Touring Salem - Crazy?

4 years ago

My sister and I will be in Boston this weekend and we thought it would be fun to visit Salem. However we are not unaware that Salem 2 weeks before Halloween is likely to be just a smidge busy LOL.

We aren’t sure however if busy in Salem is busy the way we are used to down in South Florida, as in the highways will be completely blocked for hours with cars not moving, followed by not being able to park within several miles of Salem, followed by waiting in line for hours to get in to see anything-for example the witch museum says online needs a ticket for which you must queue up in the am, followed by squeezing through any and all attractions in the company of thousands of people jammed all around you with thousands more pushing behind to get in.

Any locals or Salem visitors feedback much appreciated, since if Salem is like South Beach spring break weekend we will probably skip it. However if Salem crowded doesn’t mean absolutely batsh*t insane, might be worth a try.

Featured Answer

runninginplace
Original Author

4 years ago

Following up to say thanks and let those who advised against visiting Salem know—we took your advice and skipped it.

Instead we spent the weekend in Concord where we had a great time. We took a tour led by a docent from the visitor center to get a sense of the history and area layout; a good tour guide can really get you excited about a place.

Then we toured Minuteman Park and walked to the North Bridge. After that we visited Louisa May Alcott’s and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s houses as well as the Concord Museum. We finished our Concord visit by going to Author’s Ridge in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary to visit the Alcott, Thoreau and Emerson gravesites.

Then we headed to Boston where we walked the Freedom Trail (inspiring), took a duck boat tour (hilarious), had lunch at Legal Seafood (delicious) and visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum (overwhelming) where we ogled not only the collection but the conspicuously empty frames of the paintings stolen in a famous heist (google it, amazing story!).

We leave tomorrow after a fantastic weekend. Much appreciation for the guidance here, our visit was fun and educational and that was very largely due to having such great insider advice from the forum :).

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Comments (7)

oldbat2be
4 years ago

Semi Local here - regularly dine in Salem but avoid it during the month of October.... so I'm not the best judge. What I'd suggest, is calling the places you are thinking about visiting, to get their input. I think parking will be near impossible but... ask! Favorite restaurants are Turners and Finz. You can park and pretty much walk everywhere if this is an option. While in Boston, I highly recommend the Seaport District - so many good restaurants! The Boston Design Center is fun - but only open M-F. NH is only a 30-40 minute drive north and you can be in Kennebunkport in an hour and a half. Hope you have a great time!
Sueb20
4 years ago
Well, I live near Boston too and have never even been tempted to go to Salem in Oct. -- unless you're really, really into Halloween, I can think of so many better ways to spend your time in the area! Newburyport is a quaint town, or Rockport, if you're going north. Portsmouth NH is about an hour from Boston and is a great place to spend a day. Or just spend the weekend strolling around Boston. Plenty to do in the city!
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chispa
4 years ago
Used to live in the Boston area and Salem is a touristy place most of the year, so we used to spend as little time near the Salem downtown as possible. 2 weeks before Halloween on a weekend ... no!
mtnrdredux_gw
4 years ago
I think this would be more fun: https://www.southendhistoricalsociety.org/housetour/

In fact we have been looking in that area for a future pied a terre and we might go ourselves.
Sueb20
4 years ago
Use caution when approaching Boston this weekend -- it's the Head of the Charles regatta!
mtnrdredux_gw
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
So maybe park in an outlying suburb and take the T, Sue? Dropping our youngest in Hartford and planned to come up for the house tour, so we will be coming in from from the West on the Pike.

Thanks in advance for the heads up!

PS Thinking we shd park at the Riverside T station in Newton and take the T to the Pru; then less than a 10 min. walk to our destination on Tremont.