How to have a Harry Potter vacation
Harry Potter inspired a new generation of Anglophiles
around the world to fall in love with the country and culture. And while trips
to the UK are all fine and good, here's how to take your trip to the next level
and get the full Wizarding experience.
1. Tour London
London plays a pivotal role in the series, as the crossing
between the Muggle world into the Wizarding one. Visit Charing Cross Road,
where the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron is supposed to be. You can also walk
through Picadilly Circus, where the trio Apparate to in the movies when they
escape the wedding, and visit Leadenhall Market to see where they got
many of the exterior shots for Diagon Alley.
But, maybe most importantly, the Harry Potter Studio Tour is
just a train ride away from London. Set at Leavesden Studios, where the movies
were filmed, you can see many of the original props and sets, drink butterbeer,
and see the model of Hogwarts itself.
2. King's Cross Station
King’s Cross may be in London, but it's so important that it
deserves an entry of its own. The train station is where the kids famously take
the Hogwarts Express from, after dropping through the wall between Platform 9
and Platform 10. That wall doesn’t actually exist (Rowling was thinking about a
different train station when she wrote it), but there is a cart halfway through
a wall where you can pose for as many pictures as your heart desires. There is
now also a Harry Potter gift shop, where you can get your fill of fun, new
merch.
3. Take the train from
King’s Cross to Scotland
Hogwarts is in Scotland, so it’s only fitting that you round out
your Harry Potter tour by taking a train following a similar path. You can take
a train from King’s Cross up to Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, where JK Rowling
has lived much of her life. If you want to trek a little further into the
highlands, you can take a train across the Glennfinnan viaduct, which serves as
one of the most famous Hogwarts Express shots.
4. Visit Edinburgh
hotspots
Scattered around Edinburgh are pivotal places for fans to visit.
There’s the Elephant House cafe, which famously tout itself as the place where
J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter.
Thought she didn’t actually write there that much, the bathroom has been
graffitied over thousands of times by fans, and it’s an amazing experience. You
can also check out the café where she wrote a lot of the first book, which is
now called Spoon. Outside of the building there is a small plaque marking its
importance.
For something a little more intense, you can walk through the
graveyard with the Riddel grave, where she took Voldemort’s original last name
from. Just ask someone to point you toward the Grayfriars Bobby cemetary.
To round out your tour, the Balmoral Hotel has the suite where
she finished writing Deathly Hallows. While you may not be able to get up, it’s
always fun to visit and have afternoon tea while you try to soak up the
magic.
