Two hilltop villages on opposite sides of the same Heath, forever compared. We weigh up Hampstead and Highgate on attractions, food, atmosphere, property and transport.
They sit on opposite sides of the same Heath, two of the most beautiful and expensive villages in London, forever compared and frequently confused. Hampstead and Highgate share a hilltop geography, a Georgian inheritance, a literary past and a property market that defies gravity — yet they have distinct characters, and visitors (and would-be residents) regularly ask which is the better of the two. The honest answer is that it depends on what you want. Here is how they compare.
The Quick Verdict
Hampstead is larger, busier and more obviously a destination — more shops, more restaurants, more visitors, and the bigger draw in Kenwood House and the bathing ponds. Highgate is quieter, more residential and arguably more village-like, with Highgate Cemetery as its single most famous attraction. If you want a full day out with plenty to do, choose Hampstead. If you want a calmer, more intimate village wander, choose Highgate. Many people, sensibly, do both — they are a Heath's width apart.
Character and Atmosphere
Hampstead wears its fame openly. The high street bustles, the cafés fill, and on a sunny weekend the village and Heath together can feel like the centre of north London. It is sophisticated, slightly self-aware, and rich in independent shops and galleries. Highgate, just over the hill, feels a notch quieter and more inward. Its village centre around Highgate High Street and Pond Square is smaller and more domestic; the pace is gentler, the crowds thinner. Both are unmistakably affluent; the difference is one of volume rather than wealth.
The Heath Connection
Both villages border Hampstead Heath, and the Heath is the great shared asset. From the Hampstead side you reach Parliament Hill, the bathing ponds and the western woods; from the Highgate side you reach the Highgate ponds and, most importantly, Kenwood House, which sits almost exactly between the two villages. You can walk from one to the other across the Heath in around forty minutes — a lovely walk in its own right, through ancient woodland and past the ponds — which is why treating them as rivals slightly misses the point.
Things to Do
Hampstead has the greater concentration of attractions: Kenwood House and its free art collection, Keats House, the Freud Museum, Burgh House, Fenton House, the bathing ponds, the Hill Garden and Pergola, and the Everyman cinema. It is a full day, easily.
Highgate's headline attraction is Highgate Cemetery, one of the most atmospheric Victorian cemeteries in the world and the resting place of Karl Marx, George Eliot and many others. Add Waterlow Park, the seventeenth-century Lauderdale House, and a clutch of excellent old pubs, and Highgate makes a rewarding half-day.
Eating and Drinking
Hampstead has more choice — a deeper bench of restaurants, cafés and gastropubs, from Japanese to Italian to serious coffee, plus the historic Spaniards Inn and Holly Bush. Highgate counters with quality over quantity: a small set of very good pubs (the Flask and the Gatehouse among them) and a handful of well-regarded restaurants. For a food-led day, Hampstead wins on range; for an unhurried village lunch, Highgate is hard to fault.
Living There: Property and Daily Life
Both are among the most expensive postcodes in London, and both attract buyers seeking village life within reach of the centre. Hampstead (NW3) is slightly more cosmopolitan and better served for shops and transport; Highgate (N6) is quieter and, some argue, more genuinely village-like, though its transport is marginally less convenient. Prices in both are eye-watering; the choice usually comes down to temperament — sociable and lively versus calm and discreet. Our honest guide to living in Hampstead goes deeper on the NW3 side.
Transport
Hampstead is on the Northern line (Edgware branch) at one of the deepest stations in London, with Hampstead Heath and Gospel Oak on the Overground nearby. Highgate is also on the Northern line (High Barnet branch), though the station sits at the bottom of the hill, a steep walk below the village centre. For step-free, central-bound journeys both are straightforward; for arriving right in the village, Hampstead has the slight edge.
Comparison at a Glance
- Best for attractions: Hampstead (Kenwood, Keats House, Freud Museum, ponds)
- Best for quiet: Highgate
- Single must-see: Hampstead — Kenwood House; Highgate — Highgate Cemetery
- Eating and drinking: Hampstead for range, Highgate for calm
- Shared asset: Hampstead Heath, between them
- Getting between them: ~40-minute walk across the Heath
So, Which Should You Choose?
If you have one day and want to see as much as possible, base yourself in Hampstead and walk over to Kenwood. If you want a slower, quieter experience — or you have already done Hampstead — Highgate is the perfect counterpoint, with the cemetery as its centrepiece. Better still, combine them: start in one village, walk across the Heath through Kenwood, and finish in the other. It is one of the best urban walks in Britain, and it settles the rivalry by refusing to take sides.
A Little History
Both villages owe their existence to the same thing: height. Perched on the Northern Heights well above the smoke and disease of old London, Hampstead and Highgate became fashionable retreats in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries — places where the wealthy built summer houses and the sick came for clean air and spring water. Hampstead grew up around its chalybeate spa, drawing Georgian society to Well Walk; Highgate developed along the Great North Road as a tollgate village, its name preserved in the Gatehouse pub. Both were swallowed by the expanding city in the nineteenth century but kept their hilltop villages largely intact, which is precisely why they still feel like villages today.
Green Space Beyond the Heath
The Heath is the shared back garden, but each village has more. On the Hampstead side, Golders Hill Park adds a free zoo, formal gardens and a walled garden, while the Hill Garden and Pergola provide one of London's most romantic hidden walks. Highgate answers with Waterlow Park — a steep, characterful Victorian park gifted to the public as "a garden for the gardenless" — and the grounds of Lauderdale House. Between them, the two villages are surrounded by more accessible green space than almost anywhere else in the capital.
Schools, Families and Community
Both villages are magnets for families, with some of London's most sought-after state and independent schools clustered across the two areas, and both sustain the kind of active local community — societies, festivals, residents' associations — that has long since faded from more transient parts of the city. Hampstead's community life is the more visible, played out across a busier high street; Highgate's is quieter and more contained. Families weighing the two often find the decision comes down to that single contrast: lively and outward-facing, or calm and discreet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hampstead or Highgate better?
Neither is objectively better — Hampstead is larger, busier and has more to do (Kenwood House, the ponds, more restaurants), while Highgate is quieter and more village-like, with Highgate Cemetery as its star attraction. Choose Hampstead for a full day out, Highgate for a calmer wander.
Are Hampstead and Highgate close together?
Yes — they sit on opposite sides of Hampstead Heath and are about a forty-minute walk apart across the Heath, passing Kenwood House roughly midway. Both are on the Northern line.
Can you walk from Hampstead to Highgate?
Yes, and it is one of the finest urban walks in London — roughly forty minutes through the ancient woodland and past the ponds of Hampstead Heath, via the grounds of Kenwood House.
Which is more expensive, Hampstead or Highgate?
Both are among the priciest areas in London and broadly comparable. Hampstead is slightly more cosmopolitan and better connected; Highgate is quieter and, to some, more genuinely village-like.
