Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (2024)

đŸȘ„If you are a Harry Potter fan discover Harry Potter filming locations in London plus the most magical places to stay, shop, eat and drink in our guide.

Even if you’ve toured the Harry Potter studios north of London, have ridden the ‘Hogwarts Express’ in Scotland or have taken a guided walking tour of the Potter-themed attractions in the city, you may want to do some wizard or witch style exploring of your own. Or make up your own free Harry Potter walking tour of London instead.

The good news is there are lots of film locations of Harry Potter movies to discover. In fact, you can even stay in a magically themed hotel from the moment you arrive, immersing yourself fully in the spellbinding experience from the start of your trip to the very end.

If you want to create your own Harry Potter walking tour of London or are wondering which London train station Harry Potter is associated with, this guide is for you. We’ll walk you through all the best Harry Potter places in London, as well as top Harry Potter things to do in London for fans of the fantastical, wondrous world.

Let’s get started by taking a look at the best place to stay while touring the Harry Potter attractions in London – followed by places to eat, drink and shop.(Want to know more Harry Potter destinations for your UK itinerary? Read our complete guide to 18 Harry Potter locations in the UK)

Table Of Contents

    • ✹ The Georgian House Hotel – Pimlico 4*
    • ✹ Enchanted afternoon tea at the Georgian House Hotel
    • ✹ Potion making at The Cauldron – London
  1. đŸȘ„ The top 10 Harry Potter filming locations in London
    • 🔼 King’s Cross Station
    • 🔼 Westminster Station
    • 🔼 Millennium Bridge (Aka the bridge destroyed by the Death Eaters)
    • 🔼 Whitehall(Aka the Ministry of Magic)
    • 🔼 St Paul’s Cathedral (Aka the Divination Tower staircase at Hogwarts)
    • 🔼 Claremont Square (Aka Grimmauld Place, headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix)
    • 🔼 Australia House (Aka Gringotts Wizarding Bank)
    • 🔼 Trafalgar Square
  2. đŸȘ„ 5 more Harry Potter filming locations in London
    • ✹ London Zoo
    • ✹ Piccadilly Circus
    • ✹ Vauxhall Road
    • ✹ BT Tower
    • ✹ Harrow School
  3. đŸȘ„ Which London locations of Harry Potter films will you visit?

đŸȘ„ Where to stay, eat, drink & shop when exploring Harry Potter filming locations in London

✹ The Georgian House Hotel – Pimlico 4*

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (1)

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (2)

At first glance, this may seem like your average four-star London hotel – but a magical secret is concealed within. You can stay in the Wizard or Enchanted Chambers when booking into the Georgian House Hotel. The latter sleeps two guests, while the former is available as family rooms for four, five or six guests.

These rooms have been carefully designed to resemble the atmospheric sort of quarters you might find inside the Hogwarts castle or at one of the wizarding families’ homes, complete with four-poster beds dressed with velvet curtains, tapestries, cauldrons, trunks, stained glass windows and wood-burning stoves.

Each room is unique and modern luxuries like White Company toiletries, Nespresso coffee machines, flatscreen TVs and fast WiFi are supplied. Pimlico and Sloane Square are the closest tube stations, and key London landmarks like Buckingham Palace and Westminster are under a mile away.

✹ Enchanted afternoon tea at the Georgian House Hotel

  • Venue: Georgian House Hotel, 35 – 39 St George’s Dr, Pimlico, London SW1V 4DG
  • Closest Transport: Pimlico & Sloane Square underground stations

You can also experience a Harry Potter themed afternoon tea at the Georgian House Hotel detailed above. This is available on Friday, Saturday or Sunday and includes a magical treat to take away. The cakes, sandwiches and other edible goodies can also be accompanied by bottomless fizz, cocktails or mocktails. Find out more here.

✹ Potion making at The Cauldron – London

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (6)
  • Venue: The Cauldron, 5d Stoke Newington Road, London N16 8BH
  • Closest Transport: Dalston Kingsland & Dalston Junction overground stations

If you fancy taking a magical-style cocktail class during your London stay, this ‘potion bar’ offers classes where you can wield a wand, wear a cloak and create drinks like an expert mixologist.

Tickets are available for children as well as adults, and the experience lasts for just under two hours. It includes a welcome drink plus the two cocktails or mocktails you make yourself and takes place at the venue on Stoke Newington Road.

✹ The Harry Potter shop at Platform 9 & Ÿ

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (7)
  • Venue: King’s Cross station, London
  • Closest Transport: King’s Cross underground or overground station

Warwick Davis opened the doors of the Harry Potter shop in London in December 2012, and the store now receives around 2 million visitors per year. To those who stop by for a photo opportunity at platform 9 & Ÿ, popping into the shop is a must.

The products sold at the London Harry Potter store include exclusive design’s from the store’s own in-house team. It’s proved so popular that the Harry Potter shop in London King’s Cross has since been joined by one located at Heathrow airport’s terminal 5.

