No matter what time of the year you visit Salem, MA, a tour of this adorable New England town is a must!
Given its spooky history as the location of the Salem Witch Trials, many tours in Salem, MA focus on witches, ghosts, and other haunted lore.
Keep reading to learn about the best Salem, MA tours for your trip.
Best walking tours in Salem
If you’re more into food or architecture rather than witches and ghosts, check out these fun Salem food tours and other Salem walking tours.
Salem Spirits Trolley
The Salem Spirits Trolley is a fun way to sample your way around various breweries, distilleries, and food shops in Salem.
On this tour, you’ll also learn about the history of the spice trade in Salem.
You’ll make stops at Deacon Giles Distillery, East Regiment Beer Company, Far From the Tree Cider, Notch Brewery, The Cheese Shop of Salem, and Salem Spice for delicious tastings.
As the tour includes alcohol tastings, it is only open to people 21 and over.
Salem Food Tours AM Coffee Walks
On this 1.5 hour tour, you’ll learn about the spice trade in Salem and its current day culinary scene.
The tour also includes free coffee or tea, a snack, and a spice tasting.
Salem Food Tours Afternoon Stroll
If you’re not a morning person, but really want to do a food tour, the Salem Food Tours Afternoon Stroll is a great pick.
On this tour, you’ll learn the same information in the AM Coffee Walk tour. However, the food samples are different.
You’ll taste New England Clam Chowder, cheese, wine, a sweet snack, and a spice.
NOTE: A vegetarian soup is available in place of the chowder if you do not eat clams.
Salem Merchants & Mansions Architecture Tour
If you’re more into architecture, the Salem Merchants & Mansions Architecture Tour is for you.
On this tour, you’ll visit the McIntire District of Salem to see all of the gorgeous mansions and homes of varying styles like Federal, Georgian Colonial, and First Period American.
Best Salem tours for kids
Many of the Salem tours aren’t exactly kid-friendly or some kids might get too scared from the stories – but not the tours from this company!
Salem Kids Tours runs 2 different kid-friendly tours of Salem.
On the Salem Kids Tour, you’ll learn about the history of Salem without any of the spooky ghost stories.
On the Slightly Spooky Tour, ghost stories are included alongside the historical ones.
The tours are usually led by a local middle school social studies teacher, Alicia Diozzi.
Sometimes other local teachers fill in for her – but either way, the tour guides are clearly trained to capture the attention of kids!
Ghost tours
These Salem, MA tours all involve ghost stories and all things dark.
Salem Voodoo, Vampires, and Ghosts
If you want to learn a little bit about all things spooky and paranormal, this Salem ghost tour is for you.
Your tour will include stops involved in the Salem Witch Trials and haunted establishments.
You’ll also learn about local legends involving vampires and voodoo practice!
History & Hauntings of Salem
If you’re not sure you can handle a spooky tour in the dark, the History & Hauntings of Salem offers a choice between daytime and nighttime options.
This tour focuses on ghosts and spooky history, such as the Salem Witch Trials.
It’s mostly family friendly, as well – unless your little ones can’t handle ghost stories!
Candlelit Ghostly Walking Tour
On this Salem ghost tour, you’ll learn about local ghost stories and haunted lore using candlelight to light the way.
The unique aspect with this fun tour is that you’ll also learn about ghost photography and how to detect evidence of ghosts on photographs. How fun!
Salem’s Spooky Spectres
Last, but not least, is Salem’s Spooky Spectres, one of few tours to focus on ghosts and hauntings from murders and other gruesome stories from Salem, MA.
Salem witch tours
Did you even really visit Salem if you didn’t do a Salem witch tour?
Whether you want to learn more about the Salem Witch Trials or modern day witchcraft, you’ll love these Salem, MA tours.
Salem Forest Lore Tour
One of the most unique tours in Salem, MA is the Salem Forest Lore Tour.
This Salem walking tour takes you on an easy 1-mile hike through a wooded area in Salem.
During the Salem Forest Lore Tour, your guide will teach you about being a practicing witch and why nature is so important to their practice.
The Salem Witch Walk
On the Salem Witch Walk, a practicing witch will take you on a tour that blends the history of the Salem Witch Trials and modern day witchcraft.
In addition to the tour, your guide will also lead the tour group in an energy circle for a blessing!
Steps Through 1692
On this quick 45-minute tour, you’ll focus on the Salem Witch Trials.
You’ll learn about its history and see locations around town connected to them.
If you’re in town to learn more about the Salem Witch Trials, this is the Salem, MA tour for you.
Wandering Witches
Wandering Witches is another quick 45 minute tour that focuses solely on past and present day witches.
It is run by the same tour company that runs Steps Through 1692, so you can save money by purchasing a Double Trouble pass or Triple Threat pass.
Which Salem, MA tours are you going to take?
Drop a comment and let me know which tour you ended up booking and if you liked it!
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About the author
Meg Frost is a Boston-based travel blogger that helps people embrace technology to make vacation planning and traveling wicked easy, affordable, and fun.
She holds an M.A. in Journalism from Northeastern University and B.S. in Communication & American Studies from University of Miami.
This post was originally published August 8, 2021. It was last updated November 2, 2022.
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