Greenbelt Park Campground — Greenbelt Park

This is an urban oasis.  Traffic can be heard but not seen.  Weekdays are pretty quiet in this campground. Living nearby but storing my popup camper elsewhere, I often park my camper here for a few days while I pack it for a trip.  It's also just nice to experience that "getaway" feeling without being too far from home.  Rangers keep a close eye on things, and there are monthly programs at the campfire circle that I sometimes attend even when not camping here.  No electric or hook ups.  There is a dump station and water available at spickets throughout the campground.  Showers and bathrooms are basic and clean.   Oh, and bonus, the American Discovery Trail (ADT) passes through the park.  https://discoverytrail.org/

Sites were well-maintained, including lavatories. Plenty of tree cover. NOTE: park service forbade tying lines or straps to the trees at the time of our visit (Autumn 2024), so if you favor hammock camping or deploying tarps/ridgelines, plan accordingly.

This is a fairly nice, bare bones NPS campground. If you are really looking for somewhere to feel far away from civilization and see some beautiful scenery, this probably isn't it. Helicopters and planes fly over regularly, and you can hear sirens from neighboring college park. The campsites are pretty close together, we could see probably about 10 or so other campsites from our campsite. And there is not a ton to do within the park itself -- there are a few picnic areas, a pretty unimpressive small playground, some nature/walking trails, and that's about it.

But it is a pretty nice campground -- campsites and showers seem clean and well maintained, bathrooms are fine and you're never far away from one. Rangers come around regularly to check on things and every one we interacted with was extremely friendly. I don't think there's anything comparable so close to DC, so if you're in the DC area and just want someplace close by for a short camping trip, or are looking for an affordable outdoors-y option to stay while you're visiting DC from out of town, this probably fits the bill. As soon as you leave the park you are in College Park with Metro access close by, and very close to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

Quick one night stop on our way south. While the sites are pretty exposed, it was a cold night so there were only a few other campers!

The bathroom was clean and extremely warm which was much appreciated after a cold night.

Beautiful campground, fairly large with 4 separate loops. Loop A is for organized groups/youth/scouts, Loop B is for tents and RVs under 30 ft, Loop C is for tents, and Loop D is for tents and RVs under 35 ft. No hookups at any of the sites.

There’s a dump station and drinking water fill in loop C (sorry tenters who wanted to avoid RVs). The water fill was a little annoying in that there’s a handle you have to hold down the whole time, but we used a rock to prop the handle down. 

The bathhouses are ok, happy to have free showers with hot running water. Faucets allow you to control the temperature and there’s continuous running water (no button to push). There’s only one large shower per bath house, and you only have a curtain (no door and no lock). Sites vary in levelness, some are fairly level and some are on a mini hill. Driveways are all very narrow. Most have too much tree cover for solar or starlink, but some sites are more open and you might be able to make it work. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Cost is $20/night, must reserve on recreation.gov, and you can do that when you arrive and pick a site (no service fee for this site)

Cell service is pretty good for Verizon and ATT. 

No alcohol allowed in the park. 

GETTING TO DC: There’s normally a walking path from the campground to the metro station that takes you into DC (the green line takes you to the National Mall), but as of Oct 2023 the bridge is out due to a storm, and by the looks of it it’s been out a while and it doesn’t appear that it will be fixed soon. So what we did, since we don’t have a tow car, and just have our 26ft motorhome, is we packed up and drove to the Greenbelt station about 5 miles away, parked there for the day, and took the green line into town. The lot there is huge and open and free on weekends. Weekdays it’s about $5/day if you take the metro, and about $9 if you’re just parking there. The College Park station is closer but is apparently a parking garage (can’t confirm because we didn’t go to that station). This worked very well for us. You can pay for the metro with an app or get a card, either way it costs you $2 to buy the card, and then $2 each way on the train. Everyone over age 5 needs their own card, no sharing one card. The train ride from the Greenbelt station to the national mall is about 30 min. Get off at the Archives station to be in the center of all the sites.

The campsite rangers are friendly, knowledgeable and approachable for local information about local history and grocery stores.

The campsite is superb with walking trails, wildlife and the occasional overflying US Presidential Helicopter.

