Maryland
How to Get Around Maryland
Getting Around
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), south of Baltimore, is Maryland's main air gateway and one of three airports serving the Washington-Baltimore region alongside Dulles and Reagan National. Amtrak trains run the Northeast Corridor through Baltimore's Penn Station, connecting to the U.S. capital, Philadelphia and New York. MARC commuter rail, administered by the Maryland Transit Administration, links Baltimore, the U.S. capital and towns along three lines on track shared with CSX and Amtrak.
A car is close to essential outside Baltimore and Annapolis: the Eastern Shore, western Maryland and Assateague Island have limited public transport, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the main crossing from the Western Shore to the Eastern Shore near Annapolis, sees heavy congestion on summer weekends heading to Ocean City Maryland. Baltimore itself has a light rail and Metro subway line for the city and inner suburbs; Annapolis and smaller towns are best explored on foot once parked.
Verified against National Park Service, September 2026.
By air. BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, south of Baltimore, is the main gateway, a Southwest Airlines operating base and one of the busiest airports in the Mid-Atlantic.
By train. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor runs through Baltimore Penn Station toward the U.S. capital and Philadelphia/New York; MARC commuter rail (Penn, Camden and Brunswick Lines) links Baltimore and the U.S. capital on weekdays, administered by the Maryland Transit Administration.
By car. Essential for the Eastern Shore, western Maryland and Assateague Island; the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (US 50/301) is the main crossing to the Eastern Shore and its summer-weekend backups toward Ocean City Maryland are notorious; I-95 and I-70 are the main west-east routes.
Within cities. Baltimore has a Metro subway line, light rail and buses; Annapolis's historic center is walkable once parked. National Park Service sites (Fort McHenry, Antietam, Assateague, the C&O Canal) require their own entrance passes, separate from any city transit fare.