Campgrounds near Washington DC

Most popular/convenient seems to be Cherry Hill Park.

I recommend the Maryland State Park on highway 40 north of Washington. It's like a forested refuge in the middle of chaos and reasonably priced.

Greenbrier State Park is the one mentioned above. It's at least a 1 hour drive from Washington, DC. Rush hour will take more time. Also, it only has electric in one loop and water bibs throughout the park. There are 4 loops in the park and the Cedar loop is the electric one.

Nice park with a small lake and a beach.


Greenbrier State Park

Cherry Hill is a 1st class operation with convenient transportation into Washington DC. You can't go wrong using their facility.

Cameo Phil wrote:
Cherry Hill is a 1st class operation with convenient transportation into Washington DC. You can't go wrong using their facility.

we just spent a month there .... be ready for sticker shock, they charge a flat $80 a day, no discount for an extended stay .... while I agree it is a nice park, the only reason they can get by with charging so much is that it is the only game in town .... they do honor a GoodSam discount

Jim

If you're going to do the normal tourist things, you want to take METRO (the subway & bus system) into downtown Washington, DC. Even with a toad, driving is difficult & parking is expensive. There are some nice county parks in Virginia, but Cherry Hill has them beat for downtown access since there is a bus from their front door to the METRO station. For any other campground, you probably have to drive (farther) to METRO, and those parking lots (not free) fill early with commuters. There are dozens of threads on this topic, Cherry Hill is the consensus choice.

Cherry Hill seems to be popular in spite of the price but it is not the only game in town, or near town.

To the SW is Manassas where nearby the battleground, for those interested in such history, is a very nice county park. Nowhere near Cherry Hill prices & not too far from free parking at the end of the train line. Also close by is the Air & Space Museum at the S end of Dulles Airport. Far better than the one downtown.

The last few times we've gone to WDC we've stayed at Prince William Forest in Dumfries, VA. Short drive to the metro. It's a quiet concessionaire run park in the National Park Service. Full hook ups $35/night.
Prince William Forest.

We've stayed at Cherry Hill before. Too crowded and noisy for us. Don't expect a quiet stay. It's at the junction of I-95 and I-495.
We've been thru the one in Manassas but haven't stayed there. It looks good.

I just spent 5 months working in the DC area...all I can say is I am not ever going back...I looked ad nauseum for a nice place to stay that was not ridiculously priced. The best deal I found was at The Harpers Ferry KOA. It is a solid hour to town from there though...

Regards

we stayed at Pohick Regional Park when we were there during the Cherry Blossom festival--5 years ago in a pop-up. Park has W/E and clean showers. We drove to the Franconia station, parked in the shopping mall and rode the Metro to Downtown DC. Very easy to do and inexpensive.