Here’s how to get to Salem without a car.
Salem , Massachusetts , bed as “ The City of Witches , ” is famous for its supernatural past tense , from the historically pregnant Salem Witch Trials to the culturally essential Halloween classicHocus Pocus . There are innumerable hauntedwalking toursand enchantress hats to be discover on the cobble streets of this New England townspeople . But with a total of one million visitors every twelvemonth in a town that unremarkably caters to a universe of around 44,000 , Salem is actively deterring people from coming .
This class , Salem City Council officials made it more hard to turn their haunted occurrent into a tour business by taking their tour of duty usher licensing fees from a humble $ 10 to an astonishing $ 350 . One such tour company founder , Beth Crowley , of Witch City Walking Tours , read to pay the fee for her 37 total employees she ’ll be live on from a $ 370 payment to a total of almost $ 13,000 , concord toBoston 25 News .
These effort to limit traffic in this township of terror are n’t new . In 2023 , Salem functionary went as far as to make a supplication to the public about the problem . “ Take the gear , take the ferry , total by bike , issue forth by ling , ” Mayor Dominick Pangallo implore the public at a press group discussion . “ But try not to come by car if you could stave off it . ” With a amount of 4,000 downtown parking distance and an additional 1,300 in the urban center ’s satellite lots , it ’s no surprisal that parking is the bane of existence for tourists and locals likewise .
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So here ’s how to get to the famed , skittish traveling destination without the use of a car which will inevitably be park lawlessly :
Newburyport/Rockport Commuter Rail
Cost:$16 round trip-up or $ 10 weekend passFrom nearby Boston , take the Purple Line ( aka the Commuter Rail ) from North Station in Boston for a 40 minute journeying to the town where a square is commit to Samantha fromBewitched . trip from far away than Boston and need to make your budget work ? The Lake Shore Limited stock of Amtrak can get you in from as far away as Chicago . The Acela line runs from Washington , DC into Boston as well . You ’ll have to get from Back Bay Station to North Station for this penny - pinching - but - time - consuming mode of transport , but it ’ll make a great opportunity to stop and visit The Cradle of Liberty .
Ferry
Cost:$29+Part of the scenery of your trip can be more picturesque than supernatural if you board the Boston to Salem ferry . There ’s a full taproom available on gameboard this 50 minute journeying by sea — a luxuriousness you could n’t pamper in if labour was your selection style of transport . Light snacks are also available on this slip which departs from the reference 1 Long Wharf in Boston . learn availabilityhere .
Upscale day trip
Cost:$485To avoid roughing it on the hard fictile seats of a ferry or train and to truly savor the sights of New England descent , take this private daylight trip that will take six hour to show you the raft and sound of autumn — with a stop in Salem . This tripper will admit drop - off and pick - up at your hotel as well as a tour guide to tell you about the surrounding history and sights . Of naturally , there ’s batch of time to take pictures at all the stops on the enlistment including Cape Ann , Gloucester , Marblehead , and Salem .
Or , you’re able to just check back in December .
