Locations & Travel
The real places behind the stories
Every one of my books is set in a real, researched location. Explore the cities, ruins, and landscapes that inspired the books – you could even use this to plan your own adventure!
Luke Richardson's Travels the globe
Travel is where the stories start.
I often say that I couldn’t be a writer if I hadn’t been a traveller first. With every book, I want to give you the thrill of arriving somewhere new — and that takes research. I’ve been to most of the places you’ll find in my stories, though not quite all of them, and here’s where you get to share those real-world adventures with me.
Egypt
Everyone grows up wanting to go to Egypt — or so I've always assumed. And it doesn't disappoint. The pyramids are, quite frankly, incredible. There are layers upon layers of history here, and standing among them really does make you wonder how much of human history we're only just starting to understand.
Hong Kong
I visited Hong Kong before I was a writer, but somehow I think I already knew it would find its way into one of my stories. It's that combination of new and old, of progress and tradition, that I found so fascinating. So it's no surprise that when I sat down to write my second novel, Hong Kong was the first place that came to the page.
Istanbul
Ever since my first trip to Asia, I've been inspired by the colour and the chaos of it. What I find so intriguing about Istanbul is that it has all of that, and a European side too. It literally, and figuratively, has a foot on both continents.
Kathmandu
For me, this is where it all began. Without realising it, I'd been carrying that first story around in my head for a while, but it was arriving in Kathmandu — seeing the crush and clatter of that mountain city — that finally gave the story a home. Once I knew where it was set, the rest came together.
Mexico
We spent a month in Mexico researching The Atlantis Agenda, and by the end of it we'd completely fallen for the place. It's a country that keeps changing shape on you: colonial squares giving way to jungle, and ruins that were cities long before anyone in Europe knew they existed.
Portugal
Imagine walking in the footsteps of the Knights Templar, exploring the castles, churches and tombs of that most enigmatic of orders. Portugal has all of it — including one place that makes me think that maybe, just maybe, the Templars never left.
Morocco
Deserts, souks and beaches of golden sand — and all of it right on Europe's doorstep. Morocco is one of our favourites. There's mystery here too: hidden tombs, the world's oldest university, and secrets sitting in plain sight.
Riga
Riga is a city more people should visit — where Art Nouveau grandeur meets medieval cobblestones, all carried along by a calm Baltic spirit. But it's also a city of mystery, of smoke and mirrors, and of the ghosts of fallen empires that still refuse to leave.