The Best Cemeteries Around the World to Visit

Call me morbid but I am fascinated by cemeteries.

There is just something about them that I find enthralling. I think that death goes hand in hand with history and cemeteries are a showpiece of death.

I love the peacefulness about them. I find them tragically beautiful. Every gravestone is for a person that was once living and breathing, with stories of their own and complicated histories.

I read the epitaphs as sometimes what is written can give you a clue to the story of the person buried there. Life that once was.

Cemeteries always lead me to reflect on my own life and how fragile life can be.

The Victorians had a very different attitude to death than we do today. Dying young was common back then due to disease, so they embraced death as a part of life.

They created elaborate cemeteries with beautiful architecture and leafy park-like surroundings and would enjoy visiting the graves of their departed friends and family, taking a picnic and spending the day there.

It is similar to the Mexican culture where during the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations, Mexican families dress up as zombies and skeletons and celebrate the departed.

There are candlelight vigils and parties in cemeteries where families visit their loved ones that have passed on, bringing them their favorite foods and creating elaborate and colorful altars that include marigolds, sugar skulls and candles.

I have visited many cemeteries around the world and there are many more that I want to visit. They help me to learn the history of a place and it is interesting to see how death is treated in different cultures.

I want to share with you a few of, what I think are, the best cemeteries to visit around the world.

Best Cemeteries to Visit Around the World

Cemeteries in Europe

Pere Lachaise – Paris, France

This iconic cemetery is most famous for being the final resting place of Jim Morrison of The Doors. You can also find the tomb of the writer and poet Oscar Wilde which is covered in red lip-sticked kisses and the understated grave of the French Singer, Edith Piaf.

Broad avenues and rows of opulent tombs, reminiscent of small houses, create a feeling of a City: A City of the Dead.

Greyfriars Kirkyard – Edinburgh, Scotland

Said to be haunted, this ultra creepy cemetery is one of the stops on the City of the Dead Ghost Tour. Most of the supernatural activity is said to have come about when the tomb of Sir George MacKenzie was broken into in 1999, and there have been numerous reports of people passing out and being cut, bruised, bitten and scratched while in the graveyard with no explanation as to how.

An exorcist, Rev Colin Grant, was unable to rid the grave yard of evil spirits and a few weeks after trying, he died suddenly of a heart attack. I went on the tour and thankfully nothing happened but it was still scary!

The Protestant Cemetery – Rome, Italy

The romantic poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley are buried at this quiet cemetery in a suburb of Rome. The cemetery also encloses the 12th Century pyramid of celtius and a large colony of semi-feral cats that are looked after by volunteers.

Hill of Crosses – Siauliai, Lithuania

A deeply, spiritual place with over 100,000 crosses crowded over a small hill. It is not known exactly when the first crosses were left here but the practice was believed to have been started in 1831 during the uprising against the Russian Empire, when crosses were left in memorial for the killed rebels.

During the occupation of the Soviet Union from 1944–1990, the tradition continued with the Lithuanian people risking their lives to erect crosses on the hillside as a peaceful resistance movement against their occupiers.

It is an incredible place and a popular pilgrimage site; Pope John Paul II even visited in 1993 and was deeply moved.

If you go anywhere in Lithuania, you need to go here and see it for yourself.

Ari Burnu Cemetery – Gallipolli Peninsula, Turkey

Beautifully maintained and with a gorgeous waterside location, this war cemetery is pretty special to Australians and New Zealanders. Located at one end of ANZAC Cove, this is where a large number of ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) soldiers were killed during World War One.

My Great-great Uncle, Arthur Verner, was an ANZAC soldier and died on the beaches of Galipolli. I was possibly the first one of his blood relatives to visit his grave and I now have his rosary beads that were on him when he died in 1915 and were sent back to his Mother.

Highgate Cemetery – London, England

Highgate is a grand Victorian Cemetery located in the affluent Northern suburb of Highgate in London. It is one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’, seven massive park-like cemeteries that are spread throughout the city.

The older western section of the cemetery can only be visited by guided tour which I definitely recommend.

It is an overgrown lost world of gothic architecture. Intricate statuary, moss covered angels, carved tombs and winding pathways amongst the tall trees and vines make this cemetery hauntingly beautiful and more than slightly spooky.

Karl Marx is buried in the newer Eastern Section of the cemetery and Elizabeth Siddal, the model for Sir John Everett Millais’s painting ‘Ophelia’, is buried in the older Western section. There were rumours of a vampire in the cemetery in the early 1970’s and many ghost sightings have been reported.

