The Best Ghost Tours in Boston: An Honest Guide to the Burying Grounds, the Trolley, and the Pubs

Boston ghost tours compared

Prices and ratings for the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley, the Booze and Boos pub walk and the Gravestones and Gunpowder walk were checked on Viator on August 2, 2026; the Ghosts of Boston night walk, Haunted Boston Ghost Tours and the Death and Dying walk were checked on July 29, 2026.

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The Boston stories to know before you book

Start with the ground the routes are built on. King's Chapel Burying Ground, on Tremont Street between School and Park, was founded in 1630 at the time of the settlement of Boston and is Boston Proper's oldest burying place, per the city's own record. That record also explains the whisper guides trade in here. Overcrowding was a problem as early as 1660, and the city writes that the lack of space eventually caused gravediggers to bury bodies one on top of the other or in shallow graves. Most interments stopped in 1796. A 1985 survey found 586 grave markers still standing, while the city believes well over one thousand people are buried there. Whatever you make of the stories about souls that went into that ground too early, the crowding is documented.

Further along the same stretch of Tremont, the Granary Burying Ground at number 120 was established in 1660 as the third burial site in Boston Proper, and it took its present name in 1737 when a granary was moved to the site the Park Street Church occupies now. The city counts roughly 2,345 gravestones and tombs there and estimates that more than 5,000 people are buried beneath them. Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and James Otis are here, and so are the five victims of the Boston Massacre, Crispus Attucks among them. One tomb designated for children held over 400 young people. Guides do not need to exaggerate on this stop.

Boston Common was founded in 1634, which makes it America's oldest park by the city's reckoning, and the same page lists what the ground was used for before it became a park: grazing, militia formations, and public hangings. In 1768 British Redcoats began an eight-year encampment on it. The figures people report among those trees after dark have four centuries of company.

The waterfront keeps a different kind of file. On January 15, 1919 a storage tank on the waterfront off Commercial Street, near Keany Square, let go. The Springfield Weekly Republican of January 16, 1919 ran the first count under the headline ELEVEN DEAD IN MOLASSES FLOOD: "Eleven persons are known to have been killed and about 50 injured by the explosion of a huge tank of molasses on the water front off Commercial street, near Keany square, Boston, yesterday," per the issue held by the Library of Congress. The same page reports two million gallons loose, buildings wrecked and the elevated structure damaged, a state explosives expert pointing at gas from fermenting molasses, the company's attorney insisting an internal explosion was impossible, and police still searching the district that night. One of the dead was a girl of about 12 whom nobody had yet been able to name.

The indoor stories sit a little further out: the Cutler Majestic Theatre, where a former mayor is said to still take in a show; Kilachand Hall at Boston University, built in 1921 as a residence for the city's elite, with a fourth floor students still complain about; and the Pilot House of 1839 on Lewis Wharf, where the reported sounds are laughter and glasses. The longer files on all of them live in our guide to haunted Boston.

Which Boston ghost tour is right for your group?

The classic night walk

The default Boston format is 90 minutes on foot after dark, with four centuries of preserved buildings doing the set dressing. Our pick is the Ghosts of Boston Night-Time Walking Tour from Ghost City Tours Boston, the best overall tour on this page at 4.4 stars across 306 reviews, from $29.99. Those 306 reviews are the deepest record of any walk in our table, and the listing carries the access claims most of this field does not: wheelchair accessible, strollers welcome, free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start.

• Choose it if this is your first ghost tour in Boston and you want the walk with the deepest review record here.
• Choose it if anyone in the party needs wheelchair access or is pushing a stroller; this listing offers both.
• Skip it if you would rather sit; the trolley below covers more ground with a seat under you.

Verdict: the default pick, and the one we would book first.

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The trolley

The Boston Ghosts and Gravestones Trolley Tour trades on-foot intimacy for coverage and a seat: two hours aboard the Trolley of the Doomed with a costumed host, step-off stops at the burying grounds, and Copp's Hill in the North End on the script. It holds 4.4 stars across 2,570 reviews, by far the deepest record on this page, and at $46.20 it is also the most expensive tour we compare. Two honest notes from the listing: it does not offer wheelchair access, and booking asks you for a local Boston hotel or a cell number you can be reached on.

