A night on Gunston Cove is the tidal Potomac south of Alexandria, at Pohick Bay Regional Park's bayside loop, with trails down to the water. The next day runs north on the George Washington Memorial Parkway to Mount Vernon, the riverside plantation George Washington built and where he is buried. The house looks over the Potomac, and the grounds around it fill that day.
The estate is open every day. A mansion tour takes a separate timed ticket, and on a busy day the next tour can be two hours or more after you arrive. Book that ticket before you leave the cove.
The campground is in Lorton, on Pohick Bay Drive off US-1. Electric hookup sites take a campervan, and NOVA Parks strongly suggests a ReserveAmerica reservation. Summer on the cove is buggy and humid.
The hookup site on the cove is how you stay close to Alexandria and the District without turning the night into a city problem. Leave the van on the cove and ride into the District for the Smithsonian museums, which have no camping. The monuments are a parked day from the same site. Come back to Gunston Cove at night.
Bull Run Regional Park
When Pohick Bay is booked, Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville is the other first night. RV sites with electric-only service and RV sites with full service (sewer, water, and electric) take a van, reserved on the same ReserveAmerica system. Fairfax County's Burke Lake Park has a campground too. It is a county park night in this part of Northern Virginia when you want a named alternative to the two NOVA Parks loops.
Prince William Forest Park
You go to Prince William Forest Park to walk in Piedmont woods. Oak Ridge Campground is a drive-up loop in that forest, and the trails start at camp. You walk all day and return to the same site. Tents and small RVs use the A and B loops, and C loop is tent-only.
There are no hookups and no dump station. As of September 2026, RVs are limited to 32 feet or less in length and less than 12 feet in height. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, look at RV rentals in Virginia and still measure against that cap.
Oak Ridge closes for winter and reopens in spring. When that loop is shut, or when you want water and electric at the site, the concessionaire-run Prince William Forest RV Campground inside the park has full hookups. Fredericksburg is the next campervan city south.
Great Falls Park
The Potomac drops through Mather Gorge's cliffs at Great Falls Park on the Virginia side. Three overlooks are a short walk from the visitor center and the parking lots. There is no campground, so this stays a day from Pohick Bay or Bull Run.
West of Alexandria, Shenandoah National Park is the mountain park overnight. North of the District, Baltimore is the next city, and Maryland covers the nights beyond it.