Most of a trip is not the trip. In spring 2026 I spent three weeks in Annapolis visiting my friend Sara, doing very ordinary things: the rec center, walks in the woods, food, painting. The useful part for anyone else is this. Truxtun Park is more than seventy acres, free to enter, free to park, open sunrise to sunset, with a two mile wooded loop, courts, a skate park, a boat ramp on Spa Creek and a municipal pool. The Pip Moyer Recreation Center sits inside it and sells single day passes: $8 for an adult resident, $10 for a non-resident. No membership, no residency.
Key takeaways
- Truxtun Park is free, over 70 acres off Primrose Lane between Hilltop Road and Spa Creek, open sunrise to sunset, parking included.
- There is a two mile loop through the woods and along the creek, and almost nobody writes about it.
- Drop-in rates at the rec center: adult $8 resident and $10 non-resident, youth $6 and $7, senior $7 and $8.
- A 30 day adult pass was $36 resident and $41 non-resident, about four visits, and it covers the fitness classes.
- The building is open 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., seven days.
- The climbing wall is 30 feet, not three, and it keeps its own posted hours.
- The boat ramp on Spa Creek is $10 a day, which covers the launch and the trailer parking permit.
What is in this post
- Why write about the boring weeks?
- What is Truxtun Park?
- Can a visitor use the rec center?
- What does the pass actually get you?
- Where do you walk?
- The girls night paintings
- Who made the three weeks good?
- How do you get to Annapolis?
- What is worth a day downtown?
- Where do you park downtown?
- What should you eat in Annapolis?
- When should you go?
- What does a week of this look like?
- What I would tell someone staying a few weeks
- Common questions
Why write about the boring weeks?
Because they are most of it. The weekend outings get the photos and the blog posts, and then there are three weeks in between where I went to the rec center, cooked, walked in the woods, and painted on a girls night. Nobody writes those up, and then everybody is surprised when a few weeks somewhere feels nothing like the highlight reel.
What is Truxtun Park?
Truxtun Park is Annapolis’s big municipal park, more than seventy acres off Primrose Lane between Hilltop Road and Spa Creek. Admission is free, parking is free, and it is open sunrise to sunset.
What is in it: tennis and pickleball courts, a skate park, athletic fields, picnic pavilions, a municipal swimming pool, a boat ramp on Spa Creek, wooded trails, and the Roger “Pip” Moyer Recreation Center. The courts were upgraded in 2021 and the park was named Public Park of the Year by Racquet Sports Industry Magazine.
The boat ramp has two concrete launch lanes with finger piers alongside. The daily fee is $10, and that one payment covers the round trip plus a permit to leave a vehicle and trailer in the lot at the top of the hill.
Can a visitor use the rec center?
Yes, and this is the part I would want to know if I were staying somewhere for three weeks and did not want to lose my fitness to it. You do not need a membership. Anyone without a full membership buys a guest pass, and the drop-in rate is published:
- Youth, ages 3 to 17: $6 resident, $7 non-resident
- Adult, 18 to 61: $8 resident, $10 non-resident
- Senior, 62 and over: $7 resident, $8 non-resident
Hours are 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday. The center is at 273 Hilltop Lane, inside Truxtun Park.
If you are staying somewhere for weeks rather than days, buy the local rec center pass. In Annapolis a 30 day adult pass was $36 resident and $41 non-resident, about four drop-in visits, and it covers the fitness classes.
Hannah Pinkerton, Destined for Adventure
What does the pass actually get you?
The fitness center and its equipment, the open gym, an indoor running track, a 30 foot climbing wall, and the locker rooms. Memberships include the fitness classes, and the schedule runs from slow flow and vinyasa yoga to cycling, Tabata and core.
I bought a 30 day pass and used almost all of it: the climbing wall, the machines, the indoor track and the yoga classes.
One thing the city’s website gets wrong. It lists a “3-foot rock wall.” The wall is 30 feet, and it runs on its own posted schedule. The sign on the wall in May 2026 read Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Monday internal programming only, Tuesday through Thursday 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., Friday closed, and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with availability depending on what else is booked in the gym.
