A Paige Toon Journey: Lisbon to Cornwall
First love, loss, healing, and second chances across ten days and three landscapes
This journey traces the emotional geography of Paige Toon's novels, moving from the bright intensity of first love in Lisbon, through the quiet healing of the Welsh countryside, and into the second chances that unfold along the Cornish coast. It is built for readers who want to feel a story rather than tour it, with unhurried days, atmospheric settings, and room to simply be in the places these books inhabit. Some locations appear directly in the novels. Others were chosen for the mood and landscape they share. Read in order, the three settings trace the full arc of first love, loss, and the long road back to one another.
LISBON: DAYS 1-4
In the novel: What If I Never Get Over You, where Ellie and Ash meet while interrailing through Europe.
In the book, Lisbon is a place for wandering and conversation rather than sightseeing, and these four days are built the same way.
You arrive in Lisbon and settle into a boutique hotel in the historic center. The afternoon is yours to ease into the city. As evening comes, you walk the tiled streets and end with dinner and wine, an unhurried first night that mirrors Ellie and Ash's earliest hours together.
DAY 1 ARRIVAL IN LISBON
Morning: Unstructured wandering through cafes and small streets, time for people watching and for letting the city set its own pace.
Afternoon: A riverside walk along the Tagus.
Evening: Sunset drinks to close, the kind of evening the book lingers in.
DAY 2 WANDERING THE CITY
DAY 4 A LAST MORNING IN LISBON
You leave Lisbon and travel onward. Madrid appears in the novel as the place where things come apart, and the journey leaves it deliberately unvisited. Its absence is part of the story, and the itinerary honors that by carrying you forward rather than lingering in the loss.
Morning: Explore Alfama on foot and by tram, letting the oldest part of the city set the pace.
Afternoon: Pause at a miradouro above the Tagus, where the river holds the light.
Evening: A long dinner, because this is a city meant for talking.
DAY 3 WHERE TIME SLOWS
wales: DAYS 5-6
In the novel: What If I Never Get Over You, where Ellie is living in Wales as a gardener on a grand country estate when Ash returns
DAY 5 into wales
You arrive into the green of the Welsh countryside and settle into a historic estate or quiet country hotel. The evening is at leisure, restorative and still.
DAY 7 into cornwall
Morning: Walk formal grounds and estate paths reminiscent of the life Ellie built for herself in Wales.
Afternoon: Open time for reflection, reading, or simply standing among the green.
Evening: Fireside and unhurried, a meal by the warmth of the house.
cornwall: DAYS 7-10
In the novel: Seven Summers, a love story that moves across years of distance and return along the Cornish coast.
DAY 6 gardens and grounding
You travel to Cornwall and settle into a coastal village or a small seaside hotel. As the light fades, you walk the beach, easing into the rhythm of the coast.
DAY 8 coast and memory
Morning: The coastal path, with dramatic cliffs and sea air.
Afternoon: Open time in a village cafe or on the sand.
Evening: Dinner overlooking the water.
DAY 9 a day that feels like summer
Morning: Unhurried, with no agenda at all.
Afternoon: Hidden coves and fishing villages.
Evening: A farewell dinner that celebrates enduring love and the quiet closure the story arrives at.
DAY 10 departure
A morning departure from Cornwall, carrying the full arc of the story with you, from first love in Lisbon to second chances by the sea.
A Note on Place
Some of these locations appear directly in Paige Toon's novels. Others were chosen with care to reflect the mood and landscapes she writes about, so that you can step inside the feeling of the books without fictionalizing the facts.
Plan This Journey
This itinerary is available through Novel Travels as an intimate small group departure or as a fully private journey, shaped around your pace and the stories that matter most to you.