our list of arboreal boltholes.
Hoth: Norway, Iceland
Hardangerjøkulen glacier near Finse in Norway was used as the location of the barren and inhospitable ice planet featured in The Empire Strikes Back’s opening sequences. To tie-in with the release of The Force Awakens, it’s now possible to take a three-night Star Wars-inspired excursion to the region. This includes two nights in the hotel used by the cast and crew during that film’s production in 1979, a night in the city of Bergen, and a guided trip to the glacier (£755pp including flights and transfers).
If, on the other hand, you’re yearning for a slice of life as a Rebel Alliance soldier on Hoth, then Iceland is your best bet: a simulacrum of the Rebel Base’s gleaming frozen tunnels can be seen on an ice cave tour through the inside of a glacier at Langjökull from £90pp. Only without the Stormtroopers. And the Wampas.
Kashyyyk: Thailand, China
Only seen as the setting of a huge land-and-sea battle in prequel trilogy-closer Revenge Of The Sith, filming locations for the Wookiee home planet’s pristine waters and lush karst archipelagos were split between Phang Nga Bay near Phuket in Thailand and Guilin in southern China.
You can spend a night a stone’s throw from the beach at Papa Crab Guesthouse in Phuket for next to nothing (doubles from £17), while the mist-flecked peaks of Guilin on the Li River feature in several of On The Go’s scenic tours of China. A 10-day “Journey Down South” trip costs from £1,419, excluding flights.
Cloud City: Japan, France
Earthly technology has only come so far, so accommodation recommendations for actual floating Cloud Cities are thin on the ground. However, the Tomamu ski resort (doubles from £83) on the Japanese island of Hokkaido overlooks an area known as “Unkai”, or “sea of clouds”, in which drastic temperature changes can form thick carpets of cloud beneath the resort’s viewing platform.
For a more extreme – if basic – stay in the heavens, you can also see the clouds from the other side with a night or two in the solar-powered Refuge du Gouter in Saint-Gervais (from €75) – perched at an altitude of 3,835m on the Mont Blanc ascent. Though this isn’t for the faint-hearted: it’s advised that guests here are capable climbers, and its simple facilities won’t be to all tastes.
Naboo: Italy, Spain, UK
Several locations were used for the planet of Naboo: Italy’s Lake Como provided much of the outdoor scenic splendour. Airbnb options here go as low as £15. However, for a destination with the same geography and architecture that’s a little more off the beaten track, try Castello Oldofredi (doubles from £95) on the smaller Lake Iseo. Memories of Anakin Skywalker and Padme’s horrific flirting hopefully won’t taint the experience too much for you.
Further afield, the Plaza de Espana in Seville served as the palace exterior in Naboo’s capital city of Theed, and the rates at Boutike Hostel (doubles from €40) and the Casa del Maestro (doubles from £78) mean you don’t have to be Naboo royalty to see it, either. Day-tripping tourists to Naboo don’t even have to leave the UK: for better or worse, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn met Jar Jar Binks right here in the UK, at Whippendell Wood in Watford.
Yavin 4: Guatemala
Home to the Rebel Alliance base in A New Hope – the one very nearly destroyed by the first Death Star – the severe temples and palaces of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala thrust above the thick treeline, and doubled for the ruins of structures built by the Sith’s Massassi warriors.
Nearby hostels and hotels are generally reasonable, such as the Hotel Jaguar Inn (doubles from £60) within the Tikal national park and a 10-minute ride from the ruins. Further away (a 90-minute drive), is Francis Ford Coppola’s luxurious hotel La Lancha (doubles from £93), where you can sip cocktails by the pool overlooking Lake Peten after a hard day’s sightseeing at the ruins.
Mystery location from The Force Awakens
Details about possible settings in the new film are only emerging now. One definite spot is the serene Irish world heritage site Skellig Michael off the coast of County Kerry. One of a pair of picturesque uninhabited islands, it’s home to the ruins of a 12th-century monastery, and it’s been assumed this is the secluded home of a hermit-like Luke Skywalker. Eager fans can beat the inevitable Star Wars pilgrimages and arrange to stay in the Moorings hotel (doubles from £90 B&B) in Portmagee, starting point for trips to uninhabited (besides the presence of the occasional Jedi) Skellig Michael or at the Beach Cove B&B in Ballinskellig (doubles from £85), a 20-minute drive from Portmagee. A self-drive ferry tour incorporating the Skelligs can also be arranged through Irish Ferries from £109.
