Where wasHarry Potterfilmed?

INT. WARNER BROS. STUDIO TOUR LONDON – LEAVESDEN

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London

as The Great Hall, Diagon Alley, Platform 9¾, Gringotts

The actual sets, not replicas: the Great Hall, Dumbledore's office, the Potions classroom, the Burrow kitchen, Diagon Alley as a full street, the Forbidden Forest and, since 2019, Gringotts bank. The model of Hogwarts used for the exterior shots stands in the final hall.

NOTEStandard tickets for school holidays and weekends sell out weeks ahead. If your date is gone, the coach packages from central London often still have space – they hold their own allocation.

EXT. ALNWICK CASTLE – ALNWICK

Alnwick Castle

as Hogwarts exterior and the flying lesson courtyard

Madam Hooch's first broomstick lesson in Philosopher's Stone was shot on the Outer Bailey lawn; the Ford Anglia crash-landed in the Inner Bailey in Chamber of Secrets. The castle appears as Hogwarts from outside in the first two films.

NOTEAlnwick Garden next door is a separate attraction with its own ticket – there is no combined ticket. Allow two to three hours for the castle with the broomstick session.

INT. CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD – OXFORD

Christ Church, Oxford

as The Hogwarts staircase and the model for the Great Hall

The stone staircase to the dining hall is where McGonagall greets the first-years in Philosopher's Stone; the Bodley Tower staircase appears again in Chamber of Secrets. The college hall was measured and copied for the Great Hall set – it was never filmed in.

NOTEGo straight to the staircase before the hall opens – most visitors head for the hall first, and the staircase is the shot everyone wants.

INT. GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL – GLOUCESTER

Gloucester Cathedral

as The Hogwarts corridors

The fan-vaulted cloisters are the corridors where 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened' appears on the wall, where Harry hears the basilisk, and where the troll wanders in Philosopher's Stone.

NOTEThe lavatorium – the monks' washing trough in the north cloister – is where Moaning Myrtle's flooded bathroom scene was shot.

EXT. LACOCK ABBEY – LACOCK

Lacock Abbey

as Hogwarts classrooms and Godric's Hollow

The abbey's warming room with its cauldron is Snape's Potions classroom; the sacristy is Quirrell's Defence Against the Dark Arts room; the chapter house is where the Mirror of Erised stands. In the village, the cottage on Church Street is the Potters' house in Godric's Hollow.

NOTEThe village was also Budleigh Babberton in Half-Blood Prince – the house where Harry and Dumbledore find Slughorn is on Cantax Hill.

INT. DURHAM CATHEDRAL – DURHAM

Durham Cathedral

as Hogwarts cloisters and the Transfiguration classroom

The cloister is where Harry releases Hedwig in the snow in Philosopher's Stone; the chapter house is McGonagall's Transfiguration classroom, where Ron and Harry arrive late.

NOTECombine with Alnwick – they are an hour apart by car and both appear in the same two films.

EXT. KING'S CROSS STATION – LONDON

King's Cross Station

as Platform 9¾

The platform scenes were shot between platforms 4 and 5, not 9 and 10 – the real 9 and 10 are in a separate building. The exterior in the films is St Pancras next door, whose Gothic façade looked better.

NOTEBefore 9 in the morning the queue is a few minutes; by midday it can be an hour.

EXT. LEADENHALL MARKET – LONDON

Leadenhall Market

as Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron entrance

The Victorian covered market is the approach to the Leaky Cauldron in Philosopher's Stone; the blue door of the optician's at 42 Bull's Head Passage is the pub's entrance.

NOTEMillennium Bridge, which the Death Eaters destroy in Half-Blood Prince, is a 15-minute walk west along the river.

INT. AUSTRALIA HOUSE – LONDON

Australia House

as Gringotts bank interior

The marble exhibition hall of the Australian High Commission on the Strand was the goblins' banking hall in Philosopher's Stone. For Deathly Hallows Part 2 it was rebuilt at Leavesden – that set is now on the Studio Tour.

EXT. GOATHLAND STATION – GOATHLAND

Goathland Station

as Hogsmeade Station

The station where the first-years step off the Hogwarts Express in Philosopher's Stone. It is a stop on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

NOTERide the steam service rather than driving – the arrival by train is the shot.

EXT. MALHAM COVE – MALHAM

Malham Cove

as The Deathly Hallows camping scene

Harry and Hermione camp on the limestone pavement above the cove in Deathly Hallows Part 1.

NOTEThe limestone is slippery when wet and the clints have deep gaps – proper shoes, not trainers.

EXT. GLENFINNAN VIADUCT – GLENFINNAN

Glenfinnan Viaduct

as The Hogwarts Express crossing to Hogwarts

The 21-arch viaduct in Chamber of Secrets (the flying Ford Anglia chase), Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. The Jacobite steam train that crosses it in summer is the train used for the Hogwarts Express exteriors.

NOTECheck the timetable for the morning crossing – it passes the viaduct about 45 minutes after leaving Fort William. Arrive at the viewpoint an hour early in July and August; the path is busy.

EXT. VICTORIA STREET AND GREYFRIARS KIRKYARD – EDINBURGH

Victoria Street and Greyfriars Kirkyard

as Not a filming location – the inspiration for Diagon Alley

Nothing was filmed in Edinburgh. The city is where J. K. Rowling wrote the early books; the curved, colourful Victoria Street is widely taken as the model for Diagon Alley, and the graves of Thomas Riddell and William McGonagall are in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

NOTEThe walking tours here are literary, not film, tours – which is fine as long as you know that before you book.