Inside the World’s Biggest Harry Potter Travel Destination

① Warner Brothers Studio Tour

The Warner Brothers Studio Tour may lack theme park rides, but it makes dreams come true for Harry Potter fans, especially in London and Tokyo. These two international versions of the immersive movie studio tour, which also operates in Hollywood, are solely dedicated to the making of “Harry Potter”. They exhibit sets, costumes, and props from the Harry Potter movies for about 3 to 4 hours.

The London version of the tour was selected as the most in-demand attraction in the UK in a 2023 analysis by the nation’s largest hotel chain, Premier Inn. The Tokyo version opened in June 2023 and has become the world’s largest indoor Harry Potter attraction.

Many tourists may think Universal Studios has more to do with Harry Potter. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Orlando is divided into two parks, and visitors can choose either Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley.

② A globally popular attraction

The Warner Brothers Studio Tour London ranks jointly first as the world’s most in-demand tourist attraction, following Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle and Peru’s Machu Picchu. The tour is adjacent to the practical Warner Brothers Studio Leavesden, just outside London, where the Harry Potter movies were made.

Thus, you will see many of the costumes and sets, like the cavernous Great Hall, are the originals used during filming. This is where the reunion special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts was filmed for HBO Max in 2022.

As you explore the expansive tour, you follow in the footsteps of stars such as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint.

The tour opened in 2012, after the end of the eight-part Harry Potter series, and in 2019 and 2022, two newly rebuilt sets, Gringotts Wizarding Bank and Professor Sprout’s Greenhouse, were added.

The bank run by goblins, including the Lestrange Vault, is a unique tour course that cannot be seen at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo.

The Hollywood tour includes a greenhouse exhibit, but it is smaller in scale than London, where you can experience pulling out a screaming Mandrake root. And, of course, there’s a Butterbeer bar.

③ Meeting Harry Potter in Tokyo, Japan

Harry Potter naturally fits in the UK, his home country, where studios can be visited in real life, rather than other filming locations outside theme parks. While it might be hard to expect a larger sanctuary of his adventures in Japan, the Warner Brothers Studio Tour Tokyo is precisely that kind of place.

Located on the former amusement park site in Nerima Ward, it reproduces many of the same movie sets as the London tour, with a few big and small differences. For instance, you’re likelier to see things like the toothy Monster Book of Monsters at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.

The massive Ministry of Magic set (above photo) is unique to Tokyo. It features a Floo Network fireplace, where you can teleport through green smoke, centered around the Magic Is Might monument.

At the end of the tour for Japanese and English-speaking visitors, you arrive at the world’s largest Harry Potter gift shop. Towering shelves in the store are stacked with orbs, similar to those in the Hall of Prophecy.

You can explore a small warehouse of souvenirs that match the actual costumes and props, including the Goblet of Fire. Like the London tour, the Warner Brothers Studio Tour Tokyo is so popular that you must book online.