Parking in/near Washinton DC

[Coastal Aggie]

On my way back to Texas i want to make a detour up to DC to visit one of the Smithsonian museums. Any of yall traveled through the area? im only planning on stopping for the day assuming ill need to find some sort of park and ride to take the bus but ive only ever been there when i was a kid so i dont know the area or if you can even park with a trailer at one of those.

[Steph and Dud B]

Don't know about any commuter lots or other free parking but we've stayed at Cherry Hill Park campground in Maryland. They had a city bus stop in the campground that took you to the Metro for the trip into the city. Maybe they have an overflow lot or something similar you could use.

[Nancy K.]

The Metro station in Franconia (just south of town) may work, but you would want to double check with Metro to see if there are spaces for parking RVs.  Some of the parking lot is a parking garage which might not have enough clearance, and I can't remember about the rest of the lot.    Of course, it would be more ideal to camp two nights somewhere because you're going to lose time getting in and out of the city.  Fairfax County VA has a campground near Reston where we have stayed.

[SeaDawg]

Greenbelt is nice, and walkable to the train station.

We've also stayed at a regional park, (pohick bay)  and used Franconia station, but that was many years ago. Used to be a "trolley/jitney" from the spr8ngfield mall lot. Lots of parking there. If the trolley doesn't run anymore, uber could work. It was quite lovely there. Deer around and in the campsite most nights. In the country, but a few miles to the metro, probably a 40 minute metro ride to the national mall. Ride discounted for off peak hours.

If you're thinking about pohick, I'd call and ask about parking and transport.

Greenbelt is just a walk down the road, and across the highway, to the train station, then transfer to the metro.

I liked pohick much better than Greenbelt, camping wise, but convenience is in Greenbelt favor.

We haven't camped in either for at least ten years. Times change.