For the past ten years Edinburgh hotels have been frequented by holidaymakers looking for something a little different. Although the beautiful old city is full of great historical sites for holidaymakers to see such as Edinburgh castle, Holyrood and the multiple attractions up and down the Royal Mile, it is also the birthplace of Harry Potter. Being the most famous fictional boy wizard who ever means that Edinburgh is full of holidaymakers that want to visit the site where Nicolsons cafe was at 6a Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, where JK Rowling wrote the first book. Walking holidays are very popular in Scotland and holidaymakers have the chance to take a hike through the stunning Scottish highlands to visit some of the locations used in the Harry Potter films. Glenfinnan Viaduct is a century old railway bridge in the west highlands, used to film the Hogwarts Express scenes and good to see on a day out hiking. Potter related landmarks lie up and down the length of Britain so visitors wanting to see a few can take the train from Edinburgh to London, cheap oakley sunglasses , stopping to see more sites on the way. Some sites are within distance of Edinburgh hotels while others are more than a day’s trip away. Just over the England Scotland border, north of the city of Newcastle is Alnwick castle, the second largest inhabited castle in England after Windsor. The castle has been the traditional home to the Earls and Dukes of Northumberland since 1310 and was used as the exterior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. A little further down the train line, south of Newcastle is Durham, another very old English city with a castle, coach handbags outlet , now home to Durham University, and Durham Cathedral which was used to film interior scenes for Hogwarts. After Durham the train travels through the historic city of York before taking another two hours to arrive at London Kings Cross, coach handbags outlet , another location used for the films. It is here that the young wizards and witches get their trains from platform nine and three quarters. However holidaymakers are advised not to try and get on to the platform. Kings cross is full of great London hotels and is the perfect base for seeing some other locations used in the Harry Potter films. Holidaymakers can easily get to the major stations in north London heading to the north, east and west of England. Visitors can get the Underground (Metro) to Harrow and see the historic Harrow school, a private school, known in the UK as a ‘public’ school due to tradition, it was used for some classroom scenes and provides a great insight in to the most prestigious part of the British school system. One hour away from London is Oxford, the world’s most famous university town. There are a few Potter related locations in the city, including Christ Church College, one of the oldest colleges at the University and the Bodleian Library both used as filming locations.