University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2 Days: A Princess Anne, Maryland College Visit Fly-In Trip
A parent-first plan for visiting the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Maryland: how to book a 45-minute Student and Family tour, where tours start, Fruitland, Salisbury and Princess Anne hotels from Budget to Mid-range, drive times from Salisbury Regional Airport and BWI, the Salisbury Zoo and Assateague Island for siblings, and Eastern Shore weather by season, every fact sourced and checked Oct 31, 2026.
Richard Hazel Hall, home of the Honors Program, on the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus in Princess Anne (Sep 2013). Photo: Honors Lane · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized and cropped
Last checked Oct 31, 2026. Every fact comes from the pages listed in Sources at the bottom. Some hotel and tour links are affiliate links (disclosure).
The short version
Trip at a glance
School
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (Princess Anne, MD; Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)
Days
2 days: fly into Salisbury on day 1, campus tour on day 2.
Fly into
Salisbury Regional Airport (SBY), about 29 minutes from campus by car, with American Airlines connections through Philadelphia and Charlotte. BWI is about 2 hours 51 minutes away by car.
Best base
Hampton Inn & Suites Salisbury/Fruitland, about 18 minutes by car from campus, or the Econo Lodge in Princess Anne, about 6 minutes away.
Car or transit
Rent a car; campus sits off U.S. Route 13 in Princess Anne, and every leg of this plan is a drive.
Registration
Book a Student and Family tour (weekday or Saturday) on UMES's tour sign-up page; only two guests may join each student.
1. Who this guide is for
This plan is for parents with a high schooler, and maybe younger siblings, who want to see the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) campus in Princess Anne, on Maryland's Eastern Shore south of Salisbury.
UMES's GPS address is 11868 Academic Oval, Princess Anne, MD 21853, and the main way in is UMES Boulevard (Maryland Route 822) off U.S. Route 13.
Why this order
UMES's guided campus tours are 45-minute sessions that give a general overview of the Princess Anne campus.
The tour sign-up offers Student and Family tours on weekdays and on Saturdays, plus group and department tours.
Can't make it in person? UMES links a virtual tour of campus from its Visit page.
Plan ahead: registration and timing
Pick a tour type and month on UMES's Schedule a Tour page, then use Check Availability to see open dates.
Only two guests are permitted per student on campus tours, so plan who comes along.
Questions go to the Office of Admissions and Recruitment at umesadmissions@umes.edu or (410) 651-6410; the office is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
Tour availability varies by season.
Saturday Student and Family tours are a separate tour type on the sign-up page, so check both the weekday and Saturday options for your dates.
Groups that want to eat in the UMES dining hall should arrange it in advance through umescatering@thompsonhospitality.com.
2. The suggested 2-day plan
Drive times are no-traffic estimates from OpenStreetMap routing, with addresses geocoded by OpenStreetMap Nominatim. Campus times are to UMES's GPS address on Academic Oval.
Day 1: Fly into Salisbury and check in near campus
Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) → Hampton Inn & Suites Salisbury/Fruitland
Driving (no traffic)
~2 hr 37 min, 105.9 mi
Driving
Rental car
Salisbury Regional Airport has as many as eight American Airlines flights a day to Philadelphia (PHL) and Charlotte (CLT), operated by Piedmont Airlines, so most families connect through one of those hubs.
Driving from Baltimore or Washington instead? UMES's directions: cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, take Route 50 East to Salisbury, then Business Route 13 South to Princess Anne and follow signs to UMES Boulevard (MD Route 822), about 140 miles in all.
Day 2: University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus tour
All tours begin in the Student Development Center (SDC): enter campus, continue down UMES Boulevard to the Student Services Center, turn right and go past the fenced parking gate and bridge to the brick SDC building with glass windows on the left.
The admissions office is in SDC Suite 1140 at 1 College Backbone Road, and the campus map marks the Student Development Center as building 4.
3. Campus by campus
Richard Hazel Hall, home of the Honors Program, on the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus in Princess Anne (Sep 2013). Photo: Honors Lane · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized and cropped
Campus
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (Princess Anne, MD)
Tours begin in the Student Development Center (SDC), home of the Office of Admissions and Recruitment in Suite 1140.
Visitor parking
UMES's tour page routes visitors down UMES Boulevard past the Student Services Center and a fenced parking gate to the SDC; it does not name a visitor lot, so check your tour confirmation or call admissions at (410) 651-6410 about where to park.