Easily accessible from close by freeways, and charmingly peaceful

Greenbelt, MD: (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good (70 yr olds in 17’ trailer) Overall Rating: 4.5 Price: About $12 w our senior pass. Usage during visit: 50 % during week Site Privacy: Most inner loop sites are not very good. However, our inner loop site was very private. Most inner loop sites lack privacy. Pull Through” sites are more like pull over sites. The picnic table privacy is often not very good for the pull over sites. This is because the adjacent back in site is deeper with picnic table not blocked by the trailer.
Site Spacing: Some are close. Check the map. Site surface: black top Reservations: Yes. We were able to change our site upon arrival on Rec.gov. Campground Noise: Very quiet.
Road Noise: None Through Traffic: Not a problem if the site is in a loop. Electricity: No Water: Available at a few spigots and at the washbasins at the bathrooms Sewer: No Dump: Yes Generators: 6AM till 10PM Bathroom: Old but clean. Showers: Old but clean. Cirtains Pull Throughs: Some “pull over spots”. I have a pic or two of good ones in the D loop.
Cell Service (Verizon): Great. Setting: 10 mins from subway for DC access. Great way to get to DC. Located in a deciduous forest serving as a pleasant getaway for locals.
Weather: It was cool during our stay.
Bugs: No problems yet. Solar: Most sites are not adequate.
Host: They are friendly and very courteous. Notes: Amazing that there is such a pretty place so close to DC. This must be a great getaway for locals . …. We did not walk the park trails , but there are some.

There is plenty of space between camp site clusters. The park itself is safe, quiet, permitting some nice treks through the woods. It is not free but very reasonable considering the area. The other great thing about it that you can spend entire days at the always-free Smithsonian museums and still fall asleep in the woods. Can’t beat the close proximity to DC.

The park was excellent.  We had our own issues on this trip, but with the trip on the Metro being ~30 minutes to DC to see the sights you can't beat it.  The spot we had was definitely beautifully level right-to-left.

It's a little strange to be in the middle of a suburban area and suddenly in a gigantic green space.

The only issues I really had were:

1. The bathhouse situation.  I don't know if it was due to the scout troop that we had to share the bathhouse with or not, but the showers were always filthy, even when they were supposed to have been closed for cleaning.
2. The Balt-Wash parkway kind cuts through the Greenbelt Park and it can be very noisy, which is a bummer when you have to keep your windows open.

We arrived late after traveling all day and were greeted by the park rangers who were super friendly and checked us in. It was easy to find our site and the dump station. We stayed for only about 12hrs because it was the half way point on the way home from a longer trip. We set up the campsite, grilled some dinner, made a campfire and sat outside for about 30min and then went to sleep. It was a very quiet night, the site was basically level although it did look as though others were not. We had a good rest and left the next morning to continue our travels. While leaving we saw some deer and a few trails which I really would’ve loved to hike but we didn’t have the time. I would definitely return and next time try and camp for 2nights to explore a bit more. There were many other people camping at the time, mostly in small campers or tents. The weather was good while we were here and it was a fair $20. Definitely recommend. Worth the money for a quiet night not too far from 95.

Great place to camp! 30 minutes to DC and very easy commute. The site was perfect with paved space, a fire pit, and picnic table. Things were well maintained and clean.

In the off-season, this park is quite empty. Great location for access to DC.

Can be hot and crowded in the summer.

Some highway noise to be expected. The park itself is quite clean.

Pretty chill campsite. I think there’s 3 loops. One is for group only. One is electric hook up and C is tent only. The sites are pretty close together but enough space to do your thing and lots of woods around for shade and hammocks. Showers were decent. You can here some traffic noise. Perhaps from the highways or just in the park. Over all very nice and convenient.

Nice spot close to DC. Unfortunately you can hear traffic from the sites, but you can’t see anything through the beautiful trees. Warm bathrooms with running water, good size spaces. Park ranger was quite rude.

A great campground just outside of DC - Tucked into the middle of a park where there’s no noise out light pollution.

-1 star because we requested a site big enough for a 28’ trailer and 1 vehicle. The spot clearly is not big enough for a trailer and a vehicle. We managed to fit our car on the lot but had to back into branches. The park host told us the vehicle needed to be parked on the pad and that we needed to move the vehicle, but there isn’t any additional parking spots in the campground. I mentioned parking in the vacant spot next to us, but they didn’t want that. I mentioned parking in a cleared spot just off of the road across from us and they also didn’t want that.

