Harry Potter Walking Tour Locations
The vibrant city of London is home to an abundance of locations where famous scenes from the Harry Potter films have been shot. Remember the stunning staircase that led up to the Divination classrooms? Thats from inside the St. Pauls Cathedral! And the glasshouse where Harry befriended a Boa Constrictor? That was shot inside the Reptile House at London Zoo. Here are a few of the most popular filming locations in London that you would visit while on a Harry Potter walking tour.
Londons Ultimate Harry Potter Tour
In addition to visiting some of Londons top Harry Potter sites, this Airbnb experience wanders the London streets to end at the House of MinaLima. If youre not familiar, thats the design house that produced a lot of the iconic imagery including the Daily Prophet typography and all the Weaslys Wizarding Wheezes packaging that we now consider the iconic in the magical world.
Hosts Amy, Zoë, and Tom will help you explore some new London and Harry Potter sights with this one!
Cecil Court And Goodwins Court
A small alleyway just off the bustling Charing Cross Road, Cecil Court is believed by many to have been the inspiration for Diagon Alley .
The Court here is lined with original Victorian shop fronts and sells a wide variety of antique books, with a few shops fittingly providing a supply of books on the subject of magic!
In fact, the first shop on the right is actually called The Witch Ball!
On Cecil Court, you will also find Watkins Books which claims to be the oldest occultist and mystical bookshop in the entire world!
Harry Potter fans with an eagle eye may also spot a large display of Gringotts banknotes located in one of the shop windows here.
It is safe to say that Cecil Court has a touch of magic to it, easily believable as the entrance into Harrys world on Diagon Alley.
Goodwins Court is much smaller and the buildings are kind of wonky giving it a surreal feeling.Its easy to imagine that this little courtyard path could be an entrance into Harrys magical world.
Because of this, many people believe that this is the exact place Rowling was trying to recreate in the Potter books.
Harry and Hagrid walk down Charing Cross Road itself in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.
Whilst Harry is on the Knight Bus in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban he travels down Charing Cross, and Ministry cars drive down the road in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
TIP: Read our full post on finding the real Diagon Alleys
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Harry Potter Themed Hotel
At the Georgian House Hotel in London, Potter fans can stay in wizard themed rooms. You can’t book the rooms online, rather you need to contact the hotel for a quote.
Call them 0 834 1438 and/or email: .
The reviews on TripAdvisor concern the Wizard Rooms are generally very positive and a recurring comment is that these rooms are a real treat for fans.
Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making Of Harry Potter
Its a 20-minute train from Londons Euston Station to the Watford Junction railway station where you can catch a Harry Potter shuttle bus to the Warner Bros. Studio.
The studio tour starts with a live guide introduction to the Harry Potter theme and then guests are brought to the sets.
From there its a self-guided experience through the two sound-stages and outside lot.
If you choose to go it alone, you will probably want to rent a digital guide for £4.95 for a richer experience. Not including travel time, plan on spending about 3 hours at the studios.
When: Tours run almost every day of the year. The first tour and last tour of the day depends on the date, so check their calendar. Note: Tickets must be purchased in advance and are not sold at the Studio.
This ticket does not include transportation from London with return .
- Free 4 and under
- £56.95 Complete Studio Tour Package Adult
- £47.95 Complete Studio Tour Package Child
- £150 Family Package .
Tip: Book at least a month in advance as this tour sells out quickly.
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A Film Locations Self
Welcome to the free guide to Magical London that features the sights of London and includes the Harry Potter® London film locations. It is brought to you by London Blue Badge Tourist Guide and author Richard Jones with the intention of providing you with a free DIY walk that will enable you to explore some of London’s hidden away and most fascinating places at little or no cost.
In short you will be able to enjoy a truly magical day out in Central London.
Places Visited On The Tour
- Kings Cross Home of Platform 9 ¾
- St Pancras Station The Setting for the Flying Car
- Claremont Square The Order of the Phoenix HQ
- Leadenhall Market Diagon Alley and The Leaky Cauldron
- Tower Bridge The Backdrop to the Orders Flight Through London
- Stoney Street The Entrance to the Leaky Cauldron
- The Millenium Bridge The Site of the Attack by the Death Eaters
- St Pauls Cathedral Part of Hogwarts
- Australia House AKA Gringotts
- Piccadilly Circus Part of the escape to London in the Deathly Hallows
- Great Scotland Yard The Ministry of Magic
- Westminster Station Closest tube to the Ministry
- Lambeth Bridge Where we witness some of the Knight Buss frantic journey
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Leadenhall Market Or Borough Market
Is shopping therapy for you? If yes, get along with us to experience shopping in the most unique way. The one which is found in central London with traces from long back in the 14th century and allows you to do all this under a beautiful Victorian rooftop. Wait until you hear about what we have to tell you about the market. Youll instantly fall in love with it. Our Harry Potter-guided tour will lead you to some great boutiques and nice restaurants to enjoy your meals while shopping. In addition, Leadenhall offers you some fresh food items and flowers to buy for yourself or your loved one. What makes it all the more famous is its sight in the Harry Potter series. The blue door found at 42 Bulls Head Passage leads to Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter.
