Gravelly Point Park

I’m going to do more justice to my review this time around, being here several times now, and each time is always a joy.
Gravelly Point is a fantastic place right off the George Washington Parkway, only minutes from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), and its not even a terrible walk from the metro stop either. With that said, it is an amazing place to watch planes, play a pickup game of soccer or football, or get some exercise as the park runs through the Mt. Vernon trail.
The park is absolutely gorgeous as it sits along a basin of the Potomac River. From there, you can see planes taking the famous, but strict River Visual Approach. This is for all aircraft landing into DCA from the north. Basically, from 10 – 12 miles outside the airport, aircraft on final approach must follow the river to the airport, with a sharp bank over the park before touching down on runway 19. Smaller aircraft can use runway 15. Planes from the south use the Mount Vernon Visual, where the aircraft fly over Alexandria using a similar approach except they land using runways 1 or 33.
For you planespotters out there, especially the novice ones, you’ll never find anything larger than a Boeing 757 or an MD-​80 landing here. That’s largely because the runways are too small, and there’s a noise abatement that flights must follow in ordinances with the counties. Additionally, all flights are domestic. And there’s roughly 1000 – 1100 flights daily out of the airport.
But that’s just the big highlight. The park is technically always open to the public, except after 10 pm the police come by to close the parking lot off from vehicular traffic. But it opens daily at 6 am, usually around the time the first outbound planes get ready for takeoff. I would suggest getting here early, as parking fills up fast, especially on weekends in the summer. The park makes for a great day, and you should try and make as much of it as you can. It’s an experience you’ll want to repeat over and over again. That’s why I go back, and hopefully when you go, you’ll want to as well.