Europe’s historic cemeteries offer an alternative to haunted attractions at Halloween. With sculptures, impressive tombs and famous people’s graves, many combine art and history. Entry is often free, although some cemeteries charge visitors.
Travel app Saily created its Tombstone Tourism Index by examining cemeteries across 30 cities. Its five criteria were famous people buried there, visual appeal, heritage status, the chance to avoid crowds, and transport links from the city centre. Each criterion carried a different weight in the ranking.
Père Lachaise in Paris contains around 70,000 graves, including that of singer Jim Morrison. It is free to enter and lies 15 minutes from the centre. Oslo’s featured cemetery, where playwright Henrik Ibsen is buried, is only 10 minutes from the city centre.
In Edinburgh, Dean Cemetery contains elaborate Victorian monuments and the grave of architect William Playfair. Prague’s Olšany Cemetery offers old tombs and overgrown paths to explore. Writer Franz Kafka is among the famous figures buried there.
London’s Highgate Cemetery generally requires visitors to pay for entry, with exceptions for grave owners and people holding a grave owner’s pass. It contains Karl Marx’s grave and around 950 notable burials. Its Victorian Gothic architecture includes an Egyptian Avenue.
