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Travel guide
Salem, Massachusetts
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: May to October
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Welcome
Salem, Massachusetts, in a few days
The New England port where nineteen innocent people were hanged for witchcraft in 1692 now lives off that memory, between museums, a granite memorial and the shop windows of modern witches, and every October turns into a month-long Halloween festival. Behind the broomsticks, Salem is also a town of deep-sea captains made rich by the China trade, with its 18th-century wharves, its Federal mansions and one of the oldest museums in the United States.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 3 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 1 thing
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Salem Witch Museum · about 1 hIn a former neo-Gothic church on Salem Common, a sound-and-light show with life-size figures retraces the 1692 trials, followed by a section on how witches have been seen through the centuries.
- Afternoon · Peabody Essex Museum · half a dayFounded in 1799 by sea captains, the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States, with China trade treasures and Yin Yu Tang, a Chinese merchant's house rebuilt in its courtyard.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hawthorne Hotel ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€230 a night
D2
Day 2
3 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Witch Trials Memorial and Old Burying Point free · about 30 minA stone enclosure dedicated in 1992 by Elie Wiesel, with twenty granite benches naming each victim, next to a burial ground of 1637 where Judge John Hathorne lies.
- Afternoon · Salem Maritime and Derby Wharf free · about 1 h 30The first national historic site in the United States, with a wharf of over 600 metres ending at an 1871 lighthouse and the Custom House where Hawthorne worked as a customs surveyor.
- Late afternoon · House of the Seven Gables · about 1 h 30A dark timber house of 1668 on the harbour that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, visited on a guided tour with a secret staircase hidden in a chimney and his birthplace in the grounds.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hawthorne Hotel ↗€230 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Witch House · about 45 minThe only house still standing in Salem with a direct link to the 1692 trials, home of Judge Jonathan Corwin, showing daily life in the Puritan colony without theatrical effects.
- Afternoon · Chestnut Street free · about 1 hOne of the finest streets in New England, lined with Federal mansions built by shipowners and often designed by Samuel McIntire, with Hamilton Hall and the Phillips House.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hawthorne Hotel ↗€230 a night
D4
Day 4
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Marblehead free · half a dayA fishing village founded in 1629 and now the sailing capital of the East Coast, with colourful 18th-century wooden houses on a rocky peninsula, Abbot Hall and Fort Sewall guarding the harbour.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
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Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Burgers and barbecue: brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
- Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl: the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
- Mexican food: tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
- Pancakes and weekend brunch: a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
- Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
Getting by
Words that help
🗣️ English is the main language here, so there is nothing to learn by heart.
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyUS dollar (USD, $)
BudgetAbout €190 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMay to October
PlugA/B · 120V
Tap waterSafe to drink
Tipping15 to 20%, expected
Emergency911
EntryUK, Australian and most EU passports need an ESTA, applied for online before departure, for stays of up to 90 days; a few EU countries sit outside the Visa Waiver Program and need a full visa. Canadians need neither, only a passport. Anyone who has been to Cuba since January 2021 cannot use an ESTA and must apply for a visa.
HealthNo vaccination required. Keep tetanus, diphtheria and polio up to date; hepatitis A is worth considering if you eat well off the tourist trail. In the desert parks, the heat is the real risk.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/salem-massachusetts
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos: Pexels and Wikimedia Commons (Mjgus, CC BY-SA 4.0) · Details are indicative, check before you leave.