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Everything you need to know about Halloween season in Salem
Everything to know about visiting Salem in October, including parking info, the best restaurants, Salem Witch Trials activities, and a full guide to Halloween celebrations.
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 more than 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.
Last year, the festival shattered tourism records, welcoming 87,351 people on Oct. 31 alone. New this year, a drone show over the North River will close out Halloween night at 10 p.m.
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.
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This map of downtown Salem, along with the following recommendations from Ashely Judge, executive director of Destination Salem, will help you plan your adventure this season in Witch City. Visitors can also download the free Destination Salem app with information about parking, traffic, and attraction tickets, and check the city’s recently released top 10 tips for a wicked good visit in Salem.
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.
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“Salem’s train station is right in the heart of downtown, offering easy access to the city,” said Judge. “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 in the 2025 Haunted Happenings guide.
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. Or visitors can share a ride with other visitors by using the Salem Skipper, a ridesharing service in Salem that’s bookable through the mobile app.
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
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The city offers an accessible shuttle bus as well, on Route A with service to and from Salem High School, 108 Jefferson Ave, and Riley Plaza.
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: restaurants, bars & coffee; sweet treats; and breweries & cideries.
“Dining in Salem is as much about the atmosphere as it is about the food and drinks,” Judge said. “Visitors can enjoy rooftop dining, outdoor tables along the wharf, seasonal ciders like the Hocus Pocus series from Far From the Tree, and plenty of sweet treats — from late-night cookies at Goodnight Fatty to donuts at Funhouse. Salem’s culinary scene is thriving, and there’s something for every taste.”
Salem’s dining options range from Turner’s Seafood for classic New England seafood, Witch City Hibachi for interactive Japanese dining, Maitland farm, kitchen, & spirits for farm-fresh seasonal dishes, Sea Level Oyster Bar along the harbor for waterfront meals, and Flying Saucer for creative pizzas, said Judge. 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.
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”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 Candlelit Ghostly Walking Tour, Bewitched Tours, and Salem Food 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. 8 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.”
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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 46th 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.
What are the best things to do in Salem in October with kids?
The 28th Annual Salem Chamber of Commerce Haunted Happenings Grand Parade on Oct. 2 officially kicks off Salem’s Halloween season. The city is expecting more than 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.
At Professor Spindlewink’s World of Wizardry, which 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.
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For those who love pirates, 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 Real Pirates Museum in Salem features the true tale of “Black Sam” Bellamy, described as the richest and one of the youngest pirates of all time, and his love Maria Hallett, known as the “Witch of Wellfleet.”
An educator called The Good Witch of Salem offers programming in October that includes a magical children’s tea party, potion making, a character breakfast, and more.
Finally, the city’s annual Kids’ Fun Fest returns on Oct. 18–19 and Oct. 25-26 and brings slides, rides, games, and more to the Salem Common.
Check out more family-friendly events happening in Salem in October.
Tell us: Is Salem worth a visit this fall?
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