Access and Directions

Getting to NIH and the Clinical Center

See Directions to the Clinical Center (en español) for driving directions from the nearby airports and for using the public transportation system at the nearby airports.

Please view the Welcome to Our Patient and Their Visitors web page for additional information about visiting the NIH Clinical Center.

Please view the NIH Visitor Map for more information about visiting the NIH campus.

Please view NIH Traffic for the latest Campus Traffic Updates.

Please view the NIH Virtual Tour for a full interactive tour of the NIH campus.

Special Campus Entrance for Patients and Patient Visitors

Daily 6 am to 10 pm

Use West Drive Patient Entrance at the intersection of West Cedar Lane and West Drive, directly north of the main entrance of the Clinical Center. The facility is designed to ease and speed NIH access for patients by providing one-stop security screening. (Please bring a photo ID if you are 16 or older). See below for additional information.

This gate is for entry only (except in emergencies). To leave NIH, follow signs to other exits.

When the Patient Entrance is Closed

Daily 10 pm to 6 am

When the patient entrance is closed, enter through the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF) on Route 355 (Rockville Pike) between North Drive and Wilson Drive. Once you go through the vehicle inspection, follow the driveway until you reach Center Drive and make a right turn. Continue on Center Drive and follow signs to "Patient Parking" and "Clinical Center". The main entrance to the hospital will be to your left on Center Drive.

Campus Entrance for Patients and Patient Visitors Arriving by Metro or Taxi/Uber

Monday - Friday 5 am to 10 pm

Monday thru Friday, patients and patient visitors arriving by Metro or Taxi/Uber between 5 am to 10 pm should use the NIH Gateway Center. The NIH Gateway Center is located at Rockville Pike (Route 355) and South Drive. The address is 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894.

See below for additional information.

There are two options for parking, and both are free.

The Clinical Center offers complimentary valet parking to patients and their visitors. The Clinical Center strongly encourages patients and their visitors to use our valet parking. It will help reduce the traffic and parking issues we expect due to the major construction projects that are underway. Valet parking is available Monday through Friday, 6 am - 7 pm (excluding federal holidays). Take your valet claim ticket to the underground garage level Hospitality desk to have it validated. No payment is required. Tips will not be accepted.
If you choose to self-park, patient designated parking is located on the (underground garage) level. Parking attendants will be available to assist you. You'll enter the hospital through a lobby on the lower (underground garage) level. Stop by the Hospitality desk to validate your parking ticket. The South Elevators serve the parking garage.
Visit NIH Traffic for the most up-to-date information related to parking, traffic and associated construction.

Monday - Friday 6 am to 10 pm
Use the NIH Gateway Center.
Location: Rockville Pike (Route 355) and South Drive

Monday - Friday 10 pm to 6 am; weekends and holidays
Use the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF). Once cleared through security, a shuttle will take you to your destination on campus. Location: Rockville Pike (Route 355) between North Dr. and Wilson Dr.

If arriving from METRO Monday-Friday 10 pm to 6 am; weekends and holidays
At the top of escalator, turn right and proceed towards "Bus Stop" area. To walk to the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF) Entrance, follow the blue directional signs marked "CVIF" or to access a shuttle, use your personal cell phone to call 301-496-3316 and request a shuttle pick-up at Metro. A shuttle marked "Children's Inn/ Family Lodge" will arrive and take you directly to the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF). Once cleared through security, the shuttle will take you to your destination on campus.

*** REAL ID enforcement is delayed until May 7, 2025 – the extension does not apply to commercial vehicle operators. ***

The REAL ID Act of 2005 establishes minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards and prohibits federal agencies, such as NIH, from accepting for official purposes licenses and identification cards that do not meet these standards.

Under the REAL ID ACT, NIH may only accept state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards that meet the standards required by the ACT to access our facilities. Enhanced Driver's Licenses (EDL) issued by Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington are considered acceptable alternatives to REAL ID-compliant cards and will also be accepted for official REAL ID purposes. Most EDLs do not contain the star marking and this is acceptable. The EDLs do however state they are enhanced driver’s licenses and have an American flag either overlapping the picture or at the bottom right hand corner.

