If you’re just as nerdy as I am, you’d love to pay Hogwarts a visit! Smell the fresh grass of Bilbo Baggins’ Hobbiton, or spook yourself out at the Silent Hill! Well, the good news is, most of what you desire is possible. And then the bad news is, some of it is not! Long story short, we’ve gathered a list of fictional places you can visit in real life. Break the border of fiction and non-fiction today!
Hogwarts
Unfortunately, there is no full-size, functional Hogwarts with wizardry students running about and all. However, Harry Potter diehard fans all over the world have created recreations of Hogwarts you can visit any day of the week. We’re not here to talk about re-creations, though! We need real places to feel the fantasy atmosphere!
The Hogwarts Express
Choo-choo! Even if Hogwarts is inaccessible, we’ve got the real Hogwarts express probably choo-chooing somewhere out there right now!
Glenfinnan Viaduct at Lochaber in Scotland is the location Hogwarts express had originally been filmed. One of the red trains that zoom around there is probably the original Hogwarts Express!
Photo by Moment RF
The Great Hall
The location in which the Great Hall was filmed in various Harry Potter movies is located in the Oxford University. The Great Hall part of Hogwarts is the only part of Hogwarts you can visit at its full functionality. Just imagine a handful of flying candles and wizardry students, and we’re good to go!
The original location is the Dining Hall of Christ Church at Oxford University.
Photo by Oxford
Hobbiton From Lord of the Rings Trilogy & Hobbits
Unlike Harry Potter’s tricky filming locations, Hobbiton is pretty much accessible at full functionality! You can find Hobbiton in New Zealand and catch a Hobbit by its toe – potentially!
The original location of the Shire Village, Hobbiton, is located in New Zealand, Matamata.
Photo by Brian Dearth
The story behind this magnificent landmark is brilliant on its own! After the filming crew decided Matamata of New Zealand is the perfect place to set up the whole plot, they started building these fantastic props to complete the set. Ultimately, after the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbits ended, the government of New Zealand decided to keep the entirety of Hobbiton intact! J.R.R Tolkien fans can actually visit Hobbiton. Yay!
Doctor Who: TARDIS
It’s relatively easier to find a blue box and call it a filming location than finding Matamata. However, there’s one single blue box – and probably the only one – which is an original TARDIS used in Doctor Who, the TV series that you can actually find! Is it bigger on the inside? No!
The one and only original TARDIS is located at Earls Court Station in the United Kingdom, London.
Well, that’s just a TARDIS in the wild. It’s got to be the most accessible fictional place to visit in real life!
South Park Colorado
South Park is an actual town in the US, Colorado. Though the town was formerly known as Fairplay, many official government documents refer to the town as South Park Colorado. Unfortunately, the town itself is nothing like South Park as seen on TV. Fortunately, Eric Cartman is not real.
Although the city has little to do with South Park the TV series, there are many references and fantastic gags within the town itself.
Silent Hill
The unfortunate news is, you can’t visit Silent Hill. The movie’s location is unknown, and honestly, it’s probably not even worth searching as lots of CGI and special effects have been used to make the scenes look spooky! However, the city that inspired Silent Hill is pretty much still there, accessible and… ghosted.
Centralia, Pennsylvania, is the city we’re talking about. Apparently, there’s been a coal mine burning underneath the city for more than 50 years now. The city itself has been abandoned for many years now. With that being said, you can visit the city still, but why the heck would you?
Centralia, Pennsylvania
