Plan a Virtual Vacation to These “Harry Potter” Filming Locations

by · April 30, 2020

Wishing you could visit the wizarding world right now? We are too. Being stuck indoors has Potter fans worldwide longing for a vacation. For those die-hard movie fans who are planning their pilgrimage to King’s Cross station, Holiday Cottages has compiled a full list of filming locations from the Harry Potter films for you to add to your list of places to visit.

The company analyzed Tripadvisor reviews for the film locations of 200 iconic movies and TV shows and calculated the proportion of reviews mentioning those specific films and shows to find out which locations were made famous by their appearances on-screen. Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland, which is best known for its starring role as the train track for the Hogwarts Express, took the top spot, with 51.58% of reviews mentioning “Harry Potter.”

Christ Church College in Oxford, the real-life inspiration for Hogwarts’s Great Hall, takes second place with 40.66%, while Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, where portions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone were filmed, has 37.94%. The full list is as follows:

  1. Glenfinnan Viaduct – 51.58%
  2. Christ Church College – 40.66%
  3. Alnwick Castle – 37.94%
  4. New College, Oxford – 35.71%. Notably, the giant oak tree Malfoy is sitting in when Mad-Eye turns him into a ferret in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire can be found in New College’s cloisters.
  5. King’s Cross station, London – 32.49%. Thousands of fans visit Platform 9 3/4 every year.
  6. Leadenhall Market, London – 29.38%. The narrow streets of Leadenhall Market may seem familiar to those who have always dreamed of visiting the Leaky Cauldron – its real entrance is located inside the massive covered market.
  7. Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire – 29.19%. This beautiful church’s high ceilings and hallways were used as the interiors of Hogwarts.
  8. Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester – 23.46%. It’s home to the original door to the Gryffindor common room, as well as the corridor where the trio discovered a petrified Mrs. Norris in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
  9. Bodleian Library, Oxford – 18.74%. Scenes in both the Hogwarts library and the infirmary were filmed at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
  10. West Coast Railways, Scottish Highlands – 14.61%. The Hogwarts Express wouldn’t exist without this railroad company, which supplied the engine and carriages.
  11. Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire – 11.63%. Visit Dobby’s grave and Shell Cottage at this beach in Pembrokeshire.
  12. Millennium Bridge, London – 9.07%. The Death Eaters destroyed this bridge in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but it’s still standing today for fans to visit.
  13. Durham Cathedral, Durham – 5.28%. Visitors will recognize this cathedral as the location of Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration class.

Several other film locations were highlighted, including Downton Abbey‘s St Mary’s Church and Doune Castle from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Holiday Cottages has every film buff’s European vacation covered with these locations. Make sure to tell us where you most want to travel once quarantine is over!