For the holidays I wanted to experience something new and unique. A real adventure. So i started googling scenic trains and unique destinations like I always do. But when it really hit me where I should go was actually when we had our annually autumn Harry Potter marathon..
Hermonie, Harry and Ron are spending a lot of time in the beginning of the first movies on the train. And if you take a look behind them, you can see some really cool and beautiful scenic views.
So we decided to take the train all the way from Sweden to England and Scotland. Wow the landscapes we saw! This was truly an experience. And somehow the journey turned into a Harry Potter focused trip.
Let me walk you through our itinerary and highlights of the journey. What cities you can't miss, trains you have to take and Harry Potter sights you need to visit!
The perfect UK itinerary
York
You can't miss the inspiration for Diagon Alley. Here you'll find Harry Potter shops, butter beer and all of the magical things and food you can imagine.
Edinburgh
The city where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of the books and this city is said to be a big inspiration for the books. Not to mention it's so beautiful!
Some things you can't miss is the castle on top of the hill, visiting the Dome for a stunning afternoon tea and Edinburgh gin for a tasteful drink.
Train from Glasgow to Inverness
This Scotrail train goes through Scotland, from South to North, and takes you on a journey through the stunning landscape and mountains. The great thing is - it's included in the global interrail pass.
Inverness
I never even heard about Inverness before. But I was stunned by the industrial beauty of the city. Here you can walk the around the forest area of Loch Ness and lots of cosy cafés and bars.
Fort William
Cosy little place with traditional Scotthis pubs. Here we tasted the traditional dish Haggis. It was quite good but I recommend you eat it first then google what it is.
You can take the train to Fort William from Glasgow, and you can also take the night train by Caledonian directly to London from Fort William.
Train Fort William - Mallaigh via Glenfinnigan viaduct
This train was one of my absolute favourites! It goes from Fort William to Mallaigh and you pass both the famous Glenfinnan viaduct, but also Dumbledore's grave. The views were simply stunning. Scotrail also operates this train, but if you go during the summer you can also book the Jacobite Steam train.
Caledonian night train from Inverness to London
Hop onboard a magical night adventure! We slept in a sleeper room which was super cosy. Upon arrival we got chocolate, filled out our breakfast cards for the morning, went and had dinner and some drinks in their club car (restaurant) and then ended the evening in our room watching Harry Potter of course!
In the morning we walked to the club car where we got breakfast and some steaming hot coffee. At 8 we stepped onto the platform in London. Great experience!
Oxford
This was my favourite city. Every corner was beautiful and a big plus was that you found many Harry Potter film locations here.
Such as the Oxford University library which is the library they are in the HP movies, but also the hospital wing, as well as the school yard which is found at the New College in Oxford.
Also the stairs from Hogwarts can be found at the Christ Church.
Why go?
UK was truly an adventure. So many beautiful sights, trains and Harry Potter locations. If you're a fan of HP and scenic train routes and beautiful cities you should go here.
Easiest and cheapest way to go to UK and to travel around?
I bought a global interrail pass of 10 days. Most trains in UK you don't have to book a seat reservation for, so the daily cost on transport was 42 euros as the pass is 420 euros.
I travelled all the way from Sweden, through Hamburg, Köln, Brussels and then Eurostar to London. A great tool for planning of the route is to download the Railplanner by interrail.eu
Happy travels!
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