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Having just returned from a short stay in the stunning Swiss town of Lauterbrunnen, I’m a bit of a drooly, overwhelmed mess. After all, with a head full of dreams carefully planted from years of pining over Lauterbrunnen on Instagram and Pinterest, my expectations were so high I could practically vomit from excitement

This famous Swiss Alps train ride is known as one of the most luxurious and best train rides in Europe, so it’s no wonder it’s made my list. Alright, listing the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn is kinda cheating because the following route is technically a segment of the Glacier Express, but since the Glacier Express is a million years long and not everyone has the luxury of spending a full 8 hours on a scenic train, I would recommend the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn from Visp to Zermatt as an excellent taste of the Glacier Express experience. So, while most Swiss train tours will bring you along one of the ‘Express’ trains, if you are an avid photographer, want to save money on the reservation fee, or would like to stop at different towns along the way, then I would recommend doing the Bernina Express and Glacier Express on regional trains instead. Last but not least, there are a handful of Switzerland scenic train rides that I still haven’t had a chance to do, but it feels weird to exclude them in a roundup of Switzerland’s best train rides, so here they are below:

It’s no wonder then that the Production Designers for the Harry Potter films scouted it to play the role of Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films: notably as the Hogwarts “Quad” and courtyard. According to the official Durham Cathedral website, their opening times are: While Durham Cathedral is a beautiful must-see with many spaces worth a look, there are two main areas that were used in the filming of the first two Harry Potter movies. Harry lets Hedwig go in the snow Durham Cathedral got a magical, snowy makeover in Harry Potter and the Philosopher The queen of this art, as we learn in this scene from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, is Professor McGonagall, who literally transforms from a cat into a human to scare the pumpkin juice out of tardy Harry and Ron.

Together, they discussed different location possibilities for the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, knowing the project would require a grand setting for the cinematic debut of the franchise. This is where they filmed several scenes showcasing Hogwarts’ corridors, including the scene in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when McGonagall drags Harry over to meet Oliver Wood cuz she’s so impressed with his broom techniques and wants him to join the Quidditch team ASAP, and the scene when Harry is meandering the hallways in his invisibility cloak and narrowly escapes being “seen” by Snape as he’s harassing the heck out of Professor Quirrell. This was the room used to film Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom scenes in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was the only film in which they filmed this classroom on location. Fans of Snape will be excited to know that Snape’s Potions Classroom from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was filmed at Lacock Abbey, specifically in the Sacristy, where back in the day, vessels for church services were stored.