Harry Potter's Scotland

The shot everyone wants. The Jacobite Steam Train crossing the curved 21-arch viaduct with Loch Shiel in the background. You can ride the train (book months ahead for summer, £65 return) or photograph it from the viewing area below the viaduct. The train crosses around 10:45am and 3pm in peak season. The viewpoint is a 5-minute walk from the Glenfinnan Visitor Centre car park (£5). Get there 45 minutes early for a good spot — in summer there can be 200 people on the hillside.

Hagrid's Hut was built in the shadow of the Three Sisters for Prisoner of Azkaban. The set is long gone, but you can walk to the approximate location from the Clachaig Inn area. Glencoe's landscape appears throughout the films as sweeping exterior shots. Signal Rock (a 30-minute walk through the forest) is where the hut was positioned. Look for a clearing in the trees with mountain views — you'll know you're in the right place.

The long, narrow loch used for the sweeping shots of Hogwarts Lake and the Black Lake in the Triwizard Tournament. Best viewed from the Glenfinnan Monument at the head of the loch — the same spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in 1745. The monument viewpoint gives you the full length of the loch with mountains on both sides. No boat required.

The waterfall and surrounding glen were used for Quidditch flying scenes and the Triwizard Tournament backgrounds. It's also one of the most beautiful walks in the Fort William area — a 45-minute walk through a dramatic gorge to a 120-metre waterfall cascading into an open meadow. A three-wire bridge crosses the river at the end (optional — the view is great from either side).

The small island (Eilean na Moine) in Loch Eilt was used as Dumbledore's grave in the films. You can see it from the A830 road that runs alongside the loch — look for a small pine-covered island about 50 metres from shore. There's a lay-by with a view. The island itself is inaccessible (and on private land), but the view from the road is the same one used in the films.

The café where JK Rowling wrote much of the first book, overlooking Edinburgh Castle. She sat at a table by the window and wrote in notebooks while nursing single cups of coffee. The café is on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh's Old Town. The bathroom walls are covered in Harry Potter graffiti from fans. Get there early — it gets busy.

The graveyard where JK Rowling found character names — Thomas Riddell (Tom Riddle/Voldemort) and William McGonagall are both buried here. The graveyard is atmospheric in its own right, with 17th-century tombs and a famous story about Greyfriars Bobby the loyal dog. Free to enter. It's behind the National Museum of Scotland.