Careful the spell you cast, not just on children / Sometimes the spell may last past what you can see, and turn against you.

Witch from “Into the Woods”

Salem, Massachusetts might be the most well-known Halloween destination in the USA. It’s touted for its spooky vibes, witchy history, haunted buildings, and for having a TON of Halloween events throughout the entire month of October.

I’ve wanted to visit Salem around Halloween for years, but this year we made that a reality. It was definitely a trip to remember in both good and bad ways. There’s a ton I wish I knew before we went and a lot we learned while we were there. Our trip was a very bittersweet experience, so I wanted to share my honest review.

The Planning Process

If you’re going to spend any time in Salem in October, start planning a year early. Yes, I said a YEAR. I booked our trip in May for the second weekend in October, and let me tell you finding a hotel was HARD. Granted, we did have a budget and were traveling with our dogs so that made the search harder, but it still was hard to find available rooms.

We typically like to use AirBnb or Vrbo for trips like these since we can settle into a space and be outside of the hustle and bustle of a city, especially if we know it’ll be crowded. All of them that were under $300 a night were fully booked and even then it was slim pickings. From what I can tell, most people start planning their trip for the next year right after Halloween, so it fills up quickly. The haunted buildings and hotels in town are sometimes booked years in advance.

We stayed 30 minutes away in Woburn at a Red Roof Inn and had a good experience there. We also planned on going to Boston so we needed a central location. Despite the ordeal, our trip was booked and all was well!

Getting There & Parking

Our drive up was also an interesting experience and we blame Google Maps. For some weird reason, it was convinced that taking us right by Philadelphia, near Manhattan, and then through Harlem and Yonkers AT MORNING RUSH HOUR was the fastest way for us to get to Massachusetts. I can confirm this is 100% not the case and to avoid this route at all costs.

With NYC in our rearview after spending an hour in traffic, it was mostly smooth sailing all the way to our hotel. Phew! We didn’t have any plans that day except to relax and find dinner. There were only chain restaurants by the hotel, so we found a dog friendly brewery/restaurant in Cambridge (Cambridge Brewing Co.) and had a blast there.

We researched ahead of time for the next day and found a few parking areas and breakfast options. More on that below!

How We Spent Our Day

We got up nice and early and were on the road by 7:30. Our goal was to beat traffic and find a good breakfast spot before the crowds came in. Let me tell you, that is absolutely the way to go. We parked in the garage attached to the mall which had tons of parking. Full disclosure, it cost $40 but for the entire day, so not too bad.

We ended up eating at the first dog-friendly breakfast spot we came across, Fountain Place Restaurant. We sat outside with the dogs and had a good time people watching as more and more people ventured out for breakfast. We had a great view of the main square, so all in all it was a good place to start our day.

After that, we decided to wander for a bit before we went to all of the witchy places and landmarks. I’m so glad we did this because we found the coolest market. We had no idea but we came the weekend of a Halloween-themed art market that was spread out around the entire art district. Our favorite stand was Pickled Punks who had the best and most imaginative artwork out of everyone. We got 8 prints from them, 2 for presents, and 6 to hang in our house. That’s how much we loved it.

We spent quite a while exploring the art district and decided we should start looking for the witchy attractions before it got more crowded. We came out of the side streets and the crowds had tripled in the space of an hour. It was crowded, but still manageable. Here’s where we went!

• Bewitched Statue
• The Witch House (home of Judge Corwin and one of the few structures still standing associated directly with the trials)
• First Church (meetinghouse was involved in the Salem witch trials)
• House from Hocus Pocus
• Charter Street Cemetery

All of these were super close together so it was a nice loop to walk around and see everything. You can go inside a lot of the places, but we were content with staying outside and exploring from the sidewalk.

Salem is notorious for its Halloween events and the one we were most excited for was the Pet Costume Parade. We walked down to the wharf where everyone was gathering and waited for it to get started. It was an hour late getting started, but it was still fun to listen to everything, see all of the costumes and just hang out by the water. There were so many cute costumes and we had a blast seeing the pets all dressed up. There were more than just dogs! Ducks, rabbits, cats, and more entered the parade!

We decided to walk back into town and find a lunch spot and wound up at the Brothers Taverna. The second we left we realized the crowds were absolutely nuts. Like can barely move without touching someone else crowded. Luckily, no one stepped on the dogs, but it was a struggle to find a path forward. We ended up walking on some side streets to get to a brewery and get away from the hordes of people. Notch Brewing was a great place to get away from the masses since it was off the beaten path. They also had a really nice beer garden that’s dog friendly.

