Maryland Official Visitors Guide - 2026 Maryland Official Visitors Guide
Experiences for Every Season
2025-11-04 04:23:01
Plan your next Maryland vacation around these top-reviewed places and events, from festivals where oysters are shucked at record speed to the only mountaintop recirculating white-water course in the world.
Winter
Maryland’s elevation swings from sea level to more than 3,300 feet, creating a winter season in which mountain towns and shoreline communities are both in play. Quiet trails, historical streets glittering with holiday finery and fewer crowds make this a great time to explore.
With its twinkling harbor lights and crisp Chesapeake Bay air, Christmas in St. Michaels feels like stepping into a vintage postcard. The Candlelight Tour of Homes gives you a peek inside beautifully decorated 18th-century captains’ houses and waterfront estates. Shops along Talbot Street stock woodcrafted maps, handmade ornaments and luxury clothing perfect for gifting. The morning holiday parade rolls past brick storefronts dressed in evergreen, and in the evening, watermen ceremoniously haul Santa by boat.
Head west to Wisp Resort in McHenry, where skiers praise the slopes as well as the off-mountain extras: night tubing under the lights, marshmallowy hot cocoa in the lodge and evenings chatting by the firepits. With resort events every month during the season, it’s easy to stretch your trip into a full week in the mountains.
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For a quieter pace, Zigbone Farm Retreat in Sabillasville will warm you up with wellness weekends featuring yoga, art workshops and hearty farm-to-table meals. Cozy cabins built with reclaimed materials and powered in part by solar energy sit among mountainside pastures, where friendly goats and sheep roam. The farm’s seasonal retreat calendar makes it easy to return in spring or fall for hands-on novel- and poetry-writing classes.
Spring
As the weather warms, trails beckon, rivers rise, gardens bloom and migratory birds weave paths across the sky. Hike or road trip through budding forests, sprawling farmland and wildlife-filled wetlands as the landscape gets greener with every week.
Green Ridge State Forest near Flintstone wakes up in waves of color: Spot bird’s foot violets, long-leaved bluets, eastern redbuds and dusty-pink spring beauties tucked along quiet hollows. Birders time visits to catch migrations overhead, hoping for glimpses of warblers, bluebirds and even bald eagles. Stay nearby at The Guest Nest at Blue Heron Farm; here, eco-friendly guesthouses meet mountain views, and mornings are ushered in with birdsong and warm mugs of coffee on the porch.
Just outside Mechanicsville, Wicomico Shores Golf Course earns high marks for its scenic greens along the serene Wicomico River. Morning tee times are quiet, with fog lifting off the water and ospreys soaring overhead. After your round, grab lunch at the river-view clubhouse and linger on the deck to watch boats drift past.
In Baltimore, the Kinetic Sculpture Race is anything but subtle — imagine a 15-foot pink poodle on wheels, bubble machines strapped to tricycles and cheering crowds along the Inner Harbor. Racers pedal amphibious, human-powered sculptures across land, water and mud. The American Visionary Art Museum puts on the event, so stay to see its full exhibit lineup or hit the city’s historical marketplaces and waterfront neighborhoods.
Summer
Maryland’s sparkly shorelines stretch from the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay to rushing rivers, giving you hundreds of ways to get on the water. From swimming and paddling to cultural festivals in farm country, summer here connects you to the terrain.
At Adventure Sports Center International — which carries the title of the world’s only mountaintop recirculating white-water course — human-made rapids whoosh over boulders as paddlers twist through tight drops and sharp turns. Guided tours run the gamut from mild to wild rides. And the course, perched on the mountaintop of Wisp Resort, is also fully walkable, so those who prefer to stay dry can follow the current and catch the action up close.
Nearly 3 miles of boards, beach and fried things on sticks — that’s the draw of the Ocean City Boardwalk, where families return year after year. Bite into hot Thrasher’s fries tossed in vinegar, feel the salty breeze in your hair on the Ferris wheel or catch a movie right on the sand. For longer stays, beachfront hotels and rental condos mean you’re never far from fun by the Atlantic. Just a short stroll from the saltwater swells, you’ll find surf shops, coffee joints and old-school crab houses.
In West Friendship, the Whispering Winds Pow Wow brings the scent of sage and fresh fry bread to the air. Visitors can watch traditional dancing, learn about Native American regalia and drumming, and browse artisans’ booths. It’s an educational way to connect and celebrate Indigenous heritage and culture over a weekend.
Fall
Autumn in Maryland rolls in with kaleidoscopic leaves in the mountains and seafood harvests along the coast. The best way to experience it all? Cruising scenic back roads, celebrating at small-town festivals and shucking oysters by the water.
At the U.S. National Oyster Festival in Leonardtown, shuckers fly through dozens of oysters per minute during competitive races, and local chefs dish out everything from raw half shells to oyster potpie. Smell the butter and brine as you jam out to live music and dig into two full days of tastings near the Potomac River.
Waldorf’s CornStalker’s Trail of Terror isn’t for the faint of heart. Fog machines blur the fields, chainsaws snarl in the distance, and costumed actors close in just when you least expect it. The detail and intensity of each set — from dilapidated farms to abandoned asylums — draw visitors in for more thrills year after year.
In Silver Spring, the multi-day Latin American Film Festival turns the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center into a hub of international storytelling. Screenings feature everything from indie documentaries to boundary-pushing dramas, paired with artist talkbacks, lively music performances and pop-up bites from local chefs.
Find more ways to spend any season in Maryland.
Late March through January is pro-sports season in Baltimore. Cheer on the Orioles or root for the Ravens amid a sea of black, orange, purple and gold.
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