Fort McHenry: the complete visitor guide

I grew up in Locust Point, ten minutes from the gate, and spent five summers here as a seasonal interpreter. In all that time one question came up more than all the others put together, and the answer never got easier to give: no, the flag is not here.

The fence is the whole story

Fort McHenry is a 43-acre park at 2400 East Fort Avenue, about three miles from the Inner Harbor. Somewhere in the middle of it there is a wooden fence, and the Park Service is precise about what that fence means: the fee area is the star fort and the outer battery, and that is all it is. Everything on the other side — the lawns, the paths, the seawall, the visitor center and the film — costs nothing. That is not a loophole. It is how the park is set up, and it is the single most useful thing I can tell you.

Inside the fence it is $15 for each adult aged 16 or over. Keep the receipt: it is good for seven days, so a Saturday ticket still works on the Wednesday. Nobody under 16 pays at all. An annual pass is $45 and covers the holder plus three adults for twelve months, less than four single adult tickets, so if there are four adults in the car, buy the pass on the way in. The America the Beautiful pass runs from $80 for residents to $250 for non-residents; if you are doing a summer of national parks you already know whether you want one. Either way you buy at the gate. More under tickets and prices.

The two hours nobody writes about

The grounds open at 7:00 a.m. The registers that sell star fort entry open at 9:00 a.m. For those two hours the seawall, the grass and the water views are simply open, and in a Baltimore July that is the only civilised time to be out there anyway. I have never seen this gap mentioned in a guidebook, and it is the best free thing in the park.

The other end of the day catches more people out. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day the park runs 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at weekends. Last entry is 4:45 p.m. on weekdays and 5:45 p.m. at weekends, and the star fort, visitor center, gift shop and restrooms all close fifteen minutes before the park itself. Arrive at ten to five on a Tuesday and you have paid for a walk to the fence. Outside that season the hours change, our sources do not state them, and I will not invent them — check the Park Service page. The park is closed on Thanksgiving, December 25 and January 1, and open the rest of the year.

Eight days in 2026 cost nothing for anyone: Presidents Day on February 16, Memorial Day on May 25, Flag Day on June 14, the Independence Day weekend of July 3 to 5, the Park Service birthday on August 25, Constitution Day on September 17, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday on October 27, and Veterans Day on November 11. They are listed on the fee-free days page.

The flag question

So, the flag. The original Star-Spangled Banner is not at Fort McHenry and has not been for a very long time. It is in Washington, DC, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where admission is free and you do not need a ticket. If that flag is why you were driving to Baltimore, drive to Washington instead and come to the fort another day for its own sake. I would rather tell you now than watch you work it out at the register. The longer version is on where the flag actually is.

The tunnel with the same name

A good share of people searching for Fort McHenry are not looking for the monument. They want the Fort McHenry Tunnel, which carries I-95 under the harbour and is run by the Maryland Transportation Authority. A two-axle car pays $3.00 with a Maryland E-ZPass, $4.00 cash, or $6.00 by video toll. It is a road. It shares a name with the fort and nothing else; it has its own page.

What you can actually book

Nothing on GetYourGuide gets you inside the fort. I would rather say that flatly than dress it up, and it is why this site has three listings instead of thirty. What you can book is a view of the outside. The 45-minute Inner Harbor sightseeing cruise, from $34, names the fort as a sight and passes it from the water: no stop, no landing. The helicopter tour, from $78, flies over it; its 4.9 is the highest rating here, but it rests on 25 reviews against 251 for the cruise. The Fells Point food tour, from $109, is a good evening in a different neighbourhood and has nothing to do with the fort. Three products, labelled for what they are, and compared properly here.

How I would spend the money

If you have never been: get there before nine, walk the seawall while it is quiet, watch the film, then stand at the fence and decide whether you want the inside too. Plenty of people say yes and are glad. A fair number look at the star fort from the grass, decide they have what they came for, and keep the $15 for lunch. Both are reasonable, which is why I would rather you had the numbers before you arrive than after. Start with what is free and pay for the rest only if you want it.

The closest thing to a Fort McHenry tour

A 45-minute Inner Harbor sightseeing cruise that names the fort as a sight and passes it from the water, rated 4.8 across 251 reviews. None of it includes entry to the star fort. That is a National Park Service ticket, sold at the gate and nowhere else.

Frequently asked questions