Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios in London

If you are going on a trip to London, and you are even the tiniest of Harry Potter fans, I highly recommend that you visit Harry Potter Studios in London! It is expensive, and you have to book your tickets in advance before they sell out, but it is worth the time and money! Their official ticket website is here: Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios

Tickets for an adult are 56 pounds, and you can also purchase family tickets or tickets with additional benefits included. You can add on a photo package, or priority parking, or a souvenir guidebook. You should purchase your tickets about a month in advance (at least), and I would recommend paying for priority parking in advance if you are planning to drive a car. There is also a shuttle bus from Watford Station that runs every 30 minutes. We had a rental car, so we purchased our parking ticket in advance with our tickets, and we parked right next to the entrance to the Studios.

We stayed in a really fun Airbnb that was only minutes away from the Studio. It was expensive, but worth it for the experience! Basically everything in the home has something to do with Harry Potter! They even have a cupboard under the stairs (which you are not allowed to sleep in) and a giant chess board in the back yard. The Airbnb is listed here: Hogwarts Hideaway If you are planning to visit Harry Potter, for some additional fun, stay here for a night or two.

We arrived at the Studios right as they opened and spent the day there. My favorite part was the dining room with the hanging candles, but we also got to walk down Diagon Alley, and see the giant spider, and Gringotts Wizarding Bank, the flying car, the Knight bus, the motorbike, the screaming mandrakes, walk through the Hogwarts Express, and we got to drink butter beer - which was actually really good! It is a very impressive tour and I would say well worth the money.

Harry Potter Studios is located at Studio Tour Dr, Leavesden, Watford WD25 7LR, United Kingdom. It is open from 9:30 in the morning until 10 o'clock at night.

The Harry Potter -themed Airbnb

The Gryffindor bedroom

The cupboard under the stairs

We were specifically told not to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs

looking down on the living room

The Slytherin bedroom

The Knight Bus bunkbeds in the children's room

A broom attached to the ceiling

Hedwig was even there with us

The giant chess board in the backyard was a hit with my grandsons

Harry Potter Studios

We had paid for priority parking when we bought our tickets, so we parked only steps away from the entrance to the Studio.

The parking lot next to the entrance of the Studio

This is where tickets are checked and you enter the studio

We visited on a rainy day in London

We got our picture taken first thing when we arrived

We were greeted right away by the Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragon

My son with the Dursleys

My husband with Hagrid

The Cupboard under the Stairs

My husband with Ron

The entrance to the dining hall

The dining hall was my favorite part

The Monster Book of Monsters from Prisoner of Azkaban

The Dursley's house on Privet Drive

The Dursley's living room full of letters

Aunt Marge inflating like a balloon and floating away

Harry's bedroom with Dobby visiting, and Hedwig in his cage

The greenhouse full of mandrakes that Professor Sprout used to cure the petrified students in Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets

When you pull them out of their pots they really scream at you

This mandrake was not happy to be pulled

Buckbeak from Harry Potter 3 and 5 movies

The Mirror of Erised, which is so named because "erised" is "desire" spelled backwards. Instead of showing your true reflection, it shows what your heart most desires. It appears in Harry Potters 1, 5, and 6.

The Mirror of Erised

Gringotts Wizarding Bank is also in the Studio

The entrance to the bank

Gringotts Wizarding Bank

Gringotts door knobs

Platform 9 3/4 appears at the Studio as well. Incidentally, there is also a Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station in London. There is always a long line to take a photo with it, though.

The Knight Bus from Harry Potter 3

Harry's flying car from Harry Potter 2 (Chamber of Secrets) is outside and ready for photos

The Gryffindor boys dormitory

Hagrid's motor bike & side car

The sleeper car from the Knight Bus in Prisoner of Azkaban

Aragog the Spider from Chamber of Secrets

The Hogwarts Bridge appears in several of the movies

Take a stroll down Diagon Alley

The Hogwarts Castle was built as a miniature and was used in scenes for each movie with the weather changing on the set. When we visited, it was snowing at the castle. There are other models built of the Hogwarts set that were used in filming also.