Northern California is an alluring vacation destination with holiday experiences to suit every taste and lifestyle. This part of the state is also a fun place to spend your Halloween season because there are so many different festivals and activities going on in the region. For example, you can head to a classic haunted house, a local theme park for thrilling scares, a winery for a unique way to celebrate in costume, or a Halloween pub crawl to make new friends with fun drinks. Here’s a sampling of the top ways to celebrate Halloween in Northern California.
California's Great America Tricks and Treats, Santa Clara
On select nights in September and October, head to California’s Great America for the annual Halloween event. It’s an over-the-top event packed with fun and family-friendly activities. In addition to delicious seasonal treats, drinks and candy, there’s a special Land of Tricks with two realms: Ickyville and Spooky Spires. The Land of Treats also includes two uniquely festive areas: Everfall and Sweet Tooth Acres. If that’s not enough, the most popular rides are open during the Halloween event to deliver thrills and chills.
Castello di Amorosa’s Pagan Ball, Calistoga
Napa Valley is a fun and unique place to celebrate Halloween, especially if you enjoy drinking wine and dressing up in costume. One of the best events in the area is the Pagan Ball at Castello di Amorosa. The event not only features great wine and food, but also bone-shaking beats of a DJ, mystical fortune tellers and a Zombie Casino. Don’t miss the spooky cigar bar and frightful photo booths.
Dates and Ticket Info
*Canceled for 2023
Gilroy Gardens, Gilroy
A fun and family-friendly way to celebrate Halloween in Northern California is to head to Gilroy Gardens in the city of Gilroy. This family theme park offers a spooky, but not terribly scary, experience to celebrate the season that includes trick-or-treating, rides, and illuminated gardens with festive décor. It also features specialty foods, craft beers and local wines. Kids also love riding the Boo Train, which offers 20-minute rides through the park with fun stops along the way.
Fantozzi Farms Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch, Patterson
If going to a pumpkin patch is more your style than being scared in a haunted house, make a point to visit Fantozzi Farms in Patterson. Here, you’ll find corn mazes that span approximately 25 acres and have about a dozen hidden checkpoints to discover. You can also check out the drive-through haunted attraction on select dates in October.
Crawloween: San Francisco Halloween Pub Crawl
Another fun way to spend Halloween in San Francisco is to go on a pub crawl with your friends and make new ones. It will stop by 20+ bars, draw in more than 7,000 attendees, and is the largest Halloween pub crawl in the city. Beers, cocktails, and shots are affordable, and there will be costume contests, music, dancing, and rides on the pub crawl shuttle.
All Hallows' Eve at Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
Our last recommendation for this Halloween season is to head to the city of San Jose to experience the Winchester Mystery House. This is a seven-story mansion with 160 rooms and a mysterious design that always perplexes visitors. An heiress, Sarah Winchester, turned an unfinished farmhouse into something much grander and stranger, but no one is truly sure why she built this house in the way she did. During the month of October, you can visit the house and take the Lost In The House Tour to explore this mysterious mansion or opt for the less scary Jack O’ Lantern Trail. It’s not a haunted attraction with staged characters, but it’s still definitely a creepy experience worth checking out!
