Morning

Leading up to this trip, I did quite a bit of research on things to do in Salem, like what tickets to buy in advance, food options, and parking. I’m glad I researched parking because one of the museum websites told me that there is less than 6,000 parking spots in Salem, but can bring in 65-100,000 visitors during peak times. The best advice I read was to get into Salem before 9am, therefore, we were out the door by 8am. We parked at the Museum Place Garage attached to the Witch City Mall with no trouble finding a parking spot. *This is a very boring, but super important detail that I had to share.*

First up was coffee and breakfast. We went to Gulu Gulu Cafe and put our name down for a table. The wait was supposed to be 20 minutes but ended up being almost an hour – even before the big crowds were there. While we waited for our table, we got familiar with Essex St, which has store after store, all providing some witchy goodness. We had a patio table, and I ordered the WHO hash platter and a coconut cream latte. Our total bill was $52 for the two of us. From here, we had two hours until our walking tour so we did some window shopping and actual shopping along Essex St.

I booked a 2-hour walking tour for 12pm through Viator called History and Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking Tour. It was $80 total and definitely worth the price. The guide was incredibly informative, funny, and kind. We hit up 10 spots along this walking tour with no entry into any of the sites, just information and history of what we were seeing – which was perfectly fine for me and Chris. The last stop is just down the street from the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, which is where we walked to after the tour ended. It is a small area outside of a cemetery but very surreal to see and experience.

Afternoon & Evening

During the walking tour, our guide mentioned several breweries and a distillery that piqued our interest, so we went off the beaten path and found ourselves at Deacon Giles Distillery. I got a pumpkin espresso martini type drink and Chris got a seasonal gin and tonic. It was $38 for just 2 drinks plus tip, which I thought was pretty crazy, but a nice place to recharge (literally, my phone was about to die) and figure out our next move. We were hungry by this point because it was nearly 3pm, but we didn’t want to spoil our dinner appetite, so we got small appetizers at The Babe for $27.

I wanted to get a tarot card reading done, so we went to the Enchanted Shop to get scheduled for 5:30pm for a 15-minute reading ($45). This worked out well because the shop is right next to the restaurant where I had dinner reservations for 6:15pm. We explored the Salem Maritime National Historic Site area and the neighborhood around it. It was a very peaceful and quiet part of the town, which we enjoyed.

After my incredible tarot reading, it was time for dinner at Sea Level Oyster Bar. This place has a huge variety of beer and seafood. We really indulged ourselves with this dinner – I’m talking lobster taquitos, oysters, lobster roll, and scallops. For $168, the food was top notch and I would 100% recommend this place! By this point, we had seen and done everything we wanted to, so we walked a little more to take in the sights now that it was dark out and decided to head back to the Airbnb. Parking only ended up being $15 for 12 hours.

Total spent for a day in Salem for 2 people: $425