If you’re not just a ‘Muggle’ (a non-magical human being who’s neither a wizard nor a witch) but also a ‘Potterhead’ (an undeniable fan of either the Harry Potter book or film series, or both), then taking a Potter-themed walking tour may well be on your bucket-list of things to do on a trip to London.
Indeed, depending on how big a fan you are, that may even be the case if you’re mixing pleasure with business on your trip – and booking at accommodation, say, with a conference room London. After all, as any fan of the books and films know, the city is simply awash with locations intimately associated with Potter’s magical world. So, here then, is a list of the best such walking tours to be had. Wands at the ready… and here we go…
London Walks
London Walks are a popular walking tour operator; one that’s pretty much always delivers an impressive, informative hour or two. This is true, too, for their Harry Potter walking tours. Although costly (for a walking tour) it’s still reasonable – usually less than £10 per participant.
Of the two Potter-specific tour, the main one’s a movie location tour, so it mostly focuses on locations that feature in the seven different films. The other tour – referred to as ‘Harry Potter on Location in London’ – is something of a combo; it mixes movie locales with spots that could be said to inspire the magical-world, Rowling-related and not. These two tours take place on specific days and times during the week. Be sure to check the company’s schedule online so you can plan your itinerary accordingly.
Tour for Muggles
Driven by a truly magically-themed website, this operator certainly fully throws itself into the whole thing – claiming on their site to be ‘certified by the Department of Tourism & Muggle Relations’. You can’t say fairer than that, surely, if you’re a Potterhead! After all, you’ll know this where Hogwarts students interested in Muggles (for some inexplicable reason end up working).
Running for two-and-a-half hours, this walking tour ‘for Muggles’ will lead you from London Bridge to Leicester Square, covering non-Muggle sights worthy of seeing in the West End, Westminster and Southwark. A little on the pricey side, it may be, but it’s an awful lot of fun, for sure.
Free Tours by Foot
Ideal for travellers on a bit more of a budget (perhaps making the most of special offers London hotels), this tour is run by an operator whom, as its name suggests, does indeed only run walking tours that are free to take part in. This specific tour, though, combines both walking and riding the Tube and takes in a whole roster of different Potter-centric London sights, with a blend of those featuring in the films and those mentioned in the books alone with other magically-inspiring sights.
Overall, the tour covers the likes of Leadenhall Market (many people believe this famous old market inspired the look and design of Diagon Alley) to the likes of the Millennium Bridge and Scotland Yard Place. There’s lots of walking, for sure, so pull on your walking shoes before you venture out for this one!
Strawberry Tours
For those who’ve maybe been on a Potter-related walking tour before (but fancy doing the whole thing again), then this alternative-style tour may be for you. Again, this specific tour may appeal to the more budget-style traveller as it encourages participants to only pay what they see fit/ are capable of paying (which means that, effectively, if you’d rather not do so/ can’t pay, you don’t have to). That being said, the guides who lead the tour certainly welcome some sort of contribution – in pounds rather than galleons, though!
A two-hour-long tour, it begins at from Leicester Square and proceeds to showcase some of the most Potter-inspiring spots in Central London, such as those that suggested to Rowling both Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley.
Brit Movie Tours
A walking tour (and bus tour) operator that’s a dab hand at throwing on excellent tours that cover the gamut of movie franchises, series and genres that have been filmed in the capital, Brit Movie Tours, also offers, yes, a Harry Potter tour – and, yes, it’s a stonker of a tour, too.
Running approximately two-and-a-half hours, this one kicks-off at Westminster and, eventually, concludes at Bank, but not before winding its way along the Thames’s embankment revealing to participants in excess of 10 different locations to have featured in both the film franchise and book series, too. Not the cheapest of tours recommended here, granted, it also takes place offered on specific days throughout the year, so you’ll have to check the Brit Movie Tours website to see whether one of these days coincides with your stay at the likes of the Park Grand London Kensington hotel.
London’s Ultimate Harry Potter Tour
Fun to the max and a little different, this specific Potter-fuelled tour will see you wander the streets of old London town, taking in the series’ sights and sounds, before concluding your experience at the House of MinaLima. Doesn’t ring a bell? Don’t worry, unless you’re an out-and-out, died-in-the-wool Potterhead, it may not.
In actual fact, this place is the design house where the clever-clever peeps are to be found who created much of the iconic imagery that features in the Potter films. So, we’re talking the likes of the typography for the Daily Prophet typography and the packaging for all Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes ‘trick toys’, whose looks have since become synonymous with the movies and are utterly unforgettable for millions of magical movie fans across the globe.
Muggling Around with Harry Potter
A rather wonderful name for a Potter-related walking tour, for sure, and a rather wonderful, wee little walking tour, too, this one. While you might try to work out exactly what the phrase ‘muggling around’ means (well, you might if you’re a Potterhead of a Muggle, perhaps!), don’t worry too much about it because this 10-person-maximum tour is led by a reassuringly experienced old hand at this sort of thing; indeed, it’s a guide named Alan who’s a many-years veteran of leading walking tours all over the city. So, should you choose this walking tour for your London visit, you’ll be assured a day of high-quality fun, for sure, before enjoying dinner out at, say, one of those restaurants Kensington.
Granted, his tour takes in many of the sights and Potter-specific sites covered by other tours mentioned here, yet it also includes some fine highlights – that’s to say, Whitehall, which doubled in the movies as Gringotts Wizarding Bank, as well as the iconic Trafalgar Square and the location used for Knockturn Alley, although what and where exactly that is must remain a secret known only by Alan and those who take his tour. Now, there’s an incentive, eh!
