Places to see in London Highgate
Highgate Attractions
While we’re supposed to give you one must do activity that’s on the secret side of things, occasionally there are popular attractions that are just too special to pass over.
Recommended Attraction in Highgate
One of these is the Highgate Cemetery walk. As well as being notoriously haunted, the Highgate Cemetery is a stunning feat of opulent architecture and haunting atmosphere. Get there via Swain’s Lane and enter under the daunting gate for the most ethereal of experiences you could possibly have in London. The huge array of headstones, sepulchres, gravestones, tributes, memorials and vaults will have you taking a pensive look through history (if you go with a friend, it’s fun to try and find the most famous, or the oldest, grave). Nature-lovers must go with a keen eye for some of the unique and varied wildlife that makes this haunted place its home.
Highgate Attractions List
From Highgate Cemetery to Hampstead Heath, you’ll find it all within easy reach of Highgate. You only have to take a quick look at the itinerary below to get a flavour of what there is to see and do. Just make sure you use our Highgate hotel booking service to book an affordable place to stay.
Highgate Wood is an extensive ancient woodland with such important historical and ecological significance that it was designated as a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in 1990. It’s one of only eight Green Heritage Sites in London, with a variety of wildlife habitats for you to explore. You may be lucky enough to see the rare Wild Service Tree here. This gorgeous rural retreat is a great place for you to come and relax in its large open spaces, cafe, cricket pitch and playground.
Address: Muswell Hill Road, London N10 3JN
Phone: 07786 538932
This is the impressive Emirates Stadium, home to Premier League football club, Arsenal. While you’re here, why not get a tour of the ground and the museum? Definitely a must for football fans.
North of Highgate you’ll also find beautiful Alexandra Park and within this is the impressive Alexandra Palace. Few tourist attractions can boast the chequered past of Alexandra Palace, which has been burnt down twice in its 125-year history.
Address: Alexandra Palace Way, London, N22 7AY
Phone: 020 8365 2121
This is Lauderdale House. It was built in 1582 for Sir Richard Martin, the three times Lord Mayor of London. Lauderdale House is now an arts and education centre based in the beautiful Waterlow Park. There’s an extensive programme of performances, workshops, outreach projects and exhibitions on offer here.
Address: waterlow park, Highgate Hill, Greater London N6 5HG
Phone: 020 8348 8716
Highgate High Street has a lovely selection of shops, boutiques, cafés and restaurants so it’s well worth a trip here. There are some traditional old-fashioned pubs for you to try too.
Address: Highgate High St, London N6 5HX
It’s definitely worth stopping here for a drink! The Gatehouse is probably the oldest pub in Highgate. Its nineteenth century owners claimed that there had been a licensed building on the site since 1337!
Address: The Gatehouse, London N6 4BD
Phone: 020 8340 3488
Highgate Cemetery might not sound like an obvious attraction, but you have to come here to make the most of amazing views of London, see imposing mausoleums and visit Karl Marx's tomb. This Grade II listed park offers you a romantic, rambling, rustic retreat from everyday life, so it’s well worth taking a guided tour here. Some 50 species of bird and 18 of butterfly have been spotted here, as well as 3 species of spiders that are rarely spotted in the UK.
Address: Swain's Lane, London N6 6PJ
Phone: 020 8340 1834
This is the vast and beautiful expanse of Hampstead Heath. The imposing house you’ll find here is Kenwood House - a stately home formerly owned by the Guinness family before being left to the nation. The house boasts a superb art collection including works by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Gainsborough and Reynolds and landscaped gardens, where lakeside concerts are held during the summer. You’ll find a café here but why not stop for a picnic in the beautiful grounds?
Address: Hampstead Lane,London NW3 7JR
Phone: 020 8348 1286
This is Ivy House and the life of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova is commemorated in the Anna Pavlova Memorial Museum here. Admission is free to the museum.
At number 20 Maresfield Gardens, Sigmund Freud's couch is one of the exhibits on display. It was his wartime refuge and Freud lived here until his death, after which his daughter Anna kept it as an undisturbed shrine. It became a museum in 1986.
Address: 20 Maresfield Gardens, London NW3 5SX
Phone: 020 7435 2002
Some of the Romantic poet John Keats' greatest odes were written here at Keats House. Although he spent just two years of his life here, the house contains displays of his letters, manuscripts, books and furniture. The garden has a plum tree planted on the site where Keats heard the songbird and wrote Ode to a Nightingale. He also wrote lots of passionate letters to his fiancée, Fanny Brawne, which is surprising because she lived just next door!
Address: 10 Keats Grove, Hampstead, London NW3 2RR
Phone: 020 7332 3868
No visit to Highgate would be complete without seeing this Grade I listed development called Highpoint. Highpoint I was built in 1933-1935 and Highpoint II in 1936-1938. The penthouse in Highpoint II is apparently the highest apartment in London! These beautiful Art Deco buildings by the architect Bertholid Lubetkin include landscaped communal gardens with tennis courts and an outdoor swimming pool. Highpoint makes a truly bold modernist statement at the highest point in London.
Address: London Borough of Haringey, London N6
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