Boston Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday, Oct. 31, and organizers are advertising a full weekend of bar crawls, costume parties and North Shore events. This guide collects the dates and details that event organizers and official sources have published, and notes where a claim comes from a ticket seller rather than the city. Boston Halloween 2026 plans can change, so confirm times and tickets directly.
Boston Halloween 2026: Bar Crawls and Parties
Two commercial organizers list Halloween-weekend crawls centered on the Faneuil Hall area. These are private, ticketed events, not city-run programs.
- Boston Official Halloween Pub Crawl, by Bar Crawl LIVE: listed on Eventbrite for Friday, Oct. 30, from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, starting at Wild Rover, 61-63 Chatham St.
- FrightCrawl: its Boston page lists crawls on Oct. 29, 30 and 31, each described as starting at 7:30 p.m. and ending at 2 a.m., plus a Saturday day party from 1 to 8 p.m. It says each is capped at 800 people and lists prices starting at $10 and a $65 weekend pass.
Prices, venues and capacity limits come from the organizers’ own pages as of Oct. 11 and may change. Attendees must be of legal drinking age to be served alcohol in Massachusetts, and venues set their own entry rules.
Salem Haunted Happenings: Dates for 2026
Salem, about 16 miles north of Boston, runs Haunted Happenings through October. According to Destination Salem, the festival runs Oct. 1-31 and Salem is marking its 400th anniversary this year. Listed dates include:
- Saturday, Oct. 17, 11 a.m.: Witch Hats on the Wharf, a community gathering and world-record attempt with a drone photograph.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m.: Wicked Night on the Wharf.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, from noon: live music on stages downtown.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 10 p.m.: a 400-drone show over the North River to close the festival.
Destination Salem says the festival draws more than 1 million visitors. For schedules and locations, the organizers point to HauntedHappenings.org and the Destination Salem app.
Getting There and Back on the T
The MBTA published a special Newburyport/Rockport Line Haunted Happenings schedule that takes effect on weekends from Oct. 3 through Oct. 25, 2026. Commuter Rail from North Station is the usual way to reach Salem Depot. The MBTA PDF is the authority for train times, so check the exact departure for your direction and date, especially for the last train back.
The sources reviewed did not include an MBTA schedule for the evening of Oct. 31 itself. A third-party event guide, pubcrawls.com, says extended Friday and Saturday late-night subway service typically has final departures between about 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. from downtown stations, but that is not an MBTA statement. Check mbta.com closer to Halloween for any special schedule.
The MBTA’s rider rules, listed on its holiday page, say alcohol is not allowed on MBTA vehicles or at stations, which is worth remembering for anyone traveling between bars. In an emergency, call 911 or Transit Police at 617-222-1212.
Where to Eat Before the Parties
If you are planning a dinner first, our Boston restaurants guide collects reviews of restaurants across the city, and our piece on The Paramount on Charles Street covers a Beacon Hill brunch spot. For getting around Boston’s neighborhoods, see our Boston Link Bus explainer.
What We Could Not Confirm
We could not find a City of Boston announcement of official Halloween events or street closures for Oct. 31 in the sources reviewed. We also did not verify crowd sizes or ticket availability. Check boston.gov, mbta.com and each organizer’s page before you go, and plan how you will get home.