A Day Trip to Salem Massachusetts From Boston

Salem is an easy hop, skip and a jump away from Boston, so it is a perfect day trip destination if you are in the area. Salem, Massachusetts, has an intriguing history of pilgrims, witches, and of course the infamous witch trials. And if, like me, you loved the movie Hocus Pocus as a child, a day trip to Salem MA is a must. There is so much more to Salem than just pop-culture though – the town offers a variety of historic architecture to enjoy, local arts and crafts, walking tours and maritime history.

Getting to Salem from Boston

There are 4 ways to get to Salem, but honestly, I will only recommend one – the train.

• By car – you could drive, but who wants to drive in Boston? Not me!
• You could catch bus, but it takes over an hour.
• Or you could catch the ferry, but it costs around $45 for a roundtrip.

Getting to Salem by Train:

My advice is to catch the train from Boston’s North Station to Salem on the Rockport Line for $13.50 return [prices as at 2018]. It only takes 30 minutes each way. Another option is to combine train and ferry – try the train there, and get the ferry back in the evening to see Boston’s skyline at dusk!

Salem Trolley Tour

Because of our limited time in Salem, we decided to take the Salem Trolley Tour first, so that we could orientate ourselves. With 14 stops along the route, you can use it as a shuttle to reach attractions, as well as a tour. It was a relatively quiet Thursday in June when we visited Salem, yet the town was buzzing and the Trolley tours were busy.

The Salem Trolleys start and finish at the National Park Service Visitor Centre in the centre of town. The trolleys are beautiful and lovely to ride in. As someone who is over 6 foot tall, I always worry about legroom, but the trolleys were roomy and height was no issue. The local guide was very informative, even though sometimes I couldn’t understand the accent! Below are some of the sights you can see and stops you can make on the tour.

Disclosure: I was a guest of Salem Trolley Tours, however, as always, all opinions are my own

Things to do in Salem MA on a day trip:

The Salem Witch Museum

The Salem Witch Museum is great for people who have zero knowledge of the Salem Witch Trials. Using dioramas and a tour guide, you get a potted history of Salem’s witchy history, and could be a good way to start your day trip in Salem.

The Witch House / Corwin House

Despite the name, The Witch House / Corwin House was never home to a ‘witch’. It was actually once the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin, one of the magistrates that heard the Salem witch trials in 1692-93 and sent innocent people to their deaths by drowning and ‘pressing’. Pressing is where they were buried alive and slabs of rock were piled on top – it took 3 days to die! Sobering, no?

You can take a walking tour to discover some of the history and ghost tales of Salem.

Hocus Pocus High School

Do you love the movie Hocus Pocus? Well I do, so I got a thrill out of seeing the building that was used as the exterior of the high school in the movie (the red brick building in the photo). There are even Hocus Pocus tours, so you can see more of the filming locations!

Chestnut Street

Chestnut Street is where Salem’s elite built their houses and lived. It is a grand old street with amazing architecture (including one home that has a full floor dedicated to a full-sized sprung floor dance hall). We were glad that the Salem Trolley tour took us through this area.

Highlights were the Bott-Fabens home on Chestnut Street. Nathaniel Hawthorne lived there in around 1846, before penning the The Scarlet Letter. You can also take a general history tour of the area to learn more.

Enjoy more North American history on a cruise of the Thousand Islands

Salem Customs House

Another tie to Nathaniel Hawthorne, he worked at the Customs House for three years before he wrote the Scarlett Letter. We were told there is a camera in the eye of the eagle on top, to surveil the waterfront! Whether this is true or not is unknown, but it’s a fun theory. Be sure to visit The House of Seven Gables while you’re in there – another Nathaniel Hawthorne must-see!

Old Burying Point Cemetery

The Old Burying Point Cemetery and attached Salem Witch Trial Memorial are good areas to walk around to understand the brutality of the witch trials. The memorial has benches with names and explanations of all the victims. It was persecution of the highest level and it is important to remember this for horrible reality it was. You can take a self-guided walking tour to learn more.

Salem Downtown

Downtown Salem is great to walk around, with plenty of pedestrian areas, as well as the Common to enjoy. You can’t come to Salem without visiting one of the most famous witches of all – Samantha from Bewitched! In fact, we were really impressed with all the statues in Salem, from the ‘Our Lady of Salem’ statues from the first photo above, to the bronze statues around the town.

A Day Trip to Salem MA

Salem Massachusetts is a really cute place to visit, and an enlightening place if you want to learn about quite a dark time in US history. I left with a sense that many come to Salem purely for the Halloween vibe, and that was quite disappointing, as it was the myths and fear surrounding ‘witches’ that caused the witch trials in first place. The irony of the popularity of this side of Salem is jarring, but to be expected I suppose.

A day trip to Salem from Boston is a worthwhile excursion, but remember take in the history and not just the spook-factor!

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All photos & content © Hannah Henderson and may not be used without permission (sharing this blog post is fine, though!). Images shot with a Canon DSLR T3i Rebel + Canon EF Lens 50mm 1:1.8 STM; and an iPhoneX.