Halloween in Chester 2026: zoo trail 17 Oct to 1 Nov, a free city trail, the £12 children's ghost walk on 29 Oct, Holt pumpkins and fireworks on the 31st.
Halloween in Chester ends with the biggest night of the autumn: the Lord Mayor’s Spooktacular Fireworks at Chester Racecourse on Saturday 31 October 2026, which falls on Halloween itself this year. Before that there is a fortnight of trails, a children’s ghost walk, pumpkin picking just over the Welsh border and a Halloween programme at Chester Zoo. Every listing below was checked on the organiser’s own page on 3 October 2026.
The quick answer
- Halloween night: Saturday 31 October, fireworks at the racecourse. Gates 4.30pm, junior display 6.45pm, main display 7.30pm, early bird tickets £10, under 5s free. Full details on our fireworks page.
- Free in the city: Chester BID’s Step Into the Shadows trail, 24 October to 1 November, with a £50 gift card to win.
- Spookiest thing for children: the Half Term Children’s Ghost Walk from the Town Hall, Thursday 29 October at 5.30pm, £12 for an adult and two children.
- Pumpkin picking: Bellis Brothers at Holt, about 20 minutes south, booking essential.
- Half term for council schools is Monday 26 to Friday 30 October; the rest of the week’s shows are on our half term page.
Halloween in Chester at a glance
| What | Where | When | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halloween at Chester Zoo | Chester Zoo, Upton | 17 Oct to 1 Nov, 10am to 4.30pm | Included with zoo entry |
| Halloween at BeWILDerwood | BeWILDerwood Cheshire, Cuddington | Weekends from 3 Oct, daily 24 Oct to 1 Nov, 11am to 6pm | Day ticket, advance discounts |
| Halloween at The Hole in Wand | The Hole in Wand, Chester | 10 Oct to 1 Nov | Normal golf price |
| Step Into the Shadows trail | Chester city centre | 24 Oct to 1 Nov | Free |
| Halloween Family Trail | Ness Botanic Gardens | 24 Oct to 2 Nov, 10.30am to 3.30pm | Included with garden admission |
| Children's Ghost Walk | From Chester Town Hall | Thu 29 Oct, 5.30pm to 7pm | £12 adult, two children free |
| Coco, rooftop screening | Rooftop Social Club | Fri 30 Oct, from 4pm | £13.50 |
| Little Monsters Breakfast Banquet | The Ivy Chester | Sat 31 Oct and Sun 1 Nov, from 11am | £27.50 child, £32.50 adult |
| Spooktacular Fireworks | Chester Racecourse | Sat 31 Oct, gates 4.30pm | From £10, under 5s free |
Halloween night: fireworks at the racecourse
This year the Lord Mayor’s fireworks are on Halloween rather than bonfire weekend, and the racecourse has renamed them The Lord Mayor’s Spooktacular Fireworks. Its event page gives the running order: gates 4.30pm, junior display 6.45pm, main display 7.30pm, fairground closes 9pm, gates close 9.30pm. Early bird general admission is £10, children aged 4 and under go free, and the £35 VIP package includes “haunted trick or treat activities” and unlimited rides until 7pm.
There is no parking at the racecourse; the racecourse points drivers to the council car park opposite. Sparklers are banned and the site is cashless. Prices, packages and the parking detail are on our fireworks page.
Chester Zoo: the Top Trumps Halloween trail
Halloween at Chester Zoo runs from Saturday 17 October to Sunday 1 November, 10am to 4.30pm. This year it is a Top Trumps trail around the Islands zone: pick up a map, find out which animal you are playing as, compare your “stats” with the giant cards, and collect an exclusive Top Trumps card at the end. There are pumpkin sculptures too. The zoo says the trail and the pumpkins are included with zoo entry and free for members; Halloween face painting costs extra.
Ignore the zoo’s older autumn page if a search sends you there: it still shows last year’s dates, 18 October to 2 November.
