Halloween in Savannah: Ghost Tours, Weather and Where to Go

Before the details, here are the short answers to the questions travelers ask most about the season. Each row sums up a fuller section below.

Savannah gives the season a specific texture. The city was laid out around squares in 1733 and 22 survive downtown, so a night walk moves square to square under moss-draped oaks rather than down long dark blocks. Ghost stories attach to real places you pass.

Guides tell of Colonial Park Cemetery, which holds more than 700 victims of the 1820 yellow fever epidemic, of the Sorrel-Weed House on Madison Square, and of Wright Square, where walks tell that Alice Riley, hanged there in the 1730s for murder, still haunts the ground. Treat the stories as stories. The buildings and dates are the verifiable part, and the setting does the rest.

October is one of the two mildest windows of the year for a long evening on foot. The typical pattern, drawn from NOAA 1991-2020 normals recorded at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, runs like this: warm afternoons, comfortable nights and the joint-lowest rain-day count of the year alongside November. You can check the current forecast close to your dates at NOAA.

For a 7:00 or 7:30 pm departure the temperature usually sits between the day's high and low, which makes walking easy. Most walking tours run rain or shine unless conditions turn severe. The candlelit ghost walk notes that if the operator ever cancels, it calls guests within an hour of the start.

Bring water, because the candlelit walk has no bathroom stops in its 90 minutes. Insect repellent is a sensible extra on warmer nights, and the adults-only walk suggests it outright.

Halloween week is peak season for ghost tours, and the differences between listings matter more now than in quiet months. Start times, age rules and group sizes decide whether an evening works for your group, and the booking window stretches out as the date approaches. The table below compares the main catalog tours on exactly those points.

How the prices compare

Walking tours cluster in the $30 to $43 range per person. The Fraidy Cat family tour is the lowest entry at $29.99 per person, the Dead of Night adults-only walk is $34.99, the pub crawl is $35, the candlelit walk is $39, the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley is $43 and the paranormal museum trolley is $52.43. The indoor ghost hunt at 416 W Liberty Street is the outlier at $86 per person.

Nearly every listing offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start, which makes booking early in Halloween week a low-risk move.

If your first choice is sold out

Two formats sit outside the catalog. Hearse ghost tours, where guests ride the Historic District in a restored hearse, are sold directly by the operator through its own reservation system, and it runs seasonal Halloween departures, including a private Halloween tour carrying up to 8 people. Prices show only at booking.

Horse-drawn carriage ghost tours also exist and are likewise sold directly. If walking slots are gone, see our guide to the Hearse Ghost Tour in Savannah: What to Know Before You Ride before committing, since cancellation terms there are not verified on the booking platforms this site compares.

Savannah handles families well at Halloween, and the trick is matching the format to the age of your kids. The gentlest option is the Fraidy Cat Family-Friendly Ghost Tour of Savannah, a 90-minute to two-hour walk that tells cemetery lore and haunted mansion stories in a playful register rather than a terrifying one. It welcomes all ages, charges a child rate up to 12, allows leashed pets and runs in all weather.

Departures are at 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm.

If your kids do better seated, the Savannah Paranormal Trolley and Museum Tour pairs a narrated haunted trolley ride past the downtown squares with after-hours entry to the Savannah Paranormal Museum. It has a child rate for ages 3 to 12 and is the only listing compared on this site with museum entry included in the $52.43 price. Note that parking at the museum is not included and times can shift with traffic.

On some holiday dates the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley departs from 250 MLK Blvd instead of its usual River Street depot, so read the listing on the day.

For daytime variety in a Halloween weekend, the Bonaventure Cemetery Golf Cart Guided Tour runs one hour by golf cart through the 160-acre cemetery southeast of downtown, including the graves of songwriter Johnny Mercer and poet Conrad Aiken. The cemetery is open 8 am to 5 pm, so this is a daylight outing, and you need your own transport out there. It is a history tour rather than a scare, which suits younger children and anyone who wants the atmosphere without the ghosts.

On the trick-or-treating side, neighborhood trick-or-treating takes place on October 31. Ardsley Park, south of Victory Drive, is known for the most elaborate decorations. In recent years the visitor bureau has also listed a family Trick-or-Treat on River Street in the afternoon at the Plant Riverside District in late October.

Check visitsavannah.com for the current date before planning around it.

Savannah's adult Halloween runs on two fuels, darker stories and open cups. For the stories, the Dead of Night Adults-Only Ghost Walking Tour spends 90 minutes on murder, betrayal and burial grounds, material the family walks soften. It is 16 and over, capped at 30 guests and $34.99 per person.