Belas Knap Long Barrow – Gloucestershire, England

A Neolithic burial chamber with false entrances and side chambers, dating to approx. 3800 BC. Belas Knap is located near Winchcombe in Gloucestershire and can only be reached by hiking.

The remains of 31 people were found in the chamber when it was excavated between 1863 and 1865. A beautiful spot for a picnic, you are even allowed to sit on the grassy roof of the long barrow.

Nunhead Cemetery – Nunhead, London

Another of the Magnificent Seven, this Victorian cemetery can be also be visited by an informative and interesting tour or you can roam around the extensive grounds at your leisure.

Old Barnes Cemetery – Barnes, London

This is truly a lost cemetery, hidden in the woods and completely overgrown. There are no signs and no path so you really have to know about it to find it. The cemetery officially closed in the 1950’s and there has been numerous ghostly sightings including a nun floating over one of the graves.

Crossbones Graveyard – Southwark, London

Now just a vacant lot, this was the final resting place of local prostitutes in the 18th Century. There are many messages and flowers attached to the chain link fence in memorial to the forgotten women who were laid to rest here over 200 years ago.

All Saints Church – Isleworth, London

An intact stone tower dating back to the 14th Century and a creepy overgrown cemetery where the faded gravestones are sinking into the ground. It is always so quiet here.

Cemeteries in the Americas

Granary Burying Ground – Boston, Massachusetts, USA

One of the most famous burial grounds in the US and dating back to 1660, this cemetery houses some important figures in American History including Paul Revere, three signatories of the declaration of independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine, Phyllis Wheatley: the first African American woman to publish a book and the family of Benjamin Franklin.

I love the simple gravestones with various hand carved drawings along the top ranging from simple skulls with wings and cherubic angels. In my opinion, a visit to Boston isn’t complete without visiting the Granary Burying Ground.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery – Concord, Massachusetts, USA

One of my absolute favorites, this gorgeous cemetery is home to many notable Transcendentalists and great thinkers of the 19th century.

Transcendentalism is a religious and philosophical movement which core belief was the inherent goodness of both people and nature.

The authors Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, William Ellery Channing and Nathanial Hawthorn are buried here on a grassy hilltop known as ‘Authors Ridge’.

The cemetery was designed with transcendentalist principles in mind, to be a garden for the living to enjoy as well as a place to inter the dead.

It is a beautifully landscaped work of art and the feeling of peace I felt when I walked the grounds was immeasurably calming. Visiting Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was one of my Massachusetts highlights.

Ferndale Cemetery – Ferndale, California, USA

Located in one of the best preserved Victorian villages in California, the grassy slopes of Ferndale Cemetery is a beautiful spot. The movie ‘The Majestic’ filmed here and many of the graves date back to the mid 19th Century.

I saw a family of deer wandering soundlessly between the gravestones on my visit.

Bodie Cemetery – Bodie, California, USA

Located atop a hill overlooking the spooky Ghost town of Bodie, this graveyard is full of the hard living gold rush pioneers, a lot killed in bar brawls, who settled this patch of sand before the gold ran out; the town was abandoned completely by the mid 20th century.

Undesirables such as prostitutes were buried on un-consecrated ground on the other side of the cemetery fence including the famous Rosa May.

Rosa May was a prostitute who apparently helped nurse sick miners during an epidemic but her line of work did not allow for a burial inside the cemetery gates.

A lot of the wooden crosses have rotted away over time and there are just a few marble memorials standing today.

Fairview Lawn Cemetery – Halifax, Canada

This non-descript cemetery may not look like much but it is the final resting place of the largest number of the Titanic dead as well as many victims of the Halifax Explosion, the largest non-nuclear explosion in human history.

Graves include the Unknown Child, who was finally identified as 2 year old Sidney Goodwin in 2007, and a J Dawson who many tourists believe to be Jack Dawson of the movie ‘Titanic’ who was a fictional character.

The grave is in fact for a Joseph Dawson, who was a coal trimmer on the ill-fated ship. Visiting the Fairview Lawn Cemetery will give you a great insight into the history of Halifax.

Jacksonville Cemetery – Jacksonville, Oregon, USA

A unique feature of this pioneer cemetery, one of the first in Oregon, is the fact that there are different sections for different religions and orders. I hadn’t seen that in a cemetery before. I love the elaborate marble and granite headstones and the charming wooded grounds of this historic cemetery.

I saw a few interesting gravestone inscriptions including one family plot where four men in the family had been ‘killed by Indians’.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 – New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

I had been looking forward to going to this cemetery for years, after seeing it in movies like Double Jeopardy and it was just as gothically beautiful and interesting as I imagined it to be.

