Halloween Events in Northern Ireland: The Best Events and Where to Go

Here’s something most people don’t realise: Halloween didn’t start in America, it started right here, on the island of Ireland. And today, some of the best Halloween events in the world happen right here in Northern Ireland, led by a city that’s been crowned the number one Halloween destination on the planet.

I’ll be honest, Halloween is my favourite time of year in the north. Yes, we get the wind and the rain, but there’s something magic about the season here that I look forward to all year. The leaves turning gold and red, kicking through them on a crisp forest walk, and (surprisingly) even the dark nights, which feel like a cosy reward after those long, bright summer days. It’s the season the north does best. So here’s everything worth doing, from the world-famous festival to the quiet family walks I love most.

Coming from the other side of the border? There is no checkpoint, but the money, your phone and the speed limits all change. Read the guide to crossing between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The Irish origins of Halloween

Long before pumpkins and trick-or-treating, there was Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”), an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, celebrated across Ireland for over two thousand years. It was believed to be the one night of the year when the veil between our world and the next grew thin, and spirits could cross over.

To ward them off, people lit bonfires, wore disguises, and carved frightening faces into turnips (yes, turnips, not pumpkins). Those customs became the costumes, jack-o’-lanterns and trick-or-treating we know today. Halloween is, quite literally, an Irish tradition that emigrants carried around the world, and nowhere celebrates its homecoming quite like the north of Ireland.

1. Derry Halloween, Europe’s biggest Halloween festival

If you do one thing this Halloween, make it Derry~Londonderry. What began around forty years ago as a fancy-dress party in a pub has grown into Europe’s largest Halloween festival. Drawing over 100,000 people and named the number one Halloween destination in the world. For four days and nights, the entire Walled City transforms into “the Awakening”: a carnival parade, haunted tours, live music, immersive trails and a spectacular fireworks finale over the Foyle on Halloween night.

Read the full Derry Halloween guide for the 2026 dates, whether it is free, road closures and where to stay when the city sells out.

When: Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November 2026. The Awakening the Walled City trail runs the 28th to the 30th, 6pm to 9pm. The Carnival Parade is Saturday 31 October at 7pm, and the fireworks over the Foyle follow at about 8.15pm.

New for 2026, and worth acting on now. One section of the trail, Witchy Wonderland, is managed entry for the first time. You need a timed ticket, the tickets are free, and they go live on Monday 5 October at derryhalloween.com. Everything else on the trail stays walk up.

One warning before you book. The festival’s own What’s On page is still carrying last year’s day names, so it reads as Tuesday 28th to Friday 31st. Those were the 2025 weekdays. Go by the dates rather than the days.

Book a guided walking tour of the walled city, which is the best way to get your bearings before the crowds arrive.

2. Samhain at the Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra

This one is made for anyone who loves the history of Halloween, my kind of day out. The Ulster Folk Museum in Cultra (near Holywood, Co. Down) throws you back to a traditional Irish Samhain: turnip-carving demonstrations, old folklore in the Rectory, the Armagh Rhymers in their traditional masks, and tastes of colcannon and barmbrack. It’s Halloween the real, original way, genuinely fascinating for kids and adults alike.

When: late October (around 29–31 Oct), check ulsterfolkmuseum.org.

3. Halloween trail at Castle Ward, Downpatrick

Castle Ward, yes, Winterfell to Game of Thrones fans, runs a family Halloween trail through its enchanted woodland (past themes have included “The Cauldron Quest”), with indoor spaces and Halloween crafts to take home. It’s one of my favourite family spots, and there’s often a Halloween craft market on too. A National Trust property, so members go free.

When: roughly 25 Oct – 2 Nov, confirm at nationaltrust.org.uk.

4. Folklore & Legends Halloween Trail at Mount Stewart

Another National Trust gem, and a personal favourite for a family day out. Mount Stewart on the Ards Peninsula sets up a mystical after-dark trail through the grounds, bringing eerie tales from folklore and mythology to life along the way, like an outdoor escape room in one of the most beautiful demesnes in the country. Bring wellies (this is the north!) and, if it’s the evening trail, glow sticks for the little ones.

