🎡 Films on the Map · City guide
From Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King’s Cross to the way to the Leaky Cauldron in Leadenhall Market: 16 filming locations in the city, most within walking distance of each other, and 6 more on day trips around it, including the Studio Tour at Leavesden. All grouped by area, with walking itineraries for one and two days.
The map
The numbers are a suggested walking order. Pick an area to zoom in, and tap a pin to see what was filmed there.
Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
Pin = a filming location from “Harry Potter — the filming locations” · the number = the suggested walking order
Tap a pin on the map
Locations, distances and times are estimates only. Check opening hours, prices, access and safety before you go.
The places
For each place: what was filmed there, what’s there today, an estimate of the visit time, and links to Google Maps and the scene page.
📍 Islington, London · ≈ 30 min there
A Georgian residential square near Angel station. The houses are private, so photograph from the pavement and don’t disturb the residents. The film’s number 12 is a visual effect and doesn’t exist.
📍 King’s Cross, London · ≈ 25 min there
A working station. The platforms are behind the ticket barriers, but inside the station, next to the Harry Potter shop, there is a free photo spot with a trolley vanishing into the wall. Expect a queue; the paid professional photo is optional. The Google Maps link takes you to this spot.
📍 St Pancras, London · ≈ 20 min there
The 1860s–70s Victorian building is now a hotel above the Eurostar terminus. You can admire the front free from Euston Road; King’s Cross is a few minutes’ walk away.
📍 Regent’s Park, London · ≈ 2 h there
London Zoo, in Regent’s Park; entry is ticketed. The reptiles moved to a new building in 2024, and in October 2025 the old 1926 Reptile House reopened as ZooTown, a play space for young children.
📍 West End, London · ≈ 30 min there
A public square, free and always open, at the start of Shaftesbury Avenue and the theatre district. Traffic is very heavy: take photos from the pavement, not the road.
📍 Whitehall, London · ≈ 30 min there
A public street between Whitehall and Northumberland Avenue, free and always open. The film spot is the corner with Scotland Place, and Harry Potter walking tours pass by.
📍 Whitehall, London · ≈ 30 min there
An ordinary street between Whitehall and the Thames embankment. The film spot is at the Whitehall junction, by the statue of the 8th Duke of Devonshire, a minute’s walk from Great Scotland Yard.
📍 Westminster, London · ≈ 30 min there
A working Tube station (Jubilee, District and Circle lines). You need a ticket or contactless payment to reach the platforms. The exit faces Big Ben.
📍 Lambeth, London · ≈ 30 min there
A public road bridge with pavements, free and always open, beside Lambeth Palace and a few hundred metres from the Houses of Parliament. The red buses still cross it.
📍 Strand, London · ≈ 30 min there
The Australian High Commission, a working diplomatic building. The interior is not open to the public apart from rare Open House festival visits; you can see the front from the Strand.
📍 City of London · ≈ 40 min there
The cathedral is open to sightseers with a ticket, and free for services. You can’t climb the staircase itself: you see it only on a special guided tour, at extra cost and booked ahead.
📍 Bankside, London · ≈ 30 min there
A footbridge, free and always open, between St Paul’s Cathedral and Tate Modern. The collapse was computer-generated; the bridge is still standing.
📍 Southwark, London · ≈ 30 min there
A public street beside Borough Market, one of London’s best-known food markets. Under the railway bridge there are restaurants and bars today; the market keeps its own opening hours.
📍 City of London · ≈ 30 min there
A Victorian covered market in the heart of the financial district. The arcades are free and open to all, and the shops and bars mostly trade on weekdays. Look for the film’s door in little Bull’s Head Passage, on the edge of the market.
📍 Harrow on the Hill, London · ≈ 45 min there
A working private school, one of England’s oldest and best known. You can only get in on a guided tour: public tours run a few times a year with tickets, and groups can book private ones.
📍 Surbiton, south-west London · ≈ 30 min there
A working 1930s Art Deco station and listed building. The café from the film is now a branch of a coffee chain.
📍 Leavesden, near Watford · ≈ 3 h 30 min there
All eight films were made here, and this is where the Great Hall, Diagon Alley, the Forbidden Forest and the Hogwarts bridge were built. Today it’s the Studio Tour, The Making of Harry Potter: tickets must be booked in advance, with no sales on the day. A shuttle, included in the ticket, runs from Watford Junction, about 20 minutes by train from London Euston.
📍 Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire · ≈ 1 h there
An open chalk hill in the Chilterns, owned by the National Trust. It’s free, with wide views from the top, and it marks one end of the Ridgeway, one of England’s oldest national trails.
📍 Wexham, Buckinghamshire · ≈ 1 h there
A public woodland and lake park right next to Pinewood Studios. Entry is free and parking is paid. According to the county council, it is its most popular filming location.
📍 Windsor Great Park, Surrey · ≈ 1 h there
A lake in Windsor Great Park, with a walking path of about 8 km around it. Entry is free and parking is paid. The exact filming spot isn’t documented; the Google Maps link opens the little Cascade at the lake’s eastern end, where the fourth film also shot.
