Every park has its own personality and its own character. Some are great places for rock climbing, some for quiet canoeing, some for doing nothing more important than laying out on the beach. But there are also urban parks whose primary purpose is to provide some open spaces and trees for people who spend most of their time on asphalt and in concrete towers.

Greenbelt Park is primarily an urban park for Washingtonians living in the Maryland suburbs.

Yet this park is also near and dear to the hearts of America's cheapest travellers because it provides more than just some shady acres; it also provides more than 150 heavily wooded camp sites in a tranquil federally maintained park at rock bottom prices. A family of four who camps in Greenbelt can realistically do a Nations Capital vacation for as little as $74 per day -- just $18.50 per person!

Washington D.C. on $18.50 a day!

"Impossible," you say?

Nope! The key to making it all work is to camp in Greenbelt Park. I'll show you how the numbers work in a minute, but first let me tell you a bit about the park itself.

The Green Part of Greenbelt...
Greenbelt Park is a tranquil wooded oasis located just 12 miles from Capitol Hill and a mere 6 miles outside the Washington city limit -- in fact, the park is actually inside the Capital Beltway (I-495).

Covering more than 1,100 acres of rolling woodlands, Greenbelt Park is a pleasant place to relax and spend some time in the great outdoors. The park is operated by the National Park Service (U.S. Department of the Interior), and you can find official information about it on the National Park Service web site (www.nps.gov/gree).

The park is located to the north of downtown Washington, at the intersection of two major highways -- the Capital Beltway and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, with park access via Greenbelt Road (MD Route 193).

There are really three very separate parts of the park: I'll call them the day use area, the natural area, and the camping area.

Near the park's main entrance is the day-use area -- this is where the locals hang out on a nice day. The paved road forms a loop that goes around an enormous open field surrounded by picnic areas. The area that casual day trippers use is called Sweetgum -- there's plenty of picnic tables with grills there, plus plenty of paved parking, a playground, a baseball field, and good rest rooms with flush toilets. The other two picnic areas on the loop are called Holly and Laurel Picnic Areas, they are quieter, more wooded, and they are seldom used by families, but can be reserved by groups (Local trivia tidbit: When I was a kid, there were always stories about the Laurel Picnic Area being frequented by gay men as a pickup area -- I assume the rangers put a stop to that years ago...if the stories ever had merit in the first place).

Best of all for cheap travellers, entrance to the park is free (my favorite word, especially when accompanied by the word "beer," but I'll save that subject for a different review). There is a charge for camping (I'll get to that in a moment).

The natural area is a part of the park that nobody really knows about or goes to, partly because there's nothing there but trees, but mostly because there's no good, easy way to get there (just a wide dirt path off Good Luck Road that I'll bet even a lot of the park's neighbors don't know exists -- I only know about it because I once dated a rather....umm how should I put this? "Liberal" girl from Parkdale High School, but I'll save that story for when you guys buy me beers over at the Town Hall).

So anyway, the only people who spend much time in that part of the park on the flip side of the parkway are actually deer. Once in a while somebody goes down the dirt road a bit, but there's not so much as a parking spot nor picnic table down there, so there's no real reason to go there.

Greenbelt Park's major draw is their camping area. It's easily two miles from the picnic groves where the day trippers hang out, so it's actually a quiet, low traffic area that's fairly secure. (Hikers and mountain bikers occassionally pass near the campground -- especially if they use the back parking lot on Good Luck Road -- but the trail never actually goes into the camping area).

The campground is nicely spread out with the 174 sites scattered across four different "areas", each with paved access. Although you could get an RV into most of the sites with no trouble at all, the campground is oriented towards a more rustic experience (that means "tents" to you and me) than RV people usually want -- none of the sites has electric nor water hookups, although there is a waste disposal dump. There are community rest rooms with flush toilets and hot showers

In my opinion, Greenbelt Park's campground is a good camping experience: it is nicely rustic with lots of woods. The only down side to it as a campground is that you can hear a constant low rumble of traffic passing by on nearby heavily traveled roads. At $14 per night ($7 if you have a Golden Age/Access card) it also represents an affordable camping opportunity. Reservations are accepted (and are highly recommended, especially for weekends and peak summer travel season when it often fills early). Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-365-CAMP.

The Budget Mentality of Camping Vacations...
I grew up in a family of 5 kids. When you have a big family, you don't jet around the world and you don't stay in five star hotels. You pack everyone into the station wagon (which turned into the mini-van in the 80s and the SUV today), and you drive to your vacation destination. When you get there, you don't check in to your hotel, you look for a camp site and you set up your tent.

