Our tours begin and end at the Visitor Center, open 9 to 5 daily except New Years, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

DIRECTIONS TO THE VISITORS CENTER, 26 West Street:

• From Route 50, take Exit 24A for Rowe Boulevard
• Cross over two bridges
• Follow signs for “Visitor Center Parking” which will lead you into the Gotts Court parking garage behind the Visitor Center.

Using GPS? The garage address is 25 Northwest Street.

Click here for a map from Route 50 to the Northwest Street entrance.

If you’re coming from West Street, use the Calvert Street entrance to the garage.

A WORD ABOUT VISITOR CENTER PARKING
The Visitor Center is served by the 600-space Gotts Court Parking Facility nearby, which has both an open lot and covered garage. It’s a five-level garage, and you’ll be entering at Level 3 with two levels above you and two below ground. Many folks drive up looking for an empty space; you’ll find more empty spaces if you go down.

We won’t rip you off. It’s only $1.50 an hour, with a maximum of $12 a day.

The garage is open 24 hours.

When entering the alley leading to the garage entrance, if the red electronic light is on that says “FULL,” then it really is full and the gate won’t go up. What to do? Return out Rowe Boulevard to the Naval Academy stadium. Park there, and take the free shuttle to the Visitor Center.

You can try looking for on-street parking, but

1. open spaces are scarce,
2. our baroque street plan of circles and radiating arteries is challenging,
3. trying to parallel park on the left side of a one-way street may not be the personal challenge you wanted,
4. on-street parking is all limited to two hours, and then you must move your car anyway to another parking district, and
5. no one knows where the parking districts are except for the parking enforcement officers who mark your tires and keep track!

The most convenient thing is to leave your car in a garage or at the stadium. (We’re a little defensive about this: Annapolis only has a “parking problem” if you’re trying to park on the street.)

If you have folks who can’t walk far, make a hard left just inside the garage entrance and drop your party at the Visitor Center, and then go look for a parking space. If you have handicapped tags, there are two spaces reserved for Visitor Center use close to the Visitor Center, and there’s a long line of handicapped spaces straight ahead and on your left when you first enter the garage.

A sign at the entrance says the garage is limited to vehicles over 6'2". But if you have a full-size pickup truck or 15-passenger van, you can still fit in.

BUT WHAT IF you’re traveling with bikes on the roof, or a car top cargo carrier, or have a conversion van, and really can’t fit in a garage? It depends on the day of the week:

WEEKDAYS, from Rt. 50/Exit 24A and cross the creek. At the 2nd light, turn right onto Taylor Avenue. Go to Gate 5 and turn in to the Naval Academy's stadium parking lot. Take the free "Navy Blue" shuttle to the Visitor Center. It leaves every 30 minutes--on the hour and the half-hour--and one of the first stops is at the Visitor Center. (It then proceeds to the Naval Academy Main Gate.) For a map of the stadium parking lot, click here.

WEEKENDS, there is an open surface parking lot for that is free and open to the public on weekends. The address is 138 South Street.

Follow directions above to the Gotts Garage and proceed past the garage in the right-hand lane to the dead-end at Church Circle. Turn right onto Church Circle. Pass West Street, Franklin Street and the County Courthouse (black iron fence), and turn right onto South Street. The lot is halfway down the street on the left.

You can also park at the stadium and come downtown on the Navy Blue route shuttle.

RETURNING TO ROUTE 50
If you entered the garage following signs from Route 50, you’ll leave by a different exit.
Leaving the garage, turn RIGHT onto Calvert Street. Go to the second traffic light and turn LEFT onto Rowe Boulevard. In one-half mile, you’ll see signs for Route 50.