• Choose it if the weather or the walking argues against two hours on the pavement.
• Choose it if the review record decides it; 2,570 reviews is more than the other five tours here hold combined.
• Skip it if anyone needs wheelchair access; four of the six tours in our table list it and the trolley is not one of them.
• Skip it if $46.20 is more than the evening has room for; the cheapest walk here starts at $25.

Verdict: the coverage play, and the seat, bought at the top of the price band.

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The 21 and up pub walk

The Haunted Boston Booze and Boos Ghost Walking Tour is the adults lane and the highest rated tour in our comparison: 4.6 stars across 161 reviews, 2 hours 30 from $36.16, run by Nightly Spirits with a costumed guide and bar stops between chapters. Its listing is unusually plain about who can come: "All guests must be 21+ with Valid ID." It also carries a Likely to Sell Out chip, and it does not list wheelchair access. The meeting point is the part we like most. You gather at The Last Hurrah inside the Omni Parker House at 60 School Street, which is to say the tour begins inside the building this city names first when the subject is haunted hotels.

• Choose it if the group is all adults and you want the top rating on this page.
• Choose it if you want a route that goes indoors; the bars are on the itinerary and the meeting point is inside a hotel.
• Skip it if anyone in the party is under 21; the listing sets that line in writing and asks for ID.
• Skip it if anyone needs wheelchair access; this listing does not offer it.

Verdict: the best-rated night out here, and the one that starts inside the story.

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The budget walk

Haunted Boston Ghost Tours is the cheapest way onto this material: 90 minutes in the evening from $25, holding 4.5 stars across 163 reviews, which is the second highest rating in our table. It is also the most accessible listing we found in the city, offering wheelchair access, wheelchair accessible transportation, and strollers, and it cancels free up to 24 hours out.

• Choose it if the price decides it; nothing else in our table starts below $25.
• Choose it if getting to the route matters as much as the route; this is the one listing here that offers wheelchair accessible transportation.
• Skip it if you want the deepest review record; 163 reviews is thinner than the walk at the top of our table.

Verdict: the value pick, and the best access claims on the page.

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The death and dying walk

The Boston Death and Dying Walking Ghost Tour takes the harder end of the same city, and it comes from the same operator as our top pick, Ghost City Tours Boston. Ninety minutes in the evening from $34.99, 4.4 stars across 226 reviews, wheelchair access and strollers listed, free to cancel up to 24 hours before the start. Read it as the second night rather than the first: same operator, darker subject, five dollars more than the classic walk.

• Choose it if you have already done a first-timer ghost walk and want the material that walk keeps light.
• Choose it if you need wheelchair access and would rather not ride; this is one of four listings here that offers it.
• Skip it if children are along; this is the darkest subject in our table and the listing publishes no age guidance either way.

Verdict: the deeper cut, best booked as your second Boston walk.

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The one-hour walk

Underground Boston Ghost Tours: Gravestones and Gunpowder is the short one: a single hour in the evening from $26, wheelchair access and strollers listed. Two things to weigh against the brevity. It carries 4.2 stars across 269 reviews, the lowest rating in our table, and its listing can take 48 hours to confirm, so this is not the tour to book for tonight. It also carries a new name; until recently it ran as Boston Ghosts Haunted Walking Tour.

• Choose it if one hour is all the walking the evening has room for.
• Choose it if you need wheelchair access at close to the bottom of the price band.
• Skip it if you are booking for tonight; confirmation on this listing can take 48 hours.
• Skip it if the rating matters more than the clock; 4.2 is the lowest here.

Verdict: the short seat, honestly rated, booked a few days ahead.

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On accessibility, the pattern runs opposite to instinct. Four of the six compared tours list wheelchair access on Viator, and all four are walking tours: the Ghosts of Boston night walk, the Boston Death and Dying walk, Haunted Boston Ghost Tours, and the one-hour Gravestones and Gunpowder route. Those same four welcome strollers. The two that do not list wheelchair access are the seated trolley and the 21 and up pub walk, which means the vehicle with the seats is the option a wheelchair user cannot book. Haunted Boston Ghost Tours goes one step further than the rest and lists wheelchair accessible transportation as well.

