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Alnwick Castle above misty parkland and the River Aln at sunrise, with grazing sheep

Destination guide

Harry Potter tours in Britain: the real locations

Eight days from London to the Highlands, or one full day in London with the studio tour, led by a tour leader who lives in London and has walked every one of these corridors.

  • 2 tours
  • from $269 per person
  • Best months Apr to Jun, Sep
  • 5 filming locations
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Britain, Ireland and Iceland

Britain on screen

The Harry Potter films were made almost entirely in Britain, and most of what you saw on screen was built at Leavesden Studios, north of London. That is where the Great Hall, Diagon Alley and the Gryffindor common room stood, and where many of them stand again today, on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, The Making of Harry Potter. The rest came from real places: a London railway station, a Victorian market in the City, two Oxford buildings, a medieval abbey in Wiltshire, a castle in Northumberland, a steam railway on the North York Moors and a curved stone viaduct in the Scottish Highlands.

Our Britain trips put the two halves together. You see the sets at Leavesden, with tickets we buy for the public tour like anyone else, and you stand in the places the crews borrowed for a week or two and then gave back. Oliver Pryce, who lives in London, leads both the eight-day tour and the London day. He is honest about what is real and what was a soundstage, which is half the fun: the Great Hall at Christ Church is not the one in the films, and Platform 9 3/4 was shot between platforms 4 and 5.

The filming locations below, on the map.Map: Esri, OpenStreetMap contributors

Filming locations

Where Hogwarts and the wizarding world were filmed

Travelers with suitcases under the white lattice roof of the King's Cross Western Concourse

01

King's Cross and Platform 9 3/4

King's Cross opened in 1852 and is still one of London's busiest stations, with trains to York and Edinburgh leaving every half hour. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) this is where Harry looks for Platform 9 3/4, and the scenes were filmed on the real platforms, using the gap between platforms 4 and 5. Today a sign and a luggage trolley half sunk into a brick wall in the Western Concourse mark the spot for fans, next to a shop selling scarves and wands. The line for a photo can take an hour by midday. We come early, when it is short, and look up at the white steel roof of the concourse, which opened in 2012 and is a sight of its own.

  • The Platform 9 3/4 trolley in the Western Concourse
  • The lattice roof of the 2012 concourse
  • St Pancras next door, seen in Chamber of Secrets
Best time
Before 9 a.m., any day

Tours that visit King's Cross and Platform 9 3/4

The cobbled lane of Leadenhall Market in the City of London under its painted glass roof

02

Leadenhall Market, City of London

There has been a market on this corner of the City of London since the Middle Ages, and the painted iron and glass arcades you walk under today were designed by Horace Jones and finished in 1881. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone the market plays part of the way into Diagon Alley, and the door of an empty shop on Bull's Head Passage, painted for the film, became the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. That shop is an optician now, and the door is still there. Leadenhall is a working market with pubs, cafes and shops serving the office crowd, so it is lively at weekday lunchtime and quiet on weekends, when most of it is closed. We come on a weekday morning, before the lunch rush.

  • The Leaky Cauldron door on Bull's Head Passage
  • The painted Victorian roof by Horace Jones
  • A short walk to the Millennium Bridge
Best time
Weekday mornings, all year

Tours that visit Leadenhall Market, City of London

The fan-vaulted Divinity School of the Bodleian Library, Oxford

03

Christ Church and the Divinity School, Oxford

Two Oxford buildings gave Hogwarts some of its best-known rooms. At Christ Church, the fan-vaulted Bodley staircase up to the dining hall is where Professor McGonagall meets the first years in Philosopher's Stone. The hall itself was never used for filming: the Great Hall was built at Leavesden, modeled on it. Across town, the Divinity School of the Bodleian Library, finished in 1488, is the Hogwarts hospital wing in the first film and the room where McGonagall teaches the dance for the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire (2005). Both are working parts of the university, so opening hours change around college events and exams. We buy timed tickets for both and keep a free hour for the covered market and the High Street.

