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Five Great Halloween Travel Ideas to Enjoy the Season While Abroad

A Ruined Cemetery In Doolin Ireland With Halloween Travel Ambience

Do you need some Halloween travel ideas so you can still enjoy the season while away from home? This post has you covered!

There are plenty of ways you can still enjoy the holiday without postponing your travel plans. I’m going to highlight for you my top five ways to still enjoy Halloween while traveling.

All of these recommendations are relatively easy and inexpensive to take part in. Even if you are somewhere Halloween isn’t celebrated, you could still do some of these things on your own to give you those late October vibes.

Updated November 2023

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Halloween Travel Idea #1 – Get In the Spirit and Dress Up

Costumes are likely the first thing come to your mind when you’re thinking of ways to keep your Halloween travel in the spirit of the season. It just wouldn’t be Halloween if there weren’t people dressing up pretending to be someone else.

You can make dressing up while abroad as elaborate or simple as you want. Be careful with anything risqué, though, especially if you are in a country with more conservative customs. Keep it culturally sensitive. Bare skin should be kept to a minimum.

You should also skip the costume if visiting any sacred sites. No one wants to see your rendition of Ted Lasso while making a pilgrimage to any of Europe’s historic cathedrals. Save the costume for a hike or pub crawling later in the evening!

You don’t need to break the bank for a good costume, either. Especially since you are traveling, just going to a local thrift store to find some cheap things you can throw together to make a costume is good enough. You can even do this during your trip to cut back on how much you have to pack beforehand.

Whatever you end up purchasing, remember to donate it back after you’re done so it doesn’t go to waste.

Halloween Travel Idea #2 – Visit A Local Haunted House

Haunted houses spring up almost everywhere you go in America towards the end of September. They’re not for everyone, but if you like to be scared, these are an incredibly easy way to take part in Halloween festivities while traveling.

Don’t limit yourself to only haunted houses. There are many other types of haunted attractions that fit a similar bill. These can range from haunted ships to haunted hayrides. You may even be lucky enough to find a small, family-made haunted house.

I like the idea of a haunted hayride or locally made haunted house rather than a commercial, indoors haunted house. By their nature, they will give you more of a local flair of where you’re visiting than a more commercial haunted house attraction.

These seem to be more of an American tradition, though, so your options may be few and far between if visiting another country. If you have your heart set on a haunted house but know you’ll be in another country, research ahead of time to find where the closest one to where you’ll be is located.

Halloween Travel Idea #3 – Tour an Actual Haunted Location

Haunted house attractions are fun, but they pale in comparison to the real thing. Your options here are endless as practically every culture has some version of ghost or monster stories. Even if you don’t believe in the supernatural, it’s hard not to feel creeped out walking around spots with a haunted history.

All it takes is a quick Google search of wherever you’re traveling during Halloween to find local haunts and ghost tours. Anywhere you go with any significant history is likely to have some haunted places for you to explore.

It doesn’t even need to be something supernatural to give off good, creepy vibes. For instance, Paris has its subterranean catacombs, Romania has Transylvania and Count Dracula’s Castle, and London its Jack the Ripper walking tour. Even in quiet, peaceful rural Pennsylvania there’s the historic town of Gettysburg where you’ll find an endless number of ghost tours.

In addition to spooky vibes, visiting these places can give you historical insights into where you’re visiting that you might not get from traditional museums or tours. It’s history that feels a little more real because you really get into the folklore and soul of what makes that particular place what it is today.

Spooky Graveyard In Charleston South Carolina
This spooky graveyard in Charleston is believed to be haunted by a few long-term residents.

Halloween Travel Idea #4 – Go To A Local Theater For A Horror Movie

Who doesn’t enjoy watching horror movies around Halloween? It’s easily one of the more common traditions for this time of year. Unfortunately, sitting around a hotel watching movies probably isn’t how you want to spend time in a new city.

The good news is there are ways you can enjoy both at the same time to keep this particular tradition alive. Especially around Halloween, many small state and local theaters screen popular and cult horror flicks to eager audiences.

