The Ultimate Harry Potter Weekend in London

London is the perfect destination for a Harry Potter themed weekend away. Here’s my step-by-step itinerary for a magical Harry Potter weekend in London!

Although Britain is a small island, it is famous around the world for many things – the Queen, Shakespeare, fish and chips, David Beckham (ha)… you get the picture.

However, it’s undeniable that the most famous thing to emerge from the British Isles in the past two decades has been the Harry Potter series.

No other book or film series has captured hearts around the world in the same way that J.K. Rowling’s magical story has.

It continues to be wildly popular today, despite the fact the last Harry Potter book was published over ten years ago, in 2007.

A huge number of companies and establishments have sought to capitalise on the Harry Potter mania, especially in London, which is why there are so many Harry Potter activities to enjoy in England’s capital.

London is a hot spot for Harry Potter fans seeking a magical holiday or weekend away so I’ve created an itinerary for the very best Harry Potter weekend in London.

Wands at the ready…

Friday Night

You arrive in London on Friday evening ready for a weekend of magic madness.

Unfortunately simply sitting on the curb and sulking won’t bring the Knight Bus to pick you up – we aren’t all as blessed as the boy who lived. Instead, you’ll have to take muggle transportation to your accommodation!

For the ultimate Harry Potter weekend in London, you’ll obviously be staying at Georgian House Hotel in their Enchanted Chambers for two. If you’re bringing the whole family along then you’ll be in The Wizard’s Chambers for families of 4-6.

You’ll enter your room via a concealed entrance in a bookcase and be led down an enchanted corridor and into a gothic room designed to look like a bedroom in Hogwarts.

There’s stained glass, four poster beds, hanging candles, which makes the place look like an extension of the Gryffindor Common Room.

RELATED: A Magical Stay at Hagrid’s Hut in Yorkshire

This Harry Potter hotel in London is the best place to stay if you want to really immerse yourself in the Wizarding World.

There’s no hiding the hefty price tag though with the double room costing around £370 per night and the family rooms costing £450-470 per night.

Find the best rates for Georgian House Hotel here now.

Saturday

Harry Potter Studio Tour

You’ll need to wake up bright and early on Saturday morning to catch the Hogwarts Express, which departs from Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross. Just kidding (sadly). Instead, you’ll take a muggle train from King’s Cross to Watford Junction, far out in NW London where the Warner Bros Studio Tour is located.

Book your tickets with the transfer included here:

The Harry Potter Studio Tour is based at the Warner Bros film studios in Leavesden and is where most of the filming for the Harry Potter series occurred.

Whilst there are lots of filming locations dotted around the UK, lots of those magical scenes were actually created here with the help of green screen technology and an expert team of craftsmen.

The Studio Tour opens at 9am every day and I’d recommend trying to book one of the earlier slots so you can enjoy the tour without crowds of people and make the most of your day! When you get to Watford Junction Station you can take the Harry Potter shuttle bus to the Tour for £2.50pp.

The entryway to the tour has recently been revamped and now includes the Chocolate Frog Cafe if you need a coffee or a pick-me-up after your early start. You’ll be greeted in the entrance by an enormous dragon hanging from the ceiling, which is really rather scary!

Then the tour begins…

As you walk through the tour, you’ll get to learn all about how they brought the Harry Potter books to life, look at real costumes for your favourite characters (Daniel Radcliffe is really short!), walk through real Harry Potter sets (including the new, and incredible, Gringotts installation), fly a Broomstick and try some Butterbeer.

I’ve been to the Studio Tour 5 times now and each time I learn something new and fall more in love with the world of Harry Potter. It’s impossible to appreciate all the hard work that went into creating this world-famous series without visiting the studio where they lift the veil on all their magical secrets.

The passion of the entire crew from the directors, actors, costume designers, prop team, technicians and more is evident as you wander around.

My pro-tip would be to actually speak to the staff who are dotted around the tour. They are not just stewards but experts on all things Harry Potter and are usually full of behind-the-scenes information that is absolutely fascinating.

It can feel a bit like information overload when wandering around the tour as there’s just so much to look at. These Potter experts can point out the best bits and reveal all the old on-set gossip!

