Where To Visit The Harry Potter Filming Locations
Fantastic Beasts - 'Back To Hogwarts' Day Celebration
Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros

Where To Visit The Harry Potter Filming Locations

Manon Lamy November 19, 2022

Many of the Harry Potter movies were filmed right here in the UK. It could be so easy to take a fun road trip to make you fill like you’re in those movies. Especially this time of year, as autumn is settling in, you’ll get the full Harry Potter experience. If you’re wondering where to visit the Harry Potter filming locations, we’ve got all the information you need.

So, grab your butter beer and your wands and let’s go see those filming locations. Who knows there might be a wizard or two waiting there.

Here is where to visit all the major Harry Potter filming locations.

London Harry Potter locations

If you want to see many of the filming locations in just one spot than London is the place to be.

Start at Kings Cross station to visit the platform 9 and 3/4 like in the movies. 

You can take a picture with the trolley and a scarf according to your Hogwarts house. Expect some crowds because it might be a bit busy. 

  • Watch Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It is one of the most popular shows on the West End. It has been running at the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue since 2016. 
  • Visit Leadenhall Market. Leadenhall Market is the entrance to the famous Diagon Alley in the first movie. You need to find 42 Bull’s Head Passage which was the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. 
  • Take a walk on Millennium Bridge. I assure you it will not collapse like it did in the Half Blood Prince. 

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Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros

Scotland

The famous Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry is set in Scotland. It would make sense that there are a few filming locations there.

  • The Jacobite Steam Train (the Hogwarts Express Train). Take a ride on this stunning steam engine across the Scottish countryside. This stunning 41-mile journey takes you through the scenic countryside and over Glenfinnian Viaduct. The stunning bridge we have seen many times through the movies. 
  • If you want to see more of the Scottish countryside, you can visit Loch Shiel and Loch Morar that were used as the Hogwarts lakes. 

Oxford

While there is some stunning scenery in the movies, a lot of it still takes place in a school. A couple of the scenes were filmed around Oxford University

  • Visit the Boldeian Library to see the main Hogwarts library that we see throughout the different movies. 
  • The New College Cloisters also hosted some scenes of the movies. Most memorably during Goblet of Fire where Harry gets pushed around by Draco Malfoy and others for being picked in the Triwizard tournament. 

The courtyard in the New College was used to film the scene of Draco Malfoy sitting in the tree.

Other Harry Potter filming locations around the UK

The iconic scene where Harry learns to fly a broom and soon after becomes seeker for Gryffindor is filmed at the Outer Bailey of Alnwick Castle in Northumberland. Furthermore, the street The Shambles in York partially inspired the famous Dragon Alley although this was never confirmed.

Finally, take your trip just outside of York to Goathland Station in the stunning North Yorkshire Dales. This station was the scene for the Hogsmeade station in the earlier movies of the franchise.

All in all, if you want to feel like a witch or a wizard then there is plenty for you to do without even leaving the country. And who knows it’ll make you see spots you might not have thought of going to see before.

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Manon is a freelance journalist for Freshered. She joined Freshered in February 2022 where she is still working today. As a freelance journalist she enjoys covering everything from international politics to Formula 1 and travelling. Manon is currently in her final year of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham after returning from a year abroad in Vienna, Austria. She hopes to continue her studies in Journalism.