The Sahara Desert is found in northern Africa, spans several large countries, and is by far the largest desert in the world. It is also a place where, historically, Quidditch referees have turned up after wizards had transformed their brooms into Portkeys. This little bit of trivia is mentioned in Quidditch Through the Ages, and was one of the things Harry found most interesting in the book the first time he read it (PS11).

St. Brutus's is a boarding school, presumably somewhere in England, that we know absolutely nothing about aside from its name (and that might not even actually exist). We know the name because Vernon Dursley tells neighbours and relatives that it's the school Harry attends, so they don't wonder about his strange behaviour or disappearances. He forces Harry to stick to the story as well, at least when he's living on Privet Drive (PA2).

The only wizarding hospital we know of, St. Mungo's is located behind the facade of Purge and Dowse, Ltd., in London (more...)

Famous for its seventeenth-century hysteria over witchcraft and witch trials, Salem is today a typical suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. There is still a witches' institute in Salem, though, which we know because Harry walked by their tent at the Quidditch World Cup (GF7).

A subcommittee of sorcerers from Sardinia did something of historical relevance at some point in time, though we have no idea what or when. Nevertheless, the subcommittee was the subject of the lecture Professor Binns had begun when Hermione interrupted him to ask about the Chamber of Secrets (CS9). Sardinia, part of Italy, is an island in the Mediterranean Sea southwest of Rome.

Scandinavia is a region in northern Europe which includes Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, though this exact definition is somewhat flexible. It is specifically mentioned in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as a natural habitat for the Bowtruckle, Horklump, and troll.

There is one particular school that we know a fair amount about despite not knowing its name: the school Harry and Dudley attended until the year they turned eleven, when Harry went off to Hogwarts and Dudley to Smeltings. This school was where Harry got in trouble for jumping onto the roof (PS2), where he always got picked last in sports (PS10), and where he never made any real friends thanks to Dudley's bullying (PS2).

There are a number of other schools we've heard about as well:

Wizarding schools:

• Beauxbatons Academy of Magic
• Durmstrang Institute
• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• Salem Witches' Institute
• an unknown wizarding school in Brazil

Muggle schools:

• Eton
• St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys
• Smeltings School
• Stonewall High

Part of the United Kingdom, Scotland is a beautiful country in northwestern Europe (north of England) that is famous for its lochs, its rolling hills, and its rain that makes everything green almost all the time. It is where much of the Harry Potter stories are set, as it is the home country for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as well as the neighboring town of Hogsmeade.

The extremely dangerous game of Creaothceann was also played in Scotland during the Middle Ages, but was banned in 1762 because of the tremendous number of fatalities (QA2).

Locations in Scotland:

• Aberdeen
• Arbroath
• Argyllshire
• Banchory
• Drear, Isle of
• Dundee
• Hebrides Islands
• Inverness
• Loch Lomond
• Lowercroft
• Montrose
• Loch Ness
• Paisley
• Peebles
• Portree
• Wigtown

A shop in Hogsmeade, Hermione has visited Scrivenshaft's at least once (more...).

"The Sea" is written as part of the address of the Hut-on-the-Rock when Harry finally recieves his Hogwarts letter. It's hard to know which sea this is, and our clues are limited (we don't know which train station Harry arrives in after leaving the Hut-on-the-Rock, for example) (PS3). It is most logically either the North Sea, on the northeastern side of the United Kingdom, or the Irish Sea, on its western coast. Either one would have been quite a distant drive from Little Whinging!

Other Seas Mentioned in the Books:

• Black Sea
• Mediterranean Sea
• North Sea

See also: islands, lochs, oceans, rivers

Ginny and Mrs. Weasley visited this shop in Diagon Alley prior to Ginny's first year at Hogwarts (more...).

We can't say where this shack is except that the Daily Prophet described it as "up north," but this shack is where Igor Karkaroff's body was found after he had deserted the Death Eaters. The Dark Mark was hovering in the sky above (HBP6).

Home of Kingsley Shacklebolt, this was one of the many houses set up as a safe haven by the Order of the Phoenix in preparation for moving Harry from number four, Privet Drive (DH3).

