Consequently, participants in NIH summer programs are authorized to park their vehicles only at satellite parking facilities that are located in Rockville and downtown Bethesda. Shuttle bus service is available from these facilities to buildings on the main campus. The NIH is located just 20 minutes from downtown Washington, where cultural and recreational opportunities are abound. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts offers the National Symphony Orchestra, ballet, opera, and drama, and Wolf Trap Farm Park stages musical and theatrical events in the summer. A stay in the nation's capital offers an opportunity to visit the city's historical sites and national monuments and to observe national politics close at hand.
Nearby parks offer hiking, camping, bicycling, canoeing, and rock climbing.
About a hour from the NIH campus in Bethesda is Baltimore's Inner Harbor, aquarium, museums, theater, libraries, and Orioles Park at Camden Yards as well as other cultural institutions which offer varied extracurricular attractions.