Salem Ghost Tour/on screen
Two listings in Salem sell the film locations, and they are not close: the one to book is the The Official Hocus Pocus Movie Walking Tour. It rates 4.7 out of 5 across 274 reviews and runs 2.5 hours; the cheaper one rates 3.8. From $50. Everything below is the case for it, and the honest case against.
The locations themselves are public streets and public buildings, and you can stand in front of every one of them for nothing. What the two listings sell is a guide who knows which window was which, and one of them ends somewhere you cannot easily walk back from. That is the choice this page is about. For the town’s actual history rather than the film’s, the ghost walking tour hub has the after-dark walks.
Cheaper alternative: Hocus Pocus Movies & More Walking Tour, from $25
both film-locations walks
There are two, and the difference is stark: one is two and a half hours and about three miles for $50, the other is ninety minutes downtown for $25. The expensive one is also the better rated, which is not usually how this goes. Every figure below is from the listing.
Daylight walk, film sites
from $50 · rated 4.7 · 274 reviews
filmOur pick on screen. Walks the Salem locations used in the film. No ghosts, no trials; add either separately.
Kids With an adultAdults Not statedRain Rain or shineStroller Yes, but brick and cobbleOn foot About 3 milesDaylight walk, several films
from $25 · rated 3.8 · 72 reviews
filmAdds other productions shot in town. Less time per location; the Official tour goes deeper on one film.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Rain or shineStroller Not statedOn foot Not statedSelf-guided · dusk or daylight
Free · no guide, no booking
Verdict · The memorial, the old burying ground and the Witch House exterior are open air. Go at dusk and you have the mood for free. You do not get the stories, the order, or a guide who knows which door to stop at.
Kids YesRain Your callStroller Brick sidewalksOn foot As far as you likeKids, adults-only, rain policy, stroller access and distance on foot come from each listing and are shown as written there. Where the listing is silent, we say so on the review page rather than guess.
Daylight walk, film sites · best for Fans of the film
The one with the reviews: 4.7 out of 5 across 274, against 3.8 across 72 for the other. Two and a half hours and about three miles, with a licensed guide, movie trivia, candy and a swag bag in the price, and entry to Pioneer Village on the weekends it opens.
Against it: it finishes at Pioneer Village rather than where it started, and the listing says you arrange your own way back downtown. It is called strenuous, it never goes indoors, and the listing lists wheelchair users, people with mobility, back or heart problems and anyone with a low level of fitness as not suitable.
Daylight walk, several films · best for More than one film
Ninety minutes in the centre for from $25, and it covers several productions shot in town rather than one film — which is the better answer if what you want is the town on screen generally. It starts and stays downtown, at the Salem Historical Tours office.
Against it: 3.8 from 72 reviews is the weakest rating of any walk we cover in this family, and the listing publishes no distance, no stop list and no age rule. Food and drinks are not included, though the listing notes you can buy them along the way.
The thing to know before booking the longer walk: The Official Hocus Pocus Movie Walking Tour does not end where it starts. It begins on Salem Common, at the basketball court near the playground, and finishes at Salem Pioneer Village — a different place, and the listing says in its own words that you arrange your own way back downtown.
Pioneer Village is open June to October, weekends only, and closes in and after bad weather; entry there is $5 on top of the ticket. If that does not suit the day you have, Hocus Pocus Movies & More Walking Tour stays in the centre for ninety minutes. For what actually happened in these streets, the witch trials hub covers 1692.
free to stand in front of
Most of what either walk points at is outdoors and free. Old Town Hall stands in Derby Square, in the middle of the downtown grid. Ropes Mansion and its garden are on Essex Street, and the garden is open to the public at no charge. Salem Common is a public park. You can see all three in an afternoon without booking anything.
What a guide adds is which building is which and what was shot where — several of these look like any other colonial house from the pavement, and none of them is signposted for the film. That is the honest case for paying for one of these walks rather than walking the same streets with a phone.
Two things are not free and not walkable. Pioneer Village is out at the edge of town, charges $5 and opens weekends only from June to October. And the houses are lived in: the film locations on Ocean Avenue and elsewhere are private homes, so look from the pavement and keep off the steps.
If nothing above changed your mind, this is the one to book. It rates 4.7 across 274 reviews against the other one’s 3.8 across 72, and it is the only one that reaches Pioneer Village. Check the finish before you book: it ends out there, not where it started. If the distance or the date does not work, Hocus Pocus Movies & More Walking Tour is ninety minutes in the centre.
from $50 · rated 4.7 · 274 reviews
Or the cheaper alternative →Yes, and most of them cost nothing. Old Town Hall, Ropes Mansion and its garden, and Salem Common are all public and free to stand in front of. What you do not get is which window was which — none of these buildings is signposted for the film. Pioneer Village is the exception: it is out of the centre, opens weekends only from June to October, and charges $5.
On the listings, the longer one: 4.7 out of 5 from 274 reviews against 3.8 from 72. It is also twice the price and about three miles on foot. The cheaper walk covers several films rather than one and stays in the centre for ninety minutes, so it suits a short visit or tired legs — but it is the weaker listing on both counts, which is unusual.
The longer listing states about three miles, and it is worth saying that the listing gives the figure twice and not consistently — 3.4 miles in one place, 3 miles or 4.8 km in another. It also lists wheelchair users, people with mobility, back or heart problems and anyone with a low level of fitness as not suitable, and calls the walk strenuous. The shorter one publishes no distance at all.
The longer listing says children must be accompanied by an adult, and that it is stroller accessible — while noting that the brick and cobble is uneven. It never goes indoors and runs rain or shine, so an October booking means two and a half hours outside whatever the weather does. The shorter walk states no age rule at all.
Pictured · The Official Hocus Pocus Movie Walking Tour review →