It’s still free to enter Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as well, unlike the popular St Louis Cemetery in New Orleans. My favorite thing there was the old tombs overgrown with vines. If you are really lucky you might catch a Jazz funeral.

Bonaventure Cemetery – Savannah, Georgia, USA

A world-famous cemetery just outside of Savannah, Georgia, Bonaventure Cemetery is absolutely massive and a great place to wander aimlessly. One of the reasons this cemetery is so popular to visit, is because of the beautiful, and slightly creepy, Spanish moss draped trees. 

Another reason this cemetery is so well known is because of the cover art of the book ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’, which is set in Savannah. It depicts a statue holding up a bird bath saucer in each hand that is known as ‘Bird Girl’.

Unfortunately people were defacing the statue so it was moved to a museum, although there are a lot of other creepy statues you can visit in the cemetery.

Mount Moriah Cemetery – Deadwood, South Dakota, USA

This large wooded cemetery overlooks the town of Deadwood, South Dakota, and is the final resting place of two of the wild west’s most famous characters – Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. 

There is a small entry fee to the cemetery but you get a map with notable graves and the history of the cemetery.

Russian Cemetery – Sitka, Alaska, USA

Sitka was the Russian capital of Alaska, and the Russian cemetery is one of the coolest cemeteries I have visited.

It is a dark and overgrown wonderland of narrow pathways choked with moss and ferns and too many creepy headless angel statues to count. The ground is uneven and soggy with many gravestones half sunken into the earth. 

This sprawling cemetery is 200 years old and is home to over 1600 graves!

Arlington National Cemetery – Arlington, Virginia, USA

The graves themselves aren’t too exciting but you can’t visit Washington D.C. without making the trip over the river to Arlington, especially when it is spring and the cherry blossoms are blooming.

There are a number of notable graves at Arlington including Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy Onassis, the boxer Joe Louis, and William Taft.

Trinity Church Cemetery – New York City, USA

Amidst the craziness of Manhattan there is a historic and quiet churchyard filled with old stone graves, some sunk nearly the whole way into the earth. This is Trinity Church Cemetery.

This cemetery dates back to 1697 and Alexander Hamilton is buried here.

Recoleta Cemetery – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Palatial tombs crowd together along the labyrinthine pathways of this famous Cemetery. Most people come to see where Eva Peron, the former First Lady of Argentina, is interred.

The magnificent stone work of the tombs make this cemetery a very interesting place to visit during a visit to Buenos Aires.

Cimetière de Morne-À-l’Eau – Morne-à-l’Eau, Guadeloupe

If you are visiting the French islands that make up Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, make sure to visit Cimetière de Morne-À-l’Eau. This cemetery is distinctive because of it’s black and white chequered patterning on the concrete crypts and graves. 

Originally only the rich of Guadeloupe were buried here, but now the cemetery houses a more diverse population of the island’s dead. On All Saints Day families gather at the cemetery, lighting candles and honoring their dead.

Cemeteries in Asia Pacific

Bukit Brown Cemetery – Singapore

Bukit Brown was a Chinese cemetery that was established in the early 20th Century, and was believed to be the biggest Chinese graveyard outside China. The cemetery is still in existence despite being abandoned – but that is why it is worth visiting.

The cemetery has nearly completely been reclaimed by the jungle, and it is a fascinating place to visit – discovering colorful graves hidden amongst the foliage.

Symonds Street Cemetery – Auckland, New Zealand

Established in 1842, the Symonds Street Cemetery was the first official cemetery in Auckland and is located in a lush, green valley right by downtown Auckland. Many notable Auckland colonists were buried here including the first Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson.

When the Auckland Southern Motorway was being developed in the mid 1960s, more than 4,000 bodies were moved and the land area was reduced to one quarter of the size.

Interestingly, 2000 remains were found under 1200 headstones in the Anglican section, and 2100 remains under 400 headstones were found in the Catholic section.

Lighthouse Keepers Cemetery – Kangaroo Island, Australia

Officially named Harveys Return Graveyard, this small but interesting cemetery is located in a remote corner of Kangaroo Island in South Australia, and is the final resting place of numerous lighthouse keepers and their families, who lived and worked at the Cape Borda Lighthouse.

The lighthouse was manned between the years of 1858 until it was automated in 1989, and life there was hard and isolated. The cemetery is located three kilometres away from the lighthouse because the limestone ground on the Cape is unsuitable for burial.

Have you been to any of these cemeteries around the world? What is your favorite cemetery to visit?

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If you liked this post, check out some of my other favorites posts:

• 25 Best Things About the United States of America
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