📍 Bracknell, Berkshire · ≈ 10 min there
A private house on a quiet estate in Bracknell, about an hour from London. A family lives here: see it from the street only, quietly, without disturbing the neighbours.
📍 Bracknell, Berkshire · ≈ 45 min there
Crown Estate woodland, free to walk. The Look Out visitor centre on Nine Mile Ride has maps, parking and bike hire. Don’t look for the film’s rivers and mountains: much of the backdrop was added digitally.
Itineraries
All times here are estimates (a rough visit time plus travel by distance). Check opening hours and tickets before you go.
Estimate: ≈ 3 h 5 min
Start at Piccadilly Circus, head down to Trafalgar Square and the corner of Great Scotland Yard, continue along Whitehall to Horse Guards Avenue, then to Westminster station opposite Big Ben. Finish on Lambeth Bridge, past the gardens beside Parliament. About 2.5 km.
Estimate: ≈ 7 h
Start at Piccadilly Circus, head down to Trafalgar Square and the corner of Great Scotland Yard, continue along Whitehall to Horse Guards Avenue, then to Westminster station opposite Big Ben. Finish on Lambeth Bridge, past the gardens beside Parliament. About 2.5 km.
From Australia House on the Strand walk east to St Paul’s, cross the Millennium Bridge to Bankside, carry on to Borough Market and Stoney Street, and return over London Bridge to Leadenhall Market. About 4.5 km. The markets are busiest on weekdays.
Day 1 · ≈ 7 h
Start at Piccadilly Circus, head down to Trafalgar Square and the corner of Great Scotland Yard, continue along Whitehall to Horse Guards Avenue, then to Westminster station opposite Big Ben. Finish on Lambeth Bridge, past the gardens beside Parliament. About 2.5 km.
From Australia House on the Strand walk east to St Paul’s, cross the Millennium Bridge to Bankside, carry on to Borough Market and Stoney Street, and return over London Bridge to Leadenhall Market. About 4.5 km. The markets are busiest on weekdays.
Day 2 · ≈ 3 h 55 min
From Claremont Square near Angel it’s a ten-minute walk to the King’s Cross photo spot and the St Pancras front opposite. From there it’s about 3 km, on foot or by bus, to London Zoo in Regent’s Park; plan the zoo as a visit in its own right.
Day 1 · ≈ 7 h 55 min
Harrow on the Hill in the morning (the classroom itself only on a booked tour), the Leavesden Studio Tour in the afternoon (advance booking only, about three and a half hours), and Ivinghoe Beacon for sunset. Without a car: train to Watford Junction and the shuttle to the studios.
Day 2 · ≈ 5 h 10 min
The Forbidden Forest at Black Park, a walk round the lake at Virginia Water, a short, quiet stop on the Privet Drive street in Bracknell, and finish in Swinley Forest. All four are within half an hour’s drive of each other.
Tips
The Studio Tour sells no tickets on the day, and they sell out. Christ Church, the Bodleian tours and the Jacobite are also best booked ahead.
In London, walk and take the Tube. Oxford is about an hour by train, the Studio Tour is a train to Watford Junction plus a shuttle, and for northern England and Scotland a car is easier.
The Privet Drive house in Bracknell, the homes on Claremont Square, the houses in Lacock village and De Vere House in Lavenham are people’s homes. Photograph from the street, quietly, and don’t enter gardens.
Cathedrals and colleges are working places: they close for services, exams and events, sometimes at short notice. Keep quiet in churches; some ban photography during services.
FAQ
This guide has 22 filming locations in London, from the “Harry Potter — the filming locations” collection, where 23 scenes were filmed. Each place has what was filmed there, what’s there today and a Google Maps link.
At King’s Cross station in London. The scene was filmed between platforms 4 and 5, behind the ticket barriers. Inside the station, next to the Harry Potter shop, there is a free photo spot with a trolley vanishing into the wall, usually with a queue.
Diagon Alley itself is a set built at the Leavesden studios. The walk through London and the Leaky Cauldron’s door in the first film were shot at Leadenhall Market; in the third film the Leaky Cauldron moved to Stoney Street, by Borough Market.
Only from outside. The house is at 12 Picket Post Close in Bracknell, and a family lives there. The real street appears only in the first film; for the later films Privet Drive was rebuilt at the studios.
The Warner Bros. Studio Tour at Leavesden is in the studios where all eight films were made, with sets such as the Great Hall, Diagon Alley and Gringotts. Tickets are advance-booking only. Take the train from Euston to Watford Junction, about 20 minutes, then the shuttle included in the ticket.
The guide has ready itineraries for half a day, one day, two days and day trips from London. As a rough estimate, all the places together take about 31 h 20 min of visiting and travel at a normal pace. The planner splits them into one to five days, at the pace you choose.
Yes. In the trip planner you pick the number of days, a pace and how you’ll get around, and get a day-by-day plan with time estimates, a map for each day and Google Maps directions. The plan is saved in your browser, and you can send it as a link.
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