The printable campus map PDF shows building numbers, which helps once you are on campus.
Getting there
Campus is about 18 minutes by car from the Fruitland hotels, about 30 minutes from Salisbury's Courtyard and about 6 minutes from the Econo Lodge in Princess Anne, with no traffic.
What to know
The 45-minute guided tour gives a general overview of campus; tours are student and family, group or department tours.
The dining hall is in the Student Services Center (SSC), which you pass on the way to the SDC.
The Henson, UMES's hotel and conference center, sits on campus and calls itself Princess Anne's premier choice for campus visits.
Contact
UMES Office of Admissions and Recruitment: umesadmissions@umes.edu or (410) 651-6410.
Last checked Oct 31, 2026. Tour and admissions details change often, so confirm them on the school's official visit page before you go.
4. Where to stay: Fruitland, Salisbury and Princess Anne hotels near UMES
Price tiers (Budget, Mid-range, Upscale) follow each hotel's star class on Expedia. Rates vary by date, so check your dates on Expedia.
Hotel · Our pickBudget
Hampton Inn & Suites Salisbury/Fruitland
304 Prosperity Lane, Fruitland, MD 21826
Why here
On UMES's own list of local hotels, between Salisbury and Princess Anne: about 18 minutes by car from campus and 18 minutes from Salisbury Regional Airport with no traffic.
Expedia lists this hotel as a 2.5-star property, so we place it in the Budget tier. Rates vary by date, so check your dates on Expedia.
Good to know
The listing shows a free buffet breakfast, an indoor pool and free self parking. Confirm details on the Expedia listing before you book.
On the same street as the Hampton Inn in Fruitland, so the drive to campus is about the same.
Expedia lists this hotel as a 3-star property, so we place it in the Mid-range tier. Rates vary by date, so check your dates on Expedia.
Good to know
The listing shows a free buffet breakfast, an indoor pool, free self parking and a minimum check-in age of 18. Confirm details on the Expedia listing before you book.
On UMES's list of local hotels, on Salisbury's north side: about 19 minutes from the airport and 30 minutes from campus by car with no traffic.
Expedia lists this hotel as a 3-star property, so we place it in the Mid-range tier. Rates vary by date, so check your dates on Expedia.
Good to know
The listing shows an on-site restaurant, an indoor pool, free self parking, cooked-to-order breakfast for a fee and a minimum check-in age of 21. Confirm details on the Expedia listing before you book.
Stay in Fruitland for chain hotels halfway between the airport and campus, in Salisbury for the most choices, or in Princess Anne to be minutes from campus. UMES also lists The Henson, its own hotel and conference center on campus (reservations by phone at (410) 651-8100); we found no Expedia listing for it, so we don't link it.
5. Meals between tours
Hours change, so check before you go.
On campus
The UMES dining hall is in the Student Services Center (SSC); check UMES Dining Services for current hours and locations, and groups can arrange meals through umescatering@thompsonhospitality.com.
Near your hotel
The Hampton Inn, Home2 Suites and Econo Lodge listings show breakfast included, and the Courtyard has an on-site restaurant with breakfast for a fee.
6. Things for siblings along the route
With siblings
Salisbury Zoo
755 S. Park Drive, Salisbury, MD 21804
About 24 minutes by car from campus with no traffic. The free zoo is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with animals from North and South America and Australia.
Assateague Island National Seashore (Maryland District)
11800 Marsh View Lane, Berlin, MD 21811
About 1 hour 4 minutes by car from campus with no traffic. The Maryland District is open year round, 24 hours a day, and the visitor center (open daily 9:00 am to 4:00 pm) has aquariums, a touch tank and a film about the island's wild horses. A 7-day private vehicle pass is $25.
Follow signs to UMES Boulevard (MD Route 822) from U.S. 13; from the south, you can also turn onto Broad Street from Somerset Avenue (MD 675) and cross the railroad tracks to the south entrance.
Flying in and out
Salisbury Regional Airport is about 29 minutes from campus with American Airlines service through Philadelphia and Charlotte (and Breeze Airways nonstop to Orlando); the airport recommends arriving 90 minutes to 2 hours before departure.
BWI is about 2 hours 51 minutes from campus by car with no traffic, so it works if you want more flight choices and don't mind the Bay Bridge drive.
