Where have you just come back from?
'Japan. I was in Tokyo for work and flew out three days early for my birthday. I went to the Robot Restaurant, saw the Harajuku-girl mecca, and right behind that the motorbike district. Then I had the best ramen of my life in Shibuya and discovered the coolest bar in Nonbei Yokocho, which translates as Drunken Alley. Behind each door is a four-person counter where you just sit and chat to locals. We found this one place called Bar Piano, because there's a grand piano with a bar on top of it. The whole thing is only about 12 feet square, so we sat there with a couple of glasses of white wine and then went up some tiny stairs to a chandeliered, red-velvet-walled room, like something from the Belle Epoque. An Australian couple came in, then a Japanese couple, and before we knew it there were a dozen of us, and we had a party until about six in the morning. It was awesome.'
Where in the world have you felt happiest?
'Gerakas beach in Zakynthos, Greece. I was snorkelling about a mile and a half out, and started to get tired, so turned back - and there was a giant turtle swimming straight towards me. I was shit-scared, but followed it at a distance for quite a long time and then worried I might be bothering it so turned around… and there was another one swimming towards me. So I followed that guy for ages. I swam back and got to the shallows, where I could see people's feet, and there was a third turtle hanging about on the bottom of the ocean. So I just floated there looking at him for about 20 minutes, then came out of the water with the worst sunburn I've ever had. I went back two years later, convinced I was the turtle whisperer, and saw absolutely nothing.'
Which place most lived up to the hype?
'New York. Crazy, beautiful - and it's such a cliché but you do imagine you're in a movie. No other city makes me feel like that, even LA. In New York, it's as if everything I see has been graded by a film technician to make it look magical. And the amount of characters walking around the streets is unbelievable. Nobody's got any living space, which forces everybody outside, and all the energy is on the street. In LA, no one goes out, you've got to drive everywhere so you can't really drink and the whole city lives in their houses. The energy is completely different.'
Describe your favourite view
'You can see some roses out of my bedroom window in London, which are pretty exceptional, so that's my current favourite. But maybe the view from Alexandra Palace. It's one I've been enjoying since I got my first scooter when I was about 23 and rode around North London trying to orientate myself. When I found Ally Pally I thought, "Holy shit…" and have not really stopped going since. I head up there about once a week, come rain or shine, to think and get some air. On a clear day, you can see almost all the city.'
Any memories from a childhood trip?
'Calippos. I only ever got Calippos when I was on holiday. And those chains of sweets you find in Spain, hard-boiled sweets in individual wrappers, that came in a long strip. And cap guns! I was like Billy the Kid on E numbers.'
Tell us about a holiday disaster
'The time I booked my family into a little cottage in the middle of a park in Laguna Beach. We drove there and it was like a Californian Butlins full of rednecks. The caravans were the most depressing things I'd seen in my life. We got out of there pretty quickly.'
Where did you go on your first holiday without your parents?
'I was in a youth theatre when I was 16, and me and a few others got a tent, took a couple of buses and went to this drama festival for three nights. We just got hammered for the entire time, with all sorts of shenanigans going on in the woods with like-minded people of the opposite sex. That was wild. Mayhem. We came back having to apologise for accomplishing absolutely nothing.'
Tell us about a great little place you know
'There's a really good bistro in Philly called Parc. It's a bit like "Where everybody knows your naaaame…" Well, not really: it's a French bistro, not the bar in Cheers, but the staff are really great, and I've got a few friends who work there and I just love it. Amazing steak, the best fries and great cocktail mixers.'
Smartest hotel you've stayed in?
'You see, I'm not sure about this. You get supremely fancy five-stars like the Four Seasons, but I don't like those, they feel really dated. I'd say my favourite is the Maison Souquet in Paris, which is a small hotel that used to be a brothel - and it's the sexiest little place. It's in Montmartre, across the road from the Moulin Rouge, and is just kinky and gorgeous and lovely. The cocktail bar is exquisite. At Soho House Berlin, the rooms are off the hook. Amazing, man. And I really love Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin too.'
https://www.cntraveller.com/location/paris
Sightseeing or sun lounger?
'A combination of both. It's become a lot more pool-orientated since having a kid, but I still try to get out and about and do stuff. The last time we went on a family holiday, the first thing I did was jump on a jet-ski with my son, so that was fun.'
'I would never, ever go back to …'
'A dodgy little restaurant in Tenerife that had a sign outside advertising "Good proper English food". No.'
Ever taken anything from a hotel room?
'Pencils. I've just nicked three green and white stripy ones from The Soho Hotel.'
James McAvoy was talking to Francesca Babb