đŸȘ„ The top 10 Harry Potter filming locations in London

🔼 King’s Cross Station

Of all the things to do in London to do with Harry Potter, platform 9 & Ÿ is at the top of the list. This is the Harry Potter station in London – and paying a visit means you have an excuse to go to the Harry Potter store at Kings Cross too.

🔼 Westminster Station

Westminster underground station is where Mr Weasley struggled to operate the ticket barriers, just as many first-time visitors to London do in real life!

🔼 Borough Market (Aka the Leaky Cauldron & Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films)

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (8)
  • Address: 8 Southwark St, London SE1 1TL
  • Closest stations: London Bridge & Southwark

Borough Market is the real-life location of the fictional Diagon Alley. This food market is one of London’s oldest, and lies to the south of the River Thames near London Bridge station.

You can still see filming locations when the market is closed, by taking a stroll down Stoney Street.

🔼 Leadenhall Market (Aka the Leaky Cauldron & Diagon Alley)

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (9)
  • Address: Gracechurch St, London EC3V 1LT
  • Closest station: Monument

Leadenhall Market was also used for filming the first Harry Potter movie, also serving as the location for the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. It’s an attractive market to visit anyway, with a unique mix of independent stores and boutiques.

🔼 Millennium Bridge (Aka the bridge destroyed by the Death Eaters)

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (10)
  • Closest station: Blackfriars, Southwark, St Paul’s or Cannon Street

The Millenium Bridge over the Thames – aka the ‘wobbly bridge’ – served as the ‘Brockdale Bridge’ in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

It was chosen due to its iconic landmark status, and was destroyed by the Death Eaters as they flew overhead, leaving destruction and muggle deaths in their wake.

🔼 Whitehall(Aka the Ministry of Magic)

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (11)
  • Closest station: Westminster

Like real UK government buildings, the fictional Ministry of Magic was located on Whitehall – or should we say beneath. In the books and movies, the headquarters consisted of ten subterranean storeys near Westminster.

As the red phone box used to enter the building was just a prop, it cannot be seen here, though you will spot similar ones dotted across London.

🔼 St Paul’s Cathedral (Aka the Divination Tower staircase at Hogwarts)

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (12)
  • Address: St. Paul’s Churchyard, London EC4M 8AD
  • Closest station: St Paul’s

Anyone who has seen Harry and his friends heading to Divination lessons in the films will have seen them climbing the stairs of the tower to reach their classroom. The real tower is actually located at the majestic St Paul’s Cathedral, in one of the towers to the front of the building.

🔼 Claremont Square (Aka Grimmauld Place, headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix)

  • Address: Pentonville, London N1
  • Closest station: Angel

Located in leafy Islington, Claremont Square was the real-life filming location for 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black’s family home and the HQ of The Order of the Phoenix. Exterior scenes featuring the house were shot in this quiet north London square.

🔼 Australia House (Aka Gringotts Wizarding Bank)

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (13)
  • Address: Strand, London WC2B 4LA
  • Closest station: Temple

The listed building occupied by the Australian High Commission on The Strand was used as a location for Gringotts bank, though it was the inside rather than the outside which had a starring role. Marble imported from Australia was used to make the very counters that the goblins are seen sitting behind.

If you want to visit, note that it is closed at weekends, and you may not be able to enter without good reason, though you may be able to glimpse the interior through the windows when passing by.

🔼 Trafalgar Square

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (14)
  • Closest station: Charing Cross

Trafalgar Square also featured in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince while the Death Eaters made their way across the sky. It’s also famous because the final Harry Potter movie premiered here.


A stage by Nelson’s Column hosted actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson plus author J. K. Rowling before they followed the long red carpet all the way to Leicester Square, where the film was shown in three separate cinemas.

đŸȘ„ 5 more Harry Potter filming locations in London

If you’d like even more Harry Potter places to visit in London, check out this brief rundown!

✹ London Zoo

London Zoo’s Reptile House was used for filming the scenes with Dudley and the snake. If you do go in, look for the commemorative plaque marking the spot.

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (16)

✹ Piccadilly Circus

Harry, Ron & Hermione apparate to a spot nearby in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the brightly-lit location is seen on screen.

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (17)

✹ Vauxhall Road

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle buys his diary from a shop on Vauxhall Road. The diary later becomes one of Voldemort’s horcruxes.

✹ BT Tower

The BT Tower in Fitzrovia also featured in the second Harry Potter film, when Ron and Harry fly over it in Mr Weasley’s Ford Anglia.

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (18)

✹ Harrow School

As it’s further out of London than most Harry Potter sites in London, Harrow School is perhaps one for dedicated Potterheads only – or those visiting the area anyway.

You’re unlikely to see inside the Fourth Form Room – aka Professor Flitwick’s classroom – anyway, but as one of England’s oldest and most prestigious schools, it’s interesting to see pupils in uniform wandering between the ancient buildings.

đŸȘ„ Which London locations of Harry Potter films will you visit?

There are plenty of Harry Potter sights in London for fans of the series to visit, so which will you pick? From stations to markets, squares and more, you can visit various Harry Potter spots in London during your stay.