When: late October half term, check nationaltrust.org.uk for this year’s dates.

5. Pumpkin picking in Northern Ireland

For families, a pumpkin patch is the gentler, golden-hour side of Halloween, and the north has loads. Book early; the good ones sell out. Some of the best:

• Streamvale Open Farm, Dundonald, often called the original and best, with a carving marquee, broomtastic disco, haunted-house trail and maize maze.
• Ark Open Farm, Newtownards, lovely for younger children.
• Pickie Fun Park, Bangor, a seafront patch with the fun-park attractions too.
• Mountpanther Farm Park, Downpatrick.
• The Jungle NI, Magherafelt, see below.

When: most run daily through October, confirm dates and book on each farm’s own site.

6. The Jungle NI, Fright Night & Hallowee’uns, Magherafelt

The Jungle NI does Halloween two ways. Fright Night is a proper scare experience, a woodland trail and multiple scare attractions, brilliant, but genuinely frightening, so it’s one for older kids, teens and adults rather than little ones. For younger families, their Hallowee’uns event is the gentler version, with pumpkin picking, crafts and a spooky (not scary) ghost trail. Worth knowing the difference before you book, if you’ve got young children like mine, go for Hallowee’uns.

When: select dates through October, see thejungleni.com.

7. Halloween at Hillsborough Castle and Gardens

A spellbinding family day out across 100 acres of gardens in Royal Hillsborough: a Halloween maze, pumpkin-carving workshops and autumnal adventures. A great all-ages option in Co. Down.

When: roughly 25 Oct – 2 Nov, check hrp.org.uk.

8. Boo at the Zoo & W5, Belfast

For a city Halloween with kids, Belfast delivers. Belfast Zoo’s annual “Boo at the Zoo” runs costume-friendly Halloween days, and W5 at the Odyssey transforms its AMAZE space into a Halloween experience, both ideal for younger children and safe from the scares.

When: late October half term, check belfastzoo.co.uk and w5online.co.uk.

9. Spooky castle & ghost tours

Northern Ireland’s history practically writes its own ghost stories. Look out for after-dark tours and haunted trails at atmospheric spots like The Argory and Rowallane Garden (National Trust), and town ghost walks such as the Spirits of the East Coast tour through the haunted streets of Donaghadee, ending at Grace Neill’s, said to be Ireland’s oldest pub.

When: various dates in late October, check discovernorthernireland.com.

Book a guided tour of Crumlin Road Gaol. A working Victorian gaol with an execution cell and a tunnel, and it does not need a single plastic skeleton to be unsettling.

10. Autumn walks over the Halloween break, my favourite part of the season

And once Halloween is done, the lights go up. The Belfast Christmas Market guide is the next thing in the calendar here.

This is the bit I look forward to most, and a lot of it costs nothing. There’s no better time to be in Northern Ireland’s forests, estates and country parks than autumn, the leaves turning, the light going golden, conkers underfoot. The Halloween half term is the perfect excuse to get out for a wander, and it’s when the big estates lay on their family trails too, so you can pair a proper walk with a bit of seasonal magic.

One thing worth planning around: the clocks go back on Sunday 25 October, and Belfast goes from a sunset just before six to one just before five overnight. Full daylight times, peak autumn colour and what closes at the end of the month are in Northern Ireland in October.

The two I keep coming back to over the Halloween break are the National Trust estates from earlier in this guide, Castle Ward and Mount Stewart. Both set up their Halloween trails through the half term, but even beyond the ticketed trail, the woodland and shoreline walks around them are some of the loveliest autumn walking in the country. You get the family Halloween fun and a beautiful walk in one trip, which is exactly my kind of day out.