Weather by season (1991–2020 NOAA normals: Salisbury Wicomico Regional Airport, about 13 miles from campus)
Spring: April averages about 66°F highs and 44°F lows, with about 3.4 inches of rain.
Summer: July averages about 88°F/68°F, with about 4.7 inches of rain, so plan for heat on the walking tour.
Fall: October averages about 69°F/48°F, with about 4.2 inches of rain.
Winter: January averages about 46°F/28°F, with about 3.5 inches of precipitation and about 2.5 inches of snow.
Parent checklist
Book a Student and Family tour (weekday or Saturday) on UMES's tour sign-up page, with no more than two guests per student.
Save the directions to the Student Development Center, where tours begin.
Book flights into Salisbury (SBY) or BWI plus a rental car.
Book a Fruitland, Salisbury or Princess Anne hotel for the night before the tour.
After the visit, take five minutes to jot down what stood out to your student.
8. Student-athlete recruiting visits
For families whose student hopes to play a college sport. Rules below are the NCAA's; each school's links were checked Oct 26, 2026.
Coaches arrange the recruiting part of a visit, not the admissions office. The tour sign-ups in this guide are for the regular family visit. An official (school-paid) visit is offered by the school, and contact with coaches follows NCAA rules that vary by division, sport and grade level.
Start with your sport's questionnaire, then email the coaches. The NCAA suggests emailing coaches with your achievements, highlight videos and interest in their program, including your name, position, NCAA ID and graduation year.
1 Division I
Athletics
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
NCAA Division I Mid-Eastern Athletic Conf.
RecruitingWe found no department-wide recruiting page. Look for a questionnaire on your sport's team page at the athletics site ↗, or email the coaches.
Unofficial visit: any campus visit you or your family pay for. You can take as many as you like; in Divisions I and II each one has to come after the first permissible date for your sport.
Official visit: a visit paid for by the school. Each school can offer your student only one. Before a Division I official visit, your student must be registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center, be on the school's institutional request list, and the school must have their high school transcripts.
Division I (University of Maryland Eastern Shore): on an official visit the school can pay for travel for the student and up to two family members, lodging, up to three meals a day for the student and up to four family members, and up to $60 a person in entertainment, including five home-game tickets. On an unofficial visit there are no free meals, but the school can give up to three home-game tickets. Division I uses recruiting calendars with contact, evaluation, quiet and dead periods; in a dead period, no in-person contact and no visits.
Rules change. Confirm with the coach, or check the NCAA's recruiting page and recruiting calendars, before you plan dates.
Planning around the season
Check each school's athletics schedule (linked above) before you pick dates, so a coach meeting doesn't land on a road trip or game day for your sport.
Our recommendation, not a school rule: ask the coach whether they can line up an admissions session or tour around your meeting. If not, book the regular family tour yourself through the official sign-up links in this guide, and leave time between the two.
Add your dates and how you're getting there, and we'll pull this guide into one plan: tour sign-up links, the hotel base, parking or airport notes, the route and meals.
Coming soon
Planning more college trips?
Visit-season reminders and new trip guides from College Visit Guides. Newsletter coming soon.
Sources
All checked Oct 31, 2026. Tour schedules change constantly, so always confirm on each school's official sign-up page. Photo credits are under each photo and on our About page.
Expedia listing: Hampton Inn & Suites Salisbury/Fruitland (star class and amenities, checked 2026-10-31 via same-id Hotwire listing) (not linked: https://www.expedia.com/Salisbury-Hotels-Hampton-Inn-Suites-Fruitland.h2211931.Hotel-Information)
Expedia listing: Home2 Suites by Hilton Salisbury Fruitland (star class and amenities, checked 2026-10-31 via same-id Hotwire listing) (not linked: https://www.expedia.com/Fruitland-Hotels-Home2-Suites-By-Hilton-Salisbury-Fruitland.h121697965.Hotel-Information)
Expedia listing: Courtyard by Marriott Salisbury (star class and amenities, checked 2026-10-31 via same-id Hotwire listing) (not linked: https://www.expedia.com/Salisbury-Hotels-Courtyard-Marriott-Salisbury.h1438753.Hotel-Information)
Expedia listing: Econo Lodge Princess Anne (star class and amenities, checked 2026-10-31 via same-id Hotwire listing) (not linked: https://www.expedia.com/Salisbury-Hotels-Econo-Lodge-Princess-Anne.h26336.Hotel-Information)
