Harry Potter

A real filming location. Hagrid leaves Harry here with a ticket for platform nine and three-quarters, and Mrs Weasley shows him how to run at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. The wall used in the films is between platforms 4 and 5, renumbered for the shoot; in Chamber of Secrets Harry and Ron find the barrier closed and miss the train. Today a luggage trolley half inside a brick wall, with a Harry Potter shop beside it, waits in the main concourse.

Access · Working station, open every day. The concourse with the trolley and the shop is free; platforms 4 and 5 are behind the gates, so you see them from the other side unless you are taking a train.

A real filming location. Hagrid walks Harry through this Victorian covered market, standing in for the streets of London, on the way to buy his school things. The door of an empty shop in Bull's Head Passage, on the edge of the market, was painted dark for the film and became the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron, the pub that leads to Diagon Alley. Guides disagree on which shop it is today: look for the narrow passage off the market's main hall.

Access · Covered market and public passages, free to walk through. The shops, pubs and restaurants keep their own hours.

A real filming location. On Dudley's birthday the Dursleys take Harry to the zoo; in the reptile house Harry talks to a snake, the glass of the tank vanishes and Dudley falls in. The zoo says the film's snake was a Burmese python, while the tank was home to a black mamba. The old reptile house closed to the public in 2023 and the reptiles moved next door; the building now has Zoo Town, with a recreation of the tank for photos.

Access · Paid entry, best booked online; opening hours change with the season. The film's tank is a recreation inside Zoo Town, part of the zoo visit.

A real filming location. The marble hall of the Australian High Commission, with its huge chandeliers, is the banking hall of Gringotts, where goblins sit at high desks and Hagrid takes Harry to his vault for the first time.

Access · A working embassy, not open to the public: only the outside can be seen. The doors are open only on weekdays.

A real filming location. On the stone staircase under the fan-vaulted ceiling by the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall welcomes the first-years before the Sorting in Philosopher's Stone; in Chamber of Secrets the same stairs are seen again. The hall itself was not used for filming: the Great Hall of Hogwarts was built in the studio on its model.

Access · Paid entry with a timed ticket, best booked online. The Hall and the staircase close at times for college meals and events: check the closures page before you go.

A real filming location. The stone-vaulted room of the Bodleian is the Hogwarts hospital wing in the first films, and in Goblet of Fire Professor McGonagall teaches dancing here before the Yule Ball. Upstairs, Duke Humfrey's Library was the Hogwarts library, where Harry searches the Restricted Section under his invisibility cloak.

Access · Small paid entry to the Divinity School with a timed ticket. Duke Humfrey's Library can only be seen on a guided tour, booked in advance. Hours change for exams and events.

A real filming location. The fan-vaulted cloisters are Hogwarts corridors: in Philosopher's Stone Harry and Ron run through them when the troll gets loose, in Chamber of Secrets a message written on the wall appears here, and in Half-Blood Prince Harry and Ron walk past the lavatorium, the long stone wash basin.

Access · The cathedral is free to enter, with donations welcome; services and events can close parts of it. Check the visit page before you go.

A real filming location. The medieval cloisters of this abbey are Hogwarts corridors. The Sacristy was Snape's classroom, the Warming Room with its big cauldron was Professor Quirrell's classroom, and in the Chapter House Harry finds the Mirror of Erised.

Access · National Trust site with paid entry, free for members; the cloisters and the house keep their own hours. Lacock village is free to walk.

A real filming location. In the Outer Bailey Madam Hooch gives the first-years their first flying lesson, and Neville's broomstick runs away with him. In Chamber of Secrets the castle is seen again, in the Inner Bailey, when Harry and Ron arrive at school in the flying Ford Anglia. The castle runs free broomstick lessons on the same lawn.

Access · Paid entry, open in the warm months only (about late March to October); check the dates and the last entry on the official page. The broomstick lessons are included in the ticket.

A real filming location. In the cloister, Harry lets his owl Hedwig fly off across the snowy courtyard in Philosopher's Stone. The cloister and some rooms of the cathedral are also Hogwarts corridors and classrooms in the first two films.

Access · Free to enter, with a suggested donation. Visiting hours are shorter on Sundays and change for services and events: check the plan-your-visit page.

A real filming location. This small station on the moors is Hogsmeade station, where the Hogwarts Express stops and Hagrid calls the first-years to follow him.

Access · Heritage railway, with steam trains on set days of the year only: check the timetable on the railway's site. The station and the village are free to walk around.

A real filming location. The Hogwarts Express crosses this curved railway viaduct in several films; in Chamber of Secrets Harry and Ron, late for the train, fly over it in the Ford Anglia and catch up with it. The National Trust for Scotland visitor centre is close by.

Access · Free viewpoint, always open; the car park and the visitor centre charge and keep their own hours. The path can be muddy and the car park fills up when the steam train is due.

A real filming location. The purple triple-decker Knight Bus, taking Harry to London after he runs away from the Dursleys, squeezes between two red double-deckers on this bridge. In Order of the Phoenix the bridge is seen again from above, as Harry and the Order fly along the Thames.

Access · Public road bridge with pavements, always open.

