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If you’re a Harry Potter fan, Edinburgh is THE place to visit!
I’ve been chasing Harry Potter locations all over the UK for years — from the Warner Bros. Studios in London to Malham Cove in Yorkshire to pretty much every magical corner of Scotland and I keep coming back to Edinburgh.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve visited, done multiple Harry Potter walking tours, and every single time I end up taking another tour or grabbing a coffee in another café where JK Rowling supposedly wrote.
Why Edinburgh? Because this is where it all started.
J.K. Rowling moved here from Porto in 1993 with her daughter Jessica. She didn’t really know the city, but her sister Di was living here, so she stayed.
And Edinburgh worked its way into Harry Potter in more ways than you’d think, from cobbled streets that became Diagon Alley to gravestone names that ended up being names of characters.
If you love the original books more than the films, Edinburgh is going to feel like home. Here are the 10 Harry Potter spots you shouldn’t miss.
1. Harry Potter Tour of Edinburgh
Honestly, the best way to start is with a Harry Potter walking tour.
You can absolutely DIY the locations (I have, plenty of times), but the tours throw in anecdotes and details you’d never get on your own. I’ve done a fair few over the years and they never disappoint.
The one I keep recommending is this one. It starts on Chambers Street and lasts 2 hours.
You can’t miss the guide — they’ll be waiting for you with his magic wand.
They tell you everything about JK Rowling, her life, what inspired her to write Harry Potter, where she wrote the books, the Edinburgh Award, and he’ll bring you to the famous Harry Potter sites like Victoria Street and Potterrow.
There’s also a quiz, with a bit of a competition between the houses. Who’s going to win this time? Gryffindors, Slytherins, Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws?
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, it’s a no-brainer. The guides are super knowledgeable and it’s really good fun. For more information and prices, click here.
Also, it’s dog-friendly! I’ve taken that tour with my dog before so just in case you’re visiting with your dog, it’s good to know that’s an option.
2. Victoria Street: Edinburgh’s Real-Life Diagon Alley
A few different streets inspired Diagon Alley — some in Edinburgh and a couple more in London and Porto.
JK Rowling didn’t just copy one, she pulled the best bits of each and stitched them together in her head but Victoria Street is the closest real-life version, and it’s the one everyone comes to see.
It’s located in the Old Town and truly is a beautiful street. It’s colourful, it curves dramatically downhill, and it’s lined with quirky little shops.
For years the bottom of the street was home to the legendary Aha Ha Ha joke shop — basically a real-life Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes — but it sadly closed in 2021.
The unit is now a tweed and cashmere boutique, BUT the giant nose and glasses are still above the door, so it’s still very much worth a photo.
3. The Elephant House
JK Rowling wrote parts of Harry Potter all over the place, including her flat in Clapham Junction in London but in Edinburgh her writing spots were mainly cafés.
Plenty of places have tried to claim her over the years, but in May 2020 she confirmed on Twitter that she only ever wrote in two: Nicolson’s and the Elephant House.
The Elephant House sits on George IV Bridge in the Old Town and is the one people travel from across the world to see — it’s been dubbed the birthplace of Harry Potter.
Important update though: in August 2021 the café had a devastating fire and closed. After four long years, it finally reopened in December 2025.
The new version still has the room where JK Rowling used to write in, her portrait, and portraits of other Edinburgh literary heroes such as Ian Rankin.
If you want to sit where she actually wrote, this is the spot. Grab a coffee and a cake and soak it in.
4. Potterrow Port
Potterrow Port is a little tunnel near Nicolson Square Gardens. It was used as an inspiration set in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (movie 5) — the scene where the dementors attack Harry and Dudley.
The tunnel was recreated at the Warner Bros Studios in London and the scene was shot there instead.
5. Greyfriars Kirkyard
Greyfriars Kirkyard is one of the most famous Harry Potter spots in Edinburgh.
When JK Rowling moved here, she used to walk her daughter through the graveyard — some people go to a park, she went to a graveyard! Why not after all.
She spent a lot of time there reading the gravestones, and this is where she pulled some of the names from. You can find the graves of Moodie, McGonagall and Thomas Riddell.
6. Balmoral Hotel
In 2006, JK Rowling was finishing the last Harry Potter book under a lot of pressure so she booked into the Balmoral — the beautiful hotel right next to Waverley Station.
By that point she was way too famous to write in cafés anymore.
People kept stopping her to ask how it ended, so she went somewhere no one could bother her.
Quick warning: the room is now officially called the J.K. Rowling Suite and starts at around £1,500+ a night.
On January 11th 2007, Harry Potter was finally finished.
To celebrate, she signed a marble bust of Hermes that’s still in the room today, along with the inscription “JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room on 11th Jan 2007.”
7. George Heriot’s School
This one’s a bit of an urban legend. Everyone in Edinburgh will tell you that George Heriot’s School (right next to Greyfriars Kirkyard) is the real-life Hogwarts.
I get it — the towers, the four houses, the fact it sits right next to JKR’s favourite graveyard… it looks the part.
But JK Rowling herself confirmed on Twitter that George Heriot’s wasn’t her inspiration for Hogwarts.
Fun to look at though and since you’ll walk past it to go to the graveyard anyway, you might as well check it out.
8. Edinburgh Award
The Edinburgh Award was set up in 2007 to honour someone for outstanding achievement and contribution to the city.
JK Rowling received it in 2008.
Her handprints are now on the Edinburgh Award plaque on the ground in the City Chambers Courtyard, just off the Royal Mile.
It’s free to walk in and have a look — a nice little stop to slot in between bigger sights.
9. Nicolson’s Café (now Wu Zhen of China)
The other café JK Rowling confirmed she wrote in was Nicolson’s, at 6a Nicolson Street.
The space has changed a lot since then. After Nicolson’s closed, it became Spoon (a student favourite for about a decade), which itself closed in October 2020 during the pandemic. Today it’s a Chinese restaurant called Wu Zhen of China.
The new owners have kept the Harry Potter connection alive — there’s a Harry Potter tribute wall inside, and the original plaque is still on the side of the building.
So even if you’re not eating, it’s worth a quick stop for a photo.
10. The Enchanted Galaxy
The Enchanted Galaxy is a go-to for Harry Potter souvenirs in Edinburgh. It’s at 1 Victoria Street, right at the top of the city’s most photogenic street.
Inside you’ll find wands, robes, soft toys, themed diaries — basically everything a Potterhead could want.
They also stock some Friends and Lord of the Rings merch, but Harry Potter takes up most of the shop.
Map of the Harry Potter locations in Edinburgh
I hope this article was helpful and that you’ll love exploring all the Harry Potter sites in Edinburgh.
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