Things To Do
Open 'til 1 AM: Bit Bar
Arcade cabinets, DDR, pinball, and screens above the bar playing 90s throwback video content.
Open 'til 1AM: All Souls Lounge
Delicious dive bar vibes, pierogi and hot dogs and cocktails: greatness is not complicated.
Breakfast Sandwiches: Crave
Incredible over-the-counter egg sandwiches and baked goods. Perfect for recovery fuel the morning after.
Brunch: The Derby
Morning or evening, if rich American pub classics are your speed, this one's for you. We had an excellent brunch here on our first anniversary.
Pizza/Ramen: Bambolina + Kokeshi
Craving coal-fired pizza? Ramen and dumplings? Mix and match? Bambolina and Kokeshi are two sister restaurants (both names mean 'baby doll') that merged into one after the pandemic. Our current go-to lunch or dinner spot in town.
Mexican: Howling Wolf Taqueria
Tacos, burritos, platters, margs and beer, great casual hang where Taylor used to play bar trivia (often coming in second to a one-man team named "The One Who Knocks")
Soup & Sandwich: Gulu-Gulu Cafe
Try the goulash. A top local spot for breakfast or lunch, we ate here the day we booked Hamilton Hall as the venue.
Dinner: Ledger Restaurant & Bar
Found in a former bank building (thus the name) this is a beautiful space for elevated food, drink, and atmosphere.
Cakes & Tarts: Caramel Patisserie
If you like the cake at the wedding, you'll probably like the wide variety of pastries, tarts, and macarons at this patisserie whose chef and co-owner formally trained in France.
Cookies: Goodnight Fatty
Open only on weekends with a rotating menu of 3 kinds of fresh-baked cookies which you can buy in a flight as well as individually. At the corner of Salem Common across from the Witch Museum and tucked behind a wrought-iron gate like some kind of sugar speakeasy.
Hot Chocolate: Kakawa
Try a hot chocolate flight while you decide which candies to take home with you.
Beer: Notch Brewery
We shared a couple of beers and pierogis here on our first date (yes they have food and NA drinks as well).
Cider: Far From The Tree
This was the last stop on our first date. Great taproom option for the gluten-free, lots of rotating ciders, flights, and across the street from the Circus Lane vintage shop.
Cocktails: Deacon Giles
An unassuming door under a hanging lamp on a side street leads into this craft distillery with cocktails, tours, and full bottles of gin, rum, and liqueurs to take home.
Edibles, etc: Seagrass
For cannabis connoisseurs, the Seagrass dispensary is right downtown behind the Hampton Inn and a flea market shop. But if you visit, we recommend sticking to edibles because there's obviously NO SMOKING in the hotels or venue.
History: Salem Witch Museum Sites
If you want to dive into Witch Trial tourism, the main Witch Museum building off Salem Common is a mainstay of school field trips with animatronic exhibits and spooooky voice acting like Giles Corey groaning "More weight" as he's being crushed to death. Fun for the whole family! Other satellite sites around town include the historic Witch House, dating back to 1675 and home to one of the trial judges.
Art & History Museum: The PEM
Peabody Essex is Salem's most illustrious museum. Permanent installations include a shocking amount of world art and sculpture (the benefits of being a major world trading port city for a couple hundred years), an extensive fashion exhibit, and of course historical artifacts from the Witch Trials.
Old Graveyard: The Burying Point
The Charter St. Cemetery was founded in 1637 and holds the graves of the judge from the Boston Massacre and a member of the court at the Witch Trials. The Witch Trial Victims Memorial is right at the corner of the graveyard.
Shop Spells: HausWitch
Get an aura reading & photograph (we did!), a spell kit or book, crystals, or various art pieces at this good vibes boutique in central downtown.
Shop Vintage: Circus Lane
From Jazz Era beaded purses and Brooks Brothers bowties to 90s VHS tapes, this favorite vintage shop of ours has lots of cool finds spanning the 20th century.
Shop Hats: EMPORIUM 32
In the market for antique jewelry or fancy hats? This is the curio shop for you. Red's Sandwiches across the way is also a Salem lunch staple, we just haven't been yet.
Shop Plants: OAK + MOSS
One of Lindsay's favorite shops, because of all the plants!
Where We Met: Lafayette Park
This pocket park is where we met on our very first date. If you start here and go to Notch Brewery, then shopping, then to Far From the Tree, you will have recreated how we met!