The vibrant city of London becomes filled with scary fun and surprises as October begins. As the spooky season starts and the days become darker, the city transforms into a chilling, exciting environment packed full of frights that get your heart pounding. From eerie walking tours and haunted historic landmarks to family-friendly Halloween activities and terrifying events, London offers plenty of ways to celebrate the spookiest time of the year.
Whether you’re planning a thrilling night of scares and jumps with your friends, want to have a unique date night with your partner, or create a memorable family day trip that excites the kids, there’s something for everyone in London during Halloween. However, because there are so many activities, events, sites and entertainment for the spooky season, it can be hard to find the best things to do in London for Halloween. To help you celebrate Halloween in the best way for you, we’ve created this guide to give you utterly thrilling ideas that are bound to create an unforgettable, heart-racing experience. Explore these scary ideas and discover our Jack the Ripper Halloween experience for the perfect spooky night that uncovers the true story of the infamous killer in an engaging, immersive way.
Why Spend Halloween in London?
Unlike other cities, London is bursting with a great combination of history, atmosphere and entertainment, especially during spooky season. It has centuries-old streets, historic buildings and incredibly fascinating stories, which all make the capital an ideal destination for Halloween. Alongside this, the city combines its history with creepy attractions, chilling theatre shows and incredible restaurants with seasonal food and drinks, allowing you to find something for everyone to enjoy this scary time of year.
Halloween in London caters to any kind of visitor. Those who are looking for creepy historical stories can easily explore the capital’s darker past, while families can enjoy themed days out, autumn adventures and fun attractions and events. For adult-only terrors at night, there are immersive walking tours, like our Jack the Ripper tour, scary nightlife and fun experiences that will make you jump.
All of these vibrant events, experiences and attractions aren’t just limited to the 31st of October. They occur before the terrifying night and slightly after, so that you can enjoy the full spooky season during the month, especially during the October half-term holidays.
The Best Halloween Activities in London
If you’re looking for the best Halloween activities in London this spooky season, look no further than these frightfully delightful things to do in and around the city.
Halloween Jack the Ripper Tour
One of the greatest and spookiest Halloween activities around London to do is our Halloween Jack the Ripper Tour. Filled with thrills, chilling details, dark history and immersive storytelling, our night-time walking tour uncovers the true story of the unknown serial killer. Led by expert Ripperologists and Jack the Ripper enthusiasts, who are also a part of the Cloak and Dagger Club (a theatrical group), our tour takes you back to the dark, eerie streets of Whitechapel and immerses you in the fear and gore that frightened everyone in the area during that fateful autumn in 1888.
At our Jack the Ripper Halloween experience, you can visit the murder sites of the Canonical Five victims, explore other key locations in the Ripper story, see photos from Victorian London and crime scenes, learn about the Ripper suspects to build your theory on who the killer was, enjoy excellent and knowledgeable storytelling that grips you every step of the way from our expert Ripperologists, step back in time with our exclusive Ripper-Vision technology and discover the identity of the prime suspect that should have been hunted!
Watch Halloween Classics at JOIA Rooftop Pop Up Cinema
Enjoy Halloween classics at JOIA’s rooftop at London Battersea Power Station with their pop-up cinema. This experience allows you to enjoy a delicious dinner with a rooftop screening of a Halloween favourite, with a different film every night during spooky season. From Edward Scissorhands to Ghostbusters, sit back and try to relax with these scary, thrilling classics.
Head Underground on a Halloween Tunnel Walk
This spooky season, you can head underground and explore an abandoned part of London at the Postal Museum. Catch a thrill after-hours on this creepy tunnel walk that uncovers the lurking shadows of the old mail rail network with a few scares along the way. This experience allows you to uncover one of London’s best-kept secrets on a thrilling walk.
Have a Magically Frightful Day at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter
For Harry Potter fans, there’s a magically frightful experience at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London with the popular Dark Arts takeover. This is one of the best family-friendly Halloween activities in London that’s filled with scary yet whimsical Halloween magic. Become a Hogwarts student and hunt for the Dark Mark, while also exploring the stunning sets and props, costumes and models.
Take a Ghost Tour of London
Across the city, there are many ghost tours you can take once night falls. Each of these explores London after dark and shares the ghoulish tales of its haunted past either on foot or on a rooftop bus. You’ll explore eerie landmarks and historic buildings filled with ghosts and things that go bump in the night!
The Top Halloween London Events
London is also filled with creepy events that are bound to get your heart racing, while offering hours of fun during the spooky season. Explore these top Halloween London events to find something that everyone will love.
London Dungeon Halloween Show
The London Dungeon is a horrifying, popular place to explore. It's filled with immersive, spooky theatre performances and terrifying tales that captivate you and also make you jump out of your skin. During the spooky season, there will be a fantastic yet frightening Halloween show that will make the hairs on your arms stand on end. These theatrical shows are funny, horrific and one of the best Halloween London events!
Room 13 Horror Production at Battersea Arts Centre
At Battersea Arts Centre, a wonderful horror production is coming that uncovers room 13. This event shares creepy local history and spooky imaginative stories, as you immerse yourself in a fictional world based on the aftermath of the fire at the centre. Enjoy a chilling experience that delves into the supernatural and local paranormal cases.