For free, any-day autumn walks, these are my favourites:

• Crawfordsburn Country Park, Co. Down, beach and glen walks, waterfall and all.
• Tollymore Forest Park, at the foot of the Mournes, follies, stone bridges and riverside paths (bonus: a Game of Thrones filming spot).
• Castlewellan Forest Park and its lake.
• Redburn and Cairn Wood, near Holywood.
• Glenariff Forest Park, “the Queen of the Glens”, in Antrim.

When: all autumn. The free country parks are open any day (just check for seasonal parking charges); the Castle Ward and Mount Stewart Halloween trails run over the half term, confirm dates at nationaltrust.org.uk.

See what is on at Castlewellan, at the foot of the Mournes, if you want the walk and the arboretum in the same day.

Halloween fireworks in Northern Ireland 2026

Sixteen towns have a council fireworks display this year and they are spread across six different nights, from the 22nd to the 31st of October. That is the part most people miss. If you assume the fireworks are all on Halloween night you will pick one and drive past four others, when you could have seen half a dozen inside ten days.

Here is the lot, in date order. Every date has been checked against the 2026 calendar, which matters more this year than usual, and I will come back to why.

Date	Town	Where	Fireworks	Cost
Thu 22 Oct	Lisburn	Wallace Park, Twilight Night, 7pm to 9pm	Finale	£3pp, £15 family of 6
Sat 24 Oct	Ballymoney	Joey Dunlop Centre	8.30pm	Not stated
Sat 24 Oct	Cookstown	Mid Ulster Sports Arena, from 5pm	8.00pm	Free
Sat 24 Oct	Newtownabbey	V36 at The Valley, 6pm to 8pm	Closes the night	Free ticket, £2.50 booking fee
Tue 27 Oct	Coleraine	Ulster University	8.15pm low noise, 9.00pm main	Not stated
Thu 29 Oct	Larne	Larne Town Park, Halloween Hooley, 6pm to 8.30pm	8.15pm	Free
Thu 29 Oct	Limavady	Roemill Playing Fields	8.30pm	Not stated
Thu 29 Oct	Craigavon	Craigavon Lakes, Fireworks at the Lakes	7.30pm	Free in past years
Fri 30 Oct	Ballymena	People’s Park, Hallowena, 6pm to 8.30pm	8.20pm	£2.35 over 12s, under 12s free
Fri 30 Oct	Dungannon	Market Square, fired from the Hill of The O’Neill, from 6.30pm	7.45pm	Free
Sat 31 Oct	Maghera	Maghera Leisure Centre, 3pm to 6pm	6.30pm	Free
Sat 31 Oct	Newcastle	Newcastle Promenade, Hallowtides, 7pm to 9pm	Finale	Not stated
Sat 31 Oct	Derry	Over the River Foyle	About 8.15pm	Free
Sat 31 Oct	Ballycastle	Seafront, fired over the harbour	8.30pm	Not stated
Sat 31 Oct	Coalisland	Brackaville GFC, from 6pm	8.45pm	Free
Sat 31 Oct	Omagh	Omagh town centre	Not published	Not published

Belfast does not have a fireworks display

This surprises people, so it is worth saying plainly. Belfast City Council does not run a Halloween fireworks display any more. The big one at the Titanic slipways stopped years ago and was replaced with a free city centre trail of giant inflatable monsters, funded through the Belfast One business district. It is good fun with small children and it costs nothing, but if you are coming to Belfast expecting fireworks you will be standing in the city centre looking at the sky.

If you are based in Belfast and you want fireworks, the nearest are Newtownabbey on Saturday the 24th, about twenty minutes up the road, and Lisburn on Thursday the 22nd, about the same. On Halloween night itself your closest display is Newcastle, which is an hour south, or Derry, which is an hour and a half northwest.

If loud bangs are a problem

Two councils have thought about this properly and neither of them shouts about it.

Coleraine runs a quiet time from 5.30pm to 6.30pm and then a low noise display at 8.15pm, before the main fireworks at 9pm. So you can take a child who cannot cope with the bangs, see a full display, and be in the car before the loud one starts.