A real filming location. The Knight Bus drops Harry at the Leaky Cauldron, which in this film is a door at 7 Stoney Street, under the railway arches at the edge of Borough Market; the shop next door, now the Market Porter pub, was a magic bookshop. The shop fronts have changed since filming.

Access · Public street, always open. The market stalls around it keep their own days and hours.

A real filming location. On the slope above this small loch near the Clachaig Inn stood the set of Hagrid's hut in Prisoner of Azkaban, with the mountains of Glencoe behind it. The set was removed after filming; the loch and the view are still the same.

Access · Free, always open; a short walk on paths that can be wet. Nothing remains of the set.

A real filming location. Hagrid skims stones on the shore of this loch in Prisoner of Azkaban, and the small island of Eilean na Moine is where Voldemort comes looking for the Elder Wand in Deathly Hallows Part 1. For some shots the island was digitally moved into another landscape, so the view does not match the film exactly.

Access · Seen from the road or from the train: the island is in the water and cannot be reached. Stop only in the lay-bys, the road is narrow.

A real filming location. In the cloister of New College, under the big oak tree, Draco Malfoy goes after Harry and Professor Moody turns him into a white ferret.

Access · Paid entry for visitors, through the entrance on New College Lane, with hours that change with the season and the university term; the college can close for events. Check the visiting page before you go.

A real filming location. The tall waterfall in Glen Nevis is in the background of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, when Harry flies on his broomstick to escape the dragon.

Access · Free, always open. The path from the end of the Glen Nevis road is about 1.5 km each way through a rocky gorge: wear good shoes. Crossing the river on the wire bridge is optional and not for everyone.

A real filming location. Mr Weasley takes Harry by Underground to his hearing at the Ministry of Magic: they ride the escalators of Westminster station, and at the exit Mr Weasley cannot get through the ticket barriers. The station was closed for a day for the shoot.

Access · Working Tube station; the escalators and barriers are inside, so you pay a Tube fare (contactless card or Oyster). Very busy at rush hour.

A real filming location. From Westminster, Harry and Mr Weasley walk to the corner of Great Scotland Yard and Scotland Place, where a red telephone box is the visitors' entrance to the Ministry of Magic. The box was a prop and was never there.

Access · Public street, always open.

A real filming location. These terraced houses are the street of 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black's family home and the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, hidden between numbers 11 and 13. The square appears in Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows; the house front itself was a set at Leavesden built on the model of these houses.

Access · Private homes: look from the street and do not disturb the residents.

A real filming location. Half-Blood Prince opens with Death Eaters flying low over London: they twist this steel footbridge until it snaps and falls into the Thames. In the book the bridge was an invented one; the film chose this one, opened in 2000.

Access · Public footbridge, always open.

A real filming location. When Death Eaters attack Bill and Fleur's wedding, Hermione apparates with Harry and Ron to the foot of Shaftesbury Avenue, in front of the lit-up screens, and a double-decker bus nearly runs them over. The café where they hide just after was built in the studio.

Access · Public square, always open and very busy.

A real filming location. The tall Elizabethan front of the house, with its big windows, is the outside of Malfoy Manor in the Deathly Hallows films.

Access · National Trust site with paid entry, free for members; house and gardens keep separate hours that change with the season.

A real filming location. Shell Cottage, Bill and Fleur's home by the sea, was built on these dunes for Deathly Hallows and taken down after filming. Fans leave painted stones in memory of a scene filmed here; the National Trust asks visitors not to leave anything on the beach.

Access · Free beach managed by the National Trust, always open. Strong currents: swimming is dangerous here.

Not a scene from the films: the steam train company West Coast Railways supplied the locomotive and carriages for the Hogwarts Express. Its Jacobite train runs from Fort William to Mallaig across the Glenfinnan Viaduct in season.

Access · Seasonal train, usually from spring to late October, with tickets sold out weeks ahead in summer. Check dates and book on the official site.

Not a scene from the films: the studios at Leavesden where all eight films were made. The tour walks through the sets kept after filming, with the costumes, props and the large model of Hogwarts used for the castle's exterior shots.

Access · Paid entry with a timed ticket, best booked in advance online; opening hours and the last entry change with the season. Allow at least 3 to 4 hours inside.

A real filming location. A house on this quiet cul-de-sac played number 4 Privet Drive, the Dursleys' home, in the first film: Dumbledore leaves baby Harry on the doorstep, and owls gather on the roofs with Harry's Hogwarts letter. The later films used a copy of the street built in the studio.

Access · Private homes where people live: look only from the street, stay quiet, do not stand in front of a house and do not knock.

A real filming location. The timber-framed De Vere House is the house of Harry's parents in Godric's Hollow, the village Harry and Hermione visit on Christmas Eve. The crew filmed it in summer without the actors; snow and a Christmas tree were added later, and parts of the house were used to build the village street.

Access · Private house: look only from the street. The village of Lavenham, with its timber-framed houses and church, is free to walk around.

A real filming location. Harry and Hermione put up their tent on the limestone pavement at the top of this great curved cliff while they hide and search for a way to defeat Voldemort. Locals say the actors were added later and only the landscape was filmed here.

Access · Free, always open, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The path from Malham village is about 1.5 km with steep steps up the side of the cliff; the limestone is uneven and slippery when wet.