Golders Green is a very cosmopolitan district. It has had a prominent Jewish community since the 1900s.

The upmarket area boasts top quality restaurants exhibiting cuisines from all over the world, from the obvious choice of Kosher food, restaurants (notably "Bloom's") through to Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Turkish, Korean and Italian eateries. These are complemented with over a dozen coffee bars; a number of niche food stores, including two Japanese, two Iranian and one oriental, exist.

The area is considered an affluent, well-to-do district and is also well known for late night bagels and a growing street cafe culture - by contrast the area does not house pubs in abundance. Dunstan Road synagogue opened in 1922. There are now a number of synagogues and schools in the area, with one of the best schools in the borough of Barnet, Henrietta Barnett school, found in Hampstead Garden Suburb. During the winter festival of Hanukkah a large Chanukia, a nine branch candle holder, is lit each night of the festival's eight days. The Golders Green expanding Orthodox, and particularly Haredi, Jewish community is considered to be one of the most important in the United Kingdom with several yeshivas (seminaries) and prominent rabbis. Golders Green also has a sizeable Japanese population as can be seen by the aforementioned Japanese restaurants, food stores, and estate agents.

Golders Hill Park, adjoining Hampstead Heath, is a beautifully formal park in Golders Green. The site of a large house which burnt down in the 1930s, it has a walled garden, ponds, a water garden and a small children's zoo. The zoo has recently been renovated, and contains many varieties of bird and some animals. The park also contains a cafe, and a renowned ice-cream bar.

During the summer, children's activities are organised and there is often live music on the bandstand. The park is adjoined by The Hill, a formal garden with an extensive and imposing pergola.

Golders Green Crematorium is perhaps the area's most famous feature, an extensive crematorium garden with a range of features such as a special children's section and a pond. Its main buildings are architecturally interesting, having a distinct Italianate air. It is sometimes referred to as the 'celebrity crematorium' because of the high proportion of nationally and internationally renowned public figures to have been cremated there. Famous people whose cremations have taken place there include Anna Pavlova, Stanley Baldwin, Marc Bolan, Neville Chamberlain, Kingsley Amis, T. S. Eliot, Keith Moon, John Inman, Ivor Novello and Sigmund Freud.