Start from 35 curated places around Salem, MA, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Ledger Restaurant & Bar
A James Beard–nominated kitchen set inside a soaring 19th-century bank building on Washington Street. Chef Daniel Gursha runs a progressive New England menu that borrows from heritage recipes but plates with modern restraint. The weekend brunch with mystery mimosas is a local ritual worth the wait.
Settler
Chef Aaron Chambers tucks a cozy, candlelit room into a side street off Washington and fills it with Mediterranean-inflected small plates made almost entirely in-house — the sourdough, the agnolotti, the charcuterie. It punches well above its size and is consistently Salem's most talked-about dinner destination.
Trails & outdoors
Salem Heritage Trail
A red line painted on the sidewalk links 30 historic sites through the city in a roughly 1.7-mile loop — Salem's version of Boston's Freedom Trail. It passes the PEM, Charter Street Cemetery, Derby Wharf, Witch House, and the McIntire District. Self-guided with a free map, or guided tours depart from the Visitor Center.
Salem Woods Loop
A 2.3-mile moderate loop through the city's largest green space off Wilson Street, threading through second-growth forest with brooks and glacial outcroppings. It sits five minutes from downtown and sees a fraction of the Heritage Trail crowds — good for a morning reset before hitting the historic sites.
Things to do
Peabody Essex Museum — Special Exhibitions
Beyond the permanent collection, the PEM runs a year-round program of major temporary exhibitions that consistently rank among the best in New England — the museum's budget and ambition put it well above typical regional museum scale. Check the current listings before your visit rather than assuming the permanent collection is all there is.
Bit Bar
A full bar in a narrow Essex Street storefront lined with working vintage arcade machines and pinball tables — pay-to-play from the 80s and 90s. It is exactly what it sounds like, done earnestly: draft beers, decent cocktails, and a Pac-Man machine that actually works. Best mid-week or during off-peak hours.
Landmarks & sights
Peabody Essex Museum
One of the oldest continuously operating museums in the US and arguably the finest art museum in New England outside of Boston. The PEM holds a staggering collection spanning maritime art, Asian export art, Native American material, and contemporary work, spread across 24 interconnected buildings. The Yin Yu Tang Chinese house — transported timber by timber from Anhui province — is a singular experience.
House of the Seven Gables
The 1668 Turner-Ingersoll Mansion that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel sits right on Salem Harbor, surrounded by five other historic structures including Hawthorne's own birthplace. The guided tour is genuinely engaging and gives context that the Hawthorne novel alone cannot — the secret staircase is real.