I would recommend the park update their online map / camp spots so it accurately lets visitors know if they can or can’t fit the vehicle with the trailer.

Campgrounds closed until early 2021

My family lives near Greenbelt National Park and we have hiked the five-mile perimeter trail dozens of times with our dogs. However, this park has a serious bug problem. Most  of the time, we return home from our hikes only to find ticks on at least one of us! 

We were excited to finally tent camp at Greenbelt two years ago for my wife's 30th and had a memorable time around the campfire, but were disappointed the next day that chiggers and ticks had once again swarmed us on our hike. Enjoy the camping but wear bug repellent and stay out of the tall grasses!

When I was checking out this site I wasn't sure how it would work out exactly. It seemed close to the METRO, which made for a great option when exploring the DC area and had been raved bout as a great escape for those with larger rigs, but how would that translate for me as a tent camper?

I went ahead and booked for the days I would be there in good faith and spent $100 for 5 days ($20 per night) a great deal by far in comparison to a lot of the other sites I had explored.

I arrived later in the evening that I had expected and the booth was closed (something I learned is common practice since they have changed over from cash to reservations only for this site). I found my receipt from my online booking and pulled up a map on my phone of the loops to help me find the site, it was pretty simple as only the B and D loops were open at the time I was visiting.

Traffic in and out of the camp loops are one way and they have signs posted that you need to back into your sites. I found my site which was close to the bath house and before setting up my tent made my rounds. The bath house had 1 shower per bath house per gender with 2 bath houses per loop. I was a little concerned about what would happen if it got busy with those accommodations, however it never seemed to be an issue.

My site was facing the road to the other loops, which initially concerned me about noise, but because of limited traffic due to loop closures it never was an issue either. The site was pretty even but did have some rocks in the area where my pad would be so I had to do a little clearing.

I had a picnic table but no grill at this site, although others did have grills available. I set up my small cooker on the picnic table and while cooking dinner noticed a family of deer grazing close by, a great way to settle in for the evening.

The camp host came by and welcomed me before I was fully set up for the evening and was great!!!

After staying here for a week I was so pleased by the quiet nature of the campground, the overall feeling of the outdoor space (every morning birds and squirrels) and the proximity to the METRO (only about 10 minutes with traffic).

TIPS:

• Reserve online - this is a NO CASH facility which means you CANNOT pay upon arrival so you will have to do so online.
• Drive slowly - there are a lot of people who use this space as a green space for walking and running. There is no shoulder so you share the road space with those enjoying this space so be careful.
• No hanging things from trees. Even if you love a hammock you cannot hang them at this park on the trees so make sure you are aware of this before camping here.
• Book a campfire. You can inquire with the ranger on duty about using the group facility for campfires and gatherings which is located on the back side of the B Loop.
• Take the METRO if you are going into the District. There are two stations very close to camp (Greenbelt and University Park). Rides vary depending on how far you are going but on average I spent about $10 per day on METRO versus $20-$40 on parking in the district area and I could come and go as I pleased with a little walking as opposed to having to drive aimlessly until I could find parking in garages which can be very difficult. There was also a small charge to park at the METRO daily but still even with this cost it was more reasonable than attempting to drive around the city and a lot faster as well.

This is a fantastic campground for the price!!! First of all,the rangers at the check-in are very friendly and kowledgable about the area. Anythibg you want to know about visiting DC, they are prepared with maps and suggestions om where to go and when everything closes, etc. There is a water pump and great restroom facilities super close to each campsite. The restrooms are clean and the shower has hot water 24/7. The picnic table was made out of metal and strong plactic instead of wood which was really nice and easy to clean (just dont put hot pans directly on the table surface). The tables are specifically made for wheel chairs to fit under each end and it is very accessable. RV's are also welcome at this site. The place is beautiful and full of wildlife! I couldn't have been happier with this campground!

Ranger Station has Jr. ranger program that's great for kids. Most trails are good for kids as young as 6. Only drawback is no swimming hole. Close to grocery store/gas.

The location makes this one 5-Star. Ten minute drive to the metro station for a quick 30-Minute ride to all DC has to offer. Cars need to stay parked on the paved road and hanging hammocks is not allowed. There was a good number of rest rooms and we enjoyed the peacefulness after full days of sightseeing.

We arrived late and in the dark. It was easy to find and on GPS. We had made reservations online and our site was marked with a tag with our name. Pretty Location. We saw deer near the entrance road.

