A Movie Fan’s Guide to Great Places

In 1997 a scrawny boy with broken glasses and untidy hair cast a literal spell on the world’s youth, reinvigorating imaginations and launching a successful new film franchise. And though Harry Potter’s story comes to an end with the worldwide release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ on July 15th 2011; a movie fan’s guide to Harry Potter’s London may be the perfect cure for Hogwarts withdrawals.

As it did with young Harry, your journey should begin at King’s Cross Station. A photo op in the form of a luggage cart stuck through the wall awaits you at platform 9 and . The next stop is Hogsmeade station, filmed at the historic Goathland railway station, in North Yorkshire, England.

As you make your way into Hogwarts, there are a variety of locations in and around London to visit. Gloucester Cathedral in Gloucester, England; Alnwick Castle in the English county of Northumberland; the Bodleian Library and Christ Church, at the University of Oxford; and Durham Cathedral in the city of Durham, England are all beautiful locations the filmmakers used to create the magical school.

For the aspiring witch or wizard on a tighter budget, check out “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” now open at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.