Harry Potter's London ☆☆

Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station (Photo by MaX Corteggiano)
Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station

Famous Harry Potter sights, filming locations, and moments from the Harry Potter books and movies

OK, obviously the real action in the Harry Potter books happens mostly at Hogwarts (much of which was inspired—and some parts filmed—at Oxford University).

However, Harry had several adventures in London, too—none more iconic than Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station.

(Die-hard fans will also want to take a tour of the Warner Brothers Studios outside of town to see some of the sets, props, and sound stages where Harry Potter's world was created for the films.)

For more Harry Potter tours, see the sidebar or the "Harry Potter's London tours" section below.

Harry Potter sights in London

Here are some actual places around London where memorable bits of the Harry Potter movies were filmed:

  • Kings Cross Station - Showing a whiff of whimsey, the station has sliced a luggage trolley in half and planted it in an out-of-the-way brick wall below a sign proclaiming "Platform 9-3/4", as if the cart is in the process of passing through en route to the Hogwarts Express. (Tube: Kings Cross-St. Pancras) » more
  • St. Pancras Station - Conveniently next-door to King's Cross, this is where they filmed the scenes in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with young Harry and Hagrid on a walkway above the tracks. (Tube: Kings Cross-St. Pancras) » more
  • Leadenhall Market - Parts of Diagon Alley were a set, but that set was inspired—and, indeed, parts of the Diagon Alley scenes were filmed—at this cobblestoned, glass-covered Victorian-era market . (Tube: Bank, Monument, Liverpool Street) » more
  • London Zoo - In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, they actually filmed the Harry-talks-to-a-snake scene here. There's a sign commemorating it in the reptile house. Don't get any ideas about setting the snake free, however. In the book and movie it might have been a friendly Burmese python, but the actual snake that lives here is an 8-foot black mamba, the fastest snake on Earth (clocked at 10–12 mph) and one of the deadliest serpents in the world (its venom can kill a grown man in 20 minutes). (Tube: Camden Town, Baker Street, Regent's Park) » more
  • New Square - This barrister-infested residential square just SE of Lincoln's Inn Fields was used for the exterior shots of "Grimmauld Place," home to No. 12, the Sirius Black ancestral home that later serves as headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. If you can't find no. 12, don't fret; after all, it is invisible to muggles. (Bonus: It's just a few blocks NNE of Australia House on The Strand, which served as Gringott's) (Tube: Holborn, Chancery Lane, Temple)
  • Tower Bridge - Visible in the backgrounds and establishing shots in several movies, this faux-medieval bridge is one of London's instantly recognizable icons (and as such is mistaken by many visitors to be the famed London Bridge, which is actually an unassuming span just to the west of Tower Bridge). (Tube: Tower Hill) » more
  • Lambeth Bridge - This jaunty red-and-black span just south of the Houses of Parliament was where the Knight Bus narrowly squeezed between two oncoming double-decker buses in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. (Tube: Westminster or Lambeth North)
  • Australia House - If you happen to be an Aussie, you might have a shot of getting into the official Australia embassy and consul on the Strand—which also served as the interior of Gringott's, the wizarding bank, in the Harry Potter films. Tourists, however, are not allowed inside. (uk.embassy.gov.au; Tube: Temple).

Harry Potter's London Tours

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