Peabody Essex Museum guide: ticket prices, hours and what to see

Updated in September 2026, this Peabody Essex Museum guide covers ticket prices, opening hours, parking, transport, accessibility and what to see.

The Peabody Essex Museum is an art and culture museum in Salem, Massachusetts, combining fine art, Asian export art and maritime history with a campus of historic houses. As of September 2026, the museum is open Thursday through Monday and closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, a schedule worth checking before a midweek trip. Opening hours and ticket prices were checked on the official website in September 2026, when this guide was last updated.

Quick facts

Peabody Essex Museum opening hours

The museum opens Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 10am to 5pm. It closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

It also closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is timed only for the Yin Yu Tang historic house and the seasonal Ropes Mansion, not for the main galleries.

Peabody Essex Museum ticket prices

Adult tickets cost $25, seniors aged 65 and over pay $23, and students with ID pay $15. Visitors under 16 and Salem residents enter free.

The museum is included on the Go City Boston Pass, exclusively among major city-pass schemes, alongside Boston attractions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Fenway Park tours, the Salem Witch Museum and the House of the Seven Gables.

Opening hours and ticket prices were checked on the official website and last updated in September 2026. Book online.

How to get to the Peabody Essex Museum

The museum stands at the corner of Essex and New Liberty Streets in downtown Salem, about 16 miles north of Boston.

By train, take the MBTA Commuter Rail (Newburyport/Rockport line) to Salem station, roughly half a mile from the museum. By bus, take the No. 450 from Haymarket in Boston. From mid-May through October, a seasonal ferry runs from Boston’s Long Wharf to Salem in about 50 minutes. Drivers should take Route 128 North to Exit 40A, then Route 114 East into Salem.

Parking at the Peabody Essex Museum

The closest option is the Museum Place Garage on New Liberty Street, directly opposite the museum, charging around $1.25 per hour under standard city rates.

Other options include the South Harbor Garage, the MBTA Commuter Rail Garage and a municipal lot on St Peter Street, plus limited metered on-street parking around Salem Common. Rates rise sharply on October weekends during Salem’s Haunted Happenings events, so early arrival is worthwhile that month.

How long to spend at the Peabody Essex Museum

The museum recommends allowing at least two hours for a first visit.

A ticket grants all-day access to the galleries, so visitors can pause for lunch and return. Those with limited time can follow the “PEM in an Hour” self-guided audio tour, which covers the collection’s highlights.

Accessibility at the Peabody Essex Museum

All public areas of the main museum are wheelchair accessible, though the historic houses are not.

Manual and wide wheelchairs, rollators and strollers are available to borrow from the coatroom. The museum is certified Sensory Inclusive through KultureCity, and offers EnChroma glasses, Braille brochures, large-print materials and assistive listening devices for programmes. Service dogs are welcome throughout the museum.

Inside the Peabody Essex Museum

Maritime art forms one of the museum’s core collections, reflecting Salem’s history as a shipping port, alongside ship logs and navigational instruments.

Asian export art traces centuries of trade between Asia, Europe and America, complemented by dedicated Japanese, Korean and South Asian art galleries.

Yin Yu Tang, a two-century-old Chinese house transported from China and reassembled on site, offers a rare example of Chinese domestic architecture, though preservation work is currently underway and access may be limited.

The Salem Witch Trials 1692 gallery examines the 1692 trials through original documents and artefacts connected to the city’s history.

American Art: Traditions Transformed and a growing Studio Glass collection cover American decorative and contemporary craft, while East India Marine Hall, on view long-term, displays the museum’s founding collection of global curiosities.

Practical visitor tips

Frequently asked questions about the Peabody Essex Museum

Things to do near the Peabody Essex Museum

• Salem Witch Museum visitor guide — a short walk away, covering the beliefs and events behind the 1692 witch trials.
• The House of the Seven Gables — a 17th-century mansion on Salem harbour that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel.
• Salem Maritime National Historic Site — a National Park Service site along Salem’s waterfront, with historic wharves and vessels.
• Salem Witch Trials Memorial — a small memorial park adjoining the Old Burying Point cemetery.
• New England Pirate Museum — a short walk from PEM, focused on regional maritime and piracy history.

Alternative attractions

• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — about 35 minutes’ drive south, with a broader encyclopaedic art collection.
• New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA — around two hours south, focused on New England’s whaling and maritime history.
• Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, CT — about two hours southwest, a maritime history museum with historic ships.
• Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA — roughly an hour and a half west, with a wide-ranging fine art collection.
• Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH — about an hour and a quarter northwest, with European and American collections.

More Massachusetts travel

Other Massachusetts travel guides on Planet Whitley include:

• A first time visitor’s guide to Salem, Massachusetts.
• How Salem became obsessed with Halloween.
• Plan your visit to Real Pirates Salem.
• Key information for visiting Devereux Beach in Marblehead.
• Boston’s coastal parks and beaches: Castle Island, Winthrop Beach and Revere Beach.