Highgate: Historic Cemetery Arboretum on a Wooded 1839 Hill

Highgate Cemetery sits on Swain's Lane, London N6 6PJ, and from 1 November it is open 10am to 4pm every day, with last entry at 3.30pm. It opened in 1839, and today it is the most dramatic historic cemetery arboretum in London: sinuous paths climb a steep wooded hill between ivy-clad monuments. One admission ticket covers both the East and West sides for the whole day, so you can cross Swain's Lane and keep exploring.

Highgate opened in 1839 as one of the private cemeteries built to relieve London's overflowing churchyards, and it was laid out as a landscaped garden on the slope below Highgate village. By the 1970s it had gone into decline, with the company that ran it unable to pay for upkeep, and the trees moved in. A charity, the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust, rescued it, and it still owns and runs the cemetery today.

That period of neglect is what makes Highgate feel like a wood today. Self-sown trees grew up between the graves, and the cemetery now describes itself as a haven for life. Beyond the obvious plants and trees, its own nature notes point to hoverflies, butterflies and even rare cave spiders living in the old vaults. The result is a funerary landscape where the canopy matters as much as the stone, especially in late October.

The West Cemetery holds the set pieces that made Highgate famous: the Egyptian Avenue, with its columned gateway cut into the hill, and the sunken ring of catacomb vaults known as the Circle of Lebanon. It is steeper and more enclosed, and the paths twist between catacombs. Because it is the more fragile side, the cemetery recommends a guided tour here if you have not been before, and tours sell out well ahead.

The East Cemetery is easier to wander on your own. Its paths are broader, the slope is gentler, and the headstones run right up against the trees on both sides. This is where Karl Marx is buried, under a large bronze bust, and where you will find dozens of writers, artists and campaigners from the last two centuries. Carry a map and work along the main path before turning into the narrower lanes.

Highgate sells admission tickets, guided tours and event places through one online booking system, and tour dates are released four weeks in advance. Tour tickets are not refundable or transferable, so pick a date carefully. Private group tours cost £18 for adults, £9 for children aged 8 to 17 and £9.50 for students, with a minimum fee based on 10 people, paid in advance. They are weekday-only and need at least two weeks' notice.

The cemetery is honest about why it charges. Its visitor answers note that it may surprise you to pay to enter a cemetery, but conservation work is funded by visitors, members and a large volunteer team. Mourners do not pay to visit a grave; grave owners can issue free passes. Self-guided groups of 10 or more must book at least two weeks ahead, and Blue Badge parking needs two working days' notice.

Highgate is still an active burial ground, and staff ask visitors to behave in a quiet and orderly manner. You may pass a funeral on the East side, so keep your distance and lower your camera. Photography is allowed for personal use only, and tripods are fine on your own but not on tours. Filming, posed shoots and photographing funerals or graves for publication all need a permit requested two weeks ahead.

Only trained assistance dogs registered with ADI, ADUK or IGDF are admitted, wearing a tabard or harness, and there is no toileting area, so leave other pets at home. The regulars here are a mix of grave owners carrying flowers, volunteer guides who know every path, and literary visitors hunting for one name. Ask staff at the gate for directions to a grave rather than wandering off-path to look for it.

Skip Highgate on a Saturday afternoon if you dislike crowds; the East side paths near Marx's tomb get busy, and the slope makes it hard to step aside. Come at 10am on a weekday instead, when the light is low and the hill is quiet. If West side tours have sold out, do not give up the trip: the East side alone fills a slow two hours, and the wooded views are just as good.

For a free alternative on the same afternoon, walk into Waterlow Park, whose gate is a few steps up Swain's Lane. Its terraced lawns and ponds look down over the cemetery treetops towards the City skyline, and Lauderdale House at the top of the park has a café. If you would rather keep to wild woodland and pay nothing, Abney Park in Stoke Newington is the free Victorian alternative.

There is no visitor parking, and the cemetery encourages you to leave the car at home. Street parking is restricted from 10am to noon on weekdays, but free after that and at weekends. Archway station on the Northern line is the usual approach: walk uphill through Waterlow Park and down Swain's Lane to the gates. Highgate village, with its pubs and bookshops, is a short climb up from the top of the park.

Address: Highgate Cemetery, Swain's Lane, London N6 6PJ. Opening hours from 1 November: 10am to 4pm daily, last entry 3.30pm. The cemetery closes on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. One ticket covers the East and West sides for the full day. Tour dates open four weeks ahead, and the cemetery recommends a tour for first visits.

Wear grippy shoes, as the West side paths are steep, uneven and slick with leaves through November. Bring a printed or downloaded map, since signal fades under the trees. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP to plan a morning that pairs a Highgate Cemetery tour with lunch in Highgate village and a walk back through Waterlow Park.