"A lonely and beautiful place," Shell Cottage is a quaint seaside home to Bill and Fleur Weasley. It sits on a cliffside with a view of the sea and an airy backyard, and the sound of waves pulsate through the house (.

Located on the outskirts of Tinworth in Cornwall (DH23), the house is not large - the upstairs has just three small bedrooms, and downstairs, there is only a modest kitchen and a sitting room with a fireplace. Protected by the Fidelius Charm, it was the place to which Harry, Ron, and Hermione retreated after narrowly escaping the Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor (DH24, and where they stayed while they made plans with Griphook to steal Voldemort's Horcrux from Gringotts (DH25).

At the end of the garden, a small mound of red earth (DH25) covers a grave for one of the bravest heroes of the wizarding world - Dobby the house-elf. Harry buried him here after he was killed in the escape from Malfoy Manor. The inscription on his smooth, white tombstone reads "HERE LIES DOBBY, A FREE ELF" (DH24).

In Diagon Alley:

• Apothecary
• Eeylops Owl Emporium
• Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor (closed in 1996)
• Flourish and Blotts
• Gambol and Japes
• junk shop
• the Leaky Cauldron
• Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions
• Magical Menagerie
• Obscurus Books
• Ollivander's (closed in 1996)
• Quality Quidditch Supplies
• Twilfit & Tatting's
• Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
• WhizzHard Books

In Hogsmeade:

• Gladrags Wizardwear
• Hog's Head
• Honeydukes
• Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop
• post office
• the Three Broomsticks
• Zonko's Joke Shop (closed in 1996)

Other Wizarding Shops:

• Arkie Alderton's Kwik-Repair Shop
• Borgin & Burkes (Knockturn Alley)
• Gladrags Wizardwear (London, Paris)
• Pumpkins R Us (location unknown)
• Splinter & Kreek's (location unknown)

Muggle Shops:

• hamburger restaurant (Paddington Station)
• newsagent's (London)
• paper shop (Ottery St. Catchpole)
• post offices (Godric's Hollow & Ottery St. Catchpole)
• Purge and Dowse, Ltd. (London - closed)
• supermarket
• variety store (London)

Falsely rumored to be haunted, the Shrieking Shack is a favorite stop on any Hogsmeade visit (more...)

Vernon Dursley's alma mater, and now Dudley's school. The Smeltings uniform includes (PS3):

• maroon tailcoat
• orange knickerbockers
• straw boater hat
• knobbly stick for hitting things (and people) with

We have not been given a location for Hepzibah Smith's house, though Harry and Dumbledore visited it in the Pensieve. It was here that Tom Riddle first saw Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket - two items which he stole soon afterward and made into Horcruxes. It was a grand house, filled with so many possessions that it was difficult to walk straight through it, though Hepzibah and her house-elf Hokey were its only inhabitants at the time (HBP20).

This brick row house is almost certainly where Severus Snape grew up, and then lived alone for most of his adult life. Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange sought him out here in 1996, when he made an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa that he would kill Dumbledore if Draco failed to do so. Wormtail was living there to help Snape out at the time as well. The house itself is quite small, with a tiny sitting room whose walls were completely covered with bookshelves (even the door is hidden behind a bookshelf) and which "had the feeling of a dark, padded cell" (HBP2).

According to the classified ads in one of Rowling's Daily Prophets, somewhere in London is the head office of the Society for Tolerance of Vampires. The classified listing was searching for a witch or wizard to help run the candlelit office, with preference given to those with an allergy to garlic, and applicants had to quote blood-group (DP).

Somerset is a county in the West Country of England, home to both Bath and Exmoor. It is also the home of the Modesty Rabnott Golden Snidget Reservation, and the site of a well-known disaster in the summer of 1996 when a group of Death Eaters, together with at least one giant, caused widespread destruction that the Muggles blamed on a hurricane (HBP1).

Locations in South America:

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Peru

Spain is a country in southwestern Europe, steeped in history and famous for its beautiful scenery, its unique food, and its incredible cities. There was a baggage-handlers strike in Spain in the summer of 1995, which Harry heard about on the news (OP1); we also know the names of the players on the Spanish National Quidditch Team.