  • The Bodley staircase at Christ Church
  • The fan-vaulted Divinity School, the Hogwarts hospital wing
  • Tom Quad and Tom Tower
Best time
Weekday mornings, April to October

Tours that visit Christ Church and the Divinity School, Oxford

The vaulted cloister walk of Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire

04

Lacock Abbey and village

Lacock is a Wiltshire village owned by the National Trust, with stone cottages, no modern shopfronts and an abbey at the edge of the meadows. The abbey cloisters became Hogwarts corridors in Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, and three rooms off them were used as classrooms: the sacristy for Snape's potions class, the warming room for Quirrell's lessons and the chapter house for the room where Harry finds the Mirror of Erised. The village streets turn up in Half-Blood Prince, when Dumbledore and Harry visit Professor Slughorn. Period drama crews love Lacock too: it was Meryton in the BBC Pride and Prejudice (1995) and the town in Cranford (2007). People live in the cottages, so we stay on the street.

  • The cloisters and the sacristy, Snape's classroom
  • The chapter house of the Mirror of Erised
  • Village streets from Pride and Prejudice and Cranford
Best time
Mornings, March to October

Tours that visit Lacock Abbey and village

A steam train with maroon carriages crossing the curved Glenfinnan Viaduct among autumn hills

05

The Glenfinnan Viaduct

The Glenfinnan Viaduct carries the West Highland Line over the River Finnan on 21 concrete arches, in a long curve about 100 feet above the valley. It was built between 1897 and 1901 and is made of mass concrete, which was new for a bridge of that size. In the films the Hogwarts Express crosses it on the way to school, and in Chamber of Secrets (2002) Harry and Ron chase the train across it in the flying Ford Anglia. The train you can ride over it is the Jacobite, a steam service between Fort William and Mallaig that runs from spring to autumn. On our tour we ride it. On the day tour from Fort William you can also stand on the hillside path above the viaduct, where most of the famous photos are taken.

  • The 21 curved arches above the River Finnan
  • A ride on the Jacobite steam train
  • Loch Shiel and the Glenfinnan Monument below
Best time
Late morning, April to October

Tours that visit The Glenfinnan Viaduct

Britain film location tours for 2026 and 2027

Price per person sharing a double room; day tours per person. Flights to the start city are not included.

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2 tours

Getting around

How our tours get around Britain

01

A van with a driver for England

Between London, Leavesden, Oxford, Lacock and Gloucester we travel in a 14-seat Mercedes Sprinter with a professional driver who knows the English lanes. No drive is longer than about two hours, and there are coffee stops on the way.

02

The train north

From Oxford to York we take the direct CrossCountry train, about three hours, with seats reserved together. It is the fastest way north, and you watch the Midlands go by instead of a motorway.

03

A Scottish driver and the Jacobite

In the north a second van and driver meet us in York and take us over the border to Edinburgh and on through Glencoe to Fort William. The Jacobite steam train covers the most famous stretch of all, over the Glenfinnan Viaduct to Mallaig.

04

Walking in the towns

London, Oxford, York and Edinburgh are best on foot. Expect 3 to 5 miles on a city day, at an easy pace, with stairs at King's Cross, Christ Church and in Edinburgh's Old Town, where the streets climb steeply.

What is included

What our Britain tours include

In Britain

  • Tickets for the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, The Making of Harry Potter
  • A seat on the Jacobite steam train over the Glenfinnan Viaduct
  • Entry to Christ Church, the Divinity School, Lacock Abbey, Gloucester Cathedral and Alnwick Castle
  • A ride on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to Goathland
  • Oliver Pryce, our London-based tour leader, on every day
  • Van and driver in England and in Scotland, and reserved seats on the train to York
  • Central 4-star hotels, most of them within walking distance of the sights

On every tour

  • Central hotels with daily breakfast on trips of two days or more
  • A named Scenes Found tour leader with the group from the first day to the last
  • Airport transfers on the first and last day of the tour
  • Hotel taxes, parking, park entry and local guide fees
  • Our 24/7 line while you travel, in every time zone

Not included: flights to the start city and home, meals not listed, drinks, tips and travel insurance. Each tour page lists exactly what is in the price.

