A Day Trip To Salem, Massachusetts

Salem is one of the best places to travel in the month of October. Due to its history with witch trials it has become quite the tourist destination. It also happens to be home to the Halloween classic, Hocus Pocus. While on a trip to Boston we decided to spend a day in Salem. Here are all the activities we did that day as well as some tips and tricks of getting around.

My Love for Hocus Pocus

Before going to Salem, I didn’t know a lot about the witch trials really other than that is where they occurred. However, I absolutely love Hocus Pocus which is probably the real reason why I was so excited to visit the town.

Me visiting Max's House from Hocus Pocus

My grandma loves to tell the story about the first time my bother and I watched the movie. She bought the VHS tape at Wal-Mart and put it on while she mowed the lawn to keep us occupied. We enjoyed it, until Billy popped out the grave in the cemetery. At that moment my brother and I looked at each other, screamed and ran out the door to find grandma. She thought it was hilarious! Needless to say, we got over that scary part and still enjoyed the movie. Hocus Pocus became a Halloween movie tradition in our house and we watched it multiple times during the season each year.

So, here is one Hocus Pocus fan’s advice on visiting Salem.

Selecting a Date and Time

October is the busiest time of year in Salem. This is why we decided to visit the town on a weekday, assuming the crowds would be more manageable. We were staying in Boston so another thing we needed to take into account was rush hour traffic. We hit the tailend of it by leaving at 9:00 a.m. If you are staying in Boston, I would recommend leaving two hours earlier than you plan to be in Salem. We had an 11:30 a.m. tour and we arrived at 11 a.m., which was perfect.

Parking can be a problem as well. I would try to park in the parking garage that is closest to most of the shops. However, we ended up parking in a random parking lot down the street. I’m sure we could have found better parking but it was busy and we didn’t want to keep looking. Be sure to bring cash, we had to pay $20 to park. The $20 was for 6 hours but if you wanted to have the spot all day then you could pay $30.

Selecting a Salem Tour

I wanted to be sure I saw as much as we could see in the short time we were going to be in Salem. To guarantee this, I thought it would be a good idea to book a historical tour. The walking tours in Salem are reasonably priced. The variety of tours I looked at on TripAdvisor were 1 – 2 hours and usually cost between $15 – $20. I selected this tour that was two hours long and had good reviews, I bought the tickets online two days in advance. There are also a lot of spookier tours at night, but we weren’t planning on staying too long. I’m also a scaredy cat so I wasn’t interested in haunted tours.

Pumpkins in front of the Witch's House — Sweater | Jeans | Boots

Now here I will be honest, I wasn’t completely impressed with the tour I selected, especially after I saw all the great reviews it received. I frankly thought our tour guide struggled to get to the point and lingered on the less interesting things for far too long. I figured I would leave the tour feeling very knowledgeable about the history of Salem and the witch trials but I left feeling like we never really got to the point. Additionally, the tour ended with us going over a half hour longer than it was scheduled. This would be okay if we were all engaged in conversation and people were asking questions, but there was no engagement so this was just poor time management. Rant over.

I would recommend selecting a different tour. If you’re not looking for exercise, maybe check out the trolley tour.

The Top Things to See in Salem

While on the tour we were able to see most of the things I really wanted to see. Here are the main highlights of our day in Salem:

Shops on Essex St.

We started the tour on Essex street which is full of adorably quirky shops. Be sure to spend time looking around this area and buy a souvenir.

Bewitched Statue

At the intersection of Essex and Washington you will run into the Bewitched statue. Be sure a to get a picture with one of America’s favorite witches, Samantha.

Salem Witch Trials Memorial

While it’s fun to joke about the witches and participate in the spooky activities, this memorial is a sobering reminder of the 20 victims of the witch trials. Our tour guide said there really were no witches and the hysteria began after a little girl began having fits and no one could explain why. The are no bodies at the memorial site but the names of the 14 women and six men are displayed there. Many people put flowers on the stones when we were there. The memorial also sits next to the oldest cemetery in Salem, which is closed off to the public in October.

The Town Hall

The town hall is featured on Hocus Pocus. This is where Bette Midler sings “I Put a Spell on You.”

Town Hall in Salem featured in Hocus Pocus

The Hocus Pocus House

This is Allison’s house in the movie and where Dani delivers one of my favorite lines, “Max likes your yabos.”

Allison's house from Hocus Pocus in Salem, MA

The Witch House

This is one of the only homes still standing in Salem that has direct ties to the witch trials. It is now a museum.

Max’s House

I loved the scenes that took place at Max’s house because he had the coolest bedroom. I wanted his bedroom so bad! It turns out that Max’s home is a private residence still, which means someone actually has Max’s bedroom and I’m jealous. This house is not in walking distance from the rest of the sites, but it is only a short drive away.

Where to Eat in Salem

We ate at the Village Tavern after our tour ended and I strongly recommend you check it out. It was a beautiful day so we were able to sit outside, where it is dog friendly. I can confirm that the Bloody Marys are good and the lobster Mac and cheese is great!