Priority Access More Time To Explore
Long line? We’ll show you how to skip it. Packed out sights? Follow us to the secret quiet spots. On Originals tours, you can explore in ways that others can’t.
Long line? We’ll show you how to skip it. Packed out sights? Follow us to the secret quiet spots. On Originals tours, you can explore in ways that others can’t.
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Most Popular Harry Potter Walking Tour
This tour takes you through Muggle London in the footsteps of your favorite wizards .
After meeting your guide, you first find out which Hogwarts House you belong to and begin your tour.
Throughout the tour, you participate in an interactive quiz and compete against other Houses while seeing the locations that inspired J.K. Rowling.
All along the journey, your Harry Potter fan guide will share fascinating facts about the Potter books and movies.
The Leaky Cauldron, actual Diagon Alley, etc., are some of the highlights of the walking tour.
Choose between a brief boat ride down the Thames or a ride on the world-famous London Underground as part of your guided tour.
The Harry Potter walking tour of locations in London lasts 2.5 hours, and the total distance walked is 3.2 km .
In between, you will be taking either a boat ride or the Underground to move to another cluster of the Harry Potter shooting locations.
During the walking tour, you will see a total of 18 locations you have read about in the books or seen in the Harry Potter movies.
1. Southwark Cathedral 3. Sir Francis Drakes world-famous Golden Hinde 4. Winchester Palace
Private Harry Potter Walking Tour
During a private Harry Potter tour, you get a guide to yourself for the duration of the trip.
These tours are costly, but you get to customize the route and the sites you want to visit.
The cheapest private tour of Potter filming locations costs £120 for two people.
The Eco-certified Magical Boy Wizard Walking Tour of London includes a hotel pick-up if you are staying in Central London.
Opt for the Bewitching Potter Tour if you want to be chauffeured in luxury to all sites and inspirations for the films.
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Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts Themed Walking Tour
This experience is a three-hour spectacular Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts themed walking tour in London.
You will meet your Wizard Guide in the City of London to begin your magical tour, who will ensure that everyone is prepared for an incredible adventure.
The guide will help you footsteps of your favorite Harry Potter characters, including Harry, Hermione, and Ron, as well as Magizoologist Newt Scamander, who finds himself waving goodbye to New York in the Crimes of Grindelwald film.
A Muggles Guide to London is the highest-rated Harry Potter Walking Tour in the city.
Stop Two St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
Address: Euston Rd, Kings Cross, London N1C 4QP
After Kings Cross, its a simple matter of strolling across the road to St Pancras International .
St Pancras doubles up as the exterior of the station from which the Hogwarts Express departs.
Its really the front of the station now the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, then the Midland Grand Hotel that were really interested in.
I totally understand why the filmmakers used the exterior of St Pancras in the films rather than Kings Cross who doesnt want an eyeful of that beautiful Gothic architecture?
Plus, it makes it even more dramatic when Harry and Ron purloin the Ford Anglia to fly to Hogwarts when they miss the Express in The Chamber of Secrets right?
Watch the Scene: Harry, Ron and the Flying Car in The Chamber of Secrets
17 minute walk.
From the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, walk north-east and take the stairs, turn right onto Pancras Rd and shortly after turn left onto Euston Rd/A501. Walk along Euston Road for 130 metres, then take the left hand fork onto Pentonville Road. Carry on along Pentonville Road for 800 metres before turning right onto Claremont Square. Follow the square to turn left and numbers 23-29 are across the road.
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Harry Potter Walking Tours London
In 1997, after facing multiple rejections, JK Rowlings book about The Boy Who Lived, hit the bookshelves. 23 years later, the Harry Potter series lives on in the hearts and minds of millennials everywhere.
Avid readers and film enthusiasts around the world will always remember iconic moments from the books and series, from the trio breaking into Gringotts, to Harry and Ron crashing into Platform 9 ¾ before their 2nd year.
Fans now have the chance to experience the magic first-hand — head out on a Harry Potter walking tour in London! Visit film locations where memorable scenes took place: Death Eaters destroying a bridge full of muggles, the famous trio escaping to Tottenham Court Road, the staircase leading up to Professor Trelawneys office and so much more.
Opt for a Harry Potter walking tour walk in the footsteps of your favorite witches and wizards!
Harry Potter Walking Tours In London Prices What To Expect Locations
Each Harry Potter film has many sequences shot in London.
The locations vary from Leadenhall Market to Kings Cross Station, which has platform 9¾ and was the Hogwarts Express boarding point.
