Count-Alty's Fang-Tastic Halloween Trail runs 26 October to 1 November, 10am to 4pm, free. Where last year's trail started and what else is on in town.

Altrincham’s free Halloween trail is on again this year. Altrincham BID has listed Count-Alty’s Fang-Tastic Halloween Trail for Monday 26 October to Sunday 1 November 2026, which is the Trafford half-term week plus the weekend after it. Its calendar entries run 10am to 4pm.

The quick answer

  • Count-Alty’s Fang-Tastic Halloween Trail: 26 October to 1 November, 10am to 4pm, town centre. Organised by Altrincham BID, which runs Visit Altrincham. Free in every past year.
  • The BID has only posted a “save the date” so far. Where to collect the trail sheet, the prizes and the sponsors are not published yet.
  • Last year’s trail started at Everyman Altrincham on George Street, and so did the two before it.
  • No trams run to Altrincham that week. The line is shut from 19 October to 1 November.

Checked on 28 September 2026 against Altrincham BID’s own events calendar and news posts.

What is confirmed for 2026

The BID added the trail to the Visit Altrincham events calendar in the last week of September. The listing says, in full, that the trail runs “from 26th October to 1st November”, that it is “organised by Altrincham BID, who operate Visit Altrincham”, and that it is a Halloween themed trail for all the family. Each daily entry on the calendar is timed 10am to 4pm.

That is all that is published. Not yet announced: the pick-up point for the trail sheet, whether there is a prize, the sponsors, and any linked workshops. On past form those details arrive in the first half of October: the 2025 trail was announced on 13 October and the 2024 one on 2 October.

How it has worked before

The trail changes theme every year but keeps the same shape: a free sheet, a set of characters hidden in shop windows around the centre, and a word or puzzle to solve at the end. All three past years come from the BID’s own announcements.

Year Theme Dates Hours Where the sheet came from
2023 Ghosts and ghouls trail Tuesday 24 to Sunday 29 October 10am to 4pm Café bar at Everyman Altrincham, WA14 1RF
2024 Wicker Witches’ Halloween Trail Tuesday 29 October to Sunday 3 November 10am to 4pm Everyman Altrincham, which sponsored it
2025 Enchanted Halloween town trail Friday 24 October to Sunday 2 November 10am to 4pm Everyman Altrincham, 74-78 George Street, WA14 1RF

2025 in detail. Families collected a trail sheet at Everyman, found the ghouls, ghosts and monsters hidden in shop windows, collected magic words at stops along the way and unscrambled them into a spell. The BID also put up 10 large Halloween installations for photos and hung pumpkin lanterns in the trees along Shaw’s Road. It was sponsored by Bruntwood and Everyman and part funded through Trafford Council from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

2024 had handmade wicker witches’ hats, spiders, bats and stars to find, with wand making at OYEZ Arts workshops in the Town Hall on Saturday 26 October, the weekend before it started. In 2023 a solved clue won a chance of a family ticket to the Everyman.

If 2026 follows the pattern, the sheet will be at Everyman on George Street, but the BID has not said so yet and we will confirm it here rather than assume it.

Also on in Altrincham that week

From the organisers’ own listings, checked on 5 October:

What When Where Price
Meet the Gruffalo, story session with the new book Gruffalo Granny Wednesday 28 October, 10am and 2pm Waterstones, 33-35 George Street Ticketed; one adult per family goes free
Halloween Spooktacular musical theatre holiday club Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 October, 10am to 3.30pm, show on the Friday at 3pm Aura Music Academy, 4 Lloyd Street £45 deposit secures a place; 30 places
Halloween arts and craft half term, a different project each day Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, 10am to 3pm MogeMoge Art Education, 8A Goose Green, WA14 1DW £58 a day, materials included; ages 5 to 9 and 10 to 14; book by WhatsApp on 07922 184178
Claymation workshop: Boo the Halloween Ghost Thursday 29 October, 10am and 1pm Waterside, Sale £10, concessions £8
Dayglo of the Dead family rave Saturday 31 October, 2.30pm Waterside, Sale £7, all ages

The Gruffalo, Aura and MogeMoge details are from their entries on the Visit Altrincham calendar. Waterstones asks for only one grown up per family where possible, to save space.

Further afield, Gandeys Circus has its Halloween show in the Trafford Centre’s P7 car park from 10 October to 1 November; times and prices are on our Trafford Centre Halloween circus page. Dunham Massey has a family trail and drop-in crafts through half term, and the house closes for the season on 1 November. Everything else for the week is on our October half term page.

Getting there: the tram is off

The trail week falls entirely inside the Altrincham line closure. No trams run to or from Altrincham from Monday 19 October to Sunday 1 November, while TfGM works at Deansgate-Castlefield and Trafford Bar. The replacement buses start at Sale, not Altrincham. Our tram closure page has the detail, and which tickets work on the train and the 263 bus is covered separately.

That pushes more people into the car, and the town centre car parks fill first on the Saturday. Our Altrincham parking page has the tariffs and closing times for each one. For any roadworks around the centre that week, check our Altrincham roadworks and travel page.

What this page will say next

When Altrincham BID publishes the full announcement, this page gets the trail sheet pick-up point, the theme, any prize, the sponsors and any workshops, sourced to the BID. Expect that in the first half of October.

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