Harry Potter spots in London

For all the Harry Potter lovers, here it is a guide with the Harry Potter’s spot you can find in London. A small note: the spots reported in this article refer to the movies, not the book.

King’s Cross station – Platform 9 3/4

This is probably the most famous and the most photographed Harry Potter spot in London. As you know very well, this is where Harry needs to go to catch the Hogwarts Express. Now, in reality, the place in the picture above is just a convenient place put there for marketing and space reason.
Next to it in fact you can also find a Harry Potter store (we recommend not to bring your credit card, the risk you can empty it out is very high 🙂 ).

The actual wall you see in the movie is between platform 4 and 5 in the same train station. Head there to see the real spot, but we don’t recommend trying to pass through it, it may be painful 🙂

Just to be clear, if you will visit platform 9 and 10 in King’s Cross you will be disappointed. Why? Well, J.K. Rowling fault, as she admitted: “I wrote Platform 9 3/4 when I was living in Manchester, and I wrongly visualised the platforms, and I was actually thinking of Euston, so anyone who’s actually been to the real platforms 9 and 10 in King’s Cross will realise they don’t bear a great resemblance to the platforms 9 and 10 as described in the book. So that’s just me coming clean, there. I was in Manchester; I couldn’t check.”

And in fact, there is no barrier between platform 9 and 10 in King’s Cross. No barrier = No gate to Hogwarts.

St. Pancras station – Flying Ford Anglia

We have no certainty about the fact that you will see a Ford Anglia flying over your head with Ron and Harry speeding to catch-up the Hogwarts Express, but we can tell you that the beauty of the Victorian Gothic building makes a visit worth.

Leadenhall Market – The Leaky Cauldron / Diagon Alley

Leadenhall Market, in the centre of London (walking distance from Liverpool Street), was one of the London location used as Diagon Alley. “The glass House”, in the nearby Bull’s Head Passage, is an optician whose storefront was used as the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”.
The Leadenhall Market is another piece of Victorian architecture worth a visit regardless of its connection to Harry… but we know you are going there for Harry 🙂

Piccadilly Circus

Do I really need to write something about this?
Oh, maybe yes, please pay attention when you try to take pics at this spot, don’t risk to be run over by a bus like our favourite magicians did. Remember, we are just Muggles.

Lambeth Bridge – The Knight Bus Bridge

Lambeth Bridge is one of the many London bridges that cross the River Thames. And not the only one that will appear in this list (see Millennium Bridge).
On Lambeth Bridge the scene from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, where The Knight Bus squeezes between two red double deckers was filmed. Sadly there are no triple deckers in London but we are sure two decks will be just enough for you to enjoy the ride in the worldwide famous red buses.

Millennium Bridge – Death Eaters attack

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince dramatic opening scene pictures the Millennium Bridge collapsing during the Death Eaters attack.

London Zoo Reptile House

Reptile House is the place where Harry discovers his ability to talk to snakes in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. This is also the place where he inadvertently sets free a Burmese python vanishing the glass that surrounds the enclosure.
In real life this enclosure in London zoo is house to a black mamba.
Since the Reptile House is inside the London Zoo it is necessary to buy a ticket to enter.

Westminster Station

This is another place that you will visit in London, regardless of being on a Harry Potter tour or not. Westminster station is the closest to many landmarks in London, including Big Ben, House of Parliament, London Eye and Westminster Abbey.
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix it is used by Harry and Arthur Weasley to travel to the Ministry of Magic.
To film the scenes, the station was closed the entire day on October 22nd 2006.
In the scene where Harry passes through the ticket barrier there is a blooper, in fact Harry pulls 3 times in a few seconds the ticket from his jacket.

Warner Bros. Studios

This is THE Harry Potter spot in London.
This is the place where plenty of scenes were filmed and it is the place where you can really enter Harry Potter’s world.
You will find props, stages, and way more than what you can even imagine.
The Hogwarts Great Hall, the wands from the movie, the Mirror of Erised, the door to the Chamber of Secrets, the Hogwarts Express, the actual Diagon Alley, and even Privet Drive.
The studios are actually in the North-West of London, the train station to get there is Watford Junction (we recommend you get there with a national train from Euston rather than via tube and bus) from which there are shuttle buses that will bring you to the Studios.