Actor Luke Evans, star of ‘The Hobbit’, in Malta stay

The Welsh star stops for a photo with the staff at Casa Ellul before leaving the island. Photo: Ray Attard/Mediatoday

Welsh actor Luke Evans checked out of Casa Ellul, Valletta's premier boutique hotel, after a short stint on the island.

Evans stars alongside Emma Watson and Dan Steven in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, out in March of next year.

The Immortals star was also one of the main stars in Peter Jackon's The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

This wasn't Evans's first visit to Malta.

"This place is run by two brothers who turned their family home into a boutique hotel. It only has eight bedrooms, and mine had a hot tub on the terrace overlooking the dome of the church next door," he told CN Traveller in 2014. "I had never been to Malta before, and I thought it might be a bit colonial, but I fell in love with it. One evening I was walking to dinner with friends as the sun was setting and we took off our clothes, dived into the sea, then dried off on the rocks and went on to the restaurant."