Learning the ropes of parking at the Baltimore Inner Harbor is certainly no easy task. When I started my job at the National Aquarium in January, I had the pleasure of being mentored by my supervisors in regards to harbor parking. Along the way, I have learned a few new things too. Figured it's only due turn that I share my findings with others :)
Firstly, there is free parking at the Inner Harbor. Yes. You heard me correctly. Free parking is available within a 10-min.-walking-distance of the inner harbor. However, it's not going to come easy.
The area where free parking is available is directly across from Little Italy. If going down Pratt Street, you continue through the President Street - Pratt Street intersection. After President Street, all unmarked areas to your left (on streets: south high, south exter, lloyd, etc.) is fair game. This area is the prime place for free parking on weekends - no matter what time you arrive during the day, you always will seem to manage one of these golden spots.
These spaces don't come easy on a weekday though! You have to get there either super early (7:30am), time it just right (know when another car normally leaves), or get lucky. Finding a spot in these free sections is literally a lottery-type deal. The earlier you arrive, the better your chances - just don't count on finding a spot - it ain't easy to win!
If you want to play it safe, there are paid parking garages you can utilize. Each garage's pricing depends on a few things - one being whether your a monthly-pass-holder or a daily-pass-holder.
Don't know which garage/lot to pick? Check out this genius website. It's the best place to compare prices. Shows and compares all the rates at every parking garage - monthly and daily. Includes "after 6" specials and the like too, so you take times of day into consideration. Like I said, genius, right?
Early-Bird parking is another option to hunt and scout out. This normally entails one flat rate when you enter by and leave by a specific time. Never found a truly good deal this way though - I find it normally to be a tourist trap to get people in the garage.
Pre-paid passes are one of the the best paid-option I've seen thus far. Pre-paid passes are meant to help the daily-parking-person, without giving them a monthly pass. Monthly passes often have long waiting lists, so if you're not willing to take the free-lottery, pre-paid passes are a great and cheap alternative (and a good backup for the free-parking system). You have to buy like 5 at a time, but hell, in Baltimore, you'll be sure to use them all, don't worry.
Well, that's Baltimore Harbor parking in a nutshell! Depending on location and pricing, the best choice depends on where you're going and how much you'd shell out for a spot.
Be sure to check out prices for yourself, and happy hunting! :)