Lisburn goes further. The Relaxed Twilight Night on Wednesday 21 October, 6.30pm to 8.30pm in Wallace Park, has no fireworks, no strobe lighting and no lasers at all. That is deliberate. It is £2 a head, or £10 for a family of six. The regular Twilight Night with the fireworks finale is the following evening.

Worth knowing if you have an autistic child, or a dog, or you just do not fancy it.

The cheapest week of fireworks you will get

Six of the sixteen are free to watch with nothing to book. Mid Ulster runs four of those across four towns, Larne is free, and Derry, the biggest of the lot, costs nothing at all.

Where there is a charge it is small, but read the small print. Newtownabbey is a free ticket with a £2.50 booking fee per ticket, and everyone needs one including babies, so a family of five is £12.50 before you leave the house. Ballymena is £2.35 for anyone over twelve and free below that. Lisburn is £3 a head or £15 for a family of six.

The four Causeway Coast displays and Newcastle do not state a price on the council listings. They have been free to watch in the past, but I am not going to tell you they are free this year when the council has not said so. Check before you drive.

Check the day of the week, not just the date

Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday. Several official sites have not caught up, and they are the sites everyone else is copying from.

The Derry Halloween website still has a 2025 article live saying the fireworks are on “Friday October 31st”. Its what’s on page is headed 2026 but carries a banner reading “Tuesday 28th to Friday 31st October 2025”. Belfast City Council’s own page gives “Friday 25 to Friday 31 October”, and in 2026 the 25th is a Sunday. Newry, Mourne and Down has a page still live saying “Wednesday, 31 October”, which was 2018.

None of that means the events are wrong. It means the weekdays printed beside them are last year’s, or the year before’s. If you are booking time off or a hotel around one of these, go by the date and check it against a calendar yourself.

Still to be announced

Newry, Mourne and Down. Only Newcastle is published so far. Warrenpoint fires over Carlingford Lough most years, and Kilkeel, Crossmaglen and Downpatrick all usually have something. The council normally publishes around the 18th to the 23rd of October, so this should fill in within days. I will update this page when it does.

Enniskillen. There is a display, after a long back and forth at council. It was secured in July with up to £25,000 of council money, with Enniskillen BID running it. No date, time or venue published yet.

Omagh. The date and the town centre are confirmed for Saturday 31 October, and £25,000 was set aside, which makes it the first council funded Omagh display since 2019. The time has not been published.

Ards and North Down. Eleven Halloween events on the council listing and not a single firework among them. Seapark in Holywood used to do one but I can find no evidence of it since 2018, so do not travel for it.

If you only go to one

Derry, and it is not close. It is the fortieth year, the fireworks go up over the Foyle at about 8.15pm after the carnival parade at 7pm, and the whole walled city is part of it. The full Derry Halloween guide covers the programme, the parking and where to stay, because that is the one you need to plan rather than just turn up to.

If you want fireworks without the crowd, Dungannon is a good shout. They fire them from the Hill of The O’Neill above the town, so you get height and a backdrop rather than a field. And Ballycastle fires over the harbour on Halloween night itself, which beats a playing field.

Newcastle is the one to pick if you are making a weekend of it, because you are at the foot of the Mournes and Tollymore is ten minutes up the road for the following morning.

One honest caveat on all of them. Every display here is weather dependent and late October in Northern Ireland does what it likes. Craigavon was brought forward a day in 2025 because of wind. Check the council’s social media the afternoon of, not the week before.

Where to stay for Halloween in Northern Ireland

If you’re heading to the main event you’ll want to be in Derry. And it genuinely books out for the festival, so reserve early. Staying in or beside the Walled City means you can walk to the parade and fireworks.

• Bishop’s Gate Hotel. Elegant, historic, inside the walls.
• Shipquay Boutique Hotel. Stylish, overlooking the walls and Guildhall.
• Maldron Hotel Derry. Comfortable and well-priced, central.
• The Ebrington Hotel. Newer luxury with a spa, across the Peace Bridge.

