Getting to Nationals Park

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Take the train. Washington’s subway, the Metro, runs its Green Line to Navy Yard-Ballpark station, one block from the center-field gate. The walk in goes straight down Half Street SE, a one-block strip of bars that doubles as the pregame scene. No parking, no surge pricing. Few parks in baseball put a train this close to the door.

If the train doesn’t fit your night, the order from there is a rideshare, then driving. The Nationals run a ring of official garages and lots around the park, so a group of three or more can drive without regret. This park also has two ways in that most stadiums can’t offer: a water taxi that docks across the street at Diamond Teague Pier, and Capital Bikeshare docks all over Navy Yard.

You can also skip all of this by staying in Navy Yard. The walkable hotel cluster here is real. You can find more about the Navy Yard hotels in our Where to Stay section.

Metro fares and schedules, Nationals lot rates, and gate times all change from year to year, so confirm anything time-sensitive below with WMATA or the Nationals before game day.

The Metro Green Line

Metro is Washington’s rail transit system, run by WMATA, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The line that matters here is the Green Line. Its Navy Yard-Ballpark station puts you one block from the center-field gate, up the escalators and down Half Street with the rest of the crowd.

SmarTrip and fares

You pay with SmarTrip, WMATA’s fare card, or by tapping a contactless credit card or phone wallet straight at the faregate. Metro fares are distance-based: tap in where you board, tap out at Navy Yard-Ballpark, and the fare depends on how far you rode. Weekday daytime rides run $2.25 to $6.75 by distance; after 9:30pm and on weekends the range flattens to $2.25 to $2.50, which covers most night games home. Use the same card at both ends of the trip.

Hours and frequency

Metro does not run all night, and closing time varies by day of the week. The last Green Line trains toward L’Enfant Plaza and downtown leave Navy Yard-Ballpark around midnight Sunday through Thursday nights and around 2 am on Friday and Saturday nights. Check the exact time for your night on WMATA’s Navy Yard-Ballpark station page. Our Getting here from the airport section below has the last trains back to the airports.

The postgame crush

Navy Yard-Ballpark is a compact station, and most of the crowd heads straight for it when the game ends. Expect a packed platform for roughly 20 to 30 minutes after the last out. You can join the river and inch through it, or you can give Navy Yard half an hour by holding your seat at a Half Street bar and riding home when the platform has cleared.

Coming from Union Station or Virginia

Arriving by train at Union Station: take the Red Line to Gallery Place, transfer to a Green Line train toward Branch Ave, and ride it to Navy Yard-Ballpark.

From the Virginia side, VRE, the Virginia Railway Express commuter rail, runs to L’Enfant station, and from there the Green Line is two stops to the park. VRE runs weekdays only, so it covers a Tuesday night game and leaves you on your own for a Saturday afternoon.

Rideshare

The Nationals suggest three pickup spots near the ballpark: N Street SE at New Jersey Avenue SE, L Street SE between First Street SE and New Jersey Avenue SE, and M Street SE at Half Street SE. For a cab, the Nationals’ taxi stand is on the north side of M Street SE between South Capitol Street SE and Half Street SE. It opens about 2 hours after first pitch and stays open until a half hour after the game ends.

When the park empties, Uber and Lyft prices tend to jump, and the three pickup spots are at their most crowded. One more round at a Navy Yard bar gives the pickup spots time to clear before you request your ride. You can find more about the Navy Yard bars in our Around the Park section.

Rideshare fits best when you’re solo or a couple, staying somewhere the Green Line doesn’t reach, or heading somewhere after the game that isn’t your hotel.

Driving and parking

Driving to Nationals Park works better than the downtown-DC reputation suggests. The team runs official garages and lots around the stadium, with rates running roughly $20 to $50 depending on how close you park. Prepaying online saves about 10 to 20 percent, and on a big night it’s also the difference between having a spot and circling. Official lots and garages open 2 hours 15 minutes before first pitch and close an hour after the game.

