Halloweentown, The Birds, and Bella’s truck are all real places, and October is the month to visit them

The best Halloween road trip on the West Coast doesn’t need a single haunted house. It needs a map, a full tank, and three towns that built real tourist stops out of the movies that made them famous.

One’s in Oregon, one’s in Washington, and one’s in Northern California. October is the month all three make the most sense.

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St. Helens, Oregon: the town that became Halloweentown

Disney’s Halloweentown was filmed in 1998, and most of it was shot in the Riverfront District of St. Helens, about 30 miles northwest of Portland. The town never stopped celebrating. Every fall since, it has turned that same riverfront into the Spirit of Halloweentown festival.

This year it runs on select days from September 26 through November 1, at 275 Strand Street. Expect a ticketed festival with parades, live performers, contests, a haunted house, and appearances by cast members from the Halloweentown films. Check the festival calendar before you drive out, since not every day is an event day.

Here’s a fun bonus: the city also counts the film adaptation of Twilight among the movies this town has served as a backdrop for. Yes, Oregon has a claim on that one too.

Forks, Washington: the real town behind the red truck

Forks sits on the Olympic Peninsula, roughly four hours from Seattle if you take the Bainbridge ferry and U.S. 101 through Port Angeles. The Chamber of Commerce is the unofficial headquarters for fans, with Bella’s red truck parked out front and a free self-guided map you can grab inside. The Forever Twilight collection at the Rainforest Arts Center shows off props and costumes year-round.

Honestly, the movie stops are only half the reason to go. October fog suits this corner of Washington, and you’re within an hour of some of the moodiest scenery in the state, like the Hoh Rain Forest and the glassy water of Lake Crescent.

Bodega Bay, California: Hitchcock’s birds still circle

Alfred Hitchcock shot The Birds around Bodega Bay and the tiny town of Bodega in 1963. The white Potter Schoolhouse, built in 1873, is the one everyone wants to see. It’s a private residence today, so admire it from a distance and leave the owners in peace.

You can actually go inside a few of the other spots. St. Teresa of Avila Church, built in 1860 on a hilltop, shows up in background scenes, and the Tides Wharf & Restaurant, used for the dock and restaurant scenes, is still operating, though it’s been remodeled since Hitchcock’s day. Sonoma County’s tourism site has a full list of filming stops if you want to hit them all.

Bodega Bay has one more screen credit that connects this whole trip. The final scene of The Goonies, the one where the kids reunite with their parents, was shot here, while Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach got the earlier treasure-hunt scenes. If you’re driving the coast anyway, our Haystack Rock guide covers the Oregon half of that story, and the Sonoma Coast State Park stretch around Bodega Bay is worth the extra hour.

How to string it together

Start in Bodega Bay while the coastal fog is still doing its best Hitchcock impression, head north for St. Helens before Halloweentown wraps on November 1, and finish on the Olympic Peninsula for Forks. That’s a long haul, so give it a long weekend or, better yet, a full week.

Which one would you chase first: the festival, the schoolhouse, or the truck?

Trip tips: grab a rental car to get out here, lock in your hotel before the good rooms are gone, or skip both and book a camper van instead.

Rules and fees change — always confirm current requirements before you go.