In addition to real-life locales, all eight Harry Potter films were filmed in the Warner Brothers Studio in Leavesden, just outside of London.
Every Harry Potter fan goes on the Warner Bros Studio Tour London, and the majority of them also embark on the Harry Potter walking tour of London.
Passionate tour guides who are themselves Potter fans conduct these walking tours of Harry Potter shooting locations.
These excursions, which are popular with both children and adults, take you to actual locations in London that inspired author J.K. Rowling to create her books.
In this article, we share everything you must know before booking your Harry Potter walking tour of London.
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Stop Seven Millennium Bridge
Address: Thames Embankment, London SE1 9JE
Now were on to the Millennium Bridge which you should walk over .
I think that we can all agree that those Death Eaters are a right nasty lot.
Its a pretty bad sign of things to come for poor muggle London when they destroy the Millennium Bridge in Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince plunging all the people walking along it into the Thames.
Perhaps dont think about that too much while youre walking over the bridge though.
The name might be a bit of a giveaway, but the Millenium Bridge was built to commemorate the millennium in London.
Things didnt quite go to plan though when the bridge opened in the year 2000, it became the object of ridicule because it wobbled so much that it was deemed structurally unsound and it knocked over a fair few pedestrians as they tried to cross it in the process).
To cut a long story short, it had to close for another two years while they tweaked it to make it safe for public use.
Like Tower Bridge and London Bridge, the Millennium Bridge first makes its appearance in in Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix when Harry flies through London to Grimmauld Place.
But its really the scene of the Death Eaters striking the Millennium Bridge and causing it to fall and rip apart, toppling pedestrians into the river that really sticks with you.
Its a chilling start to the film and a sure sign that things are getting out of hand.
It cant be true !
Divided Into Easy To Follow Sections
The tour is divided into easy to follow sections that guide you through the streets of London and each section of the tour ends at a Harry Potter Film location.
Breaking it down into sections, as opposed to publishing it as one complete walk, means that you can choose the best way to do the tour in a way that suits your needs.
So, you can either spend the entire day doing the Harry Potter walk, or you can spread the sections out over several days, weeks, or even months! And, if time is limited, you can select which film locations are most important to you, and then focus on the section of the tour that features just those locations.
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Harry Potter Tour Locations In London
Experience some of the most iconic locations in London on this enchanting Harry Potter London walking tour. A 2.5 hour long walk led by a friendly and knowledgeable guide who really knows their Harry Potter trivia, this tour guarantees a splendid time for every fan!
Walk past the Borough Market and Winchester Castle, get a snack at Leadenhall Market, get a photo taken at King’s Cross Station and grab a drink at Sherlock Holmes’ Pub.
High Commission Of Australia
Head back to the Kingsway main street and walk along it until you reach Aldwychm. Turn left and head east until you reach the regal High Commission of Australia building. Australia House, as it is also called, is used for Australian Government agencies within the High Commission, including the National Library of Australia.
In Harry Potter, the interiors of Australia House served as Gringotts Wizarding Bank in the Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. The film transformed the interior into a goblin-run bank with the mere addition of a few tall bank teller desks and a large chandelier.
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Be Adventurous And Save Money
There are lots of similar tours on offer in London – and the prices range from manageable to exorbitant, whilst the quality varies.
Even the so-called “free” guided tours are not actually free, since the guides will be pressurising you to tip them throughout the tour, and you’ll end up forking out around £20 or more for a service that is advertised as “free”, which, if you think about it, is somewhat misleading, the sort of stunt Tom Riddle might have pulled!
Richard Jones’s free Magical London tour, on the other hand, is exactly what it says it is – 100% free.
Then there are the paid for tours, some of which will cost you upwards of £400 for a family of four, whilst, even the low cost London walks will set you back £26.
But, why pay to go on a scheduled tour?
Why throw money away, when you can do it yourself for free?
Goodwin’s Court A Diagon Alley Contender
What Should You Expect On Harry Potter Free Tours
Free Harry Potter tours offer plenty of magical moments without needing to pay for the reservation of the tour. An expert guide is on hand to take you through the world of Muggle London as you discover the real-life counterparts of the magical locations on the big screen. Highlights include Ministry of Magic , Geometrical Staircase , Muggle Prime Ministers Office , and many more.
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The Leaky Cauldron Iii
The outside of Borough Market was used as a shooting location in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In this movie, the storefront under the bridge served as the entrance to theLeaky Cauldron. Harry is dropped off on this street outside the market by the enormous Knight bus. The original location for the Leaky Cauldron was too small to allow for the huge bus to pass through. Also, the directorof Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Alfonso Cuaron wanted his movie to take on a darker, more ominous tone. And this bricked-up wall under the train tracks opposite Borough Market fits the bill. To find the exact location, head to the spot marked on the map at 7 Stone Street.