Haunted houses and Halloween nights in San Diego, and where to eat after

Halloween 2026 is a Saturday. It is still a long weekend: Nightmare on Normal Street fills Hillcrest on Friday, October 30, and the Día de los Muertos processions follow on Monday, November 2. The haunts are spread across the county: an outdoor trail in Balboa Park near downtown, Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld on Mission Bay, a trail through a closed amusement park in El Cajon, a haunted corn maze in Carlsbad, and a hayride near Julian. This is the scary half of a night out. The eating half is at the end, downtown, where three kitchens stay open until 11 p.m. or later on Fridays and Saturdays.

I write the haunt guides on Mr. Fear, a Halloween site, and I am a guest here. Top of San Diego asked for the haunted houses. They supplied the tables.

The night, in order

Pick the haunt before the costume, because the rules differ. Howl-O-Scream does not allow costumes or face paint. The Haunted Trail allows costumes but makes you take your mask off. LEGOLAND allows full masks on children only. Buy ahead where you can: the Haunted Trail sells timed tickets online and Fort Cross takes prepaid reservations only. The Carlsbad maze is walk-in only. If you choose The Haunted Amusement Park, the operator says its lines are longest from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and suggests arriving after 8:45 p.m. Use its free lot; cars on nearby roads may be towed. Eat after, not before. Nothing here is worse than a mile of dark trail on a full stomach. Clocks go back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1. No City of San Diego or county trick-or-treat hours or curfew rule was found, so none are listed here.

The haunted houses

• The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park, Balboa Park: one ticket covers the eXperiment Maze and the mile-long trail through the park’s oak grove. The operator says it has run for 27 years. Select nights from September 25 to November 1, closed most Mondays and some Tuesdays. Not recommended under 10; pregnant guests and carried children are not admitted.
• Howl-O-Scream, SeaWorld on Mission Bay: six haunted houses, eight scare zones and six themed bars. Select nights from September 11 to October 31, starting at 7 p.m., with entry from 6 p.m. SeaWorld does not recommend it under 13.
• The Haunted Amusement Park, El Cajon: a one-mile outdoor scare trail, about 30 minutes, on the grounds of the closed 1960s Marshal Scotty’s Playland. Select nights from September 25 to November 1. Children under 5 and strollers are not admitted, and closed-toe shoes are required.
• Haunted Corn Maze at Carlsbad Strawberry Company, Carlsbad: a walk-through haunted maze, Fridays and Saturdays from October 2 to 31, 7 to 10 p.m. No minimum age is posted; the operator says it is for teenagers and adults.
• Haunted Harvest Hayride at Fort Cross, Santa Ysabel: ghost stories, then a haunted hayride and a walk through dark woods. The operator calls it subtle but creepy, with no chainsaw chases. Saturdays, October 3, 10, 17 and 24, and Friday, October 30, by reservation. The operator says it is not intended for kids.
• Whaley House Museum, Old Town: year-round. Evening tours need a reservation. Everyone under 18 must be with a parent or guardian.

With kids

The big haunts are not the plan for young children. The organized family nights are. Brick-or-Treat at LEGOLAND California in Carlsbad runs on weekends from September 19 to November 1, included with park tickets, and is designed for ages 2 to 12. HalGLOWeen at the San Diego Zoo runs October weekend nights from 5 p.m., and in October children 11 and younger enter free with a paying adult. Birch Aquarium’s Halloween Aglow in La Jolla is October 23 and 24, 6 to 8:30 p.m., on a separate ticket. Seaport Village holds Bayside Boo on Halloween night, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. By day, Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center has free admission to its pumpkin patch through October 31, and Pumpkin Station in Escondido has free entry, a corn maze and a petting zoo.

Twenty-one and over

Birch Aquarium’s Oceans at Night: Halloween is 21 and over on Thursday, October 22, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., and costumes are encouraged. The San Diego Zombie Crawl runs through Gaslamp Quarter bars on October 23, 24, 30 and 31 from 6 p.m., checking in at American Junkie on 5th Avenue; no age limit is stated, so check the ticket page. Nightmare on Normal Street is Hillcrest’s costume street party, and the organizer lists it on Friday, October 30, not Saturday. Ghost City Tours also runs an adults-only haunted pub crawl in the Gaslamp, where guests must be 21 to drink.

What is not open this year

The Scream Zone at the Del Mar Fairgrounds is taking a hiatus for 2026. El Cajon canceled its 2026 HauntFest on Main for budget reasons; The Haunted Amusement Park, also in El Cajon, is a separate attraction and is open. The Haunted Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter has been closed since 2024 while it looks for a new location,

The full list

Dates, ticket rules, ages and directions for every one of these, plus the Día de los Muertos altars in Old Town and Sherman Heights, the ghost tours and the pumpkin patches, are on my beat, not a restaurant site’s. The full San Diego haunted house and Halloween events guide on Mr. Fear has all 22 listings checked against each organizer’s own page, with the links to book.

Where to eat after

The Haunted Trail in Balboa Park is near downtown, and the Zombie Crawl checks in on 5th Avenue, the same street as two of these three. These three are on the Top of San Diego late-night food list. The scores are theirs, not mine.