The whole tour will probably take you around 3.5 hours though it’s completely self-guided so you can go at your own pace and take as long as you like.

After the tour is over, you’ll probably be ravenous so grab some lunch in the Food Hall dining area. If you look up you’ll find some floating candles and if you squint you can pretend it’s the magical ceiling in Hogwarts’ Great Hall.

This area is outside the tour so you’ll have to head here after exiting the gift shop. There’s also the Backlot Cafe halfway through the tour, which serves the same hot food and drink, but I think it’ll be far too early for lunch when you pass this!

Book your Harry Potter Studio Tour tickets here now.
Cost: ~£65.50
(£10-15 train from King’s X, £2.50 bus transfer to tour, £45 adult entry, Butterbeer £3-7)

Platform 9 3/4

If on the train ride back into central London you found yourself filled with regret for not buying those Hogwarts robes in the Studio Tour shop – fear not! You can stock up on any Hogwarts supplies that you missed upon arrival back at King’s Cross.

The station is now home to a Harry Potter shop named Platform 9 3/4 where you will find all of your wizarding wares. You can even buy a personalised Hogwarts letter here for £15 or even a personalised Hogwarts trunk for £65!

Outside the shop, there is a photo opportunity where you can get a picture of yourself walking through the wall onto Platform 9 3/4. You should’ve already done this at the Studio Tour in the morning, which means you’ve saved yourself a whole load of queuing! Well done you!

Now you can walk past the line and giggle at all the muggles who will be queueing for ages for their Hogwarts picture.

Don’t forget to take pics outside St Pancras on your way out. It’s the iconic red brick station that Harry and Ron fly over in Arthur Weasley’s Ford Anglia.

Potions and Cocktails at The Cauldron

Your second magical experience of the day will involve a spot of potion-making! The Cauldron has become popular worldwide for its immersive Harry Potter cocktail experience.

Of course, it’s not officially a Harry Potter experience, it’s simply inspired by “fantasy and science-fiction”. However, it looks like a Harry Potter classroom, you’re dressed like a Hogwarts student and the ingredients can be found on the Hogwarts supply list so it’s basically a Harry Potter bar.

The Cauldron is now onto Volume III of its pop-up experience and I was fortunate enough to be invited to both Volume I and Volume II where I had a fantastic experience brewing tasty alcoholic concoctions. You can read my full review of The Cauldron here and book tickets here.

Tickets cost £34.99 per person at peak times, which is definitely worth it given that you’re getting 3 cocktails and a 1 hour and 45 minutes potions class!

Cost: £29.99 – £34.99 pp

Dinner at the Leaky Cauldron

After an afternoon of cocktail-making, you’ll definitely be in need of some food. Whilst the Leaky Cauldron doesn’t actually exist, there is now a very tasty taco restaurant standing in a Harry Potter filming location.

El Pastor outside Borough Market was once a florist that was turned into the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Tom the Innkeeper takes Harry’s trunk from the Knight Bus and leads him into the archway here.

El Pastor is one of my favourite Mexican restaurants in London and if you love tacos you’ll have to check out this taqueria.

The menu is extensive so there’s something for everyone – get small dishes to share or larger sharing plates with nibbles on the side. The desserts here all come with a Mexican twist too.

Unfortunately, they don’t take bookings at El Pastor so there may be a queue.

Address: 7A Stoney Street, London, SE1 9AA
Opening Hours: Varies daily
Website: www.tacoselpastor.co.uk

Leadenhall Market for Drinks

There used to be a number of bars in London that served Harry Potter cocktails but unfortunately, none of them serve them anymore.

To stop you wasting your time (lots of articles on this are outdated), the following three establishments, known for serving Butterbeer or Harry Potter cocktails, have all discontinued those drinks:

Granary Square Brasserie
London Cocktail Club
The Blind Pig

Instead, head to Leadenhall market after dinner. It’s a mere 15-minute walk away from El Pastor and is another Harry Potter filming location. Stop for a picture outside 42 Bull’s Head Passage, an optician’s in the muggle world, as this was the Leaky Cauldron entrance you see in the first Harry Potter film.

