The 12 Best Places for Halloween in the UK That Will Give You Chills

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With Halloween fast approaching, you might be wondering where to celebrate it this year. As someone born and raised in the United Kingdom, I can tell you the UK is one of the world’s best places to spend Halloween. The nation’s sheer dedication to the festival makes it the perfect place for Halloween fun.

Better yet, the United Kingdom is home to medieval cities with gruesome pasts, haunted houses, spooktacular attractions, and nightclubs that know how to throw an epic Halloween party. To learn more, here are 12 of the best places for Halloween in the UK. Stick around if you’re looking for endless mystery, excitement, and entertainment.

York

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Let’s start this list with York, one of the United Kingdom’s oldest cities. York makes our list for several reasons. First, it’s widely regarded as Europe’s most haunted city, which helps create the perfect Halloween setting. Second, its medieval streets come to life at Halloween with bright lights, skeletons, and Jack O’lanterns.

Finally, like most places in the UK, York loves Halloween, so you can expect countless activities, events, and parties. For example, you’ll find many spooky Halloween-themed ghost tours, dungeon tours, and walking tours featuring live actors. You could also attend the Northern Horror Film Festival or explore the winding 14th-century cobblestone streets of the Shambles, where you might bump into a ghost or two. Alternatively, attend one of the city’s many Halloween-themed nightclub parties.

Chester

I live near Chester, so you might call me biased, but the city is one of Europe’s most underrated Halloween destinations. This 2,000-year-old former Roman Fort city is jam-packed with scary and gruesome stories to tell. The city has everything, from murderous families and haunted medieval houses to an ancient Roman Amphitheatre and mysterious graves.

Topping things off nicely, the city knows how to celebrate Halloween. Around October 31st, you’ll find Halloween parades, parties, activities, and events across the city. Popular things to do include ghost tours, nightclub parties, the Chester Halloween Ball, and Halloween-themed escape rooms. We don’t know about you, but that sounds like a fun-filled Halloween getaway.

London

London, the capital of England, is an excellent place to spend Halloween if you’re looking for a little bit of everything. London has a rich history of horrors, from the monstrous Henry VIII and the mysterious Jack the Ripper to the Great Plague and Guy Fawkes. You can learn all about the city’s horrifying past during the Halloween celebrations.

Tour the Tower of London and get trapped in London Dungeons. Explore Whitechapel on a Jack the Ripper tour and learn more about the hauntings at Hampton Court Palace. Once you’ve done that, attend one of the city’s many Halloween parades, lively parties, and events, or go trick-or-treating dressed as your favorite horror movie character.

Derry, Northern Ireland

It will likely come as a surprise, but Derry, a small city in Northern Ireland, claims to host the largest Halloween festival in Europe. Derry’s obsession with Halloween links back to Celtic traditions, primarily the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which celebrates the end of the harvest and the start of winter. As such, Derry is arguably the best place in the UK to spend Halloween.

If you visit at Halloween, you can expect spider web-covered streets, ghostly figures roaming the city center, and countless Halloween-themed events, activities, and parties. Some Halloween highlights in Derry include the annual Halloween parade, a Halloween-themed carnival, ghost tours, and costume competitions. Make sure you visit the Awakening the Walled City Trail to learn more about the city’s folklore.

Nottingham

The next city on our list is Nottingham, a city in Central England best known for the story of Robin Hood. Nottingham is a great city to spend Halloween because there is so much to see and do. The Old Market Square is given a new lease of life with vibrant Halloween decorations, and several spooktacular attractions can be found in the city center.

Popular things to do include riding the ghost train, crafting a witches brew at a Halloween-themed bar, getting lost in the Horror Hotel, and buying scary treats from one of the many Halloween stalls. It’s also worth noting that Nottingham is one of the UK’s best cities for a night out. You’ll find many bars and nightclubs offering exhilarating Halloween-themed events. What’s not to like?

Edinburgh

If you love medieval history, Halloween-themed shops, and ghost tours, look no further than a Halloween city break in Edinburgh. Scotland’s capital is easily one of the United Kingdom’s best places to spend Halloween. Its horrible history, gruesome tales, and breathtaking medieval history are the perfect setting for Halloween.

