Edinburgh became J.K. Rowling’s home while she wrote much of the Harry Potter series.
Rowling moved to Edinburgh in 1993 after returning from Portugal. She continued working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone there, often writing in cafés while raising her daughter. Edinburgh later became closely associated with her writing career and with locations linked to the Harry Potter story.
The city is sometimes confused with Glasgow because both are major Scottish cities. Rowling did not write the books in Glasgow. Edinburgh is the city most consistently connected with the period in which she completed and developed the early novels.
The popular image of Rowling writing in cafés should not be treated as the only setting for the series. She also wrote at home and in other locations, and the books’ fictional places are not literal maps of Edinburgh. Nevertheless, Edinburgh is the specific Scottish city identified with her early Harry Potter writing years.