The High Life: Most Succession fans won’t be able to emulate the Roys’ extravagant lifestyle — but there are a few more affordable options...

You may not want to live in the world of Succession. (In the words of one character, after all, “It’s like Jaws. If everyone in Jaws worked for Jaws.”) But a holiday there? Among the gleaming towers of Manhattan, elegant palazzi of the Italian Lakes, rarefied Cotswold country estates, and some of the finest hotels on Earth? That’s a rather more appealing prospect – and you don’t necessarily need to own a multinational media conglomerate, as the show’s Roy family do, to afford it. As the drama concludes this week, then, here’s how to drop in on the Logan Roy lifestyle.

 

 

 

NEW YORK — DOWNTOWN AND UPSTATE 

 

The Roy empire’s heart is the gleaming Manhattan skyscraper that houses its Waystar Royco offices – in real life some vacant spaces in One World Trade Center. You can’t get into the office areas (you’d have to be a pretty serious fan to want to), but at 417m “One WTC” is the tallest building in the western hemisphere and one of New York’s most popular tourist attractions. Ideally, you’d overnight at one of the luxury hotels frequented by the programme’s characters: the Mandarin Oriental on Columbus Circle; the Pierre on East 61st Street; the Sheraton Times Square on Seventh Avenue; the Mark on East 77th Street; or the Plaza on Fifth Avenue, where you’ll recognise the rooms (Palm Court, Terrace Room, Grand Ballroom) in which the Roys sized up potential US presidents before simply picking the one they wanted. There are some more affordable locations, too. Anyone can catch an exhibition or performance at arts venue the Shed (the setting for Kendall ’s 40th birthday in season three; yes, the one with a walk-through re-creation of his mother’s birth canal). And the family gathering that opens season four was filmed at Peter McManus Café, an Irish bar on Seventh Avenue that claims to be New York’s oldest. Want to escape the high-stakes, high-end pressure cooker of Manhattan? Head upstate to Six Flags Great Escape, in Queensbury, which doubles as Brightstar, the theme park owned by the Roys that hosts a birthday party in season two and is where we’re first introduced to Greg (vomiting in his dog costume) in season one.

 

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TUSCAN GRANDEUR 

 

You may have “done” Tuscany… but have you done it like a Roy? In season three, the siblings’ mother, Lady Caroline, gets married in this glorious corner of Italy. Though pricey, most of the venues and shoot locations are open to the public. The wedding itself takes place at the rambling mansion of Villa Cetinale, in Sovicille near Siena. It was built for Pope Alexander VII, so is naturally no place for a hen party: that happens nearby in the gorgeous (but always popular) medieval town of Cortona instead. The Roys stay at Villa la Foce, near the spa town of Chianciano Terme (though Kendall opts for Villa Bonriposi in Legoli), and there are also cameos for spa village Bagno Vignoni, restaurant La Terrazza del Chiostro in Pienza, and (later in the series) Villa la Cassinella on Lake Como.

 

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NORWEGIAN PEAKS 

 

Season four sees the Roys touring slightly sinister “tech bro” Lukas Matsson’s home country – and it certainly looks good. Viewers may already be familiar with the Atlantic Ocean Road, scene of a memorable car chase in Bond film No Time to Die, and it truly is a fantastic drive as it sweeps and swoops over a collection of islets. You might also recognise the Juvet Landscape Hotel: this exquisite eco-resor t near Valldal featured in Alex Garland’s spooky sci-fi flick Ex Machina. Those who want to re-create the summit-on-a-summit where senior company members meet the Roys at the top of a mountain, should look to 715m Nesaksla, near Andalsnes. No need to hike: you can take the Romsdalen cable car up there – then dine in the scene-stealing Eggen Restaurant with its panoramic views of mountains and the sinuous River Rauma.

 

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FROM THE COTSWOLDS TO DUNDEE 

 

For the very hardest of hardcore fans only, you can actually get married on the spot where Shiv Roy ties the knot with Tom in season one: Eastnor Castle is a stately home, deer park, hotel and, yes, wedding venue sitting very pretty in the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the edge of the Cotswolds. (In the show it belongs to Lady Caroline; in reality to the descendants of the splendidly named Second Baron John Somers Cocks, who built it, in the mock-medieval style, 200 years ago.)

 

For a total style contrast, meanwhile, there’s the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Dundee outpost. When Logan Roy is honoured in his Scottish hometown during season two, it’s at the brutally futuristic-looking V&A Dundee, opened in 2018. Maybe stay a while, too: Brian Cox, who plays Roy in the series, describes the city – his real-life hometown – as “beautiful, incredible, cultural… it’s [risen from its post-industrial malaise] like a phoenix from the ashes”. 

 

ED GRENBY

 

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