# Road trips in Maryland > 5 road trips and 9 hand-picked places in Maryland, with routes, stops and practical tips for driving and camping. Source: https://camping-spirit.com/roadtrips/maryland/ 5 road trips and 9 hand-picked places in Maryland, with routes, stops and practical tips for driving and camping. ## Road trips through Maryland - [Chesapeake Bay: Annapolis to Blackwater](https://camping-spirit.com/guides/b10-chesapeake-eastern-shore/): Sailboats in Annapolis, watermen’s villages, a tiny river ferry and eagle-filled marshes on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. - [Western Maryland: Antietam, the C&O Canal and Swallow Falls](https://camping-spirit.com/guides/b20-western-maryland/): From Frederick over South Mountain to Antietam, along the Potomac and the C&O Canal to Cumberland, then up to the waterfalls of Garrett County. - [East Coast curiosities](https://camping-spirit.com/guides/coastal-curiosities/): Witch-trial history, a wooden elephant and wild horses on the beach. - [Virginia’s Eastern Shore and the Bay Bridge-Tunnel](https://camping-spirit.com/guides/b10-eastern-shore-va/): Wild ponies at Chincoteague, sleepy harbor towns and a 17-mile crossing of the Chesapeake Bay. - [Delaware: Bombay Hook, Dover and the Cape Henlopen beaches](https://camping-spirit.com/guides/b20-delaware-bay-beaches/): Down the whole of Delaware, from colonial New Castle and the snow geese of Bombay Hook to Dover, Lewes, Cape Henlopen and the beach towns. ## Places worth the detour in Maryland - [Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b10-maritime-museum-st-michaels/): A waterfront campus with a screwpile lighthouse, working boatyard and the largest collection of Chesapeake Bay boats. - [Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b10-blackwater-refuge/): Marshes with one of the densest bald eagle populations on the East Coast and wintering ducks and geese. Drive the Wildlife Drive slowly with binoculars ready. - [Antietam National Battlefield](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b20-antietam/): Site of the bloodiest single day in American history, 17 September 1862, with an 8.5-mile tour road past Bloody Lane and Burnside Bridge. Park entrance fee; the tour road has pull-offs with room for RVs. - [Assateague Island National Seashore](https://camping-spirit.com/places/assateague/): A barrier island where wild horses wander the dunes and campsites. Keep your distance and don't feed them. - [U.S. Naval Academy](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b10-naval-academy/): The Navy’s college on the Severn River, with a chapel and John Paul Jones’ crypt. Visitors enter on foot with photo ID through the Gate 1 visitor center. - [Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b10-tubman-visitor-center/): A state and national park center in the landscape where Harriet Tubman was born into slavery; the start of a driving byway past related sites. - [Fort Frederick State Park](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b20-fort-frederick/): A stone fort from 1756, built during the French and Indian War and restored with barracks, beside the C&O Canal towpath. Small entry fee; a quiet campground lies near the Potomac. - [Paw Paw Tunnel, C&O Canal](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b20-paw-paw-tunnel/): A 3,118-foot canal tunnel lined with some six million bricks, finished in 1850. From the lot on MD-51 a flat towpath walk leads through it; bring a flashlight, as the path is narrow and often wet. - [Swallow Falls State Park](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b20-swallow-falls/): Muddy Creek Falls, at 53 feet the highest free-falling waterfall in Maryland, plus smaller falls on the Youghiogheny along a 1.25-mile loop through old hemlocks. Park fee; the lots fill on summer weekends. ## FAQs **What are the best road trips in Maryland?** Popular routes include Chesapeake Bay: Annapolis to Blackwater, Western Maryland: Antietam, the C&O Canal and Swallow Falls, East Coast curiosities and Virginia’s Eastern Shore and the Bay Bridge-Tunnel. CampingSpirit has 5 trip guides that pass through Maryland, each with a stop-by-stop itinerary and a route map. **Which places in Maryland are worth a detour?** Our editors recommend Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and Antietam National Battlefield.