Anacostia Park

nice park with pool, skating ring, basketball courts, recreation centers and more!

COOL National Park! The outdoor skating pavilion is a fun and fitting addition to the Anacostia community. On the weekends, a DJ spins funk, go-​go, and hip-​hop music. Kids and adults are just skating/​flying by having fun. Some are pulling off amazing tricks (splits, standing splits, 360s!); one man was wearing a cape and, of course, having a blast; one girl had birthday balloons tied to her belt loop trailing her as she skated. And skate rentals are FREE! (Just drop off an ID as collateral and you’re good!)
I’ve lived in the DC area (Alexandria specifically) for pretty much my whole life; I had no idea that Anacostia had such a cool NATIONAL PARK. Check it out 11am-​6pm on weekdays, and 11am-​7pm on weekends.

This place is wonderful. I take my dog here all the time. She’ll tell you. It’s a perfect balance between being scenic on one side and social on the other. This park offers a great selection of open grassy areas and wide open fields and walking trails, playgrounds and tennis courts. It also has an indoor pool.
I’m from rural southern MD and this park offers everything I would want from being back home.
Easily accessible bike trails and hands down the best sunsets in Washington DC. Then there’s the basketball court and roller skating rink. DJ’s concession stands. Girls, girls, girls. There’s an indoor pool and fishing is allowed, although you should NOT eat the fish.
walking/​biking trails will quickly take you along the annacostia river/​RFK stadium and you have quick access to the navy yard via the Eleanor Rossevelt bridge or capital hill via the Sosa bridge.
Did I mention that I also LOVE this park. I’ve been to rock creek. I’ve been to fort DuPont part. I live for the outdoors but I always come back here. If you are the hardcore outdoorsman or the casual stroll taker. This park has something for you. It even has benches for the professional couch surfers.
Warning: you may encounter delicious grilled food on your trail.

They have a cute pirate ship playground with the little ones and a full outdoor fitness station for adults.
18 pieces of strength training and aerobic equipment. Best of all, it’s free!
Equipment:
Combo press & pull
Pull-​up and dip station
Sit-​up boards
Seated lat pull
Exercise bikes
Air strider
Squat press
Rowing machine
Horizontal ladder
Accessible multi-​gym
Push-​up bars
Horizontal bars
Elliptical cross-​trainer

Great location and amenities! I guess the city is waiting on local gentrification to happen before keeping the grounds as nice as other parks in the city. =(

I love that this place is clearly one of DC’s secret treasures. Secret, yet in plain view along pennsylvania ave, or 295. It took me a while (years actually) to figure out where in the world the entrance was! But now I know 3 different ways to enter/​exit.
The pirate playground is very popular with my 5 year old and lots of other kids big and small. They recently installed actual workout equipment around the playground so you see older kids and parents (some lone adults too) working out on the equipment. Pretty cool!
The park is beautiful, running along the potomac, although the potomac itself is not all that great to look at up close in my opinion. There’s a trail that runs along the park used for biking, skating, walking and running. Wish they had a few more picnic tables here and there. But the place is so low key, serene, not crowded and kept pretty clean.
*Oh yeah, one of those entrances is off the Frederick Douglas Bridge. If you’re headed off the suitland parkway going towards Nats Stadium. It’ll be on the right. Look closely, it doesn’t really jump out at you.

There is a great bike loop on both sides of the river:

I’ve only really used Anacostia Park for their skating pavilion (polished concrete surface) or to skate alongside the water. There are big grassy areas for soccer/​ultimate, and basketball courts.
Whether it be humid and full of mosquitoes, or chilly and rainy, Anacostia Park’s Skating Pavilion is covered, but in no way sheltered from the elements. Also, there’s no lighting so you better get your skating in well before sunset. Sometimes there’s really loud soul and R&B music playing, which makes for fun times. The bathroom is serviceable near the skate park and there’s plenty of parking.
I know skate rental is available from Memorial Day to Labor Day during the day, but usually I bring my own skates when it’s warm enough outside. On summer weekends, there can be a lot of families with kids skating, and sometimes there are semi-​organized skate demonstrations by artistic skaters.
Specifically for derby girls:
*No tape is allowed on the floor of the track because it lifts up the finish
*There are four marks on the polished concrete (probably from former tape usage) that mark a WFTDA track
*There is no hitting/​contact at the skate pavilion (roller hockey is banned from here, probably for this reason). You can lean on each other or do packwork, but nothing like hip checks
*The bathroom sucks to change in. If you can change before you get here, do it.

Who needs to cross the river when we’ve got Anacostia park. You’ll find an outdoor pool, a multi use trail, tennis courts, playground, skate park and educational center. I’ll be biking along here often.