We had a few hours left before our scheduled ghost tour and hoped we could explore some of the shops. We managed to see some live music and visit a chocolate shop before we needed another break. All of the shops had lines dozens of people long waiting to get inside. Every single shop. We saw a sign for a craft fair and thought why not? Went out there and looked at the local vendors, but it wasn’t anything unique like the art market we saw that morning.

After walking around for a bit, seeing all the sights we wanted to see, and realizing we wouldn’t be able to go into any of the stores, we decided dinner was our best option with a pit stop at a brewery along the way. We got on the waitlist for one place and after an hour of waiting, they told us they messed up and didn’t put the note in that we had dogs so it would be another hour… Nope. We walked until we found a really good looking Greek place and got takeout.

At this point, I was livid. Some kid kept popping balloons near my dog and ended up being near us even when we moved away. Atlas was shaking he was so scared, so we took our food and sat in the car for 2 hours to calm him down and give the pups a chance to rest without anyone around.

Ghost Tour

The dogs were rested, back to being happy, and it was time to walk to the ghost tour meeting spot! We booked through Black Cat Tours and it was one of the things we didn’t have to book super far in advance which was great. They have a bunch of different tours and times to choose from and all of them looked really fun.

Our guide was SO into ghosts and really knowledgeable about the creepy (and not so creepy) history of Salem. It was half history and half ghost stories and I loved it. My only wish was that it was easier to hear our guide. A lot of the stops were in the busiest parts of the town and unless you were right next to him, it was hard to fully hear what we was saying. I managed to be near the front for most of it, so I got a lot of information and I’m thankful for that!

Thoughts On Food, Public Restrooms, Prices, Shops, Crowds, and Walkability

In my head, Salem was on another level of amazing. It was so hyped up in my head and from stories friends had told me. In reality, it was a bit of a let down and ended up being a really stressful day for the most part with amazing moments sprinkled in.

Food is one of my favorite parts of vacation, but Salem is not known for its food and that’s okay. Your dining experiences in Salem itself are much more focused on speed and cycling through customer as quickly as possible. With 100,000- 350,000 people visiting each weekend in October, I can see why that is their method. It was just a bit of a let down that almost everything we ate was pretty mediocre.

Public restrooms are a major issue in Salem as is toilet paper availability. There were several side streets lined with port-a-potties which they kept decently clean. Their public restrooms were gross. The one in the art district was fine but the wait was about 10 minutes. The one in the mall was absolutely disgusting and the wait was 25 minutes. Bring your town toilet paper to shove in a pocket, purse, etc. That way you can make sure you’re taken care of if you need a restroom outside of a restaurant.

It being a tourist town, I was expecting higher prices and definitely got them. For example, a mini muffin cost $5, parking was $40, and food was about $20 for a smaller plate. The walking tours were $25 and those were definitely decently priced and worth it. Other than that, we avoided spending money unless we had to with food.

We didn’t get to go inside one Halloween shop or boutique except the chocolate store and the pet supply store. The lines were just too long. They shops didn’t open until around 10AM which is right when the town gets packed. We didn’t want to wait 30 minutes to go inside a shop that was already packed. Plus, from the window shopping we did before the crowds descended, nothing in the shops was super unique. It was stuff we could get at Home Goods or Target. We were hoping there were some really neat locally run artist filled places that had unique Halloween items, but there really weren’t any and it was disappointing.

Crowds aren’t usually a problem for me. I’ve been to places like Paris, DC, London, and Philly during peak tourist season and it was never too bad. Unfortunately, Salem is so small there’s nowhere for everyone to go. Everyone gets in around 10AM and it’s, for lack of a better word, chaos until after the ghost tours are finished. It would make sense if the phrase packed in like a can of sardines was invented here by someone who visited in October. We really started getting stressed out as the day went on, even my boyfriend whose social battery is much stronger than mine. If we ever went again, or if I was asked when someone should visit, I’d say go any other time but October. Nothing about the town changes, except for the crowds at other times of the year.

My toxic trait is always being positive, so I’m going to end on a positive note! Salem is one of the most walkable towns we’ve been to. It’s a tiny town with lots of streets to explore and there’s even a waterfront area. Most of the witch-related attractions are near each other, so it makes it easy to plan a loop to see everything.

It’s such a weird experience to walk away from a vacation without a sense of wonder and euphoria. I always make the most of every situation and this trip was no different. It put us both in a funk to walk away from Salem feeling disappointed. We’re both happy we went, but it was not what we were expecting. Luckily, our next day (and last day of vacation) was incredible. As it turned out, Boston was the part of the trip we both ended up loving the most. That’s for another week though, so keep checking back!