A new ranking by The Digital PR Agency provides a top 10 of Harry Potter filming locations that will look stunning on socials. Based on numbers of Instagram mentions, the analysis includes destinations all over the UK, and here Travel Tomorrow takes UK-wide Potter-style tour.
London dominates
London is a sensible place to start, boasting 50% of the list’s top wizarding 10 spots. It’s unsurprising that London does so well when it is a hub for international visitors and home to the magnificent Gothic revival King’s Cross St Pancras Station and its mythical Platform 9¾ (ranked at number five with 139,046 hashtags and 13.4K Tiktok posts).
From there, catch the District and Circle underground to Monument in the business district, five minutes’ walk from Leadenhall Market, which sits at number 10, with 70,272 Insta hashtags celebrating how its Queen-Anne-style arcades stood in for Diagon Alley where Harry shops for magic tomes and wands.
The Millenium Bridge, iconically destroyed by Death Eaters in the Half-Blood Prince, features at number four, with 198,716 Instas and 1,532 Tiktoks.
Other London locations score even higher in the latest ranking. The buzz of Piccadilly Circus adds drama to a scene that saw Harry, Hermione and Ron escape Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and has done the same for 402,553 Insta and 20,000 Tiktok posts, sending it straight in at number two.
For a more esoteric option, why not visit Great Scotland Yard, where, Visit Britain reminds us, Harry and Mr Weasley descend via a phone box into the Ministry of Magic. It doesn’t feature on the Instagrammable top 10 probably because, sadly, the phone box was only a prop and does not exist IRL.
Paid-for locations in London
Many of these free-to-visit locations appear on alternative round-ups, such as Visit Britain and Visit England. But one paid-for London attraction that rates highly in the Digital PR list that is missing elsewhere, is London Zoo. Slithering in at number three, with over a quarter of a million Instagram hashtags and 9,321 Tiktok posts, the zoo’s Reptile House was where Harry learned he can talk to snakes.
And don’t forget, of course, the Warner Bros Studios. Though it doesn’t feature in the Insta-ranking, Visit England tells us the studios were “used in the filming of all the Harry Potter films, and many of the fantastic props, mythical items and iconic sets were saved. Take a journey through the famous sets, pose in your favourite scenes, and taste some delicious Butterbeer.”
Moving north
Travelling north, like Harry, another place where Diagon Alley was filmed is The Shambles in York, England. There you’ll find a historic, narrow street lined with overhanging, timber-framed, medieval buildings. Having collected 100,130 Insta hashtags, it places sixth in the Digital PR list. Beware though, TripAdvisor and Reddit comments reveal that some locals are fed up with the “Potterisation” of the area.
Around 50 minutes further north by trains that go every half hour, is Durham Cathedral, a favourite on nearly all Potter-focused lists for its embodiment of the inside and outside of Hogwarts. It ranks as the eighth most Instagrammable location with 86,612 Insta hashtags.
Scotland
Scotland meanwhile has an enviable host of Potter-themed landscapes. Some might predict that the money shot when it comes to Instagrammable Potter locations has to be the
The feat of engineering cameos as the “bridge to Hogwarts” and some might say that no Harry Potter film really starts until the Hogwarts Express has carried Harry over its 380-metre span of 21 arches, 100 metres above the breathtaking Scottish glens.
Despite the glorious views, it ranks only at number seven in the Digital PR list, with 89,332 Insta hashtags, possibly due to its remote location in the Highlands, which reduces the number of people who can easily make it there. Daily train services between Fort William and Glenfinnan take you over the viaduct itself. You can alight at Glenfinnan for other views, or get there by car by travelling west of Fort William on the A830. And for the ultimate Potterbrag, consider going full Hogwarts and taking the Jacobite Steam train that also crosses the viaduct.
And number one?
According to Visit Britain, if you’re a camper you should drop in on Loch Etive, Argyll and Bute while you’re not too far from the Fort William area. That’s the spot where Harry, Hermione and Ron camp in Deathly Hallows Part 1.
But it is Glencoe that takes the number one spot in the Digital PR list. Again it’s in the Fort William area, where dramatic mountains and misty valleys provide the moody surroundings for Hogwarts in the Prisoner of Azkaban film, and have garnered an incredible 635,708 Instagram hashtags, alongside 33K posts on Tiktok.
For a round trip, Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales is on the southward route back from Scotland. An unearthly limestone amphitheatre, Hermione and Ron hide from Voldemort here. With 71,244 hashtags on Instagram, Digital PR calculates it just beats Leadenhall Market, placing ninth out of the 10 on their Harry Potter Instagram odyssey.