Haunted hotels in Boston

Boston's most reported hotel is also a meeting point. The Omni Parker House at 60 School Street is where the Booze and Boos pub walk gathers, in the bar called The Last Hurrah on the ground floor, and it is the property Boston guides name first when the subject turns to haunted hotels, with generations of guests reporting activity in its rooms and corridors. Book that tour and you are standing in the lobby of the city's own answer before the walk starts. We keep the longer version in our guide to haunted Boston.

Three downtown properties put you inside walking distance of the meeting points rather than a ride away. The Godfrey Hotel is the closest to the old ground: a 3-minute walk from Boston Common, 656 feet from the Freedom Trail, with an on-site restaurant, a lounge, and a 24-hour front desk. Canopy By Hilton Boston Downtown sits an 8-minute walk from the Freedom Trail with the Old State House, King's Chapel and Burying Ground, and the Old North Church nearby, plus Boston North Station 0.4 miles off. The Langham is the grand end of the range, a renovated 5-star hotel in the former Federal Reserve Bank building with Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the New England Aquarium inside half a mile. All three carry booking cards in the list above.

The full rundown, the waterfront towers and the airport tier included, lives in our guide to where to stay in Boston.

Planning your Boston ghost tour night

Two tracks work. The family and access track books one of the four walks that list wheelchair access and strollers: Haunted Boston Ghost Tours runs 90 minutes from $25 and is the only listing here offering wheelchair accessible transportation, and the Ghosts of Boston night walk covers the same ground for $29.99 with the deepest review record of any walk on this page. Put dinner downtown first and the night still ends at a sensible hour. Daylight plans live in our guide to things to do in Boston.

The adults track starts later and runs longer: 2 hours 30 on the Booze and Boos pub walk, which asks in writing that all guests be 21 or over with valid ID, or two hours aboard the trolley if the group wants a seat and a wider circuit. Both run after dark, and the pub walk carries a Likely to Sell Out chip, so treat it as the one to reserve first.

Practical notes. Meeting points sit on the individual listings and they are not in one shared corner of downtown, so read yours the day before rather than the hour of. The pub walk is the specific one worth writing down: The Last Hurrah inside the Omni Parker House, 60 School Street. The trolley has a booking quirk the rest do not: its listing asks for a local Boston hotel or a cell number you can be reached on when you book, so have one ready before you start checkout. The one-hour Gravestones and Gunpowder walk can take 48 hours to confirm. And if the burying grounds themselves are the reason you came, note that the city opens King's Chapel and the Granary daily from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., which closes them before any of these tours departs, so plan a daylight walk-through and let the night route work the fence line.

Getting there is cheap if you leave the car. The MBTA charges $2.40 for a subway one-way and $1.70 on a local bus, with a monthly LinkPass at $90, as posted on July 29, 2026, and the downtown stations sit within a few blocks of every meeting point on this page. Two adults ride to the tour and back for $9.60 at that fare.

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Questions people ask

What time do Boston ghost tours start?

In the evening or at night, without exception among the six we compared. The Ghosts of Boston walk and the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley are the two night departures; the pub walk, the budget walk, the death and dying walk, and the one-hour Gravestones and Gunpowder route all run in the evening. Not one of the six offers a daytime option. Lengths run from one hour on the Gravestones and Gunpowder walk to 2 hours 30 on the pub crawl. If you want daylight, the self-guided audio routes in the card list above run whenever you press play. For exact clock times, the booking page for your date is the authority.

When should you book a Boston ghost tour?

Earlier than feels necessary, and it costs you nothing to be early: all six compared tours offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before start time, six out of six, the cleanest run of terms in our Boston table. The pub walk carries a Likely to Sell Out chip on its listing, so book that one first. The one-hour Gravestones and Gunpowder walk can take 48 hours to confirm, so book it further ahead than the rest. October is the crunch in this city, when Halloween demand lands on a calendar that was already tight.

