What a SCREAM!
Your guide to the best Halloween fun both here and abroad
WHAT is it about getting scared witless that gives us all such a thrill? What’s really frightening though is what your own kids have planned for you at home and all those kids coming to your door trickor-treating... and the thought of tidying up after... Mail Weekend Travel has scared up these deals.
HOTEL WESTPORT, CO. MAYO
IT’LL be all fright on the night. The dark is the best time to tell all your ghost stories. So why not have your own story-telling session at the four-star Westport.
It has a three-night Ghoulish Getaway, with breakfast each morning and dinner on one night from €439 for a family of four. And a two-night Spooky Special, with breakfast each morning and dinner on one night from €299. For October 19/20/21, November 1/2/3.
The best bit is hotel guests get a discounted family pass to Westport House Halloween Fest, at €45 for two adults/two kids. www.hotelwestport.ie or call (098) 251122.
DERRY HALLOWEEN
THEY’VE only billed this as the Best Halloween Destination in the World but then it is an eight-day festival from October 26-November 3 with more than 100 eerie events. The carnival parade and fireworks display on Halloween itself are the highlights. visit www.discovernorthernireland.com.
FOTA ISLAND SELF-CATERING LODGE, CORK
PAH. that doesn’t sound frightening at all. But put it together with Spooky Town in the woods of the Fota Island Resort and then the fun really begins.
Meet Wendy the Witch, Dawn of the Dead, Paddy the Pumpkin, Mammy the Mummy and Count Derekula as you make your way through its streets.
A two-night break for two adults (or groan-ups) and two children in a Fota Island self-catering lodge with tickets for all to Spooky Town is priced from €590.
Open until Sunday, November 4. Call (021) 488 3700/ www.fotaisland.com.
RADISSON BLU HOTEL ATHLONE
THE Middle Ages were the heyday for witchcraft and wizardry and the Medieval town of Athlone sure has its fair share of ghoulish tales.
Follow the Pumpkin Passage through the Forbidden Forest, cast spells with a scary witch and enter the eerie maze of Glendeer.
The Family Spooktastic package is available this mid-term break,
October 28-November 5, from €105 per adult sharing, based on a maximum of three children and includes a family pass to Glendeer Pet Farm’s Halloween event and other goodies. Visit www.radissonblu.com/en/hotel-athlone. Ring (090) 644 2600.
CLIFF AT LYONS, CELBRIDGE, CO. KILDARE
SOMETIMES you don’t need bells and whistles, just some frighten- ingly good Halloween fare and a right-riveting tale. The Cliff at Lyons offers guests staying on Halloween the Spooktacular Halloween Afternoon Tea from 1pm to 4pm.
There will be stories and Halloween themed sweet and savoury treats for all the family.
Midterm Magic is €510 per family, two adults/two kids under 12. Spooktacular Halloween Afternoon Tea is €35 per adult and €20 per child. (01) 630 3500. Visit
www.cliffatlyons.ie.
BRAM STOKER FESTIVAL
WHETHER you live in Dublin or are just having a break you should bow and waft your cape to the man who brought Count Dracula to the world, Bram Stoker. His festival runs from October 26-29. Visit www.bramstokerfestival.com.
AMERICA
ALTHOUGH it’s our festival, it would be churlish to deny that the Americans, took it ran with it and now do it bigger, better and brasher.
And nowhere better than Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando and in Hollywood. Over selected nights up until November 3 horror fans can test their nerves as they pass through Universal’s notorious haunted houses (the good news is that there are more scare zones than ever). Watch out too for things that go bump in the night and scareactors that look to real.Visit www. orlando.halloweenhorrornights.com. All major airlines fly to Orlando.
Little did the natives of the unremarkable Massachussetts town of Salem know when they hunted down a group of their own young women that it would have spawned an industry. The Salem Witchhunts is still remembered today, probably because of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible.
Running right through this month, Salem remembers the withchhunt with a series of events and effects with the Salem Witches Ball catching the eye. Visit www.festivalofthedead.com/ witchesball. Salem is just 26kms north of Boston.
ENGLAND
LIKE ourselves they spent much of the Middle Ages hunting witches. The usual London landmarks will give you all the thrills and spills you need, particularly the London Dungeons and also for Halloween the London Eye. But go out onto the streets for the real-life horror tales, hauntings and ghouls.
The walking tours will throw up the ghost of William Wallace, he of Braveheart fame. He was hung, drawn and quartered in London. Equally the ghost of Queen Isabella of France is also said to haunt the streets of London.
For more up to date wizardry go outside London to Hertfordshire for the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Visit www.wbstudiotour. co.uk. Ring (0044)
345 084 0900.
MEXICO
DIA de los Meurtos, or Day of the Dead is the sort of pitch Stephen King would kill for. But this is Mexican folklore. It begins with three days of celebration on October 31. The spirits of the dead return to be together with their families on this day. See www. visitmexico.com
ROMANIA
BACK to Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler to give him his Sunday name.
You’ll find him right at the heart of things in his home country of Romania. you can even party in Bran Castle or stay the night in a haunted castle. Visit transylvania.com.