Individuals who come to the NIH's Clinical Center for inpatient or outpatient services are not subject to the REAL ID Act of 2005.

Approved forms of ID required to enter NIH facilities as of May 7, 2025:

REAL ID Driver's License or State Identification Card or Enhanced Driver's License
Passport or Passport Card
HSPD-12 PIV or CAC Card
Permanent Resident Card
Federally Recognized, Tribal-Issued Photo ID
Canadian Provincial Driver's License or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Card
USCIS Employment Authorization Card (I-766)
Other Less Common Documents (e.g. Merchant Mariner Credential)

Please visit Homeland Security's Real ID Act page for more information.

Due to the checking of IDs at the perimeter, employees and visitors will not be required to show their ID again to gain access to the majority of buildings on the NIH Bethesda campus during the normal business day. Employees and visitors should continue to wear their identification prominently at all times while on campus.

Guards will remain at certain buildings to address specific program requirements such as sensitive research and safety concerns. At building entrances where guards are posted:

Visitors may be required to log in, wear a visitors' pass and have an employee escort them through the building.
Visitors may be required to pass through a metal detector and have bags, backpacks or purses inspected or x-rayed as they enter buildings.

Security staff will be looking for and confiscating any suspicious or potentially dangerous materials. U.S. Code prohibits bringing any dangerous weapons onto Federal property, including anything with a blade longer than 2 ½ inches. Meeting participants may want to leave extra bags or personal materials at their hotel to minimize the time needed for inspection.

Floorplan

Hospitality desks are located throughout the hospital, including at the main entrance and in the lobby adjacent to the Patient Parking garage. Staff can answer your questions and provide directions.

The Clinical Center's free app for smartphone devices called NIHCC Take Me There is available to download from the Apple Store or Google Play. It enables users to pinpoint their current location and view directions to nearly anywhere inside the building. There is also a web version, www.takemethere.cc.nih.gov, which allows users to view directions online and share with others via email or print.

Many of the resources patients need have relocated to the first floor of the new hospital. Near the Central Elevators you'll find Admissions and Patient Travel. The Cashier and Voucher offices are located in the in the lobby at the main entrance to the hospital. Luggage can be stored in lockers located in the Transportation/Waiting Area at the main entrance. Social Work is on the second floor. Outpatient clinics remain in their current locations.

The hospital's two cafeterias (B1 and 2nd floor) remain in the Magnuson Center. A coffee bar in the hospital's first floor north atrium is open weekdays, 7 am – 5 pm.

More information on Patient Services.

NIH operates free shuttles to and from BWI, Dulles, and Reagan National Airports from Sunday to Friday, and on the following Federal holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President's Day, Columbus Day, and Veteran's Day. NIH also operates free shuttles to and from several area hotels, the Children's Inn, and the Family Lodge. The shuttles leave from the main entrance of the NIH Hatfield Center. A Metro stop is located on the NIH campus at the Rockville Pike and South Drive intersection. Shuttle service is available to the Metro location.

Shuttle schedules are online.

The West Drive patient entrance, located directly north of the Clinical Center's main entrance and next to The Children's Inn, offers specially tailored campus access and services to the Clinical Center's patients, their family members and patient visitors. The facility is designed to ease and speed NIH access for patients by providing one-stop security screening.

Patients arriving by vehicle daily 6 am to 10 pm who hold an extended visitor pass are also encouraged to use the West Drive patient entrance.

Location: Intersection of West Cedar Lane and West Drive

For mapping or direction purposes use: W Cedar Ln & West Dr Bethesda, MD 20814

Hours: Daily 6 am to 10 pm.

What to bring: A government-issued photo ID (for example, driver's license, passport, green card) is required for those ages 16 and older.

What not to bring: Federal law prohibits the following items on Federal property, alcoholic beverages and open containers of alcohol, firearms, explosives, archery equipment, dangerous weapons, knives with blades over 2 ½ inches, medical or recreational marijuana.

