Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:43 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
You may book a picnic areas up to six months ahead. Greenbelt Park is an urban oasis just 10 miles (16 km) from Washington, D.C. This beautiful, wooded park is known for its peaceful surroundings and National Park Service hospitality. Keep reading
Recreation
Ten miles (16 km) of hiking trails meander through Greenbelt Park, including the Perimeter, Azalea, Dogwood and Blueberry Trails. Sweetgum Picnic Area is located near the entrance of the park with playground equipment and public picnic tables. The Sweetgum Picnic Area is on a first-come, first-served basis limited to groups of 24 people or less. The Holly Picnic Area is a 1/2 mile (.8 km) walk to playground and open field.
Facilities
Greenbelt Park has two picnic areas available, ranging in capacity from 25-150 people per site, with restrooms, picnic tables, and barbeque grills. Park rangers, maintenance personnel and park police are on site if needed.
Natural Features
In suburban Maryland, Greenbelt Park is forested with a pleasant mix of pine, oak and maple trees which make for a colorful autumn season. Mountain laurel blooms throughout the park in May. Still Creek flows through the park, where deer and chipmunks are commonly seen. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (202) 909-6128.
Nearby Attractions
Greenbelt Campground is surrounded by a myriad of fun and interesting attractions. Washington, D.C. and its famed historic sites are just 10 miles (16 km) from Greenbelt. Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens are 8 miles (13 km) away. Goddard Space Flight Center is 3 miles (5 km) from the park and the City of Greenbelt is 1 mile (1.6 km) away. The Washington, D.C. Metro Transit System (Greenbelt Station) is just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the park, and major shopping centers are located within 1/2 mile (.8 km).
Charges & Cancellations
All Cancellations and changes must be made with Recreation.gov and not with the park.
What the agency tells you
Greenbelt Park Permitted Picnic Areas are governed by 36 CFR - National Capital Parks-East Superintendents Compendium. For reference, please visit the link below: 2026 Superintendent's Compendium - National Capital Parks-East (U.S. National Park Service)
Permit Hours. Your permit is in effect from 9:00 a.m. until sunset. It gives you exclusive use of the picnic area you reserved. Call the Ranger Station at (771) 208-1588 when you arrive so that park staff can open the picnic gate. Ranger Station hours are 8:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
No Alcohol: Alcohol is not permitted in Greenbelt Park.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
No amplified music or DJs are allowed. No moon bounces or structures that have to be constructed. No propane grills or table top grills. No alcohol is permitted in the park.
Pets. You may bring pets to Greenbelt Park. Pets must be on a 6-foot leash (or shorter) and you must clean up after them.
More Information. For more information or if you have questions, please call Greenbelt Park at (771) 208-1588 or visit the official Greenbelt Park website.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 1 of 2 campsite records
- Playground
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Biking
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Wildlife viewing
- Fall color · reported 11 days ago, 4.8 km away
- Peak color
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:43 UTC
The agency files 2 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
OpenBookedNot reservable
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 11
What you actually pay
“All Cancellations and changes must be made with Recreation.gov and not with the park.” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:43 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 records · the site map
All 2 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 2 of the 2 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| GREENBELT PARK PICNIC AREAS | HOLLY RESERVED PICNIC AREA | day use | yes | 2,709 ftGreenbelt Lake | 106 ft |
| GREENBELT PARK PICNIC AREAS | LAUREL RESERVED PICNIC AREA | day use | yes | 3,191 ft | 280 ft |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Greenbelt CampgroundNational Capital Parks · 0.0 mi
Rock Creek Park Group Picnic Areas (DC)Rock Creek Park · 8.4 mi
Fort Dupont Park Picnic Areas9.3 mi
Marsden Tract Group Campsite17 mi
Swains Lock Hiker-Biker CampsiteChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park · 19 mi
Fort Hunt Picnic AreasGeorge Washington Memorial Parkway · 21 miFrom I-95/495 (Capital Beltway), take Exit 23 Kenilworth Avenue South (Route 201) to Greenbelt Road East (Route 193). The park entrance is a quarter mile down Greenbelt Road on the right. The park address is 6565 Greenbelt Road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Greenbelt, MD
Typical weather
Typical October night 47°F, day 68°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 25°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas is in Maryland’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Glenn Ivey (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyGlenn IveyU.S. Representative · Maryland’s 4th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAngela D. AlsobrooksU.S. Senator · Maryland
- Your senator, on the same appropriationChris Van HollenU.S. Senator · Maryland
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Glenn Ivey, I’m a constituent in Maryland’s 4th district. Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas, National Capital Parks, Maryland carries 2 records on the National Park Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the National Park Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas (National Capital Parks, Maryland) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Angela D. Alsobrooks, I’m a constituent in Maryland. Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas, National Capital Parks, Maryland carries 2 records on the National Park Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the National Park Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas (National Capital Parks, Maryland) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Chris Van Hollen, I’m a constituent in Maryland. Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas, National Capital Parks, Maryland carries 2 records on the National Park Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the National Park Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas (National Capital Parks, Maryland) via campanac.com