The climbing wall at the Pip Moyer Recreation Center keeps its own hours, posted on a sign at the base, and they are not the building's hours. Check them on arrival rather than planning around the front door.
Hannah Pinkerton, Destined for Adventure
The pool is a separate seasonal facility in the park rather than part of the fitness center listing, so treat swimming as its own question and call ahead.
Where do you walk?
The trails through Truxtun Park are the thing almost nobody mentions. There is a two mile loop through the woods and along Spa Creek, inside the same free park with the free parking.
I walked it at the end of April, when everything had just come in. Dogwood along the path, honeysuckle over the fence line, periwinkle in the leaf litter, and a butterfly that let me get close enough to photograph it.
The girls night paintings
Sara and I had a girls night at home and wanted to do something different, so we painted. Mine ended up as a woman and a dog on an orange beach.
Who made the three weeks good?
Sara. She is the whole reason I went to Annapolis. We have been friends for at least 15 years, and most of what I did there, I did with her. We went to yoga class together, took Sori the dog on walks, and mostly just spent time together.
A lot of it was food. We went to an Italian food festival and got pizza and cannoli. Another day it was froyo, another it was Chinese food, and on Cinco de Mayo it was Mexican. We went for a hike, and we went to Ocean City together. On another night we had a girls night with some friends and the hot tub.
How do you get to Annapolis?
Annapolis is about 30 minutes from BWI by car and about 44 minutes from Washington DC, and there is no Metro. From Union Station in DC it is 31 miles on US-50 East to Exit 24A.
- From BWI: about 30 minutes by taxi or rideshare. Anne Arundel County runs a free BWI Express bus, daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., with stops at Annapolis Mall, Crownsville and the Millersville Park and Ride.
- From DC without a car: Flixbus runs once a day, nonstop, for about $12 one way. On weekdays the MTA Commuter Bus 220 takes about 1 hour 8 minutes, and a one-way full fare in that zone is $6.
- Metro: there isn’t one. The closest station is New Carrollton on the Orange Line, about 25 miles away.
- Getting around once you are there: Annapolis Transit is $2 a ride or $4 for a day pass, cash only on board. The Magenta Shuttle from the West Street garages into downtown is free, and so is the open-air Current trolley on weekends from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., every ten minutes.
What is worth a day downtown?
Three things, all walkable from City Dock: the State House, the Naval Academy and the waterfront. I spent most of my three weeks on the Truxtun Park side of town, and this is the part of Annapolis most visitors come for.
- Maryland State House: finished in 1779 and the oldest state house still in legislative use. Free, open every day 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and you need a photo ID to get through security.
- US Naval Academy: the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center at 52 King George Street is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Everyone 18 and over needs a REAL ID or a passport, and you park outside and walk in through Gate 1. Public visits only resumed on May 11, 2026. The guided walking tour is 90 minutes and leaves from the visitor center.
- City Dock and Ego Alley: the old heart of the city, where boats parade up the turning basin. The Harbor Queen and the Schooner Woodwind both leave from here.
- Annapolis Maritime Museum: across the creek in Eastport, $10 for adults, Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The water taxi runs between downtown and Eastport.
Where do you park downtown?
Use a city garage and the free shuttle, because street parking downtown is short and metered. These are the city’s own posted rates from its 2024 parking guide, the most recent dated rates I could find:
- Noah Hillman Garage (Duke of Gloucester Street): $3 an hour, $25 a day, a five minute walk to the State House.
- Gott’s Garage (Calvert Street): $3 an hour, $15 a day.
- Knighton Garage (Colonial Avenue): $3 an hour, $10 a day.
- Navy Stadium (Taylor Avenue): $10 a day and about a 20 minute walk.
Gott’s, Knighton and Park Place are free on Sundays if you leave before 2 p.m.
What should you eat in Annapolis?
Blue crab, and the season is longer than people think: April 1 to December 15. Steamed crabs with Old Bay, crab cakes, cream of crab soup, and rockfish, which is the Chesapeake’s signature catch.