Basing yourself in Belfast or Co. Down instead puts you near the castle trails, the folk museum and the pumpkin farms, and Derry is an easy day trip.

Book accommodation early for Halloween week. Derry in particular fills up months ahead. There is more on bases and areas in the Northern Ireland guide.

Compare places to stay in Derry and compare places to stay in Belfast. Derry across the Halloween weekend is the most expensive night of the year in that city, so book early.

Compare car hire for Northern Ireland. Public transport covers Belfast to Derry well and the country parks badly, so if the autumn walks are part of the plan you want a car.

When is Halloween in Northern Ireland?

Halloween falls on 31 October, and the festivities build across the last full week of the month, over the school half term. Aim for that final week to catch the most events, and book accommodation and tickets ahead, especially for Derry.

Why Northern Ireland is the home of Halloween

Halloween’s roots are Irish, its spirit is ancient, and its biggest European celebration is right here in the north. Whether you want the full spectacle of Derry, a family trail through a castle wood, a pumpkin patch, or just a golden autumn walk with a flask of tea, this is the place to be as the nights draw in. Because, in a very real sense, this is where it all began.

See the full guide to things to do in Northern Ireland for the rest of the year.

I share the stories behind these places on TikTok, then write up how to visit them here.

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About the author: [1–2 lines in your voice, e.g. “I’m [name], and I live in the north of Ireland. I spend my time exploring Donegal and Northern Ireland and sharing the real history and honest, checked-out travel tips behind every place, the stories the guidebooks skip.”]

What’s your favourite way to spend Halloween in Northern Ireland? Tell me in the comments.

Frequently asked questions

When is Halloween in Northern Ireland?

Halloween falls on 31 October, and the festivities build across the last full week of the month, over the school half term. Aim for that final week to catch the most events, and book accommodation and tickets ahead, especially for Derry.

What is the biggest Halloween event in Northern Ireland?

Derry Halloween, which is billed as Europe’s biggest Halloween festival. In 2026 it runs 28 October to 1 November and marks its 40th anniversary.

Why is Northern Ireland called the home of Halloween?

Because Halloween began here as Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the start of winter, celebrated across Ireland for over two thousand years. The bonfires, the disguises and the faces carved into turnips, not pumpkins, became the costumes, jack-o’-lanterns and trick-or-treating the world knows now.

Do you need to book Halloween events in Northern Ireland?

For the ticketed ones, yes, and early. The National Trust trails, the scare attractions and the pumpkin patches sell out over half term, and Derry fills up entirely. The street programme in Derry stays free and walk-up.

Are there Halloween events for young children in Northern Ireland?

Plenty. Boo at the Zoo and W5 in Belfast, the pumpkin patches, and the National Trust trails at Castle Ward, Mount Stewart and Hillsborough are all built for families rather than for scares.

What is there to do at Halloween that is not an event?

Walk. The autumn colour over the Halloween break is the best of the season, and a forest park with a flask of tea costs nothing and needs no booking.

Plan the rest of your trip

For the wider month, and the two after it, see Northern Ireland in October, Northern Ireland in November and Northern Ireland in December.

Halloween is the loudest week of the northern year, but the island’s ancient north is worth the drive in any season. If you’re building a longer trip around it, start here:

• Things to Do in Northern Ireland: The Ultimate Guide, the Causeway Coast, Belfast, the Mournes and the rest of the north.
• Things to Do in Donegal, just across the border, and the wildest stretch of the Wild Atlantic Way.
• Things to Do in Inishowen, the peninsula north of Derry, an easy add-on to a Halloween trip to the city.
• Doagh Famine Village, and for the darker history behind the season, this one is genuinely moving.

Browse tours and tickets across Northern Ireland

Some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you book through one I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I only link to things I would use myself. Event dates and opening hours are as published at the time of writing and are worth confirming before you travel.

The other November event in the north worth planning a weekend around is the Armagh Georgian Festival, held in the city’s original Georgian buildings.

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