Our great experience with Get Your Guide on a London Harry Potter Walking Tour
If you are trying to figure out which London Harry Potter walking tour to take in London, I can’t recommend Get Your Guide enough. Or, if you are curious about what a London Harry Potter walking tour is or whether it is for you, you might be interested to read my review here.
Review of the London Get Your Guide Harry Potter Walking Tour
I’m a big Harry Potter fan much like millions of others around the world. When our family planned to spend part of our family sabbatical in London, I wanted to take a Harry Potter tour!
Our family booked a Get Your Guide Harry Potter Walking Tour, and we are so glad that we did.
London and the well-developed tourist industry there have loads of Harry Potter walking tours. While I have only taken 1 Harry Potter themed tour, I have taken plenty of other walking tours to know that not all are created equal.
Some guides and some tours are better than others.
Overall the Get Your Guide Harry Potter Walking Tour (and Nic, our guide) were a great way to spend a beautiful morning in London, and I can’t recommend it enough for someone who is a Harry Potter fan, enjoys seeing London sites, and wants to learn a little about history and film in London along the way.
Harry Potter Get Your Guide Walking Tour Options
Get Your Guide offers many different tours, experiences, and guides. A Harry Potter themed tour is just one of many.
However, even among the Harry Potter tours, there are several options. Tours run throughout the morning and afternoon, last between 2-4 hours (depending on your guide, travel, and other options), and can offer boat or underground transportation.
Personally, our family selected the boat option, and we are glad that we did.
While the underground is a highly efficient method of transportation, the boat option gave us the opportunity to take in the London sites as we spent part of our tour boating down the river.
Further, taking a boat ride after days of walking around London was a welcome break and rest.
And, if you are concerned about walking for 3 hours with a group of people, the boat gave an opportunity for a cup of coffee, a comfortable seat, and a chance to use the facilities.
Even though the boat or the underground are a chance to take a break from walking, the tour is not without its physical requirements.
Do I need to be in good shape to take a London Harry Potter walking tour?
Over the course of the Harry Potter walking tour, our group walked about 3 miles, climbed several flights of stairs, crossed busy streets, boarded a boat, and had to navigate to the meeting and closure point.
In other words, while you do not need to be in marathon running shape to take the tour, you will need to be able to walk several miles at a reasonable pace.
Sadly, much of the tour was not stroller or wheelchair accessible. However, I am certain that other accommodations and modifications to the tour could easily be made for accessibility.
What do you see on a Harry Potter walking tour?
Contrary to what you might think, the tour is not kitsch or silly. Yes, we saw a fair amount of sites that inspired both the writing of Harry Potter and the set design of the films.
We visited shops that inspired the film and streets where JK Rowling began her work.
However, we also learned about other notable film sites and historical facts. And, our group was comprised of Harry Potter fans from the United States, Canada, France, and Finland. For me, this was a great way to experience firsthand the global popularity of the books and movies while also learning some of the character names in other languages!
What we saw on our Harry Potter Walking Tour
On our tour we saw the popular Night Bus stop at Borough Market that serves as one of the many entrances to Diagon Alley.
We walked through a narrow and beautiful street more than 500 years old that inspired the design of Nocturn Alley.
We sailed under the Millenium Bridge (Brockdale Bridge), which was destroyed by Dementor’s as Harry and the Order attempted to flee from the Dementors.
Our group saw all these and more among many other filming sites tucked around the city.
Plus, our guide also organized fun for the whole group along the way. Nic helped us to reenact scenes from the movie with silly props and video clips in the sites where they were filmed. He also organized a trivia quiz among our Hogwarts houses as we walked between stops.
I can honestly say that I was entertained the entire time, learned more about London and the filiming of the movies, and had a great time with my fellow Harry Potter loving family!
I would highly recommend it for any Harry Potter fans visiting London who want to see both London and learn more about some of their favorite movies and books.
However, would I take my kids to the Harry Potter Walking Tour?
Is the Harry Potter Walking Tour with Get Your Guide Good for kids?
Children who have an appreciation or interest in the Harry Potter books or movies would not only be welcomed on the tour but would love it.
Our tour group, comprised of about 10 people, included 2 young children who knew as much Harry Potter facts and trivia as the adults.
Both had read the books and watched the movies and were well-versed in Potter-cabulary.
They were a great addition to the group and were more than welcome to play along in the trivia and enjoy the sites.
The entire group welcomed them and was glad to have them along.
However, as a mom of 3 littles who are not old enough to read or appreciate Harry Potter, I can say that my kids would have hated the tour and been a nuisance.
Because the entire tour is predominantly geared toward Harry Potter fun, kids who don’t know basic wizarding skills (like “stupefy” or the Hogwarts houses) would be bored.
My husband and I left the kids at home for this tour and look forward to taking our kids after they have read the books and watched the movies.
Get Your Guide Guide Review
Over the course of the several weeks that our family has been traveling around London, we have taken several guided walking tours. Not all of them have been great.
Some of the groups are too big; some of the guides are boring.
However, our experience with Get Your Guide was that all of the group sizes were very manageable, and our guide, Nic, was great.
He had great enthusiasm without being silly, he included the entire group in all of the fun, and he carried fun props and movie clips to make the entire tour even more interesting.
Nic even made requested stops for restroom breaks and made sure that the entire group was accounted for each time we crossed the street or transitioned.
I can highly recommend Nic as a fun and engaging tour guide with Get Your Guide on a Harry Potter Walking Tour!
Harry Potter Walking Tour in London
If you are interested in seeing the real-live sets and inspiration of much of the films at a reasonable price and in a fun way, you will love the Harry Potter Walking Tour with Get Your Guide.
Let your house colors shine in a fun and interactive Harry Potter experience that immerses you in the heart of London!