Best time to go

Best time to visit Britain

The eight-day tour runs from April to early October, because the Jacobite steam train, Alnwick Castle and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway are closed or limited in winter. May, June and September are the best months: 60 to 70 F in London, 55 to 65 F in Edinburgh and the Highlands, long evenings (in June it is light in Scotland until after 10 p.m.) and fewer school groups than in July and August. Britain has rain in every month, so pack a light waterproof whatever the season. The London day tour runs all year. November and December are cold and dark by 4 p.m., but the studio tour puts snow on the Great Hall and Hogwarts for the holidays, which many fans love.

  1. Jan: no departures
  2. Feb: no departures
  3. Mar: good months
  4. Apr: best months
  5. May: best months
  6. Jun: best months
  7. Jul: good months
  8. Aug: good months
  9. Sep: best months
  10. Oct: good months
  11. Nov: good months
  12. Dec: good months

Best monthsGood monthsNo departures

Practical

Britain at a glance

Best months
Apr to Jun, Sep
Airport
London Heathrow (LHR), about 15 miles west of the center, 15 to 30 minutes by the Elizabeth line or Heathrow Express; the eight-day tour ends at Glasgow Airport (GLA)
Getting around
Our van and driver in England and Scotland, one CrossCountry train from Oxford to York, the Jacobite steam train, and walking in the towns
Time zone
Greenwich Mean Time in winter and British Summer Time from late March to late October: 5 hours ahead of New York
Weather
Mild and changeable: 60 to 70 F in summer in London, about 5 F cooler in Scotland, rain possible on any day
Filming today
Britain is busy with film and TV shoots all year, from Leavesden and Pinewood to London streets; you will often see crew trucks and signs saying a road is closed for filming
Location etiquette
Queue patiently at the Platform 9 3/4 wall; in Lacock, people live in the cottages, so keep off doorsteps; in Oxford colleges, keep off the grass unless a sign says otherwise
Book ahead
Studio tour tickets for weekends and school holidays sell out months ahead, and so do Jacobite seats in summer; we book both as soon as you confirm
Tipping
Restaurants often add a 12.5 percent service charge to the bill; if not, 10 to 12 percent is normal. Tips for your tour leader and drivers are up to you
Entry to the UK
US citizens need a passport valid for the whole stay and an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), applied for online or in the official UK ETA app before you travel. It is quick, but do it at least a week ahead.

FAQ

Britain tour FAQs

More on the FAQ page, or call +1 (323) 641-2870.

Is the Great Hall at Christ Church the one from the films?

No. The dining hall at Christ Church was the model, but the Great Hall in the films was a set built at Leavesden, and it still stands there on the studio tour. At Christ Church the staircase up to the hall is the real filming location.

Do you have special access to the studio?

No. We buy tickets for the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, The Making of Harry Potter, which is open to the public, and you go round with everyone else. We have no arrangement with Warner Bros. or with the film makers.

Will we ride the real Hogwarts Express?

You ride the Jacobite, the steam train that runs over the Glenfinnan Viaduct where the Hogwarts Express was filmed. The engine used as the Hogwarts Express in the films now stands on a platform set inside the studio tour, so you see both.

Why does the eight-day tour not run in winter?

The Jacobite runs from spring to autumn only, Alnwick Castle closes from November to late March, and the steam trains to Goathland run a short winter timetable. In winter we run the London day tour instead.

Is the tour only for Harry Potter fans?

It helps to have seen the films, but the places are worth a visit anyway: Oxford, a medieval abbey, York, Edinburgh and the West Highlands. Partners who never read the books tend to enjoy it more than they expected.

Can I visit the Elephant House in Edinburgh?

Yes, on your own time. The cafe, which calls itself the birthplace of Harry Potter, reopened in late 2025 after a fire in 2021. Lines can be long, so Oliver points it out on the Old Town walk and you choose whether to wait.

Do I need a visa?

No. US citizens need a passport and a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation, which you apply for online before you go. It is not a visa, and most applications are approved within a few days.

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