I'm a Salem witch who's lived in Salem since high school and been a local historian for about 20 years. So many people ask what to do when they visit I decided to make a list to copy and paste because I'm lazy lol! 🤷♀️♥️ (Also please keep in mind there's tons more than this, think of this as a quick guide to get you started)
UPDATED FOR 2021
🎃A Salem Witch's guide to Visiting Salem🎃
- Food - 🥣🍔🍨☕
Cafes - Gulu Gulu, Red Line, and Jaho
Breakfast - Ugly Mug Diner, Red's, Fountain Place, and the Hawthorne Hotel
Best vegetarian options - Life Alive, Passage to India, Paprika Grill (falafel), Jodi Bee's bakery, vegan pizza at Flying Saucer
Seafood - for most fresh and fancy go to Turner's, for laid back go to Lobster Shanty, for ocean views there are three restaurants on Pickering Wharf
Ice cream - Maria's Sweet Somethings, Captain Dusty's, Melt, Goodnight Fatty's (late night cookies with vegan chocolate ice cream!)
Best for fancy dates - The Roof at Hotel Salem, Opus, Ledger, Antique Table
All other restaurants are good too and most have options for all dietary requirements. I'm vegetarian and eat everywhere in town.
- Tours - 🚶🏿♀️🚶🚶♀️🚶🏿♀️🚶🏼🚶🏾♂️👻
Number one rated tour in Salem:
Satanic Salem Walking Tours, check out reviews and get tickets here https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60954-d18925409-Reviews-Satanic_Salem_Walking_Tours-Salem_Massachusetts.html
Want ghosts? - I recommend Spellbound Tours, and Salem Night Tours
Tired? - Salem Trolley is very relaxing and goes outside of the downtown historic district to places some tourists don't see
- Museums - 🏢🏰💀🏫
The Satanic Temple headquarter's Salem Art Gallery for pictures with the famous Baphomet statue
The Salem Witch Museum is the most historically accurate of the witch museums. All of the witch museums were built in the seventies so they are a little cheesy but fun.
The Halloween Museum is cute and nostalgic
The House of Seven Gables is technically the first tourist attraction in the city and tries to offer something more classy and old school
The Witch Board Museum has an amazing collection of Ouija boards
The Burlesque Museum is a new interesting addition to the city
Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery is everyone's favorite monster museum
The Peabody Essex Museum is super fancy and not touristy at all and could take a whole day to go through
The Pirate Museum is my favorite cheesy tourist attraction because of how campy it is. Some people hate it and I'm like lighten up! 🤣
As far as historic sites and homes are considered, if you are a true history nerd and visiting Salem you should already be aware there are tons in the city and get researching which ones you want to visit!! Three websites have good lists for that stuff, the Salem witch Museum, the national Park service, and the Peabody Essex Museum. There's just so much.
If it seems overwhelming you should definitely take some tours.
- Shopping - 🛍️🧹🪄
Best tourist items - Trolley Depot, Salem Wax Museum/Witch Village gift shop, Salem Witch Museum gift shop, Flying Monkey t shirts, Witches Tees
Best witch shops - Enchanted, Hermetic Arts Learning Center, Artemisia Botanicals, Pyramid Books
Best goth/weird/oddities/random shops - Hive and Forge, Die with Your Boots On, Witch City Consignment and Thrift, Bewitched in Salem, Remember Salem
Also in the center of the city is the Army Barracks, an army surplus store full of extremely useful things like last minute rain gear, boots, socks, hand warmers and foot warmers, etc.
- Other random tourist advice -
(This advice applies mostly for October)
-Parking sucks in Salem. It just does. I'm sorry. 😔 The parking meters are easy to pay from the website at least nowadays you don't have to keep running back. When it gets busy private lots price gauge so the two city owned garages are good
-Bathrooms are difficult to find, easiest are at The Visitor's Center
-Don't overplan your trip. Give yourself time to wander.
- Be skeptical and open minded. Read descriptions of things carefully. There aren't many tourist traps in Salem but some things are confusing.
