October half term is fast approaching, and families are looking for last-minute holiday deals from Manchester Airport. For most schools, half term runs from Monday October 26 to Friday October 30, meaning Halloween falls on the Saturday at the end of the break.
With that in mind, you could book a spooky getaway inspired by the season, think creepy castles, ghost tours and autumn celebrations. Manchester Airport has a network of over 200 destinations, offering plenty of choices for creepy getaways.
Spooky destinations and flight deals
You can check out locations that inspired iconic horror stories, from Dracula’s Castle in Romania to Frankenstein Castle in Germany, or take part in ‘Europe’s Largest Halloween Festival’ in Derry. Below are some of the best last-minute deals available for families this half term.
The prices quoted are the cheapest available between October 23 and November 2 inclusive when booking directly through the airline’s website. They are accurate at time of publication, and optional extras like hold luggage and seat selection may not be included.
From Dracula’s Castle to Tivoli Gardens
Fly direct from Manchester to Bucharest with Ryanair from £125pp return. High in the mountains north of Bucharest is Bran Castle, a gothic medieval fortress thought to have inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The castle hosts a week-long Halloween Festival leading up to the 31st, featuring costumed actors, Dracula-themed exhibits and tours, and a Halloween party in a neighbouring park.
Fly direct from Manchester to Derry with Ryanair from £75pp return. Derry’s world-renowned Halloween Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Billed by organisers as the largest of its kind in Europe, the festival includes light shows, acrobatics, musical performances and ghost tours around the city’s supposedly haunted sites, with an epic fireworks finale over the River Foyle on Halloween night.
Fly direct from Manchester to Copenhagen with Ryanair from £171pp return. Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens, a much-loved amusement park, lays on a one-month Halloween extravaganza throughout October. An open-air stage hosts artistic performances, special Halloween-themed rides appear for a limited time, and the park is decked out with more than 20,000 jack-o-lanterns.
More family-friendly Halloween breaks
Fly direct from Manchester to Dublin with Ryanair from £34pp return. Dublin is a vibrant modern metropolis, but a dark history lies underneath. The city’s award-winning Ghost Bus Kids Tour brings that history to life, with a tour storyteller keeping the whole family entertained. City streets are filled with decorations as Halloween draws near, and many popular historical sites have spooky stories attached.
Fly direct from Manchester to Prague with Ryanair from £120pp return. Prague’s medieval network of underground tunnels and passages have haunting stories to tell and are a great starting point for exploring the city, with its gothic architecture and storied history. The Prague Botanical Garden hosts a family-friendly program on Halloween itself, featuring lantern-making workshops, roasted sausages, and an evening lantern parade through the illuminated grounds.
Fly direct from Manchester to Barcelona with Vueling from £106pp return. In Catalonia, 31 October is La Castanyada, a traditional festival marking the start of the darker months. The symbol is the chestnut seller, an elderly woman in a headscarf who roasts nuts over an open fire. It’s traditional to buy roasted chestnuts, sweet potatoes and other snacks from street vendors, but modern Halloween traditions are also seeping in. At the city’s Poble Espanyol museum, a family-friendly festival includes potion workshops, haunted tunnels and DJ events in the evening.
Fly direct from Manchester to Frankfurt with Lufthansa from £196pp return. The medieval Frankenstein Castle on the edge of Darmstadt, near Frankfurt, is the setting for Mary Shelley’s gothic horror novel. The building is more than 800 years old and is supposedly inhabited by a plethora of ghouls, including a sleeping dragon and a coven of witches. It’s closed for renovation at the moment, but the nearby Königstein Castle is hosting the annual Frankenstein Halloween Festival. Also nearby is the Black Forest, which gave rise to many of the Brothers Grimm’s fairy stories.
Fly direct from Manchester to Venice with Ryanair from £111pp return. Venice is the home of the masquerade party, which has become something of a Halloween trope. The flooded streets and alleyways have stories of hauntings and dark history, and there are plenty of ghost and mystery tours available. These stories and legends are also brought to life around this time of year by the city’s museums and galleries.