Which Boston ghost tours are for adults, and which take kids?

Start with what the listings actually say, because only one of the six publishes a hard age line. The Booze and Boos pub walk states "All guests must be 21+ with Valid ID," which is as clear as this category gets. The trolley's listing carries a note about children, so read it for your party before you book. The other four publish no age restriction at all, which is not the same as a promise that the material is gentle, so read the description for your group first. The Boston Death and Dying walk is the darkest subject in our table by name.

How much do Boston ghost tours cost?

Plan on $25 to $46.20 per person. As of our July 29, 2026 check on Viator, with the trolley, the pub walk and the Gravestones and Gunpowder walk re-verified August 2, 2026, Haunted Boston Ghost Tours starts at $25, the one-hour Gravestones and Gunpowder walk at $26, the Ghosts of Boston night walk at $29.99, the death and dying walk at $34.99, the pub walk at $36.16, and the trolley tops the range at $46.20. For party math: a family of four on the $25 walk runs about $100 before fees, two adults on the pub walk come to $72.32 with drinks bought at the bars rather than included, and two seats on the trolley come to $92.40, which is the most expensive pair of tickets on this page. And if you want the crowd's verdict on the whole field, the six compared tours carry more than 3,600 reviews between them.

Do Boston ghost tours run in the rain?

None of the six listings we checked publishes a weather policy, so the booking page for your date is the place to ask. What the terms do cover is a forecast changing your mind: all six are free to cancel up to 24 hours before start time, so a bad radar picture the day before costs you nothing. If the sky looks unreliable, the trolley is the one seated option here, with the tradeoff that it does not list wheelchair access.

Do Boston ghost tours go inside buildings?

Mostly no. These are exterior routes, told on the sidewalks in front of the addresses. The clear exception is the Booze and Boos pub walk, whose bars are on the itinerary and whose meeting point, The Last Hurrah at the Omni Parker House, 60 School Street, is indoors before the walk even starts. The trolley is the other partial exception: you are inside a vehicle with step-off stops at the burying grounds. As for the burying grounds themselves, the city opens King's Chapel and the Granary daily from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., so an evening route works their fence lines rather than their paths.

Which Boston ghost tour has the best rating?

Of the six tours we compare, the Booze and Boos pub walk leads at 4.6 across 161 reviews, with Haunted Boston Ghost Tours next at 4.5 across 163. The deepest record belongs to the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley, 4.4 across 2,570 reviews, more than the other five tours hold combined. The lowest number gets printed too: the one-hour Gravestones and Gunpowder walk sits at 4.2 across 269 reviews, and it is still the shortest and second cheapest way onto this material.

What is the most haunted place in Boston?

The Omni Parker House is the usual answer, the hotel the city names first, and the pub walk meets inside it. King's Chapel Burying Ground and Boston Common follow for older and darker reasons: the city's own records date the burying ground to 1630 and describe gravediggers stacking bodies once the ground filled, and they list public hangings among the Common's early uses. Copp's Hill in the North End and the Granary on Tremont Street round out the circuit most routes work.

Walking tour or the trolley in Boston?

Walk if you can. Boston's haunted district is compact, the burying grounds reward standing at their fences, and four of the five walking tours in our table list wheelchair access, the pub walk being the exception. Take the trolley when the weather or the miles argue otherwise, or when the deepest review record is what you want behind your booking: 4.4 across 2,570 reviews, two hours, from $46.20, with the local phone number requirement at checkout and no wheelchair access.

Are Boston ghost tours worth it?

The review record says yes, without any tour on this page pretending to be flawless. Ratings run 4.2 to 4.6 across the six compared tours, which carry more than 3,600 reviews between them, and every one of the six cancels free up to 24 hours out. Format matters more than brand here, so pick the night walk, the trolley, the 21 and up pub route, the budget walk, or the darker file, and let four centuries of preserved city do the rest.

Keep planning your Boston trip

Read our ranked list of the best ghost tours in Boston, then browse haunted Boston, things to do in Boston, and where to stay in Boston, or see everything we cover in Massachusetts.