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Though she recently released the paperback edition of her memoir, Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life, the actress Julianna Margulies admits she struggles to read on planes. “I always have this idea that I will read all the books I've been waiting to read if it's a long flight. When it's a short flight [it's easier]—I just flew to Chicago and back in 24 hours, and I finished a book, so that’s a great way to do it!” she says. But on longer hauls, the actress explains, not without an apparent amount of guilt, “I’m not going to lie. I do like to binge watch shows I haven't seen—to settle into my seat.”
Sunshiny indeed, Margulies was thrilled, on a recent phone call with Condé Nast Traveler, to share past trips and recommendations from around the world, including an onion dish in Florence, summer events in the Berkshires, and two hotels in Paris.
Her approach to packing:
I always start thinking days ahead, and I'm a light packer. If you pack for two weeks, you should be able to do a carry-on, because everything you pack for one week is what you need for two weeks. And I cannot bear waiting at an airport. I like to have everything with me and just get off the plane and go straight to where I'm going. Waiting for luggage is, to me, a nightmare, so I try to avoid it at all costs.
The suitcase that actually makes her excited to pack:
I was traveling so much during the pandemic because of The Morning Show; I had to go back and forth from L.A. to New York. I had seen everybody with these Away suitcases and I was like, ugh, everyone has the same suitcase—but then I found one that was rose gold. It’s my favorite piece of luggage. I get so happy when I'm packing it. By the way, I bought it, I'm not advertising! I love it because if I get to a foreign country, I can charge my phone in it, then not worry about bringing adapters. Also I'm a very good folder, and the way that it holds down your clothes—nothing's wrinkled. It has a strap in the back so my knapsack can fit on the handle and I'm never hurting my back carrying anything, and I know that my computer's safe. It's just an easy way to travel.
Her travel pet peeves:
I have several. First of all, when you're standing in line waiting to get on the plane, don't make the rest of the line wait because you don't have your ticket out. I never understand that! Have it out. If you've been waiting for hours to board, just be prepared, because it holds everybody up. Another is when, in the airport, people are texting while they're walking with their bags. If you need to text, I get it. Just move to the side and stop. We all have places to go and it's dangerous because when you're a fast walker [like me], you end up slamming into people. And don't try to bring more stuff on the plane than you're allowed, because it holds everybody up. It drives me crazy.
What she’s looking for on a vacation:
There's two parts to that. One is, I really do love to visit cities and see culture. I love to go to a city and walk. This past spring we took our son to Italy for the first time and we probably were walking nine miles a day. But then, if I've been working nonstop and I'm exhausted, nothing makes me happier than getting to a gorgeous white sandy beach with a glass of rose and just lying on a towel. Swimming and then sleeping and then eating and then swimming and sleeping and eating again. It's my favorite thing to do. But for a family vacation, we do like to travel to cities, just for the education and exploration of it. A beach vacation is to relax.
Why she can’t take a long vacation:
A beach vacation, I’m good for four or five days. A city vacation, I’m good for seven. I need to leave on the eighth day—I’m done. And that could be because I pack very lightly! But no matter how gorgeous the hotel is, I'm a homebody. I get to go home. Ultimately, I like to make my own cup of coffee in the morning. I don't want to have to depend on others to get me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But it's heaven for seven days.
The destination she could go to a million times—and where she recommends staying:
I can easily say Paris. It's my favorite city in Europe. I feel like I still have many, many places to explore, but ultimately Paris just, for me, embodies everything, from culture to food to architecture to a way of life. I aspire to be a French person. There's a fabulous hotel in Paris that, if I wasn't going for press or for a movie studio or whatever, I used to stay in—it's called Hôtel Duc Saint-Simon, which is on the Left Bank in the Saint-Germain district. It's small. You don't go there for a grand room. The rooms are not cheap-cheap, but they're not crazy like the Bristol and the Plaza Athénée and all the fancy hotels. They are typically done in these beautiful floral fabrics. It is the real French feeling, and it's where all the old movie stars used to go. But there's nothing like the Plaza Athénée. I did Series Mania, which is a big French film festival, and they invited me to speak there. I didn't care where they were putting me up—I was just excited to go to Paris! My husband and I walked into this unbelievable suite, where you open these gorgeous, huge windows and there's the Eiffel Tower. There is something to be said for waking up to the Eiffel Tower.
Her advice for a perfect evening in Florence:
In Florence, we stayed at the Portrait Hotel, which was great. It’s right on the river and it is absolutely beautiful. You can walk all over the city and be back at your hotel and not feel like you've left the area that you know, even though you've walked the whole city. Florence is very small. We happened upon a restaurant there called Osteria Del Pavone. All I'm saying is, you have to go there and get the onion flan, with creamy pecorino and truffles. It was my favorite part of Florence.
Where she’s hoping to go next:
I’ve never been to Norway or Sweden or Denmark—that's our next big trip. But I have to give in to the 10-day to two-week trip at that point, and also just get over it and check a bag. That'll be hard for me, but I've been dying to go there. One of my favorite shows is Borgen, which is about the first female prime minister of Denmark. When I fell in love with that show six or seven years ago, I was like, “That's it. I'm going.” I will!
Why she loves upstate New York:
I think it's one of the most beautiful places in this country. Where I am, it's very rural and the sky is so vast. I’m on the other side of the river from the Catskill Mountains. The town of Catskill is maybe a 12-minute drive from my house. The thing that's beautiful about it is [it has] four seasons. I know a lot of New Yorkers go straight to the Hamptons. That's never really appealed to me, because it's not really a four-season place. Up here, you can ski in the winter and pick apples in the fall, and in the summer, there's all these incredible lakes and the hiking is amazing. I know that there are a lot of hotels opening up; people are taking over old, dilapidated motels that we used to drive by, thinking “That's where they should have shot Bates Motel.” People are turning them into these dream escape places. It's definitely worth visiting.
Another summer spot she recommends:
Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where my parents used to live, is about 40 minutes east of the Hudson Valley. You have Jacob’s Pillow, you have Shakespeare and Company, you have Tanglewood. It’s full of culture. In the summertime, you have the Williamstown Theater Festival. It’s an artistic enclave that people flock to see, and every performance is just as good as anything you'd see on Broadway.
The hotel amenities she cares a lot about:
I always depend on the hotel having Q-tips, cotton pads, and great moisturizer. I wish to God that hotels would put in sunscreen because I wear sunscreen every day, winter, spring, summer, fall, and it's always a bulky item to bring. Carry it in the bathrooms as an amenity, as a “Let’s stay cancer-free!” You can't carry it on the plane anyway! And by the way, it wouldn't hurt to have makeup remover wipes. Every woman is going to forget that. I know I have! And it would be so nice to be like, “I can take my mascara off. This is awesome.”