The names to know:

• Garage B on N Street SE.
• Garage C on First Street SE, which also hosts the bike valet.
• Garage H on Half Street SE.
• Lots M, T, U, and W for the surface-lot option.

Driving makes sense for anyone whose trip already includes a rental car, or for a group splitting one $20-to-$50 garage spot against stacking distance-based Metro fares (each rider pays $2.25 to $6.75 depending on time and distance). Go in expecting the crawl out of the garage afterward. Everyone leaves at once, and that part has no fix.

SpotHero for a spot in advance

With SpotHero, a parking-reservation app, you can book and prepay for a garage or lot near the park and drive straight to your spot on game day. Comparing it against the team’s prepaid rates takes about a minute.

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The water taxi

The park sits on the Anacostia River, and Diamond Teague Pier is directly across from its south side. On game days, City Cruises’ Potomac Water Taxi runs boats to the pier from Old Town Alexandria, about 30 to 40 minutes away on the water. Boats leave Old Town 60 minutes before the event on weekdays and 90 minutes before on weekends, and the return trip leaves the pier 30 minutes after the event ends.

It’s slower than the train, and it runs on the boat’s schedule instead of yours. It’s also the only commute in this guide with a river view of the park, and kids treat the boat as part of the show. Catch that return departure or you’re back on the apps.

Capital Bikeshare

Capital Bikeshare is DC’s bike-share system, and four docks sit within a ten-minute walk of the ballpark: 1st and N Street SE, 1st and K Street SE, 3rd and Tingey Street SE, and M Street at New Jersey Avenue SE. Ride in, dock the bike, walk to your gate. If you’re on your own bike, a free bike valet runs just left of the Garage C entrance on First Street SE, taking bikes, personal e-scooters, and e-bikes from 2 hours before first pitch to an hour after the game. They’ll check your helmet too, since helmets aren’t allowed inside the park. The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail runs along the water past the park, so the last stretch of the ride can be riverfront instead of traffic.

Adding a Baltimore game to the trip

Washington and Baltimore are close enough to share one road trip, and the train does the work. MARC, Maryland’s commuter rail, runs between Washington Union Station and Baltimore: the Camden Line runs on weekdays and ends at Camden Station, right at the Orioles’ ballpark, while the Penn Line covers weekends into Baltimore Penn Station. That makes a two-park weekend a workable itinerary, Nationals Park one night and an Orioles game the next day, no car required. You can find more about the Baltimore side of that trip, from where to sit to the neighborhood around the park, in our Camden Yards guide.

Getting here from the airport

Reagan National Airport (DCA) is on the Metro’s Yellow Line, and the ride to Nationals Park takes one transfer. Board a Yellow Line train heading north into DC and ride it to L’Enfant Plaza. There, change to a Green Line train toward Branch Ave and ride it two stops to Navy Yard-Ballpark, which the Nationals say is just a block away from the ballpark.

The airport says the station connects to the concourse level of Terminal 2 by two enclosed pedestrian bridges. A Metro ride is as low as $2.25, and after 9:30 pm on weekdays and all day on weekends, no ride costs more than $2.50. Our SmarTrip and fares section above covers paying with SmarTrip or a contactless card.

Heading back after a night game. The ride back to Reagan National needs both trains to still be running. On WMATA’s Navy Yard-Ballpark station page, the last Green Line train toward L’Enfant Plaza has been leaving at 11:54 pm Monday through Thursday nights, 1:54 am on Friday nights, 1:53 am on Saturday nights, and 11:50 pm on Sunday nights. WMATA’s L’Enfant Plaza page has the last Yellow Line train toward the airport leaving at 12:01 am Sunday through Thursday nights and 2:01 am on Friday and Saturday nights. That is only minutes after the last Green Line train leaves Navy Yard-Ballpark, so catch an earlier Green Line train and leave enough time to make the change at L’Enfant Plaza. Both pages list the times by day of the week, so check them for the night of your game.