Face Zombies in Deadwood Valley at Sandbox VR
Want to find Halloween events around London that will get your adrenaline pumping? Deadwood Valley at Sandbox VR will do just that. Enjoy a zombie thrill-ride through a town in the apocalypse and see if you can survive. You can decide how the story ends and beat the zombies or die trying.
Enjoy London’s Month of the Dead
What’s a better Halloween event in London than the city’s Month of the Dead? For the whole of October during spooky season, you can experience fascinating talks on the macabre, candlelit cemetery concerts and classic horror film screenings. Learn more about London’s haunting past and enjoy a spooky atmosphere throughout the city centre.
Things to Do in London on Halloween for Adults
There are so many things to do in London on Halloween and around the spooky season for adults. The city offers a wide range of activities, experiences, attractions and events that adults can enjoy once night falls and even during the day. You can make the most of Halloween in London whether you’re with friends or having a scary, unique date night with your partner!
Adults-Only Halloween Night at The Natural History Museum
Things can go bump in the night at the Natural History Museum this Halloween with its popular adults-only Halloween night. Once darkness falls over the city, the museum is open after hours for a fun-filled scary night that immerses you in creepy entertainment and live music. You can even dance the night away at the silent disco or take a breather exploring the exhibitions away from the crowds!
Choose Heaven or Hell at Aqua Kyoto and Aqua Nueva
At Aqua Kyoto and Aqua Nueva, things are getting a little darker this spooky season. You can choose heaven or hell as two worlds collide, showcasing the ethereal and the underworld. There are temptations around every corner and outstanding, unique Halloween cocktails to enjoy. With DJs, themed dancers and even a Tarot reader, this is a fun night out with friends.
Catch a Thrill at an Immersive Fright Night
If you’re looking for absolutely terrifying things to do in London during Halloween with friends or with your partner, you can catch a thrill at All Hallows Eve's new scream park. This is bound to get your heart racing and give you the fright of your life. If you’re brave enough, you can enjoy a nail-biting immersive Halloween experience with jumps around every corner, chilling live theatre and immersive storytelling that will scare you to death!
Enjoy a Covert Bootlegging Operation at Alcotraz Cocktail Experience
Step back in time to the year 1934 and become a part of Clyde Cassidy’s gang, America’s most wanted liquor smuggler, and take on the mission of infiltrating the secret prison. This immersive behind-the-bars experience combines delicious, quirky cocktails served by your inmates with crooked guards and a secretive prison storyline. There are even secret missions to get involved in and a terrifying warden to fool!
Halloween Things to Do in London for Families
The capital city is also full of Halloween things to do in London for families, making sure that children don’t miss out on the spooky fun. Families can enjoy fun days out or evenings out that add a tiny bit of scare mixed with lots of enjoyment to your typical adventures.
Halloween Light Trail Kew Gardens
One of the greatest things to do in London for Halloween as a family is the spooky light trail at Kew Gardens. You can meet some creepy beings lurking around every corner of the botanical gardens in the dark while also taking in the beautiful, seasonal light installations as you walk. As well as this, you can enjoy Halloween treats after the walk to warm you up.
Have a Halloween Adventure with Brick or Treat at Legoland Windsor
Go on an exciting Halloween adventure at Legoland® Windsor with the Brick or Treat family fun event. This runs throughout the spooky season and is full of enjoyment, laughter and unforgettable family memories with a fun scary twist. Find haunting models, have a dance with the monsters and party the day away to celebrate Halloween.
Head to Pumpkin Patch
Why not get out of the bustling city to London’s outskirts to enjoy a family fun day out at a pumpkin patch. Whether you go to Hobblesdown Heath pumpkin patch or want to make pumpkin picking even more exciting at Tulleys Farm Pumpkin Festival, getting out in nature, picking pumpkins, having fun with seasonal creative activities, taking plenty of scenic photos and enjoying autumn treats makes one of the best Halloween activities in London for families.
Walk a Scary Trail at the Tower of London
The Tower of London is a very historic landmark of the capital city. Its past is filled with stories of torture, prisoners and executions, which makes it quite a scary place to be during the spooky season. As the nights get darker and Halloween approaches, the tower transforms into a spooky trail that explores the iconic landmark, while kids can try to spot medieval queens, Roman soldiers and wizards that haunt the grounds.
Book Our Jack the Ripper Halloween Tour
Don’t miss out on our Jack the Ripper Halloween tour this spooky season, as it’s one of the best Halloween activities in London that offers a unique, chilling and utterly compelling experience that you won’t get anywhere else. Walk through the eerie streets of Whitechapel and learn more about the Ripper’s chilling crimes from our expert guides. This isn’t like any other walking tour in the city. It’s a theatrical, exciting, historic and nail-biting tour that’s completely immersive and spine-tinglingly spooky and will have everyone hooked.
Book our Halloween Jack the Ripper experience this spooky season and work out who dunnit based on gruelling facts.
