10 unmissable scenic byways in the Capital Region

Stretching almost 200 miles from Keysers Ridge to Cumberland via Oakland and the Allegheny Mountains, the Mountain Maryland Byway is one you can drive over and over with a different experience every time. This rugged region takes on a brand-new complexion with every season and has plenty of tempting side routes to explore. While the drive is less than seven hours straight through, you’ll want to allow plenty of time to stop, enjoy the views, and indulge in the vast array of outdoor pursuits on offer. Winter in the mountains is for snowboarding, tubing, and skiing, while summer brings opportunities for zip-lining, rafting, and even a little golf. Photographers will love this loop all year with breathtaking scenes from Lover’s Leap and the Cumberland Narrows to Muddy Creek Falls and the manufactured reservoir of Deep Creek Lake.

It took four decades from 1811 to complete the National Road, which carried young pioneers from Baltimore to the wilds of Illinois. Back then, this engineering marvel led wagons and coaches through forests, over mountains, and across mighty rivers. Today, it takes just a few hours to follow “the road that built a nation” from Baltimore to Cumberland in the comfort of your hire car or USA motorhome. Start your journey with a selfie on the water’s edge of Inner Harbor before stopping for refreshments at one of Mount Airy’s vineyards. Learn as you go in museums dedicated to the Capital Region’s railways, the National Road itself, and prominent figures from Maryland’s past. Best travelled over three or four days to make the most of the quaint towns which line the route, this 170-mile trip is one road and two centuries of discovery.

Officially, it’s the C&O Canal, 184.5 miles of manufactured waterway connecting Washington, DC., to Maryland via aqueducts, lock systems, and 19th-century tunnels. To the locals, it’s simply the “Grand Old Ditch”. You can travel this scenic route by car, bike, foot, kayak, barge, or all five. Most travellers journey east to west, passing heritage railway stations and Civil War battlefields, through the historic towns of Brunswick and Hancock, to the state border city of Cumberland. Cyclists might prefer west to east, as it’s all downhill in that direction. Whichever way you choose, the C&O Canal offers plenty of opportunities to get out on the water, either on a mule-drawn barge or an authentic steam-powered launch boat. You’ll also find plenty of distractions in the shape of cafés, bakeries, parks, vineyards, golf courses, paddlesports centres, and the Glenstone, a unique museum of art, architecture, and nature.

From the site of the Battle of Gettysburg and Abraham Lincoln’s iconic address to Thomas Jefferson’s mountaintop Monticello plantation, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a 180-mile route through some of the most historic sites in America. Walk on earth that saw American Civil War conflicts at Antietam, Monocacy, and Manassas. Visit underground railway safehouses such as the Fairfield Inn and Dobbin House. See former presidential homes and retreats from the David Wills House, where Lincoln finished writing his famous speech, to the Montpelier estate of the “Father of the Constitution”, James Madison. You can even hike in the Catoctin Mountain Park, which surrounds Camp David. For history buffs, the byways “Where America Happened” are a must-do US road trip.

Officially declared an All-American Road in 2021, Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway invites you to dive deeper into life by the bay. This peninsula region between the tidal rivers of the east coast was built on the shoulders of farmers, watermen, and merchants. Today, it’s home to Maryland’s most picturesque fishing villages, like Chestertown, where beautifully preserved Colonial homes are built around red-brick town squares. Move between beaches, marinas, historic sites, and parks as you uncover stories of the past and enjoy the fruits of modern regeneration among fascinating museums, nature reserves, and some of the finest seafood eateries in the Capital Region. The Chesapeake Country Byway can be enjoyed as a classic end-to-end road trip or as a map for days out from a central base.

One of the most important travel networks ever to exist was the Underground Railroad, a series of routes across the US which transported an estimated 100,000 people to freedom from slavery. Between Maryland and Pennsylvania, the famous path along which Harriet Tubman took 13 perilous trips to rescue 70 members of her family, friends, and other enslaved people is now one of America’s best-loved scenic byways. Starting in Cambridge, the county seat of Dorchester in Maryland, where Tubman was born into slavery, this road tracks significant moments and historic sites from Tubman’s epic life. Keep your camera ready as you find one-room schoolhouses, safehouses, and wood cabins among wildlife refuges, parks, and lakes where outdoor adventures are available to break the journey.

You don’t get much more scenic than Skyline Drive. The only road through Shenandoah National Park, this 105-mile byway runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains with breathtaking views of Virginia’s sweeping Shenandoah Valley and the Appalachian Mountains. You can drive the entire length in over three hours, even with a 35mph speed limit, but you’ll want to allow plenty more time to take it all in. Keep your eyes peeled for black bears, deer, and wild turkeys as you go, and be sure to pack all you need for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Trek the forested trails to find waterfalls, canyons, and giant oaks along the mountain slopes. We highly recommend taking a camera, especially if you travel during autumn when the colours of the park are at their most mesmerising.

The shortest scenic byway on the list, Colonial Parkway is just 23 miles long but packed with over 400 years of history. Linking the country’s first English settlement of Jamestown, on the banks of the James River, to the former tobacco port of Yorktown, on the York River, this byway passes through Colonial Williamsburg. Here, at the largest living museum in the US, visitors are transported back in time, and actors bring history to life. Travelling by car allows you to cover the full route in one day with time to stop at most key sites, but you should plan at least two days for the best experience. Highlights along the byway include George Washington’s Headquarters on the Yorktown Battlefield, the Colonial National Historic Park at the mouth of King Creek, and the 330-year-old College of William & Mary.

Where the Skyline Drive ends, the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. Travelling over 460 miles from the edge of Shenandoah National Park to the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, this mountain route is one of the most scenic roads in America, if not the world. 219 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway sit within Virginia, passing through the spectacular scenery of the Appalachian Mountains, across the James River, and around the city of Roanoke, the gateway to Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Along the way, you’ll pass the three Peaks of Otter and the restored Mabry Mill, the most photographed spot on the parkway. Every mile of this journey has something to see or do, from hiking and fishing in the wilderness to grabbing a bite and meeting the locals of each quaint town you pass.

Following the winding path of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon to Great Falls, the George Washington Memorial Parkway connects more than 25 of the most significant and scenic sites in Washington, DC. Almost 30 miles of road guides you to locations including the Clara Barton House, Theodore Roosevelt Island, Arlington House, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial, and the monument-filled National Mall of the US capital. In addition to these historic landmarks, the Parkway is also the best way to reach beautiful outdoor areas from Collingwood Picnic Area and Fort Hunt Park to Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve and the 800 acres of spectacular hiking, biking, and kayaking territory which makes up Great Falls Park.