The beautiful Leadenhall Market passageway is lined with shops and quintessentially British pubs so pick the one that takes your fancy and grab a pint. This area is heaving on a Thursday and Friday night as it’s located in the business district of London but at the weekends it should be ok.

Try The Lamb Tavern for a typical British pub or Old Tom’s Bar for a slice of ages gone by. The tiles here date back to the 19th century!

At the end of the night, apparate yourself back to your hotel to get some shut eye. Tomorrow is Cursed Child day and you’ll want to be fresh!

Sunday 

It’s Cursed Child day. Probably the main reason you came to London and sought out this Harry Potter itinerary. I imagine you have booked the tickets months in advance (I booked mine a year in advance!) so the anticipation is mounting.

As you know, the play is so long it’s split into two parts so it’ll take up the majority of your Sunday. However, the showing doesn’t begin until 2pm so you’ve got the whole morning to wander around London or perhaps graduate from the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry Potter Escape Room

Enigma Quests in London hosts a Harry Potter-inspired escape room challenge which will require you to surpass obstacles to pass your exams and defeat the dark forces. Harry managed to do both during his time at Hogwarts so I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to either!

This escape room is incredibly popular and sells out months in advance for weekend slots so do take a look at their website and book in advance if you’re up for the challenge!

Cost: £30 pp
Book this Harry Potter escape room here.

Harry Potter Filming Locations

If you don’t fancy being locked in a room for an hour or you’re running low on galleons, you can hit up some famous Harry Potter filming locations and iconic London sights instead.

These are all free things to do in London, which is a welcome respite from the other very expensive Harry Potter activities on this itinerary!

I’d recommend checking out Millennium Bridge, Cecil Court, Australia House, and Goodwin’s Court. You’ll instantly recognise some of these places as the bridge Voldemort destroyed, Diagon Alley, Gringott’s Bank and Knockturn Alley respectively.

Cecil Court is lined with antique bookshops so you can while away some time here perusing the shelves of these beautiful London bookshops. A couple of them even sell coveted first editions or signed copies of Harry Potter!

RELATED: 13 Specialist Bookshops in London You Need to Visit

Harry Potter Afternoon Tea

Around lunchtime, head to Soho for fabulous afternoon tea with Cutter & Squidge. Their Harry Potter Afternoon Tea is one of the best in London and you’ll be treated to small sandwiches, cakes and colourful drinks. You’ll need all this to fill you up before the 5 hour theatre showing!

This experience is similar to The Cauldron in that you are in a potions class, but this one is even more interactive. Once all the students are robed and seated, the potions master will appear at the front of the class and lead you through some basic spells.

You’ll make a strange and sweet dessert to start involving cinnamon, raspberry, meringue and popping candy. I was not enthused by this but I did appreciate the wand-waving and magical atmosphere.

After the slightly disappointing dish to start, the tea is brought out and it is wonderful.

Scrumptious British sandwiches and a large helping of sweet treats. Cutter & Squidge is one of the best bakeries in London so it’s a real treat to get to taste so many of their delicacies in one afternoon!

My favourite item had to be the cauldron cake, which was beautifully designed to look like a miniature cauldron.

The potions master is also hilarious, very enthusiastic and a wonderful host. You are very well looked after at Cutter & Squidge and I guarantee you’ll be laughing your socks off through the interactive periods.

At the end of the tea, you’re even allowed to choose two items from the dessert trolley to take away with you – just like the one pushed by the Hogwarts Express trolley witch!

Book your Harry Potter Afternoon Tea at Cutter & Squidge now.
Cost: £49.50 – 79.50 pp

The Cursed Child Part 1

I’m guessing that a trip to see The Cursed Child is one of the main reasons that you are planning a Harry Potter weekend in London.

You’ll need to arrive at the Palace Theatre at least half an hour before the showing to pick up your tickets and take your seats. Remember to factor that in when booking your afternoon tea or making lunch plans.

There’ll likely be a very, very long queue to get through security and whilst it moves quite quickly, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Once you’re in and seated, sit back and relax! Don’t forget to pick up a programme for £5 on your way in. The theatre is absolutely stunning and has several different bars where you can order snacks, alcohol or soft drinks.