Majorca and the Canary Islands are located on the coast of Spain.

Spinner's End is a street in an unnamed dark industrial Muggle town, most likely somewhere in northern industrial England. It is on this street that Snape's house sits, and down which Narcissa Malfoy ran - with Bellatrix Lestrange in pursuit - to seek him out HBP2. Somewhere nearby, there is also a Muggle playground where a young Snape first met Lily and Petunia Evans, and most likely the house they grew up in as well (DH33).

For a detailed explanation of its probable location, see the essay, "Where is Spinner's End?" by Claire M. Jordan.

An advertisement in one of Rowling's Daily Prophet newsletters describes Splinter and Kreek's as a place at which to "buy your second-hand brooms", including "Shooting Stars, Comet 220s, Cleansweep Fives." So this is presumably a second-hand broom shop, though it's possible they sell new brooms as well. The ad doesn't seem too effective, though, as the store's location is never given; it is likely in Diagon Alley, but we don't know for sure (DP).

See St. Brutus's.

See St. Mungo's.

Located outside Ottery St. Catchpole, this is a nondescript hill with a few pieces of trash littered around it. It is where Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys met up with Amos and Cedric Diggory and caught a Portkey - an old boot - to the Quidditch World Cup (GF6).

A small town in the Canadian province of Manitoba, Stonewall is home to the Stonewall Stormers, one of the most accomplished Quidditch teams in the world (QA8).

The public high school serving Little Whinging, Stonewall High is the school to which Harry would have been sent had he never received his letter for Hogwarts. Dudley would not have joined him; he instead attended Smeltings, a private school (PS3).

The uniforms for Stonewall High are a drab gray, which Aunt Petunia attempted to create for Harry by dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes. Dudley also tells us that it is a Stonewall tradition to "stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day," though since this is coming from Dudley, the truth of the statement is hard to know (PS3).

• Acanthia Way
• Diagon Alley
• Grimmauld Place
• High Street
• Knockturn Alley
• Laburnum Gardens
• Spinner's End

Streets that are home to Muggles:

• Brockdale Bridge
• Charing Cross Road
• Grimmauld Square
• Magnolia Crescent
• Magnolia Road
• Privet Drive
• Vauxhall Road
• Wisteria Walk

Alleys:

• alley behind the Leaky Cauldron
• alley between Wisteria Walk and Magnolia Crescent

A city in Tanzania, Sumbawanga is home of the Sumbawanga Sunrays, a popular Quidditch team famous for its formation looping (QA8).

Though hiding from Death Eaters usually meant little or no food was available, Harry and Hermione did manage one night to camp not far from a Muggle town, where Hermione snuck into this supermarket under the Invisibility Cloak to snag some spaghetti Bolognese and tinned pears. She didn't steal the items, of course - she merely dropped money for them surreptitiously into an open till without being seen by the Muggles (DH16).

A county in England just southwest of London, Surrey is the location of Little Whinging, and thus is the county in which Harry grew up (PS3). Heaths, commons and woodlands abound in the area and much of the county is devoted to agriculture, while the market towns and villages of the area are nestled among the lakes and forests. There is a zoo there, of course (PS2); we also know that a helicopter nearly crashed in a field here in the summer of 1995 (OP1).

A beautiful country in northern Europe and part of Scandinavia, Sweden is well-known for having one of the highest standards of living in the world. It is the natural habitat of the Swedish Short Snout Dragon (including at least one Reservation), and home of a world-famous annual broom race from Kopparberg to Arjeplog (QA2).

Luna Lovegood and her father, Xeno, also took a trip to Sweden in the summer of 1996 to search for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, a creature that, well, may or may not exist (OP38).

This reservation in Sweden is part of the path of an annual broom race, from Kopparberg to Arjeplog (QA2).

The Sweetwater All-Stars are a U.S. Quidditch team that recently gained international notoriety when they defeated the Quiberon Quafflepunchers after a five-day match (QA8). Sweetwater is a small city in central Texas, in the southern United States.