My own three weeks ran more like this: wood-fired pizza from a trailer and cannoli at an Italian food festival, froyo more than once, Chinese food, Mexican on Cinco de Mayo, and a shoofly pie with a $7.59 sticker on it. None of it was fancy, and most of it was with Sara.
When should you go?
Late April to May, if you want Annapolis busy but not packed. That is when I was there, and it is when the trails leaf out.
- Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show: April 24 to 26 in 2026, at City Dock.
- Naval Academy Commissioning Week: May, with the Blue Angels. In 2026 they flew on May 20. Book a room early that week.
- Fall: the city’s in-water boat shows, billed as the largest in the country.
- Parks programs: the flyers at the rec center that spring listed Trail Buddies, a five week guided hike through the city’s parks for adults ($45 resident, $55 non-resident, Fridays 3:30 to 4:30), and a free Kids to Parks Day at Truxtun on May 16.
What does a week of this look like?
A routine, not an itinerary. This is roughly how my weeks went, and it is a good template if you are staying somewhere a while instead of passing through.
- Mornings: the rec center. The track, the machines, a yoga class, and the climbing wall on the afternoons it was open.
- Afternoons: the two mile loop in Truxtun Park, or a walk with Sori.
- One weekday: downtown. The State House in the morning, the Naval Academy after, City Dock for dinner.
- Weekends: ride the free Current trolley, or get out of town. Sara and I did a hike and a weekend in Ocean City.
- Where to stay: downtown has historic inns (the Maryland Inn, the Governor Calvert House and the Robert Johnson House) and the Graduate Annapolis.
What I would tell someone staying a few weeks
Find the municipal facility and buy the pass. Every town has one and almost no traveler uses it, because we look for the attraction and not the place people actually live in. In Annapolis, a 30 day pass for a non-resident is $41, and it got me a climbing wall, a track, the machines and yoga classes, with a two mile loop through the woods in the same park. Mostly it got me a routine, which is the thing that actually goes missing when you live out of a suitcase.
Common questions
How much does Truxtun Park cost to enter?
Nothing. Entry and parking at Truxtun Park in Annapolis are both free, and the park is open from sunrise to sunset.
Where is the Pip Moyer Recreation Center?
At 273 Hilltop Lane, Annapolis, Maryland, inside Truxtun Park.
Can a visitor use the Pip Moyer Recreation Center without a membership?
Yes. Anyone without a full membership buys a guest pass. The adult drop-in rate is $8 for a resident and $10 for a non-resident, and the building is open 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. every day.
Is a 30 day pass worth it?
For an adult it was $36 resident and $41 non-resident, which is about four drop-in visits. If you are in town for two weeks or more and plan to go regularly, it pays for itself quickly and it covers the fitness classes.
Does the rec center really have a climbing wall?
Yes, and it is 30 feet, not the three foot wall the price list describes. It runs on its own posted schedule, so check the sign rather than assuming the building hours apply.
How long is the walking loop in Truxtun Park?
About two miles, running through the woods and along Spa Creek.
Is there a boat ramp at Truxtun Park, and what does it cost?
Yes, on Spa Creek, with two concrete launching ramps and adjacent finger piers. The daily launch fee is $10 and includes a parking permit for a vehicle and trailer.
Is there a Metro to Annapolis?
No. The closest Metro station is New Carrollton on the Orange Line, about 25 miles away. From DC, Flixbus runs once a day for about $12 and the MTA Commuter Bus 220 runs on weekdays.
How do you get from BWI to Annapolis?
About 30 minutes by car. Anne Arundel County also runs a free BWI Express bus daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. with stops at Annapolis Mall, Crownsville and the Millersville Park and Ride.
Do you need ID to visit the Naval Academy?
Yes. Visitors 18 and over need a REAL ID compliant license or state ID, a US passport, or an Enhanced Driver's License, and walk in through Gate 1. Public visits resumed on May 11, 2026.
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More from that spring in Maryland: North Beach, Maryland in the Off Season, The St Mary’s Lake Loop Trail and Ocean City, Maryland With a Dog in the Off Season
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