I’d wait until the gap before the second half for this – there were a lot of cocktails on the itinerary yesterday after all! What’s more, you can get 2-4-1 mojitos at the bar before the second half of the show.

The show is absolutely incredible and I cannot recommend it enough. I say this as someone who read the Cursed Child book and screenplay when it was first released and hated it. However, seeing it on the stage is a completely different experience and I was blown away by the staging.

The acting and the plot are all o-kay but the really impressive things are all the magical effects on stage and the surprises they have in store. I won’t give anything away but I was left with my jaw hanging open at the end of act 1!

Free Harry Potter Museum

As soon as the Cursed Child Part 1 has finished, I’d recommend checking out House of Mina Lima, which is just a 5-minute walk away from the Palace Theatre.

It’s a free Harry Potter museum made up of loads of the graphic art from the Harry Potter films. It was designed by Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, hence the name, Mina Lima.

Inside, you’ll find four floors of amazing Harry Potter designs and you’ll be stunned once again by the details that went into creating the world of Harry Potter on screen. There’s a floor-size Marauders Map, Hogwarts letters hanging from the ceiling and more magic.

They designed every single newspaper, every single book cover, every single sweet packet – you name it, they designed it.

These are details that are probably missed by the average viewer but they really did try to make the world as real as possible!

Miraphora and Eduardo also create designs for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them so today you’ll also find a small section dedicated to this new Wizarding World franchise.

The prints, stationery and other merchandise are available to purchase from the shop and I guarantee it’ll be a struggle for you to keep your purse strings shut!

Address: 157 Wardour Street, Soho, London, W1F 8WQ, UK
Opening hours: 11:00 – 18:00 (last entry 17:30)

After this, you’ll have to grab a quick dinner before heading back to the theatre for the second showing at 7:30pm. There are plenty of good places in Chinatown or you can simply head to Shake Shack, which is right opposite the theatre for their amazing burgers and cheese fries!

Restaurants that I love in the area include Bun House, Frenchie, Patty & Bun and Eat Tokyo. You might struggle to fit in a meal at some of these places (especially because there may be a queue) but if you keep your visit to House of Mina Lima brief then it may be possible!

Bun House also do all of their amazing buns to go so you could grab these on your way back to the Palace Theatre.

The Cursed Child Part 2

Then head into the theatre for Part 2 of the Cursed Child. Remember you’ll have to go through security again so do bear this in mind when timing your walk back.

The second half isn’t quite as good as the first but overall it’s a truly amazing show and I just know you’re going to love it.

Cost: £50-200 pp. I paid £135 for seats in the centre of the Grand Circle.

Then it’s time to head home! But remember… Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.

All the Harry Potter experiences on this list will need to be booked well in advance so your Potter trip to London is going to require some forward planning.

I think it goes without saying that this is a very expensive weekend itinerary. As I said at the beginning, people have capitalised on the frenzy and there’s a premium on anything Harry Potter, especially in London.

If you’re looking to make the most of your weekend in London by visiting all the essential Harry Potter sites then I estimate this will set you back:

Estimated cost of this Harry Potter weekend: £650 pp.

NB. This is assuming you and a companion stay in the Enchanted Chambers for 2 nights and do all of the above activities.

However, this does not include any tube fares, food and drink or Harry Potter merchandise you may want to purchase.

That concludes my guide to all things Harry Potter in London! Have you done any of the above activities? Let me know what you thought in the comments below!

For more Harry Potter fun, check out these blog posts:
A Guide to the Harry Potter Studio Tour London
A Guide to Harry Potter in York
Goathland Station: Harry Potter Train Station
Harry Potter Filming Locations in Oxford
Harry Potter Filming Locations in Lacock
Godric’s Hollow Filming Location – Lavenham

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Laura

Founder & Editor of What’s Hot?

Laura is an award-winning travel and book blogger based in the UK. She studied French literature at Oxford University and is now an IP lawyer at a top law firm in London. She was named UK Book Blogger of the Year in 2019 and loves to combine her passion for books and travel with literary travel.