Camping is really a great way to get out and see the country, even if you don't have a six figure income and a Gold card...

Washington IS a Budget Travel Destination When You Camp in Greenbelt...
I promised some numbers on how I came up with the $18.50, so here it is...

Washington D.C. has a reputation as being a very expensive city, and in general, the reputation is well deserved. But you don't need to pay a lot to travel here. Here's how I'd break down costs for a budget traveler who pitches a tent in Greenbelt as a home base.

Lodging: Camp in Greenbelt Park. Cost: $14 per night ($7 for Golden Age/Access card holders).

Meals: D.C. has great dining opportunities, but they're often pricey. Save by buying groceries at the Safeway store in Greenbelt Center, 2 miles east of Greenbelt Park on Route 193. Cost: $10 per person per day. If you want to splurge or don't want to carry your lunch with you (the Mall is a beautiful place to sit out in the grass with a sandwich and a bottle of juice), there are reasonably priced restaurants inside Union Station, a short walk from the Capitol, and there are some inexpensive places in the Capitol Hill area (I always liked the cheap beer and big burgers at Tune Inn on Pennsylvania Ave. SW). So we're up to $54 a day.

Getting Around: Greenbelt Park is the most convenient place you can camp in the D.C. area and easily get to everything the city has to offer. I'll give you three ways I'd use to get from Greenbelt Park to the downtown areas: Metro subway, MARC rail, and driving.
The best way to and from downtown is to use the Metro subway system. There are two Green Line stations that are almost walking distance from Greenbelt Park -- both about 3 miles (I recommend using the Greenbelt Station because there's acres of parking there (for a fee), but parking is tight at the University of Maryland Station). Official info on Metro and Metrobus schedules and prices is online at www.wmata.com/metrorail/. Cost: about $5 per person each way (Metro is NOT cheap (unless you manage time your trips during off-peak hours), but there are alternatives...)
Alternative 1: Use the MARC train. From the park, head north on Kenilworth Avenue until it dead ends (about 4-5 miles), then hang a left at the light. The Muirkirk MARC station is on your right and parking is free. The train takes you direct to Union Station. Official info about the service and schedules is at www.mtamaryland.com/schedules (Choose MARC, then choose Camden Line), if you don't see "Muirkirk" on the schedules, it's in between Laurel and Greenbelt. Cost: About $3.25 per person each way plus no parking fees (but parking is sometimes tight, so get there early). You can also catch the Marc train at the Greenbelt Metro station, but parking will cost you there. Hinto to save money: You might be able to use a multi-day pass. Multi-day passes are honored by Amtrak on weekends.
Alternative 2: Brave D.C. traffic and drive downtown. You will have to park in a commercial lot, which could run you $20, but of course rates will vary by vendor and location. Greenbelt Park is only about 10 miles from Capitol Hill, but it will easily take you an hour to drive it during morning or afternoon commute times.

If you drive to downtown, add another $20 to your daily budget, bringing you up to $74 per day. Metro is the most expensive option and will add another $20 to bring it to $94 per day. MARC trains should run you $26 per day, or $80 total.

Admission to Major Sites: You can see a lot of Washington while budgeting exactly zero for admission fees. That's what makes D.C. such an amazingly cheap vacation since, unlike most destinations, almost everything worth seeing in the Washington D.C. area is still free. All of the major downtown musuems are free, as are tours of most government centers and monuments. Entrance to the National Zoo is free. If you're bumming around close to Greenbelt Park, there's a smallish visitor center at NASA (4 miles east of the park) and a very nice new one at the Patuxent Wildlife Center (7 miles north of the park) -- both free. There's also a small flight museum at the College Park airport (1 mile west of the park).
If you have a big budget, you can reserve tickets to some things ahead of time (like the Holocaust Museum and the White House tours), but it is still possible to get into these places for free (though it can sometimes be a hassle -- especially at the White House -- where you need to get to the visitor center early in the morning to secure a timed reservation).

No admission fees means your total is still somewhere between $74 and $94 for a family of four. You sure couldn't do Disney World on that!!

Until next time, see you on the road. You probably won't find me in the campgrounds, but you won't find me wasting money at the Four Seasons either...

Buen viaje!



Recommended: Yes

Best time to go: March-May
Recommended for: Familes
Review Topic: Campgrounds & Lodging