One of Scotland’s greatest scenic train routes is getting a £6 million Harry Potter visitor centre

One of the stars of the Harry Potter franchise is getting a shiny new visitor centre. No, we’re not talking about Radcliffe, Grint or Watson. We’re talking about the Glenfinnan Viaduct. 

If you’re a big Potter fan, chances are you’ll recognise the 21 concrete arches which make up the iconic bridge as part of the route taken by the Hogwarts Express.

Well, the Glenfinnan’s various cameos in the wizarding films have made it a popular stop for tourists and Potterheads alike. So much so that the current visitor centre is overwhelmed. Designed in the 1960s to accommodate just 100,000 visitors a year, last year around 660,000 people walked through its doors. That’s almost 2,000 a day.

Luckily, a new facility is underway which will be better equipped to deal with this hefty footfall in the future. The new National Trust visitor centre will sit on land close to Loch Shiel, the Glenfinnan Monument and the Glenfinnan Viaduct.

Plans for the project, which is set to cost £6 million to complete, include a large café with covered outdoor seating, a dedicated ‘arrival and orientation area’, more toilets and a redesigned car park.

An off-site mobility hub designed to encourage sustainable travel via walking and cycling is also being floated as part of the project.

If you’re thinking of booking a visit, we’d recommend waiting a couple of years, because the centre is due to be finished by ‘late 2028 or early 2029’, the National Trust for Scotland told Architects’ Journal. A planning application is expected to be submitted this autumn ahead of work on the site starting in 2027.

If wand waving and magic spells aren’t your thing, Harry Potter isn’t the only thing the viaduct is famous for. The nearby Glenfinnan Monument was built in 1814 as a tribute to the 1745 Jacobite uprising and the clans who rallied to support Bonnie Prince Charlie, making it an important site for anyone interested in Scotland’s history.

Did you see that this Scottish mount is the best place in Britain for sunrise (and sunset)?

Plus: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a 1776 print of the Declaration of Independence in England.