I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a completely hopeless Potterhead with big dreams of one day ride the Hogwarts Express. I was lucky enough to work in a bookstore during those last few glorious years where J.K. Rowling still blessed us with her writing; you can bet I was always beelining for the HP aisle at the end of my shift and getting that much-coveted first-sold Harry Potter book the day before they even went on sale — haven’t had that sweet of a job perk since, if I’m honest!
I would mindlessly pull an all-nighter, unable to put the book down until I got to the very last page, once again wholly infatuated with the wizarding world and its subtleties, once again grateful and deeply content for this almost sacred experience.
So it doesn’t come as a surprise that I actively sought out Harry Potter locations in the UK during my trips there. From the Harry Potter film studios in London to the colleges in Oxford, I have seen a lot of places where the franchise was either set in the books or was actually filmed. Regardless, Glenfinnan Viaduct is arguably the most famous Harry Potter filming location you can visit in Scotland.
I spent hours on end doing research on what is now known as the Harry Potter bridge and because I’m happy to share the knowledge with fellow Potterheads, here’s everything I know about riding the iconic Hogwarts Express train in Scotland.