The main campus is located in the Old Town of Edinburgh, a place with an old and magical atmosphere that inspired J.K. Rowling all through the writing of the first Harry Potter book.

So if you are like me and dreamt of living in the Harry Potter world since you were a child, let me take you on a little tour here in Edinburgh!

Elephant House

It’s probably the most famous spot on this list. It was the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling wrote most of her book and it is heavily advertised by the establishment. It is quite touristy. She was creating the Harry Potter world for the price of a cup of coffee overlooking the next place on the list.

Greyfriars Kirkyard

This graveyard is famous for several things one of them is that Rowling took inspiration from the names on the graves for some of her most well-known characters like McGonagall and Tom Riddle. It is so popular you can now find online the exact location of each grave but it is not nearly as fun as wandering around and search yourself!

Spoon

Formerly known as Nicolson’s café, it is another writing spot of J.K. Rowling. It has the great advantage of being way less known than Elephant House. It is a lovely, cosy café that I definitely recommend checking to get into the mood of studying and creating like she did.

Victoria Street

This one is not as directly related to Harry Potter as the other ones but it is the street in Edinburgh where you get the best Potter-y feeling you can get. It is gorgeous and colorful, exactly the kind of atmosphere you would imagine Diagon Alley to be. I’m not the only one to think so, as you can find several shops Harry Potter related there.

This list is obviously a very small sample of all the Harry Potter related activities you can do here in Edinburgh and in Scotland, but this is a good place to start!