Be clear about what it is, an outdoor storytelling walk, with no entry to buildings or cemeteries and no ghost-hunting equipment. It runs rain or shine, and the listing suggests water and bug spray.

For the drinks, two formats work. The Haunted Savannah Pub Crawl and Historic District Ghost Tour meets at 7:30 pm in Madison Square and walks about 90 minutes between haunted sites with 3 to 5 pub stops, limited to 10 participants at $35 per person. Drinks are bought at each pub, not included.

Savannah's to-go cup law means you can carry one alcoholic drink in a plastic or paper cup within the downtown zone, which runs from the river south to Jones Street. No cans, bottles or glass, nothing over 16 fluid ounces, and one drink per person at a time. South of Jones Street the rules differ, so check the current map.

Our explainer on the Savannah Open Container Law: Where You Can Drink on the Street covers the boundaries in detail.

The Original Murder Tour: Savannah True Crime Pub Crawl takes the same format in a different direction, two hours of real crime cases rather than ghost legends, with at least four bar stops and a licensed local guide. It is 21 and over with ID at $40 per person, cocktails paid at each bar. If you want an indoor night instead, the paranormal investigation at 416 W Liberty Street puts you inside a house with ghost-hunting equipment training, EVP recording and a debrief for $86 per person, 16 guests per group, and not suitable for children under 13.

The listing links the house to Revolutionary War battles and a triple-axe murder, told as the property's story.

Savannah decorates by neighborhood, and the styles differ enough to plan around. Ardsley Park, south of Victory Drive, is known locally for the most elaborate Halloween displays, with homeowners going all in on October 31. It is a residential stroll, best on foot after dinner.

The Historic District decorates in a classic style, which suits anyone already out on a ghost walk, cobblestones and squares dressed for the season. The Starland District takes an artsy approach, fitting its gallery-and-studio character.

• Ardsley Park, south of Victory Drive, the most elaborate residential decorations
• Historic District, classic seasonal style along the squares
• Starland District, artsy and offbeat
• River Street at Plant Riverside, which has hosted a family afternoon Trick-or-Treat in late October

The Historic District's Halloween look is amplified by its real haunted reputation. Guides point out houses that appear on ghost television programs, including the Sorrel-Weed House on Madison Square, which featured on a 2005 Halloween special of Ghost Hunters and later on BuzzFeed Unsolved. The house's own tours run separately from the catalog here, sold in person or by phone, with a price not published on the official page.

Historians note that its famous Molly ghost story has no historical record behind it, even though Matilda Sorrel's death is documented. Enjoy the theater, but keep the boundary clear.

A few practical moves make the weekend smoother, and they mostly come down to booking earlier than you think you need to. Several listings carry a likely-to-sell-out flag for October evenings, and small-group formats fill fastest because capacity is genuinely limited. The pub crawl caps at 10 guests, the ghost hunt at 16, and even the 30-person walks can be split across multiple departures that evening.

• Book evening walking tours at least several days ahead in Halloween week, earlier for 7:00 pm family slots
• Use the free cancellation window, most listings allow cancellation up to 24 hours before the start
• Wear comfortable shoes, the Historic District walks cover 90 minutes or more on cobblestones and uneven surfaces
• Bring water and a light layer, evenings cool from the day's high near 79°F (26°C) toward the low near 59°F (15°C)
• Carry photo ID for any pub crawl, both are 21 and over
• Plan a daytime break, the Bonaventure golf cart tour or the squares themselves, before the night walks

Halloween falls in a generally easy weather month, but the season rule holds across the year. October and November and March to May bring the mildest evenings for a 90-minute walk, while summer evenings stay warm and humid with June to August averaging about 12 rainy days a month. If your Halloween plans stretch to a second night, a different format keeps it fresh, a trolley with building entry after a walking night, or the true crime crawl instead of a second ghost walk.

Whatever you choose, read the meeting point carefully. None of the catalog tours include hotel pickup, and meeting spots range from Chippewa Square to Johnson Square to River Street.

Halloween in Savannah works because the season and the city suit each other, cool dry evenings, streets already thick with ghost lore and locals who decorate accordingly. Decide your format first, walking or trolley, family or adults-only, stories or drinks, then book the earliest slot that fits, because October evenings disappear fast. The catalog comparison on this page covers prices, ages and start times for the tours listed here, and the homepage rounds up the top ghost tours in Savannah GA if you would rather browse the whole field before picking your night.