The best cities to spend Halloween among the (very famous) dead

New data: The best places to spend Halloween are free - and everyone's dying to get in

Analysis of 30 cities reveals the world's best destinations for visiting historic cemeteries.

Every October, travelers pay premium prices for manufactured scares - haunted houses, ghost tours, and themed attractions. But a new analysis suggests the most atmospheric Halloween destinations are hiding in plain sight: the world's historic cemeteries, where the art, architecture, and famous residents outclass anything built for the season.

Contrary to popular belief, a cemetery visit does not have to be morbid. A new analysis by the travel eSIM app Saily found that the world's best cemetery destinations are also some of its most beautiful places - monumental sculpture gardens, tree-lined avenues, and the resting places of history's most famous names. The Tombstone Tourism Index ranked 30 cities across five factors: famous residents (25%), visual merit (25%), heritage status (20%), crowd-free experience (15%), and transit access from the city center (15%). And unlike haunted houses, these places stay spectacular long after the pumpkins are gone.

Paris takes the crown, Oslo is the quiet surprise

"Every October, people queue for hours at haunted attractions while walking straight past the real thing - some of the most atmospheric, story-filled places in any city," says Matas Cenys, head of product at Saily. "Historic cemeteries are open-air museums with sculpture and incredible stories, and they don't charge entry. Halloween is a good excuse to discover them, but they're worth visiting any day of the year."

Paris ranked first overall with a score of 74.8, driven by Père Lachaise - home to Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, and Chopin - and the city's density of historic burial grounds that cannot be found nowhere else. Oslo and Edinburgh took second and third place, proving that smaller cities with quieter, equally stunning cemeteries can beat the famous capitals. Prague and London complete the top five.

The cities where history never closes

#1 Paris - Père Lachaise

With 1,445 notable burials, Père Lachaise reads like a roll call of European culture: Chopin, Édith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, Molière, Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt. Jim Morrison's grave still draws pilgrims, Wilde's lipstick-covered tomb has needed a glass barrier. Over 4,500 photos on Wikimedia Commons make it the most documented cemetery on earth, and it's free. At 15 minutes from the city centre, it's easier to reach than most tourist queues.

#2 Oslo - Vår Frelsers gravlund

Ten minutes from the centre, 4.8 stars, and only 123 Google reviews - Oslo's City Cemetery is the index's best-kept secret. The father of modern drama Henrik Ibsen is here, as is Edvard Munch, alongside the painter Christian Krogh and the polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. Four of Norway's defining figures, buried within walking distance of each other, in a landscaped Victorian ground that most visitors to Norway have never heard of.

#3 Edinburgh - Dean Cemetery

The quietest cemetery in the entire index - just 90 Google reviews. Dean is a Category A listed site tucked into the Water of Leith, filled with elaborate Victorian monuments to the people who built modern Edinburgh: architect William Playfair, philosopher Dugald Stewart, portrait painter Henry Raeburn.

#4 Prague - Olšany + Vyšehrad

Prague is the only city in the index with two cemeteries worth making the trip for. Vyšehrad is the Czech national pantheon - Dvořák, Smetana, Mucha, and Karel Čapek rest in its Slavín burial hall, on a clifftop above the Vltava. Olšany is the city's vast, atmospheric main cemetery, where Franz Kafka is buried among crumbling Baroque and Art Nouveau stonework.

#5 London - Highgate

The most atmospheric cemetery in Britain, and the only paid entry in the top 10. Karl Marx draws the crowds to the east side, the west holds George Eliot, Christina Rossetti, and Michael Faraday. The Victorian Gothic architecture - overgrown mausoleums, ivy-draped angels, the Egyptian Avenue - provide an atmosphere like no other. Grade I listed, 950 notable burials, and eternally photogenic.

The quiet alternative award goes to Edinburgh, whose Dean Cemetery has fewer than 100 Google reviews despite sitting steps from the city's busiest street. Other badges from the index include The celebrity neighbourhood (Paris, for the highest concentration of famous residents) and The detour badge (Vienna's Zentralfriedhof - Beethoven, Mozart, and Strauss, one tram ride from the center, and virtually empty).

How to visit respectfully and find who you're looking for

Historic cemeteries are active places of remembrance as well as cultural landmarks - and that's especially worth remembering around Halloween. "The rule of thumb is simple: treat these places as you would a museum that someone else's family also visits," says Cenys. "A little consideration goes a long way and keeps them open and free for everyone."

A few simple steps can make a significant difference:

· Dress and behave as you would at any memorial site. Keep voices low, avoid costumes, picnicking, or posing on graves, and give space to anyone attending a burial or visiting a loved one.

· Check opening hours and rules in advance. Some cemeteries, like Highgate, require tickets or guided tours for certain sections, while others close at sunset - which comes early in late October.

· Make sure you have online maps access. Major cemeteries are notoriously hard to navigate - Père Lachaise alone has 70,000 graves across 44 hectares - and the most useful tools (official cemetery apps, online grave locators, navigation maps) all need a live connection. Install a travel eSIM before departure, so you can pull up a map the moment you arrive, without paying roaming rates.

· Visit outside peak hours. Early mornings and weekdays offer the quietest, most atmospheric experience - and the best light for photography

Methodology

The index ranked 30 cities across five weighted factors: famous residents (25%, based on documented notable burials), visual merit (25%, based on documented photography and artistic designations), heritage status (20%, including protected-site and UNESCO recognition), crowd-free experience (15%, based on review counts as an inverse visitor proxy, snapshot October 2026), and transit access from the city center (15%).

ABOUT SAILY

Saily is an affordable and secure travel eSIM app that helps people to manage mobile and internet connections from anywhere in the world. Saily offers 24/7 instant customer support, flexible plans, and coverage in 200+ destinations. Saily was created by the experts behind NordVPN - the advanced security and privacy app.