I have a list of places around the planet that never fail to cheer me up. Chief among them is the Pacific Coast Highway.
I discovered it when I moved to Los Angeles to be a scriptwriter in the early 1990s. You take Highway 101, not the freeway, out of LA, and the scenery doesn't really kick in until north of San Simeon and Hearst Castle. Then it becomes really spectacular. This was my escape from crazy Hollywood. There are some very swanky hotels, such as Post Ranch Inn, but you can find cheap motels and cabins to rent. And the walks in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park are the same no matter how much you pay for your bed.
When it comes to man-made marvels, I have to nominate Cologne cathedral. I have a thing for gothic buildings, as my readers will know, and Cologne cathedral is the best example of all. When I walk in, the sheer scale and intricacy of it strikes me dumb.
I am not a religious person, but the awe comes from the fact somebody designed and built this marvel. It is like a work of mathematical genius.
Another favourite spot, a cathedral of a different kind, is Amoeba Music, which is on Sunset Boulevard, in LA. It's a small chain that began in Berkeley, California, but the LA one is simply the biggest, best independent record shop in the world. I always come out with carrier bags full of stuff you can't find anywhere else, especially soundtracks.
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The best bookshop in the world, incidentally, was Acres of Books, in Long Beach, which helped inspire the Cemetery of Forgotten Books in my novels, but it closed the year before last. Now I would nominate Powell's Books, in Portland, Oregon, as the finest. It's a whole city block, full of new and secondhand, with incredibly knowledgeable staff. It's well worth seeking out.
Then there is Bryce Canyon, in Utah. I prefer this to the Grand Canyon - although it is wonderful, the sheer vastness of it makes it difficult to take in. Bryce Canyon is much more human. You can feel part of the landscapes, of these columns of strange-shaped rocks, which glow golden and amber depending on the time of day. It can feel like a very special place that only you know about.
I love another type of canyon, the ones between the buildings in New York, specifically at Columbus Circle. I know they've built the Time Warner Center there now, but when I'm standing, facing north, with the whole of the Upper West Side before me, it still never fails to lift my spirits. Central Park West and those strange, mysterious mansion blocks, such as the Dakota, fascinate me, and I love walking up and down Columbus and the streets around the natural history museum. The area has an atmosphere that's lacking on the Upper East Side, which is much more sterile.
I have a thing for boats and the sea, so two of my top 10 trips involve harbours. Sydney is, of course, one of the most naturally beautiful spots on earth, and the bridge and opera house just top it off. What I love to do is hop on a boat and see where it takes me. The ferry network isn't really for tourists, it's for locals, so you can end up well off the beaten track.
The same holds true in Seattle, but there I like to sit up in Queen Anne, which is mostly a residential district. It's perched right up above the bay, so you can watch the ferries and the seaplanes come and go. Sunny days are rare in Seattle, and when they do come, they're something special, so it's fantastic to be up there with a glass of local wine and a cigar, taking in the Pacific, my favourite ocean.
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There are several places where I smoke cigars. One is in front of the fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris. You can sit and contemplate that the scene hasn't changed since Proust had his photograph taken in front of the same fountain. The other is a village called Puigcerda, in Spain, which is in The Angel's Game. This is a resort in a valley in the Pyrenees, right on the French border, a glorious, unspoilt place with a lake that freezes in winter and beautiful old mansions. Unlike much of the Spanish coast, it hasn't been overdeveloped - it's my retreat from Barcelona, whenever it gets me down.