Like with visiting local haunted spots, seeing a movie at a local theater is another great way to experience a part of the town you’re visiting that you otherwise likely wouldn’t see. These theaters tend to have way more personality and charm than big chain theaters making them well worth a visit.

There are other options if the town you’re in doesn’t have a local theater. Breweries or pubs sometimes show popular Halloween movies at their venues, too. Another great alternative is to see if any of the city parks are doing outdoor screenings. These events in particular can be a nice way to experience the community as they tend to have local craft vendors and food trucks for you to visit at the same time.

Halloween Travel idea #5 – Head to the Country for Local Farms or Orchards

This recommendation is for those of you don’t like to be scared. There’s still plenty of ways for you scaredy cats to celebrate the season.

In addition to dressing up, another option is to visit a local farm or orchard near where you’re visiting. Make the trip to the farm even better by donning your Halloween costume for the occasion!

I’m leaving this recommendation a little vague because it could entail several things. Maybe you like going to a pumpkin patch and just wandering around. Perhaps you’re more into picking apples at a local orchard. Or you could be the type of person who enjoys getting lost in a corn or hedge maze.

The point is there are many options for you to get out into the local countryside to partake in fall festivities. Find a place that offers multiple options (a hayride, pumpkin patch and maybe some cider to drink by a bonfire?) so that you can make an entire day of it.

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20 Comments

  • JoJo Hall

    When I travel, I love to go on haunted tours, ghost tours, or places that celebrate spooky things (like Salem, MA). This genre has always interested me and I try to make at least one spooky activity part of my itinerary when I travel. Great post!

    • paulexplorestheworld

      Definitely! As a species, we are fascinated by the unknown so, true or imagined, we tend to create this type of folklore everywhere we go. It’s always interesting to learn because it adds a little extra layer to where you’re visiting.

  • Kristen and Sam

    Love this! So creative! I am a scaredy cat when it comes to haunted things, so haunted houses are not in my book, haha! We do love seeing different farms/pumpkin patches during our travels though

  • Stephen & Andie

    This is awesome. We love, love, LOVE visiting cemetaries. They’re so beautiful, peaecful, and full of stories. The main photo of this article is amazing – where is that??? A good ghost tour is always fun, too – we went on a great one in Poland that was full of old world history & original sites. An ossuary is also a perfect, macabre Halloween activity if you’re near one. Great post and fun GIFs, too!

    • paulexplorestheworld

      Thank you for the kind words! The picture is from a small ruined church in Doolin, Ireland called Killilagh. It honestly was a little creepy being up there so early with no one else around but so worth it for how beautiful it was! I wanted to check out the Paris Catacombs when we were there but just didn’t have enough time. Next time!

  • barry

    I’m not personally into halloween but the idea of a ghost tour or visiting a haunted place at Halloween time would be fun. I’ve never done one and I reckon my freinds would join in with me on the night of Halloween for a creepy tour with lots of grisly surprises. Must plan it for next year … great idea.

  • Martin

    Although not a fan of horror movies, I do enjoy Halloween. I’ve been in Japan during Halloween. Great fun to see many gouls and ghosts and zombies and monsters strolling the streats! People dressed up, of course… Well… I hope so in any case. Since I was not eaten then I guess so.

    I would add visit a cemetary during halloween! That’s also fun to do. Nice suggestions 🙂

  • Mitch - Very Tasty World

    We love all things spooky – horror films, haunted houses etc. We particularly enjoy Japanese Horror Houses, they are great fun. We’ve also been lucky to visit Dracula’s Castle in Romania – it’s a very dramatic! Halloween in the UK has changed a lot since we were kids and now follows American traditions a lot more. Love the foodie elements connected with the season as well – pumpkins, apples and, of course, cider! Really enjoyed this post – lots of great ideas to celebrate the season.

    • paulpassingthrough

      I learned that when I was writing this article last year. It sounds like a lot of places are slowly adopting America’s traditions with regards to celebrating Halloween. It’s a fun holiday, so I think that’s one good thing for us to export around the globe!