How it works: After exiting your vehicle, you will need to bring any luggage and belongings into the screening facility with you to be scanned. Staff are available to provide assistance. After proceeding through a metal detector and showing a government-issued ID, you'll receive a "one-day security pass".

Exiting Campus: There is no exit from the West Drive patient entrance, but visitors may exit campus through any open exit, including those designated for employees.

After-Hours Access: Daily 10 pm to 6 am when the West Drive patient entrance is not open, patients and patient visitors can enter campus through the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF). After hours and weekends, patients who hold an extended visitor pass can enter at the South Drive entrance at NIH Gateway Center at Medical Center Metro. Patients arriving via Metro are directed to use the NIH Patient Assistance Phone which is located immediately to the right of the NIH Gateway Center entrance. The phone directly calls campus security who will personally assist patients with campus entrance.

Location: Rockville Pike (Route 355) between North Drive and Wilson Drive.

For mapping or direction purposes use: NIH Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814

Monday - Friday 5 am to 10 pm
Use the NIH Gateway Center.
Location: Rockville Pike (Route 355) and South Drive – 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894

Monday - Friday 10 pm to 5 am; weekends and holidays
Use the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF). Once cleared through security, a shuttle will take you to your destination on campus. Location: Rockville Pike (Route 355) between North Dr. and Wilson Dr.

If arriving from METRO Monday - Friday 10 pm to 6 am; weekends and holidays
At the top of escalator, turn right and proceed towards "Bus Stop" area. To walk to the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF) Entrance, follow the blue directional signs marked "CVIF" or to access a shuttle, use your personal cell phone to call 301-496-3316 and request a shuttle pick-up at Metro. A shuttle marked "Children's Inn/ Family Lodge" will arrive and take you directly to the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility (CVIF). Once cleared through security, the shuttle will take you to your destination on campus.

Directions to the Clinical Center

Metrorail service is available from Washington's National Airport and from Union Station (railway). Take Metro's Red Line to the Medical Center Station. The station's escalators come out onto the NIH campus. The NIH Gateway Center (Building 66) will be ahead of you. Proceed to the Gateway Center, which is open for pedestrians Monday – Friday, 6 am – 10 pm.

After proceeding through a metal detector and showing one form of government-issued photo ID (for example: driver's license, passport, green card), you'll receive a "one-day security pass".

Once exiting the Gateway Center, proceed to the North Lobby of the Clinical Center, Building 10. To get to the Clinical Center (Building 10), take the NIH campus shuttle bus marked "CAMPUS" OR "CAMPUS LIMITED." Get off at the North Entrance of the Clinical Center (Building 10). The shuttle bus leaves the Metro station every 15 to 20 minutes. You can also choose to walk from the Gateway Center, past the bus stops down South Drive. Keep straight and cross over Center Drive. Continue to walk straight up the hill. The NIH Clinical Center (Building 10) is at the top of the hill on the right. You will find yourself in the South Lobby of the Clinical Center. Follow the signs to the Main Lobby, which is located at the North end of the building.

Hospitality staff members are available to assist you at the North Lobby Information Desk.

If arriving from METRO Monday-Friday 10 pm to 6 am weekends and holidays: Use the NIH Patient assistance phone which is located immediately to the right of the NIH Gateway Center entrance. This phone directly calls campus security who will personally assist patients with campus entrance.

Ground Transportation from Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI)

Take the Baltimore-Washington Parkway south toward Washington, DC. At I-495 (Capital Beltway), head west toward Silver Spring/Bethesda. From the Beltway (I-495), take Exit 34, which is Rt. 355 (Wisconsin Ave./Rockville Pike) and head south toward Washington/Bethesda. Turn right onto West Cedar Lane. Drive about one half mile and turn left into the patient entrance on West Drive daily 6 am – 10 pm. When the patient entrance is closed please use the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility daily 10 pm – 6 am, located on Rockville Pike (Route 355) between North Drive and Wilson Drive.