Harry Potter – Magical Express Tour (2024)

Calling all Muggles! Depart the United States on an overnight flight bound for London’s Heathrow Airport.

After arriving in London and checking into our hotel, we will dive right in with a London by night bus tour – you will have a chance to see all of the city’s most famous sites.

Today we get a chance to visit some of the most famous Harry Potter spots in London! We will visit:

• Leadenhall Market – Where Hagrid takes Harry shopping for school supplies.
• Australia House (Australian Embassy) – The filming location for Gringott’s Wizarding Bank
• King’s Cross Station – Platform 9 3/4
• Big Ben
• House of Parliament
• Tower Bridge
• Millennium Bridge – attacked by Death Eaters in The Half-Blood Prince

Later this afternoon we will take a ride on the London Eye. For dinner we will experience on of London’s famous fish and chip shops

Today you will have a chance to visit the Warner Brothers Studio for the tour – The Making of Harry Potter.

• You will enjoy previously unheard anecdotes before taking a unique walking tour that takes you behind-the-scenes and showcases an array of beautiful sets, costumes and props. It also reveals some closely guarded secrets, including facts about the special effects and animatronics that made these films so hugely popular all over the world. Step inside and discover the great hall. Explore Dumbledore’s office and discover never-before-seen treasures. Step onto the famous cobbles of Diagon Alley, featuring the shop fronts of Ollivanders wand shop, Flourish and Blotts, the Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Gringotts Wizarding Bank and Eeylops Owl Emporium and so much more!
• You also can collect an Activity Passport at the beginning of the tour so you can collect stamps at key points throughout the tour such as Platform 9 ¾ and Gringotts Bank.

We will have lunch at the studios’ Food Hall.

This evening you will have some free time for exploring or relaxing in preparation for our early morning flight tomorrow.

We will take an early morning flight to Edinburgh and hit the ground running on arrival! Today we will visit some of the most iconic Harry Potter sites Edinburgh has to offer:

• George Heriot’s School – This building structure looks like it is coming straight out of a fairy tale. Most people will agree that this school is the inspiration for Hogwarts as it is right around the corner from The Elephant House Cafe.
• Greyfriars Kirkyard- In this graveyard, there is a tombstone for a gentleman named “Thomas Riddell” who is the namesake of Rowling’s Voldemort.
• Spoon – Spoon, back in the ’90s, was named Nicolson’s Cafe, J K Rowling wrote the first few chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the Spoon Café
• Victoria Street – said to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley – you will have a chance to explore some of the shops here including Museum Context and Aha Ha Ha Jokes.
• The Elephant House Café – We will stop here for a sweet snack and some photos at this famous writing spot of J.K. Rowling

This morning we will explore The Royal Mile and search for Rowling’s golden handprints! – on our way to visit Edinburgh Castle and Princes Street Gardens. We will have an opportunity to tour the magnificent castle and learn more about its place in Scottish history. –More than 4,000 alleged witches were put to death in Edinburgh. The castle moat was used to dispose of their bodies, who were thrown from the castle into the water below. If the witches drowned, they were given a full pardon, and if they survived, they were burned at the stake.

This afternoon we will have high tea at the Balmoral Hotel – this is where J.K. Rowling spent some time in room 552 writing the last of the Harry Potter books – The Deathly Hallows. She signed the statue of Hermes, Greek Goddess of Travel, located in the room.

This evening we will have dinner in a traditional Scottish pub.

Today we will take a day trip to the beautiful Alnwick Castle – better known to Harry Potter fans as Hogwarts! Alnwick Castle sits on the boarder of England and Scotland and is the second largest inhabited castle in England; it has been home to the Duke of Northumberland’s family, the Percys, for over 700 years. Parts of Alnwick Castle were used for scenes of Hogwarts Castle in the first two Harry Potter films! One of the most notable scenes is where Harry first learns to fly a broomstick in a lesson taught by Madame Hooch. The castle is a site to behold!

This afternoon, you will participate in a broomstick flying lesson on the castle grounds!

We will return to Edinburgh this evening.

Today you will have a chance to take a ride on the Hogwarts Express – a.k.a. the Jacobite steam train.

We will venture out for a day excursion to the Scottish Highlands – stopping at a scenic village on the way to hop aboard the Jacobite Steam train. We will travel along the Glenfinnan Viaduct – made famous in the films. You will have a chance to see Glencoe scenery (also featured in the movies) before our return trip.

This evening you will have time to explore more of Edinburgh and take one last walk on the Royal Mile.

Depart for the United States a muggle no more! with all of the magic of Harry Potter from this incredible adventure!