Oxford Harry Potter Filming Locations 2026: How to Book Christ Church, New College and the Bodleian

Oxford has no joint Harry Potter ticket. The film locations are spread over three places — Christ Church, New College and the Bodleian Library — and each sells its own tickets, releases them on its own schedule and has its own closure days. Two mistakes catch people out most: assuming the £3 Bodleian ticket gets you into the library with the bookshelves (it doesn't), and arriving to find the room you came for is shut that day.

For getting from London to Oxford, see the transport guide; for other colleges, see the Oxford colleges visiting guide.

Which scene, which ticket

• The staircase where Professor McGonagall meets the first-years: Christ Church, filmed on location. Book the Multimedia Tour.
• The Hogwarts Great Hall: the Great Hall at the top of that staircase was only the design inspiration — it wasn't filmed there. To see the film's Great Hall set, visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London.
• The cloister where Malfoy is turned into a ferret: New College. The big evergreen oak in the courtyard (a holm oak — not the Whomping Willow) is the tree seen in the film. Book Individual Visits.
• The hospital wing: the Bodleian's Divinity School, a stone-vaulted hall. £3 gets you in on its own.
• The library with the bookshelves: the Bodleian's Duke Humfrey's Library. According to Experience Oxfordshire (the county tourist board), Harry sneaking into the library under his invisibility cloak was filmed here. Only the 30- or 60-minute library tours go inside — the £3 Divinity School ticket doesn't.

The domed Radcliffe Camera and the Bridge of Sighs are landmarks you'll pass, and they photograph well, but we don't count them as filming locations.

What to book first, and when tickets go live

Each place sells separately. Book in this order:

1. Bodleian first. Library tours are released on the 1st and 15th of each month at 09:00 UK time, covering the half-month that starts two weeks later (15 October releases 1–14 November; 1 November releases 15–30 November). Tours are capped at 14 people, tickets are non-refundable, and popular slots go fast.
2. Christ Church second. Next week's tickets go live around 10:00 UK time every Friday, so the earliest you can book is about a week ahead. With an account you can reschedule for free.
3. New College last. It's open for long hours, so pick a slot that fits the first two.

If your date isn't on the calendar, it probably hasn't been released yet — it isn't necessarily sold out. UK clocks go back on 25 October: before then, 09:00 UK time is 08:00 UTC; after it, 09:00 UTC.

Christ Church: book the Multimedia Tour, collect it at the Visitor Centre in the Meadow

The Multimedia Tour is a touchscreen audio guide. It's included in the ticket price, you must carry it to enter, and the adult version has Mandarin.

1. Open the official booking page and click BOOK TICKETS. Choose Multimedia Tour and the right age band (adult 18–64; students, 65+ and 5–17 have their own prices; under-5s are free and collect a ticket at the Visitor Centre on the day).
2. Pick a date and slot. Check each slot for a "Hall closed" or "Cathedral closed" label — those slots are cheaper, but you won't get into that room. If you want the staircase and the Hall, choose an unlabelled slot.
3. Create an account before paying. With an account you can reschedule free up to 2 hours before your visit (subject to availability); without one, changes cost £2 per ticket. Tickets aren't refundable.

Price (Michaelmas Term, 4 Oct–12 Dec, adult): booked in advance, £20.95 on weekdays and £22.95 at weekends. Buying on the day costs £2 more.

Where to collect: the Visitor Centre in Christ Church Meadow (the big meadow beside the college) — not Tom Gate, the grand gate with the bell tower on the street, which is for worshippers and B&B guests. Search "Christ Church Visitor Centre" on your map app; the college's what3words code is ///ages.baked.client. Allow 15–20 minutes to find it and pick up your guide.

Opening hours: Mon–Sat from 10:00, leave by 17:00; Sundays open at 14:00. The Hall is where students eat, so it's closed 12:00–14:00 on weekdays and 10:30–14:00 on Saturdays.

New College: book Individual Visits, enter from New College Lane

1. Open the official visiting page and click BOOK YOUR TICKETS → General Admission → Individual Visits. Don't click Guided Tours or Private Tours — those are a different, guided ticket.
2. Adult £12; students, 65+ and under-16s £11; family ticket (2 adults + up to 3 children aged 7+) £32; under-7s free. Click Select Date & Time, choose a day and pay.
3. A leftover line lower on the page says advance booking is only for groups of 10 or more — ignore it and go by the ticket page. If the calendar won't let you pick a date, email tourism@new.ox.ac.uk.

Entrance: navigate to the visitors' entrance on New College Lane. The college's main gate is on Holywell Street, but visitors don't use it. Card only — no cash.

Opening hours: daily 10:00–17:00 until 31 October (last entry 16:30). From 1 November, winter hours: closed Mondays; Tue–Fri and Sun 13:30–16:30; Sat 10:00–16:30. The Hall is closed around 11:45–14:00 daily.

The sights are the Cloisters and the big oak. Keep off the grass; tripods and drones aren't allowed.