Rideshare and taxi. At Reagan National, rideshares pick up at Terminal 1 on the third curb, the outer one. At Terminal 2, rideshares pick up on the outer curb of the Baggage Claim (Arrivals) level, on the first floor, and the airport asks you to select Zone 1, 2, 3, or 4. For a taxi at Terminal 1, go out the exit doors at baggage claim and turn right, and the taxis are on the curb closest to the terminal. At Terminal 2, go to baggage claim on level one, then walk out through Doors 5 or 6 to the curb. To get back to the airport after the game, the Nationals’ pickup spots and taxi stand are in our Rideshare section above.

Dulles International (IAD) is on the Silver Line. Dulles says its Metro station connects to the main terminal by an indoor tunnel with moving sidewalks, and the walk takes about 5 minutes. Ride the Silver Line east to L’Enfant Plaza, then take the Green Line two stops to Navy Yard-Ballpark. The ride to Rosslyn alone takes about 50 to 55 minutes, according to Dulles. The same $2.50 cap applies after 9:30 pm on weekdays and all day on weekends, but on a weekday before 9:30 pm, this long ride costs more, because Metro fares go up with distance. On the way back, the last Silver Line train toward Ashburn, which stops at the airport, leaves L’Enfant Plaza at 11:52 pm Sunday through Thursday nights and 1:52 am on Friday and Saturday nights. Check WMATA’s L’Enfant Plaza page for the night of your game. Most nights, the last Silver Line train leaves L’Enfant Plaza before the last Green Line train even leaves Navy Yard-Ballpark, and on Sunday nights the gap is only 2 minutes, so take an earlier Green Line train and give yourself extra time to change at L’Enfant Plaza.

At Dulles, rideshares pick up on the 3rd curb, on the ground level outside Baggage Claim Doors 2, 4, or 6, in Zones 3A through 3H. Washington Flyer taxis load on the lower level at Door 1 or Door 7.

If you will be driving, our Driving and parking section above covers the Nationals’ garages and lots.

Ride Metro from Reagan National or Dulles, and watch the clock after a late game, because the ride back needs two trains.

Luggage

The Nationals’ list of prohibited items includes luggage of any kind. For bags that do not meet the bag policy, Binbox offers lockers in three places: to the left of the Center Field Gate, to the right of the Left Field Gate, and at the bottom of the Home Plate Gate. Binbox opens 2 hours before the scheduled first pitch and closes 1 hour after the final out. The Nationals say you can choose a medium or a large locker for a small fee, but they give no locker sizes, so a suitcase may not fit.

At the gates, any bag bigger than a 5 by 7 by 0.75 inch clutch has to be clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC and no bigger than 16 by 16 by 8 inches. Backpacks are not allowed, and that includes clear ones. Our First-Timer Guide section has the full bag policy.

The Radical Storage listing for Navy Yard is at 125 L St SE, and storage there is as low as $6 a bag per day. Its listed hours are 10 am to 6 pm Tuesday through Saturday and 10 am to 3 pm on Monday, and it is closed on Sunday, so it only works for a game that ends before it closes. For a Sunday afternoon game, Bounce has a listing at 214 D St SE that is open 7 am to 7 pm on weekends. It costs as low as $3.95 a day, and Bounce puts the spot 22 minutes from Nationals Park.

Reagan National says it does not offer any bag storage, so if you land with a suitcase on the day of a night game, stop at your hotel before you head to Navy Yard, and if you are too early to get into your room, ask the front desk to keep the suitcase until after the game.

Gates

Nationals Park has five public gates: Center Field on N Street, Left Field on South Capitol Street, Right Field on First Street, and Home Plate and First Base next to each other on Potomac Avenue. Off the Metro, the closest is the Center Field gate at the end of Half Street, and the crowd will carry you there.

Gates open 75 minutes before a 6:45 first pitch and 80 minutes before earlier start times.

The Home Plate gate has the Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson, and Frank Howard statues out front, the best meet-up landmark at the park and a photo stop on the way in. Bag rules here are stricter than most first-timers expect, so read the clear-bag policy before you pack for the game. You can find more about the clear-bag policy in our First-Timer Guide section.

Know Nationals Park better than we do? Tell us what we got wrong, or where we should be sending people instead.

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