Everything you need to know about Halloween season in Salem

If you’re looking for a festive, seasonally appropriate day trip this month, you’d be hard-pressed to find a New England destination that celebrates Halloween as thoroughly as Salem.

Located 16 miles north of Boston, Salem welcomes 1 million tourists during October for its month-long Haunted Happenings. The festival, which began in 1982, is billed as the largest celebration of Halloween in the world. 

Salem was named among the best Halloween events in the U.S. by TripsToDiscover.com and among the best places to travel worldwide in October by Conde Nast Traveler.

This map of downtown Salem, along with the following recommendations, will help you plan your adventure in Witch City. Visitors can also download the free Destination Salem app with information about parking, traffic, attraction tickets, and more.

Driving and parking info for Salem in October

When we asked Salem residents for their top tips for visitors coming to Salem in October, the most popular tip was to take public transportation.

Guests can take the MBTA commuter rail from North Station in Boston or stops north of Salem on the Newburyport/Rockport lines. 

“Salem’s train station is right in the heart of downtown, offering easy access to the city,” said Ashley Judge, executive director of Destination Salem. “Once you arrive, nearly everything is just a short walk away.”

Guests can also arrive by a ferry, which runs between Boston’s Long Wharf and Blaney Street in Salem. Visitors can get information about the train and ferry on the Haunted Happenings website.

For those who’d rather not walk, guests can rent bicycles from the BlueBikes program, which has pick-up stations across the street from the commuter rail and the Salem ferry.

For those driving, the City of Salem provides free satellite parking at three parking lots, and shuttle buses run all day between the lots and Riley Plaza downtown between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. every October weekend, including on Indigenous Peoples Day. The three lots offer more than 1,300 free parking spaces, according to the city.

The satellite parking lots are:

— Salem State University’s O’Keefe Center parking lot at 225 Canal St.
— Salem High School at 77 Willson St.
— 108 Jefferson Ave. behind Salem Hospital 

There is an accessible shuttle bus as well, according to the city.

Visitors should note that cars parked in other hospital lots instead of the designated lot at 108 Jefferson St. may be towed at the owner’s expense, the city noted.

Find out about road closures in Salem this season.

What are the best restaurants in Salem?

Guests can browse a list of Salem restaurants on the Haunted Happenings website, broken up into three categories: delis, pizza, and sandwiches; restaurants and bars; and sweets and treats.

“For a dining and drinking experience that’s as much about the atmosphere as it is about the food and drinks, I highly recommend Jolie Tea, Witch City Hibachi, Far From the Tree, and The Roof,” Judge said. “I could go on and on, as Salem offers such a fantastic culinary scene!”

The Roof, which has a full bar and an outdoor kitchen serving tacos, rice bowls, and oysters, is Salem’s only restaurant with rooftop dining.

Other restaurants worth checking out, Judge said, include the Flying Saucer for pizza, Bella Verona for “old-school Italian,” Turner’s Seafood for classic seafood, Howling Wolf Taqueria for Mexican food, and Sea Level Oyster Bar along the harbor.

​​”The best advice for dining out in Salem during October is to expect a wait for seated service,” Judge said. “With our thriving culinary scene, longer wait times are common. If you’re aiming for a sit-down meal, it’s smart to plan ahead and make reservations when possible.”

What are the best things to do in Salem for a day trip?

A walking tour of Salem is a great way to cover a lot of ground in a single day, experts say.

The city’s Haunted Happenings website highlights dozens of different tours, including Witches and Seafarers, a Candlelit Ghostly Walking Tour, and Bewitched Tours.  

Earlier this year, Salem’s History & Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking Tour by Witch City Walking Tours ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 2 in the world for best cultural and historical tours by Needham-based travel website Tripadvisor. Participants meet at Salem’s Old Town Hall for the tours, which run daily. 

“What we love about this tour is that it’s a little bit of everything of Salem’s history and the Salem experience,” Beth Crowley, owner and guide, told Boston.com. “A lot of tours will focus on just the witch trials or just ghost stories. We combine so our travelers will learn about our maritime history. They’ll also do a deep dive into the Salem witch trials of 1692. We’ll also expose them to three centuries of beautiful architecture as well. And, of course, we throw in the spooky ghost stories.”

The Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center is where guests can learn the history of the Charter Street Historic District and the cemetery. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and reservations are required during the month of October. A cemetery map directs guests to significant graves and explains the gravestone art.

Which Salem witch trial destination should I visit?

For visitors eager to learn more about the Salem witch trials, there are plenty of options across the city.

Visitors can check out The Witch House, a home purchased in 1675 by Jonathan Corwin, a judge in the Salem Witch Trials who lived there for 40 years.

At the Salem Witch Museum, located inside a renovated historic church building, guests encounter two presentations about the Salem witch trials of 1692. During the first, visitors are transported to 1692 through 13 life-size stage sets depicting the Salem witch hunt. During the second, the exhibit “Witches: Evolving Perceptions,” guests learn about the European witch trials and the background of the Salem witch trials, as well as the meaning behind the word “witch.” 

The Witch Dungeon Museum, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary, features a live reenactment of one of the trials, and visitors can tour a replica dungeon. Visitors can also tour the Salem Wax Museum, Salem’s original wax museum for more than 30 years that depicts Salem’s history from seafarers to the witch trials. At the Witch History Museum, the stories of 1692 are portrayed during a live presentation and guided tour featuring 15 life-size scenes.

It’s also worth checking out a new exhibit at Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) called “Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums,” Judge said.

“Explore the essential role art and objects played for mediums and magicians ‘communicating’ with the dead during the 19th- and 20th-century Spiritualism movement in the U.S. and Europe — a time when people actively debated and wondered, ‘can spirits return?’ PEM officials wrote on the museum’s website. “See paintings, posters, photographs, stage apparatuses, costumes, film, publications and other objects that will transport visitors to the age of Harry Houdini, Margery the Medium, Howard Thurston, and the Fox Sisters, among others.”

The exhibit, which opened Sept. 14, is on display through Feb. 2, 2025.

What are the best things to do in Salem in October with kids?

The Salem Chamber of Commerce Haunted Happenings Grand Parade on Oct. 3 officially kicks off Salem’s Halloween season. The city is expecting 15,000 spectators for “a night full of color, pageantry, music, and the enthusiasm of thousands of Salem’s students from kindergarten to college plus many local business owners.” The parade starts at Shetland Park, continues through downtown, and ends at Salem Common. 

Professor Spindlewink’s World of Wizardry, a new children’s attraction that debuted last year, is set up like an interactive museum. Kids can “journey to magic realms and discover an enchanted forest, a crystal cave, a room of fantastic beasts and even an ice dragon,” according to the event website.

The New England Pirate Museum features a guided tour where visitors of all ages learn about New England’s sea-robbers at a re-created dockside village and pirate ship.

The Good Witch of Salem is an educator whose programming in October includes a magical children’s tea party, potion making, broom and hat decorating, a character breakfast, and a costume ball.

The city’s annual Kids’ Fun Fest returns on Oct. 19 and brings slides, rides, games, and more to the Salem Common.

Check out more family-friendly events happening in Salem in October.