Map of Harpers Ferry

Browse by what it is

Each of these opens the attractions directory filtered to that type — a plain link, so it works without JavaScript and can be bookmarked.

• Historic sites8
• Neighbourhoods5
• Landmarks3
• Museums3
• Trails3
• Viewpoints2
• Water features2
• Park1
• Shopping1

Getting to Harpers Ferry

• Washington Dulles International AirportIAD

  35 mi · about 55 min by road

  The closest large airport and the one to book if you are flying in for this rather than adding it to a Washington trip. The drive is north-west through Loudoun County on Route 9 and then US 340, and it is genuinely under an hour outside rush hour — which is the exception in this region rather than the rule. Rental supply at Dulles is deep. Coming the other way, at five on a weekday afternoon, Route 7 and Route 9 through Purcellville can add half an hour you did not plan for.

• Ronald Reagan Washington National AirportDCA

  65 mi · about 85 min by road

  Convenient for the city and awkward for this trip, because everything between the terminal and the Potomac crossings is Washington traffic. It earns its place here for one reason: from National you can be on the Metro, then on a MARC or Amtrak train at Union Station, and reach Harpers Ferry without ever renting a car. If you are driving instead, plan the outbound leg for the middle of the day and the return for anything other than a Sunday evening.

• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall AirportBWI

  70 mi · about 95 min by road

  Often the cheapest fare of the three and a straightforward drive west on I-70 through Frederick before you drop south on US 340. It also puts you within reach of Antietam and Sharpsburg on the way in, which is worth a detour if you are building a two-battlefield weekend. The catch is the Baltimore beltway at either end of the day, and a run that reads as an hour and a half on the map behaving like two.

• Hagerstown Regional AirportHGR

  32 mi · about 45 min by road

  A small Maryland field about 45 minutes north with a thin schedule that has changed repeatedly over the years. Check what is actually flying before you plan anything around it. For most visitors this is a general-aviation option rather than a scheduled one, but if a route happens to serve your city it lands you closer than any of the Washington airports and drops you straight down US 340 through Sharpsburg.

• Harpers Ferry Station

  0 mi

  An 1894 Baltimore & Ohio station at the West Virginia end of the railroad bridge, owned by the National Park Service since 2001, with the platform effectively inside the historic lower town. MARC's Brunswick Line serves it on weekdays only and mostly in the commuter peak direction; one Amtrak Floridian calls in each direction each day. Between them a car-free visit is possible in a way it simply is not at most American historic sites — but read the current timetable first, because turn-up-and-go service this is not. The platform is not step-free.

• US Route 340

  0 mi

  The only road most visitors will ever use here, running south-west out of Frederick, Maryland, crossing the Potomac and then the Shenandoah on twin bridges within sight of the town, and continuing to Charles Town eight miles on. The park entrance and visitor centre sit directly off it on Cavalier Heights. Satellite navigation sends people down the hill into the lower town instead, where there is nowhere to leave a car; the park warns about this on its own directions page, and it is the single most common way a visit starts badly.

• Virginia Route 9

  0 mi

  The approach from northern Virginia and Dulles, running north-west from Leesburg through Hillsboro and over the Blue Ridge at Keys Gap before joining US 340. It is a two-lane road through farmland and small towns, slower than the mileage suggests and considerably better looking than the interstate alternative. Keys Gap is also an Appalachian Trail crossing, which makes this the natural road for a section hiker arranging a shuttle back into town.

• Interstate 70 at Frederick

  20 mi · about 30 min by road

  The northern funnel. Everything arriving from Baltimore, Pennsylvania or the west comes through Frederick and turns south onto US 340 for the last twenty miles. Frederick itself is the nearest town of any size — hospital, chain hotels, a genuine restaurant scene — and a common base for people who want more than the handful of rooms available in Harpers Ferry and Bolivar. Antietam and Shepherdstown both sit off this leg of the drive.

Distances and drive times are typical, not promised — see today's conditions before you plan a tight connection.