Plan ahead; Take public transportation to Salem for the final two weekends of October

This October in Salem has been amazing! We are grateful to everyone who has visited the City to celebrate Salem Haunted Happenings. If you’ve been in town this month, you know we have seen extraordinary crowds, and with all of these visitors have come some traffic and parking challenges. Salem is a historic, residential community and our streets and parking lots have exceeded capacity over the past two weekends. Based on parking activity this October, we expect both City garages and the lots downtown to be full by around 10 AM on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the remaining weekends of October.

If you are planning a visit during the final two weekends of October, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of the FREE satellite parking and shuttles being provided by the City of Salem, or take public transportation to get to Salem. The MBTA has added additional trains to the schedule for the final two weekends, and the Salem Ferry is running larger vessels as needed. Masks are required to be worn while riding on public transportation, including the shuttles, MBTA, and Salem Ferry.

Unless you have hotel reservations downtown, please use satellite parking or the MBTA garages in Beverly and Lynn. Trains run until 10:30 PM, and the Beverly garage is an easy taxi or rideshare away if you are staying.

Take advantage of the MBTA’s expanded service to Salem for October 23, 24, 30, and 31. 

Use the satellite parking lot addresses for your GPS:

• Salem High School, 77 Willson Street (accessible bus stop)
• Salem State University O’Keefe Center Lot, 225 Canal Street
• 108 Jefferson Avenue, behind Salem Hospital (accessible bus stop) – Note: only the lot at 108 Jefferson Street is for Haunted Happenings parking. Vehicles parked for the shuttle in other Salem Hospital lots may be towed at owner’s expense.
• Downtown drop location: Riley Plaza, Margin Street

Here are the addresses for the MBTA Garages, you can check their capacity on Twitter at @mbta_parking:

• 252 Bridge Street, Salem
• 325 Broad Street, Lynn
• 100 Rantoul Street, Beverly

If you are coming on Halloween night, note that vehicles will not be able to enter or leave the MBTA garage in Salem between 6 PM – 11:30 PM on Halloween night.

To make the most out of your Salem Haunted Happenings experience, plan ahead. Make reservations and buy tickets where available.  The Salem Witch Museum puts their tickets on sale at midnight daily, Witch House tickets go on sale for the week at 7 PM on Fridays, The House of the Seven Gables requires tickets be purchased online.

Finally, pack your patience and kindness. Respect City guidelines (masks are required indoors), and follow the rules set forth by individual businesses (if they have posted a policy saying they cannot seat parties larger than six, break your group of eight into two tables; if the sign says they’re sold out, don’t ask the staff they’re really sold out.)  We love having a more typical October, and want you to spend your time having fun in Salem, not sitting in traffic or looking for parking!