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Better yet, the city hosts many Halloween events leading up to and on the day of Halloween. I visited Edinburgh at Halloween, and it was incredibly entertaining. The city’s streets are adorned with Halloween decorations, the famous ghost tours and dungeon tours offer Halloween-themed tours, the city’s nightclubs run Halloween parties, and the city celebrates its annual Samhuinn festival with fire displays, parades, and live music.

Dorset

If you want to spend the upcoming Halloween doing something different, I recommend planning a road trip around Dorset. Dorset is a beautiful county in southwest England famed for the Jurassic Coast and natural landmarks like Durdle Door. However, if you delve deeper, you’ll also discover that Dorset is one of the UK’s most haunted places.

Across the county, you’ll find many haunted buildings to explore. That’s why I recommend going on a Halloween-themed road trip. Noteworthy haunted places in Dorset include the 15th-century Athelhampton House, the 19th-century Nothe Fort, the 12th-century Corfe Castle, and the abandoned village of Tyneham. You might also be pleased to hear that places like Bournemouth and Poole offer many Halloween-themed activities and events.

Cardiff

One of the most popular places to spend Halloween in Wales is Cardiff, the nation’s vibrant capital. At Halloween, the city offers something for every kind of travel, so you can expect to have a devilishly good time no matter what you want to do. However, most of the action can be found at Cardiff Castle.

Around Halloween, this 1st-century castle hosts many Halloween-themed events, including the Black Tower Tales, an entertaining event that brings Wales’ history to life. The castle’s underground cinema also plays a variety of monstrously good Halloween movies, such as Hocus Pocus and Young Frankenstein.

Other popular Halloween activities in Cardiff include the spooky science demonstrations at Techniquest, cocktail evenings at the Ivy Cardiff, and ghost tours at St. Fagans National Museum of History.

Manchester

Manchester is a lively city in Northern England where you’ll always find something going on. Therefore, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the city knows how to throw an epic Halloween. Across the city, you’ll find endless things to see and do at Halloween, no matter who you are or what you like to do.

Families with small children can attend family-friendly events like the MCR Monsters, Monster’s Rock! Party Procession, and the Team Trick v Team Treat Challenge. Partygoers can attend the Monsters Rock Music Festival or one of the city’s many nightclub parties. Ghost enthusiasts can participate in a ghost tour, and couples can spend the night in Alcotraz Manchester drinking cocktails.

Glasgow

Another city that offers fun for all the family at Halloween is Glasgow in Scotland’s Western Lowlands. Like Manchester, Glasgow comes to life at Halloween with countless events, parties, and themed activities. As such, don’t be surprised to see the city’s streets adorned with Halloween decorations, stalls, and colorful shop windows.

When you’re not attending one of the city’s wild family-friendly parties or enjoying a hair-raising experience at Hamley’s, try something new at one of Glasgow’s Halloween-themed workshops, have fun at Lush’s Monster Bash, and ride over 20 spine-tingling rides at Silverburn’s famous Spooktacular event. Make sure you also attend the Big Barrhead Halloween Parade on the city’s outskirts.

Whitby

At first glance, Whitby is a picturesque seaside town in Yorkshire, Northern England, best known for serving some of the best fish and chips in the country. However, when you delve deeper, you’ll find an interesting story that makes Whitby an exciting setting for Halloween. You likely didn’t know Whitby was the hunting ground for Dracula in Bram Stoker’s iconic novel.

While Dracula is a fictional story, Whitby Abbey, where Dracula went when his ship became wrecked in the harbor, is real. Built in 657 A.D. as a monastery, the Abbey is now the center of Whitby’s Halloween celebrations. Every year, the story of Dracula is brought to life in the ruins of the Abbey. You’ll also find a small Dracula museum in the town center.

Alton Towers

The final place on our list offers you something very different. If you love theme parks and Halloween, consider visiting Alton Towers this October 31st. Alton Towers is a world-famous theme park situated in Staffordshire, England. Operated by Merlin Entertainment Group, the park is renowned for its exhilarating rides, such as the Smiler, Oblivion, and Nemesis Reborn.

However, at Halloween, Alton Towers is best known for Scarefest. During Scarefest, the park stays open late at night, allowing visitors to ride the blood-pumping rides in the dark for added terror. Furthermore, there are scary mazes, ghost houses, and other Halloween-themed events to enjoy. The theme park’s staff wears costumes, and there are live shows to watch.