Harry Potter filming locations, from the King's Cross platform to the city where it was written, and a viaduct in the Highlands.

What does this route cover?

The eight Harry Potter films were made mostly on sets, at the Leavesden studio near Watford, but several scenes were shot in real places and the saga left its mark on more. Here we separate three things that guidebooks tend to mix up. Filming locations are places where scenes were shot. Themed places opened later for fans: the studio, shops, a gallery, a play and a hotel. And the author's places, which do not appear on screen: Edinburgh, the city where J.K. Rowling wrote the books.

What follows is organised by country. In England, London, Oxford and a Wiltshire village you visit from Bath. In Scotland, Edinburgh and, without its own page, the Glenfinnan viaduct. In Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher, from Galway. If you are looking for other sagas, the rest of the shoots are in Film locations.

England

London: three shoots and a studio on the outskirts

King's Cross. According to the studio, most of the platform scenes were shot at this station: the first shot of the first film and the last of the last. The platforms preserve nothing; in the concourse, outside the ticket barriers, there is a trolley disappearing into the wall and a themed shop. The photo is free with your own phone during shop hours, from 8:00 to 22:00 (on Sundays, from 9:00 to 20:00).

Leadenhall Market. The Victorian covered market in the City was, in The Philosopher's Stone, the street along which Hagrid takes Harry to the Leaky Cauldron; the pub entrance was a door on Bull's Head Passage. It is a public street, open 24 hours and with no entry fee.

The Millennium Bridge. The pedestrian bridge between St Paul's and the South Bank that the Death Eaters destroy in The Half-Blood Prince. It is open all day and takes ten minutes to cross.

Without their own pages, you pass Westminster station, Piccadilly Circus and Australia House, on the Strand, whose interior was Gringotts in the first film.

The Studio Tour is the great themed place, and at the same time the place where almost everything was shot: the Leavesden stages and warehouses with the Great Hall, Diagon Alley, the platform with the train and the rebuilt Gringotts bank. Tickets are sold online only, with a time slot: £58.50 per adult in 2026 and £61 in 2027. From 14 November 2026 to 17 January 2027 the sets are covered in snow. You get there by train from Euston and it has its own one-day plan.

The themed side of central London

For fans, four more places matter, none of them a filming location. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the play that continues the story, is performed at the Palace Theatre in a single part of 2 h 55 and in English, Tuesday to Sunday, with performances on sale until 27 June 2027. A few minutes away, House of MinaLima, on Wardour Street, is the gallery and shop of the films' graphic designers, with free entry every day from 11:00 to 18:45. The saga's shop on Oxford Street, at The Ribbon, numbers 134 to 140, opened on 4 November 2026.

To sleep within the theme, the Georgian House Hotel, in Pimlico, has wizard-themed rooms and a themed afternoon tea at weekends; it is not an official product of the saga.

Oxford: Hogwarts without the sets

Oxford is the best filming location for anyone who wants to see Hogwarts in real stone, and it can be done in a day from Paddington.

Christ Church. The staircase up to the dining hall is where McGonagall greets Harry, Ron and Hermione, and the quidditch trophy scene passes through its corridors. The Great Hall was not filmed: it inspired the dining hall built at the studio. Timed entry, from about £23.

The Bodleian Library. The library itself says that Duke Humfrey's was the Hogwarts library and the Divinity School the infirmary, in the first, second and fourth films. The Divinity School can be seen on its own in 15 minutes for £3; Duke Humfrey's only with the guided tour, from £17.50 and for over-11s.

New College. Its cloister, with the oak tree in the centre, appears in The Goblet of Fire. Tickets are bought on the college's website.

Lacock, from Bath

Lacock Abbey and village, run by the National Trust, half an hour from Bath by car, bring together three shoots: the abbey cloister as Hogwarts corridors and classrooms in the first two films, a village house as the Potters' home in Godric's Hollow and its streets as Budleigh Babberton. Tickets are bought on the day.

Scotland

Edinburgh: where it was written, not where it was filmed

First: no film was shot in Edinburgh. What it has is the author's story: she moved to the city at the end of 1993 with a draft of Harry Potter, wrote a good part of the books in cafés in the old town and finished the last one at the Balmoral hotel. That is why it is the ideal complement to London and Oxford: there you see the screen, here the origin.

The Harry Potter walk is about 2 km, almost flat, through Greyfriars and Victoria Street, and separates what is documented from what is only said: Greyfriars cemetery, with a grave of a Thomas Riddell and another of a McGonagall, and Victoria Street, which is presented as the model for Diagon Alley without confirmation from the author. The guided Potter Trail tour is free, with a donation at the end, in English and with compulsory booking; it leaves at 11:00 most days. Beforehand, have breakfast at The Elephant House, the café where she wrote, which reopened in December 2025 after a fire and is open every day from 9:00 to 18:00.

To fill the day, the plan Rowling, Greyfriars and the Old Town underground adds Mary King's Close, the underground vaults and a candlelit dinner. To stay, the Witchery suites include The Heriot, with views of George Heriot's School, which the hotel itself says is believed to have inspired Hogwarts. It is a couple's suite: extra beds are not allowed.

Glenfinnan, in the Highlands

Without its own page on Geocalia, the Glenfinnan Viaduct, on the Fort William to Mallaig line, is the curved bridge the Hogwarts train crosses on screen. Today it is crossed by the steam train The Jacobite, and many people see it from the viewpoint without boarding the train. Timetables, season and prices depend on the operator and we have not checked them: look them up before you plan the trip. It is far from Edinburgh: the day trip to Loch Ness and the Highlands is not designed for this spot, so allow a night in Fort William or a hire car.

Ireland

The Cliffs of Moher

Tourism Ireland records that the Cliffs of Moher were the cave in The Half-Blood Prince, where Harry and Dumbledore look for a Horcrux, blended by computer with another island off the Irish coast. It is worth visiting for the landscape rather than the scene: at the ticket office it costs €15 per adult, less if you book online, and you do it from Galway, a little over two hours by train from Dublin.

How to get there and how to combine it

Within England. This is the easiest: London is the hub. Euston for the studio, Paddington for Oxford and, with one more night, Bath for Lacock.

From England to Scotland. Edinburgh has an airport with a tram to the centre and Waverley station, and connects with London by plane or train. It deserves at least two nights.

To Ireland. It is a different trip: Dublin has direct flights from many Spanish airports and Galway is one train away. Moher fits into a week in Ireland; it does not justify the trip on its own.

An order that works. With three days in England you have the essentials: one for the studio, another for London on foot, as in the plan Platform, markets and a night at the theatre, and another for Oxford by train, as in Staircase, cloister and Divinity School. All three together, with a hotel in London, are in the three nights of studio, theatre and colleges getaway. Then two or three nights in Edinburgh to close the circle: from the studio where Hogwarts was built to the café where it was born.

Book ahead for the studio, the play and the Bodleian guided tour, which go on sale on the 1st and 15th of each month, and for The Potter Trail visit. King's Cross, Leadenhall, the bridge, MinaLima and Greyfriars do not need booking.