Bathrooms were a little dirty. Filled with spiders and other bugs. The doors were propped open and lights were on. I didn't mind but my 7-year-old son was a little creeped out.

At 7:30am the groundskeepers were weed-wacking and leaf blowing so that was pretty annoying and definitely didn't enhance our peaceful morning in the woods.

It's best asset is it's proximity to DC.

The hiking areas are not paved. The trails and maps are clearly marked.we went in May and the bugs were not present. Tick and mosquito precautions are recommended. Had a one month and 70+ hiker and everyone enjoyed themselves.

There are lots of campsites so finding one last minute shouldn't be a problem. The mosquitoes were biting but could have been worse. You can barely hear the traffic from the road outside the park.

Stayed here on a road trip from MA to PA to DC. Was nice to sleep in the "woods" for a night. Wasn't the easiest place to navigate at night to find spots that weren't reserved. The ranger station was closed so we couldn't talk to anyone to see what sites were open. The facilities were clean, the shower was a bit cold in November!

What a crazy, but well-placed spot for a campground! This mid-sized campground is just 2 miles from Washington D.C. area traffic, shopping centers, etc. Honestly, we didn't hear the traffic at night and just a bit when we woke up in the morning, but not loud enough to bother us. It's a great place to camp if you want to make a visit to D.C. very affordable, as it's located just 1.5 miles from the nearest Metro Station. You can leave your car behind and visit the sites on foot or bike.

Campground is pretty well maintained, though they recently had some tree damage that has a handful or so of the sites closed for awhile. Each site has a firepit and picnic table. There is a tent only campground as well as RV specific sites, and all are non-electric. The bathroom is relatively clean, but very old and needs some maintenance. There is one hot shower per bathhouse. Some sites have a good amount of privacy (perimeter sites) but the ones in the middle do not.

As this campground is run by the NPS, they offer ranger programs and nighttime campfire talks. Hiking trails are nicely graded, but bikes are not allowed on them. We found some bike trails very close to the campground in a nice green space (Indian Creek Trail and Painted Creek Trail, part of the Anacostia Tributary TrailSystem). There is a small picnic area separate from the campground which has a small playground for the kiddos.

Reservations are required for this campground, no more iron ranger on site as of 2018.

The park is located away from the camping grounds. It has two play grounds, several picnic tables and a bathroom. The bathroom is a average out door bathroom with no A.C. and the floor always seems to be wet, but I never had an issue with no toliet paper. The trails are maintained. You could tell there was even some work in progress spots. Wish there were some doggie bag stations just for the trash can. The trail comes close to the road enough times that it could be a great add for a visitor who brings pets and staff would not have to hike in to hike out a bag of garbage.

Our layout - May 28 (memorial day)- 30th. Tent camping for 3 nights with 3 kids ages 12, 10, and 8. Campground was mostly empty, 1 other tenter and 3 RVs

Good -

1. Easy Check in - drive to your reserved site and done. If you just pull in with no reservation then you'll have to call or go online. Money is never taken at the campground, as it's a national park.

2. It's a National Park - which means you're supporting your national parks, they have interpretive programs and junior ranger for the kids!

3. The BEST PART - it's proximity to DC, whether you choose to drive or use the train it's soooo easy (take the train)

Time for the BAD

1. Cleanliness - this is why this campground gets such low marks. The bathrooms are disgusting...even after they are "cleaned". This was not our first stay here, each time they have been disgusting. We used baby wipes.

2. No hook ups - even with tent camping we like to be plugged in but no RV services are offered here.

3. No playground - There are hiking trails but really nothing for the kids to do in the campground itself.

4. Overall care of the facility - tall grass in the campgrounds means more ticks and other bugs. Just has a general neglected feel.

If you are camping by Washington D.C., this is the place. A great deal At $20 / night compared to another one i will leave unnamed at $90/ night....OUCH! Greenbelt campground has 4 loops (A, B, C, D)A is for scouts group camp, B & C for tents and small RVs due to tight turns and low hanging trees. D is for anything over 30 ft. There is lots of shade trees & trails here. It is primitive but there are bathhouses conveniently located with plenty of water spigots in the loop. If you don't use reserve america to book a site, there is a self check-in option for walk -ups by ranger station. The Metro station is nearby (@ 2 miles) to catch a train into D.C. for sightseeing.