In the city centre
Step Into the Shadows is Chester BID’s free Halloween trail, from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November. Find at least 10 “candy clues” hidden in city centre businesses, note the colour and design of each, and enter for the chance to win a £50 Chester Gift Card (Chester BID). It costs nothing and fits around a shopping trip.
The rest of the city’s Halloween listings, all from the Chester BID events calendar:
- The Hole in Wand, the wizard-themed crazy golf, adds a “spin the wheel” Halloween challenge from 10 October to 1 November, pitched as fun “without the scares”
- Halloween Workshop at Lush, 26 to 31 October, £4.50
- Halloween Art Academy at The Art School Chester, 27 to 30 October
- Coco on the roof: Storyhouse’s Moonlight Flicks screens Pixar’s Coco at Rooftop Social Club on Friday 30 October from 4pm, £13.50
- Little Monsters Breakfast Banquet at The Ivy, 31 October and 1 November, seatings from 11am, £27.50 children and £32.50 adults with a Halloween gift for children; there is a £10 non-refundable deposit per person
The children’s ghost walk, 29 October
The museums service has listed its Half Term Children’s Ghost Walk for Thursday 29 October, 5.30pm to 7pm. It is a family-friendly walk led by guide Ann, and the details matter:
- Book first through the Grosvenor Museum on 01244 972197
- £12 per adult with two children free, paid to the guide on the day, cash only
- Meet at 5.20pm at the flagpole in front of the Town Hall on Northgate Street
- There are steps on the route
It was added to the museums’ calendar at the end of September, so places are likely to go quickly.
Pumpkin picking near Chester
Bellis Brothers, Holt (Wrexham Road, LL13 9YU) is the nearest farm patch to Chester with a 2026 page. Its Pick Your Own Pumpkins and Spooky Maize Maze 2026 page sets the rules:
- Booking is essential, but tickets are free and are one per vehicle, not per person. You book a 30-minute arrival slot and can be refused if you arrive outside it
- Pay for what you pick, by cash or card, with size boards as a guide
- Spooky Maize Maze £2.50 per person, under 3s free, cash only
- Open 10am to 5pm, last maze entry 4pm; on Friday 30 October it closes at 2pm
- Free parking; no dogs in the pumpkin fields; wellies recommended
Bellis does not print its open days on that page; they are on the booking calendar. Opening depends on pumpkin stock and the weather, and the farm says it will email ticket holders and post on Facebook if it cannot open.
Other farms around Chester mostly announce their pumpkin days on Facebook only, which we cannot check reliably, so they are not listed here.
Further out
- BeWILDerwood Cheshire, near Cuddington: Halloween at BeWILDerwood runs 3 and 4, 10 and 11, and 17 and 18 October, then every day from 24 October to 1 November, 11am to 6pm. Children are encouraged to dress up for Twig or Treating with the park’s characters, face stencils and a spooky disco, and the day ends on the Glowing Light Trail as it gets dark. A limited number of tickets on each date are 25% off and all advance bookings get 12.5% off.
- Ness Botanic Gardens, near Neston: the Halloween Family Trail runs 24 October to 2 November, 10.30am to 3.30pm, a 40-minute book trail for 5 to 12 year olds, free with garden admission. The gardens also list a Halloween family workshop and biscuit decorating over half term.
For grown-ups on the 31st
From the BID calendar: a Halloween Haunted House Day Party at The Guild, 3pm on Saturday 31 October, £30, seven hours of house music in the chapel; Radiohead X Nosferatu at Picturehouse, the 1922 silent film set to Kid A and Amnesiac, from 6pm; and Halloween nights at Northgates, Bonobo (30 October) and Rosies.
Getting around on Halloween night
With the fireworks drawing a crowd to the Roodee from 4.30pm, the riverside car parks will fill early on 31 October. Our parking in Chester page has every council tariff, and Chester roadworks and travel will carry the racecourse road closures once they are published.
We will check every listing again in half term week and add anything new the organisers publish.
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