Bodleian: four tickets, don't buy the wrong one

All of them get called "visiting the library", but the rooms you can enter are very different:

• Explore the Divinity School (£3, 15 minutes, self-guided): just the Divinity School — the hospital wing. No bookshelves; you can't enter the library. Book online; there's a booking fee of about £1.
• Outdoor audio trail (£5.50, about 40 minutes): a smartphone audio guide with Mandarin. It takes you inside the Divinity School, then around the outside of the Old Library and Radcliffe Square; no library interior. Buy it in person at the Weston Library ticket desk, and bring your phone and headphones.
• 30-minute library tour (from £12.50): goes into Duke Humfrey's Library and, on days it's open, the Divinity School too.
• 60-minute library tour (from £17.50): two more historic rooms, ending in Duke Humfrey's Library.

Both tours are in English (ask staff before you start about a written translation), for ages 11+, with stairs and no lift. For Harry Potter, the 30-minute tour is enough if you want the library; for just the hospital wing, buy the £3 ticket or the £5.50 trail. With children aged 10 or under, choose one of the first two.

How to book:

1. Open Bodleian Tours and pick your ticket. For the £3 ticket, click Book your timeslot.
2. About half of the 30-minute tickets are released in advance and half held for the day; 60-minute tickets are all released in advance, with none on the day.
3. If online is sold out, there are still same-day tickets. Mon–Fri (September–June) a further batch goes online at 09:00 that day, and the Weston Library ticket desk sells some too. At weekends and in July–August, same-day tickets are sold in person only at the Weston Library and are usually gone within an hour of opening (10:00 at weekends), so queue early.
4. Tickets are non-refundable. If you can't make it, call +44 1865 287400 so the guide doesn't wait for you.
5. You'll get an email with a PDF e-ticket — show it on your phone, one per person. It can take up to 30 minutes to arrive, so check your spam folder.

Meeting point: the meeting point and the ticket desk are in different places. With a booked ticket, go to the Old Library through the Great Gate on Catte Street and meet at the Divinity School entrance (the Proscholium). To buy on the day, go to the Weston Library on Broad Street (the Bodleian's other building). The 90-minute tour you'll see in older guides has been discontinued.

A day, step by step

All three are in central Oxford and linked on foot. One rule: put the timed tickets (Bodleian and Christ Church) in first, then slot New College in between.

Weekday example:

• 09:00 arrive at Oxford station (Oxford, not Oxford Parkway) and walk to Christ Church, 20–30 minutes
• 10:00–11:30 Christ Church: book the 10:00 slot so you see the Hall before it closes at 12:00
• 11:30–12:30 lunch, then walk to the Old Bodleian, about 15 minutes; your tour at around 13:00 (whatever time you booked)
• 14:15 head to New College, a 5–10 minute walk past the Bridge of Sighs; allow 45–60 minutes in the cloisters
• 15:30 onwards, free time; the walk back to the station is 25–30 minutes

At weekends, or from November, switch to Bodleian → lunch → New College → Christ Church. Christ Church's Hall is closed on Saturday mornings and it doesn't open until 14:00 on Sundays, so it goes last. From November New College opens at 13:30 Tue–Fri and Sun and is closed on Mondays, so a Monday won't fit all three.

Times are estimates, not official; add 10 minutes to each walk.

What it costs per person

Adult, weekday, 4 Oct–12 Dec, booked in advance, tickets only:

• Christ Church + New College + £3 Divinity School ticket: £35.95 (plus a booking fee of about £1)
• Swap the Divinity School ticket for the £5.50 audio trail: £38.45
• Swap it for the 30-minute library tour: from £45.45; for the 60-minute tour: from £50.45

Add £2 per Christ Church ticket at weekends. Student, 65+ and 5–17 prices differ, so choose the right category when booking.

Before you go

Dates to avoid

As published on the official sites on 2 October 2026:

• Christ Church: closed all day 4 Oct; Hall closed all day 8 and 9 Oct; Hall viewable from the door only from 15:00 on 30 Oct; closed from midday on 24 Dec and all day 25 Dec.
• New College: Cloisters closed 12:00–15:00 on Saturdays 7 and 14 Nov; whole college closed 12 Dec; Christmas closure from 23 Dec.
• Bodleian: Divinity School closed all day on 17, 18, 20, 30 and 31 Oct and 1, 6, 7, 13 and 14 Nov. On those days you can't see the hospital wing, and the only library tour is the 30-minute Duke Humfrey's one — not bookable in advance; buy it on the day at the Weston Library.

Closure lists keep changing, so check before you book and again before you travel: Christ Church, New College, Bodleian.

What to bring, what to leave

• Travel light: Christ Church has no left-luggage, and suitcases and bags bigger than 40×30×20 cm aren't allowed in.
• Photos: all three allow personal photography, but none allows tripods (New College also bans drones). At the Bodleian, no video, no flash, no selfie sticks, and don't photograph readers or staff.
• Third-party walking tours: some only talk on the street and don't include entry to any interiors. Read exactly what's included before you buy.

Check the room before you book, check the closures again before you leave, then fit your booked times into the route.

Prices, release rules and closure dates are from the official sites on 2 October 2026; check all three sites on the day for the latest.

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, cropped or compressed: staircase, Jonas Magnus Lystad, CC0; Great Hall and Bridge of Sighs, Tristan Surtel, CC BY-SA 4.0; holm oak, David Purchase, CC BY-SA 2.0; Divinity School and library, Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0.