Harry Potter Movie Locations Travel Guide
University of Oxford
One of the most prestigious institution of higher learning in the world, the University of Oxford provided many locations for the Harry Potter movies. The iconic Great Hall where students of Hogwarts regularly convene in the movies was recreated on a soundstage for convenience sake but was inspired from Christ Church’s Hall. The school also provided the staircases seen in the films including the one seen when Professor McGonagall greets Harry, Ron and Hermione upon their arrival in The Sorcerer’s Stone.
The Duke Humfrey’s Library doubled as the Hogwarts library where the trio are often seen studying or concocting their next move. Additionally, the Divinity School passed as Hogwart’s hospital wing where Madam Pomfrey worked her magic mending injuries and illnesses of varying severity.
Alnwick Castle (Northumberland, England)
Alnwick Castle is used in all eight movies of the saga as it provides many of the exterior shots for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Most notably, this is the spot where Harry first learned to ride a broomstick and you may recall that this is where Harry and Ron crash their flying car into the Whomping Willow in The Chamber of Secrets. The building is also known as the second largest inhabited castle in England after Windsor Castle. While you are there, be sure to visit the spectacular Alnwick Garden.
Durham Cathedral
Founded in AD 1093, Durham Cathedral was used extensively for the interior and exterior shots of the first two films most notably the area known as the “Transfiguration Courtyard” and Professor McGonagall’s classroom. In The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry can be seen walking through the snowy cloisters with his white owl, Hedwig, before the bird rises up into the sky and over the church’s twin 13th-century towers.
Lacock Abbey (Wiltshire, England)
You may recognize the picture above as the location where Harry Potter freed Dobby and you would be right. Founded in 1232, Lacock Abbey provided many of the classrooms at Hogwarts as well as the location for the scene in which Harry finds the mirror of Erised. The landmark also has significance outside of movies as it is also associated with photography pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot who discovered the negative/positive photographic process, upon which modern photography is based. Also stop by the neighboring village of Lacock which inspired the appearance of Godric’s Hollow.
Gloucester Cathedral (Gloucester, England)
Having stood over 1,300 years, Gloucester Cathedral provided many of the corridors used in the movies including the scenes with Headless Nick in The Sorcerer’s Stone and Moaning Myrtle in The Chamber of Secrets. This is also where Harry and Ron rescue Hermione from the giant troll and find the following blood writing on the wall: “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened – enemies of the heir BEWARE!”
26 Comments
Great post, I’m not sure if I’m as big of a HP geek to actually do a trip to any of these places just because of HP but in general they definitely are worth seeing! I thought there were more locations in Scotland! Glasgow University has a massive Hogwarts wibe so am not complaining.
I would totally do the LOTR tour in NZ though.
Yea, if you are in London, many of the locations are definitely worth seeing although yes, it can get pretty costly and exhaustive to travel all over the British Isle to see all the shooting locations. Not nearly as much as the LOTR tour though
Wow, this looks like it took a lot of research. Very cool!
Thanks John. This post took months!! I’m kidding ahah but it’s been staying as a draft waiting to be published since last summer. I guess the DVD/Blu-Ray release was the last occasion I had to release this
that’s the wrong Millenium Bridge. The one in HP was the one in London, near StPauls, and that pic you’ve got it a concept of the one made in Newcastle, I believe. Cool post thought!
and although Kings Cross was used for the interior shots of the station the outside shots were of StPancras… which is ionic given when she wrote it she was actually thinking of Euston when she wrote it…
Also, the platform at Hogwarts was filled in a place called Goatland, and it’s part of the same town that was used to film the long running british soap/drama ‘Heartbeat’…
Thanks Ben, I fixed that pic
And yes, you are correct that the exterior shots of King’s Cross are actually St Pancras. And the Goathland Station was actually used to portray the Hogsmeade train station.
You’re not wrong! See I sound like I know what I’m talking about, I just know the UK well, unlike the Harry Potter films lol but yeah, great post!
I’m afraid the Platform 9 3/4 has been removed while Kings Cross has some renovations.
Ooooh, you made me want to book a flight to the UK straight away Cas. This would be a dream trip, along with the LOTR tour to New Zealand!
I never made it to Oxford when we were in London, even though we planned on it, even asked a local guy as to which trains to take. Alas we ran out of time
Ah glad I did Ruth
Too bad you couldn’t make the trip to Oxford 
Next time, maybe?
Yeah hopefully, but London is sooooo expensive I don’t think we can afford going there anytime soon.
Lots of good film locations here, Castor! I can attest for the amazing Bodleian Library and Christ Church in Oxford. I was lucky to visit these places when I lived there.
Thanks Megan. You are so lucky to have lived in the UK
Great post Castor – I’ve been lucky enough to go to a few of these locations already but I really want to check them all out. This reminds me how much I’m looking forward to the Warner Bros studio tour in London in April.
I remember you talking about buying tickets a few weeks ago for the Warner Bros Studio Tour. You are so lucky!
Seriously great post, Castor (and congrats to you again for the IMDb linkage – I hate you). I would have thought that so many of the sets were straight-up re-creations (like the exterior cathedral shots and such), so it’s nice to know that when (if) I make it to the UK, I can check some of these spots out. My favorite one has to be the Diagon Alley market, though – would have sworn that that was entirely a soundstage. Very cool!
(Poo to you for the 3-page business, though – if I have one gripe about your site, it’s the traffic whoring that becomes obvious when you do that.)
Thanks Dylan. I’m sure you will get the opportunity to check out some of these locations one day.
I realize that laying down the post on 3 pages can be annoying but I simply can’t put 30 fairly large pictures on a single page without making it more difficult to load and navigate. I appreciate you dropping by and letting me know though.
Ok, fair enough…for this post. What about the top 10s?
Ah, this is so cool! I love Harry Potter and it would be so awesome to be able to actually visit these places!
Indeed, some awesome locations. Thanks for dropping by Matt!
Excellent job on this, and the pictures really show the connections between the places and the action. It’s hard to imagine them shutting down these places to the public for long enough to film the series, but I guess that is the magic of editing. I doubt I’d book a trip to hit all of them, but if I was already near one I’d definitely stop to check it out. Well done!
Glad you liked this post!
I think it’s same old Levy won’t spend the money. He makes managers wait till the last mintue of the transfer window to try and get knockdown prices, then we end up with nobody. Unless we can make Champions League every season, we are going to lose our best players. We’ll probably lose Harry as well.
This is all very very tempting. I’ll be taking pictures in every spot if I could go to these places. A really really nice spot, I’ll be adding Harry Potter’s movie location to the movie locations I would like to visit. Thanks Castor
I’ve been on the Glenfinnan Viaduct, it’s a stunning railway journey from Fort William to Mallaig. I was just on a standard train though, not a steam engine.
I also live a few minutes away from the cafe in Edinburgh where Rowling wrote the books, it’s become a bit of a tourist attraction! Always people taking photos of it.
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