23 Beautiful Cemeteries To Visit Before You Die

Cemeteries might be scary, creepy, terrifying and so much more. But can they be beautiful?

Well, these ones certainly are.

Take a look at 20 of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world!

1. Friedhof Lauterbrunnen Cemetery

Lauterbrunnen village is nestled between rock valleys that are glorious in itself. The beautiful bungalow houses and green fields and snow dusted mountains make it a place with the most scenic views plus, it has a graveyard like no other! The Friedhof Lauterbrunnen Cemetery can between found near a 1,638 feet waterfall – the highest waterfall in all of  Switzerland, Mürrenbach Falls. Surrounded by all of nature’s beauty!

2. Fuji Cemetery

The Fuji cemetery is paved with 8,000 cherry blossom trees that it is included on Japan’s Top 100 Cherry Blossom spots. It is a popular spot for tourists and honestly, I am not surprised! Look up the images in Google, it’s absolutely gorgeous!

3. Sunken Cemetery

One of the most interesting cemeteries in this list can be found in Camiguin Island, Philippines. A lot of tourists have visited this spot to snorkel as it is home to abundant marine life.

Camiguin island is home to 7 volcanoes, In 1871, Mount Vulcan Daan erupted and the town, this community cemetery along with their church other got hit pretty bad. That eruption was considered as the most destructive one, followed by another eruption in 1948 and then in 1953, sinking parts of the island to 20 feet deep.

A huge cross was put up to mark where the underwater graveyard is located which is a popular tourist spot in the island. You can take photos with the huge cross from the shore. You can also ride a bangka to get to the cross up close, or you can snorkel to get a better view of the tombstones, the old graveyard’s wooden cross, statues that are now home to schools of fish, clams, corals and many others. It is a beautiful sight to behold!

4. Peksowy Brzyzek National Cemetery, Zakopane, Poland

You don’t often hear people describe cemeteries as ‘charming’ or ‘quirky’ but this one fulfills both descriptors. Although it’s still a sad (aren’t they all?), this one borrows from the style of the villages around it, which use a lot of wooden beams and logs. Surrounded by forests, the grave markers are more of a bird house than anything else, giving the entire space a wood nymph feel.

5. Waverly Cemetery, Sydney, Australia

Opened in 1877, the Waverly Cemetery offers views that many would kill for. It’s located close to the ocean, and from many spots within the place you can enjoy wonderful views of the sea. The resting place of 86,000 people, this place is so gorgeous it has been featured in films, and contains the graves of many famed Australians.

6. Chapel Of Bones, Portugal

Again, not really a traditional graveyard, but this chapel is definitely full of bones. There are several thousand bodies embedded in the wall of this creepy chapel, which still manages to look stunning in a Gothic way. Oh, and did we mention the skeletons hanging from the wall? There are two, and one of them is a little child.

7. Kalaupapa National Historic Park, Molokai, Hawaii

Certainly one of the most beautiful and out of the way locations in the world, this is a cemetery like no other. It was once a part of the island’s leper colony, a place built in the mid-19th century to stop the disease in Hawaii. Around it are some of the world’s tallest sea cliff, and you’ll need a boat, a plane, or a donkey to get there.

8. La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Located in a neighbourhood of the same name, the La Recoleta Cemetery contains a whopping 4,500 vaults all of which are above ground. This style looks more like a little town than a graveyard, particularly as many of the vaults are ornate and highly decorative. Creepy, but lovely.

9. Capuchin Catacombs, Palermo, Italy

When it comes to mummifying people and hanging them out of walls, there aren’t too many places where it’s creepier and more stunning than the Capuchin Catacombs. Named like the monkey, but without the barrel of laughs, the catacombs contain 8,000 mummified bodies organised in an artful way.

10. Highgate Cemetery, London, England

Highgate Cemetery is a burial place considered to have some of the finest funeral architectures in the country. A mix between park and grave site, you’ll find graves as far back as the Victorian era, and as late as WWII. There’s lots of winding paths, mossy rocks, and overgrown adventures awaiting.

11. Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia

This cemetery was constructed on the site of an old plantation located on a bluff along the Wilmington River. It became quite well known when in 1994. It was featured on the cover of a novel that became a film. With lots of oak trees and gorgeous surrounds, it’s got creepy charm.

12. Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague

This gorgeous graveyard takes the cake for creepy as well thanks to the sheer number of layers present in the ground. Layers? Yes you read that right, there’s thought to be 12 layers of graves which has been used since the 15th century. Graves can’t be destroyed, and the tombstones can’t be removed, leading some 12,000 of them of various ages.

13. Lone Fir Cemetery, Portland, Oregon

The Lone Fir Cemetery was established in 1855 and is now home to more than 25,000 burial grounds. It’s famed as a place of rest, but it’s also Portland’s second largest arboretum with 500 trees of more than 67 species. It was named after a single tree that still stands in the corner of the graveyards.

14. Punta Arenas Cemetery, Punta Arenas, Chile

The Punta Arenas Cemetery in Chile is a really lovely spot, considering it’s a graveyard. There are lovely gardens and the graves and materials make the area stunning. It’s well known thanks to Sara Braun, a wealthy woman who donated money for the entrance to the graveyard. She requested that after her death, the central door remain closed forever, which it has.

15. Père-Lachaise, Paris, France

Another eerily beautiful Parisian graveyard is the Père-Lachaise, the largest within the bounds of the city. It’s known for being the first garden cemetery, as well as the first municipal cemetery. With gorgeous winding paths and oddly beautiful tombs, as well as the graves of famous faces like Jim Morrison, it’s a popular spot.

16. Cemeterio General, Santiago, Chile

Home to more than 2 million bodies, the Cementerio General is the largest graveyard in the entire continent of South America. You’ll find all manner of people inside, from commoners to presidents, and it’s an amazing place to wander.

17. Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York

A National Historic Landmark and one of the largest cemeteries in New York City, the Woodlawn Cemetery was first opened in 1863. It is the resting place of a number of famed American greats, as well as a gorgeous setting. This is often described as having the character of a rural graveyard despite being home to more than 300,000 people.

18. Aoyama Cemetery

Japan’s first public and Tokyo’s only graveyard for foreigners, the Aoyama Cemetery is also famed for something else: Cherry trees. Every year, when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, the place is filled with life, and many people come to visit and walk among the graves of Tokyo’s famous faces.

19. Mount of Olives, Jerusalem

A sacred and important place for Jewish people the world over, the Mount of Olives is also a graveyard that has been in use for more than 3,000 years. Around 150,000 people have been buried on the mount, so named because of the olive trees that once grew there. In several key events in Jewish philosophy, and in writings, it is described as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven.

20. Merry Cemetery, Sapanta, Romania

There aren’t too many cemeteries in the world that can be described as merry, and this one in Sapanta, Romania fits the bill. The graveyard is famed for its colourful tombstones that simply illustrate the person buried there, as well as scenes from their lives, poems and funny anecdotes of their lives.

21. Cavtat Cemetery, Croatia

Cemeteries don’t tend to prioritise having amazing views, but this one does. The Cavtat Cemetery in Croatia looks out over the Adriatic and southern Croatian coastline, with resort views. The creepy part, to us anyway, is the use of stunning white brac limestone, which tricks the eyes into see ghosts!

22. Catacombs, Paris, France

There’s something poetic and artistic about the layout of the Catacombs in Paris, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t creepy. After all, when around 6 million bodies are your medium, it’s hard not to be scared silly. This unusual graveyard is a 200-mile-long network of pathways underneath Paris, filled with skeletons of the ages.

23. Lone Tree Cemetery, Telluride, Colorado

The Lone Tree Cemetery balances out gorgeous and creepy in a new way. The hillside spot offers gorgeous views of the Bridal Veil Falls and Bear Creek Preserve, while being filled with the graves of babies and children who died from influenza outbreaks back in the day.

Have you visited these cemeteries? Or would you visit them?