Do you need to rent a car in Salem, MA?

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Hi everyone, welcome back to the blog. For today I wanted to focus on a commonly asked question about visiting Salem. It’s one I see pop up in my Facebook group as well as in Google analytics so I wanted to chat about it today. The question is…do you need to rent a car in Salem, MA?

The short answer is no. You don’t really need a car once you’re in Salem, MA.

Getting into Salem is another story. If you’re flying into Boston Logan airport, you’re going to need to either rent a car or take public transportation into Salem. You can take the train, ride share with either Uber or Lyft or rent a car for the short drive. It’s about 35-45 minutes away.

Once you have made it into Salem, pretty much everything you’d want to see is walkable and the city is very pedestrian friendly. There are only a few outlying places that you might want to Uber to. These places include (but are not limited to) Far From the Tree Cider, Pioneer Village, the Proctor’s Ledge Memorial, the Salem Willows and 4 Ocean Ave. which is a Hocus Pocus filming location. It’s all up to you, how far you’re comfortable walking and the mobility of the people you have with you. I’d suggest using Google Maps to get an idea of the layout of the city ahead of time.

If you do bring the a car into Salem, keep in mind parking can be tricky. This applies extra to visiting in the fall. I’d highly recommend booking a hotel, inn or Airbnb that has guest parking so you don’t have to worry about it. If not, the following links are for you.

What if you want to focus on getting around Salem without a car? That’s totally doable. I’d suggest using the Salem Trolley as transportation (your ticket is hop on/hop off valid through the day of purchase). Alternatively you could utilize Salem’s bike share program.

I hope this information helped! Good luck planning your trip and enjoy!! <3

Psst! Need some extra help with planning? Check out my workbook by clicking the banner below.

Do you need to rent a car in Salem, MA?

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