Don’t forget to consider potions-themed cocktail class, a magical afternoon tea and staying in the Wizard or Enchanted Chambers too. Nor to pop into the shop when you visit King’s Cross station!

  • London Travel Guide – links to everything you need to know to plan your trip
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  • What to see and do – Complete London bucket list with guide to all the top sights and attractions & Guide to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
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  • Boat trips and cruises – Comparison guide to the best boat trips and cruises on the Thames
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Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (20)

Harry Potter filming locations in London (map & experiences) (2024)

FAQs

Where was Diagon Alley filmed in London? â€ș

Leadenhall Market in the City of London was used as Diagon Alley in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, whilst the entrance to wizard's pub, the Leaky Cauldron, is in real life an optician in Bull's Head Passage.

Where is the scenery around Hogwarts filmed? â€ș

Scottish Highlands

Many of the movies' exterior shots — especially scenes of the Hogwarts grounds — were filmed in the craggy, cloudy Highlands of Scotland (mostly in the Fort William/Glencoe area). The Hogwarts Express runs along the actual Jacobite Steam Train line (between Fort William and Mallaig).

Was Harry Potter filmed at Kings Cross station? â€ș

Although Harry Potter and his schoolmates board the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross Station, the exterior used in the films was, in fact, the one that now looms over you, St Pancras Station. St Pancras Station was King's Cross Station in the Harry Potter films.

Does the Leaky Cauldron exist in London? â€ș

London's Borough Market serves as the location of the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Dating back to the 12th century, its centuries-old buildings and bustling atmosphere make it the perfect place to hide a magical pub!

Where is Daniel Radcliffe house in London? â€ș

Radcliffe and his parents moved out of the terraced house in Sherbrooke Road, Fulham, West London, as the young actor's career took off. Since then the house, that overlooks a cemetery, has undergone refurbishment to turn it into a luxury modern home.

Which tube station was Harry Potter filmed on? â€ș

Shot: King's Cross is the station where students board the Hogwarts Express on Platform 9 Ÿ. Fact: For filming, platforms 4 and 5 were renumbered 9 and 10. At the station today, you'll find the hidden access to platform 9 Ÿ, complete with half a luggage cart disappearing into the wall!

Where in London is Malfoy Manor? â€ș

It is mentioned that Malfoy Manor is in Wiltshire, in the south of England. It is perhaps intentional that this is the same area of England, roughly, as the Salisbury Plains and Stonehenge. There is a Muggle belief that there is something magical about this area.

Where is Hogwarts Castle in real life? â€ș

Movie: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets. Shots: Alnwick Castle has been used for exterior shots of Hogwarts. Fact: Alnwick Castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England. It has been home to the dukes of Northumberland for over 700 years.

Where was Hagrid's house filmed? â€ș

Landscape In Glencoe, Scotland

The filming location for Hagrid's Hut from the Harry Potter movies set up in Clachaig, Glencoe.

Where is Harry Potter's house in real life? â€ș

Harry Potter Locations: Little Whinging and London

4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging is home of the Dursleys where the saga begins. This is an actual home in Berkshire, located at 12 Picket Post Close, Bracknell.

Where was Hogsmeade station filmed? â€ș

The Hogsmeade village train station was filmed in the picturesque Yorkshire village of Goathland, but when the Harry Potter train is seen travelling over the rail bridge to Hogwarts in the films, it's actually the world-famous Jacobite Steam Train that you're seeing on its way over the magnificent 21-arched Glenfinnan ...

What streets in London was Harry Potter filmed? â€ș

Leadenhall Market, in the City of London, was used as Charing Cross Road, along which Harry and Hagrid make their way to the Leaky Cauldron. As they walk, Harry asks Hagrid, "Can you find all this in London?", to which Hagrid replies, "If you know where to go."

Was Harry Potter filmed at Paddington Station? â€ș

Set in the capital city, much of the movie was filmed on location in London. Paddington Station: The station is closely associated with the bear and whilst the platforms were used for filming, the exterior of Paddington Station was actually filmed outside Marylebone tube station.

Where did they film the train scene in Harry Potter? â€ș

One of the most famous scenes from the saga is when Harry takes the train to Hogwarts, the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Glenfinnan Viaduct, completed in 1901, in Inverness-shire in the Scottish Highlands was used to bring the fantastical journey to life.

Where is 12 Grimmauld Place in London? â€ș

23 Claremont Square is the filming location of 12 Grimmauld Place from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Where is Knockturn Alley in London? â€ș

Goodwin's Court was used in ''Harry Potter'' movie as the location for Knockturn Alley.

What street in London inspired Harry Potter? â€ș

CECIL COURT THE REAL DIAGON ALLEY

Cecil Court, on the other hand, most certainly does. It is also "just off Charing Cross Road"; and, with its curious mix of bookshops and antique shops, it is a serious contender for the real Diagon Alley, or at least the thoroughfare on which Diagon Alley was based.

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