Top Harry Potter Vacation on Location Spots to Visit in Britain

The eagerly anticipated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I is hitting the cinemas and VisitBritain, the national tourist board for England, Scotland and Wales, has prepared a roster of ‘not-to-be-missed’ locations throughout the UK for Harry Potter fans.

Highlights of Harry Potter tours include a 4-night Carry On Harry Potter Adventure that offers an extensive tour of the filming locations in the English countryside featured in the first four films. The tour kicks off in Oxford with stops at Christchurch College and the Bodleian Library, where the Great Hall scenes and library scenes were filmed. A trip to Yorkshire to catch the Hogwarts express is included, followed by a trip to Hogwarts. The price is approximately £499 person and includes tours of the filming locations in London, Oxford, Gloucester, Yorkshire and the Peak District.

Off To London offers a 2-day tour of Harry Potter locations in England at various prices depending on the size of group. The tour includes visits to the tranquil National Trust village of Lacock, Oxford University's Christ Church College, Gloucester Cathedral, Stonehenge, Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath.

In its eighth year of operation, HP Fan Trips brings Potterholics the best of their past UK tours and adds some new stops along the way. In summer of 2011 Potter fans can ride a steam train along the same path taken by the Hogwarts Express, take a coach tour of the London locations used in the films, and even partake in an exclusive “Hogwarts-style” banquet at Edinburgh Castle.

London visitors can enjoy a Harry Potter afternoon walk visiting more than 20 city locations that appear in the series from London Walks. Organised Sundays, the walks cost £8 per person and start at different times, leaving from Westminster or Bank tube stations.

The wizarding world of Harry Potter comes alive in London in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The London Eye is one the landmarks that can be seen in the film. From your own “brooms eye” view atop the 135-meter Ferris wheel, you’ll be able to see many other famous sights, including Parliament, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. Right next to Big Ben you can find the entrance into the Westminster Tube Station, one of the main locations Harry uses when traveling in the film.

While in London, Potter fans cannot miss a photo op at the enchanted Platform 9-3/4 at King’s Cross Station. Would-be sorcerers can try their hand at pushing a trolley through the brick wall between platforms nine and 10, otherwise known as the portal to the wizarding world.

In the new film, fans will see the Mersey Tunnels of Liverpool during a scene where Hagrid and Harry flee from the pursuit of some Death Eaters. Fans can visit the tunnels and other great sites Liverpool offers.

Oxford university’s Christchurch College is a must while in Oxford, the location used for the magnificent Hogwarts dining hall and many of the school’s famous moving staircases.

In Gloucestershire, visitors can learn more about the owls used by Hogwarts’ students at the National Bird of Prey Center. The center is home to more than 60 species of owls, eagles and hawks, and offers an “Owl Experience Day” where owl enthusiasts can learn how to handle and fly these magical creatures.

Can’t get enough of Hogwarts? You can also visit the stunning Alnwick Castle, in the North of England, which was used for interior and exterior shots of Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter movies.

The majority of the blockbuster series' breathtaking scenery was shot in the spectacular Scottish Highlands. This remains true for the newest films, as the cast spent a lot of time in the highlands filming scenes at Hogwarts and around Hogsmeade village. The most north- easterly point of the British mainland, Cape Wrath meets Voldemort’s fury in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, with some of Britain’s most spectacular cliffs playing a lead part in the dramatic climax of the new film.

Other Highland filming includes a craggy, desolate hillside in the mountains of Glencoe Close, which provided the backdrop for Hagrid’s Hut, the Sundial Garden and the Bridge to Nowhere for the Prisoner of Azkaban. Loch Eilt is the location where Hagrid is seen skipping stones across the water and Black Rock Gorge near Evanton in Easter Ross was filmed for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Last but not least, living up to J.K. Rowling’s description of a “lonely and beautiful place”, Freshwater West beach and coastal path on the Pembrokeshire Coast in Wales will be featured in the first part of the concluding Potter installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I, as the location of the “Shell Cottage” scenes. A beautiful wind swept, exposed beach, Freshwater West is the most well known of Pembrokeshire’s surf beaches. Freshwater West is the perfect location for visitors in search of a secluded sandy beach that isn’t too commercialized. Backed by sand dunes with scenic cliffs at either end, the beach is home to plenty of rock pools that can be explored and a restored seaweed collector’s hut.

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