[Disclosure statement: As of the time of this writing, I have no direct affiliation with Zouk Heat other than being a loyal yearly attendee and Terrisa being a personal friend of mine. I have not been hired by Zouk Heat to promote that organization in any way, and everything you read is my objective advice. As of the time of this writing, I am not affiliated with nor have been hired by any other companies or organizations whose services I mention in this article – everything you read from me regarding these companies is my objective advice and is provided as is with no liability to #FrugalCongressLife or the author.]

[Originally published 1/22/19, updated rewritten for the 2020 festival 4/14/19 and 5/21/19]

The Zouk Heat Festival is a brand new Brazilian Zouk festival organized by former DC Zouk Festival co-organizer and DC-based zouk instructor Terrisa Widener that happens every year at the beginning of April. The 2020 edition of the Zouk Heat Festival will take place April 3rd-April 6, 2020. 2019 headliners Pedrinho & Linda will return to the festival in 2020, joined by Carlos & Fernanda, Kadu & Larissa, Leo & Thayna, and many others to be announced.

You will be busy all weekend with workshops in the morning and afternoon and performances and socials at night on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The artist and DJ lineups are both a veritable who’s who of national and international zouk instructors and DJs every year!

Zouk Heat is also a #FrugalCongressLife standout for its affordability, with a full pass very competitively priced for an event of this caliber and a hotel room block priced at only $109 per night, which is very affordable for a good event hotel in the area.

For the 2020 festival, Zouk Heat is picking up and moving northeast from its previous Dulles Airport location to the BWI Airport Marriott Hotel, located a short ride on the free airport shuttle from Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Linthicum Heights, Maryland. This is a very good move for this new festival’s continued growth as not only is this hotel larger with more food options, but it is convenient to a more accessible airport, as well as the only airport in the DC/Baltimore area served by budget air travel stalwart Spirit Airlines.

Zouk Heat is the move for fans of Brazilian Zouk on the east coast in the first weekend of April! This guide, originally our first published survival guide in 2019 and now updated for 2020 and rewritten completely for the new location, is your one-stop guide to this rapidly growing new festival!

PASS:

Even if you didn’t get one of the 15 $100 full passes sold in person at the 2019 festival, it is still early enough to get your full pass at a very good price. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all updates on artist and DJ lineups and early bird passes!

LODGING:

Last year’s hotel was very affordable and this year’s hotel continues this positive trend. Terrisa has negotiated a block of rooms for $109 per night at the BWI Marriott, the same price as last year’s Dulles location. A four-person room-share will cost the budget-minded about $30-35 per night with taxes included. Even in two—double rooms, roll-away beds are available at an extra cost of $15 per room! This is a huge and rare benefit as most hotels (including many other Marriott properties) do not supply roll-away beds to two-double rooms. There is a maximum limit of one roll-away, so one person will still have to bed-share or bring the Airlite.

If you do the offsite congress grind regularly, take a break from it at this festival and get yourself an affordable room right in the center of the action at the event hotel.

Link to book your room coming shortly.

The hotel’s amenities include, but are not limited to, a well-equipped fitness center, a heated indoor pool, safe deposit boxes at the front desk, a free airport shuttle that takes you directly to the hotel from BWI and vice versa, and an onsite coin-operated laundry room. Room amenities include, but are not limited to, bottled water, a coffee maker, individual climate control, alarm clocks, an ironing board, foam pillows, and cable TV.

The size and usability of the laundry room is unknown at press time (the laundry room at last year’s hotel consisted of exactly one washer and one dryer that was in constant use all day and night). For this reason I recommend bringing enough clothing to last the weekend just in case. If you do need to do laundry, and the hotel’s laundry room is full, there are three laundromats located within a 15 minute drive of the hotel: the Crystal Laundromat (7446 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd, Glen Burnie), the DCA Laundromat (704 Crain Highway S, Glen Burnie), and Suds R Us (7420 E Furnace Branch Road, Glen Burnie).

For members of Marriott’s new Bonvoy rewards program (a merger of the old Marriott Rewards program, Starwood Preferred Group, and Ritz-Carlton Rewards) which is free to join and a no brainer for dance congress attendees and anyone who stays in hotels regularly, certain Marriott hotels offer 500 rewards points to the person on the hotel room’s folio for every night of refused housekeeping services. It is unclear at press time if the BWI Marriott offers such an incentive, but if they do, that’s an easy 500-1500 extra points (depending of course on how long you stay) that can go toward free or discounted hotel stays in the future for going a relatively short time without housekeeping services. Ask about this program at the front desk when you check in.

The immediate area around the BWI Marriott is a cluster of airport hotels, so there are many other alternate lodging options located nearby, but you know me by this time — I will not be discussing any other lodging options unless the BWI Marriott fully sells out (both the room block and all other rooms outside the block) and there is no official block at an overflow hotel. You’re on your own if it’s offsite options you seek.

TRAVEL:

The entire Washington DC and Baltimore area, including the area around BWI, is supported by the Citymapper app’s DC/Baltimore package, including all of their public transportation.

Via is not supported in the Baltimore/BWI area at this time.

UberPOOL and Shared Lyft are not available in the Baltimore/BWI area at this time. The cheapest UBER/Lyft options are UberX and Lyft; these of course can be split with fellow festival attendees with some planning and coordination.

DRIVING:

Driving or a shared ride with other attendees is an excellent way to get to the BWI area. Parking around the hotel is free! No need to pay to park at the airport!

FLYING:

Whether you are flying Spirit or any other airline, fly into BWI if you can. The hotel is located about a mile away from BWI and there is a free hotel shuttle that takes you directly to and from the hotel’s front door. All shuttle buses from BWI, including the Marriott’s courtesy shuttle, pick up from the LOWER level of the airport.

If you must fly into DCA, you have two options to avoid paying close to $70 one way for an UBER from DCA to BWI. Your first option is to take the DC Metro to Washington Union Station and take the MARC Penn Line from there to BWI ($8 for the MARC and $3-4 for the Metro one way). See the public transportation section for info on the DC Metro system. Your second option is to take the Metro to the Shady Grove stop at the northwestern end of the red line and take the MTA 201 bus from Shady Grove to BWI ($5 for the 201 and $3-4 for the Metro one way). See the bus/train and public transportation sections for more info on these options.

Avoid IAD if you can as not only is it the furthest airport from the festival, but it is also not served directly by a Metro station. If you must fly into IAD, take an UBERPool (available in the Dulles area) from the airport to the Wiehle-Reston stop on the silver line, take the silver line to the red line, and follow the above directions from there.

BUS/TRAIN:

The Amtrak Northeast Regional train picks up at various locations in the northeast and stops right at the BWI rail station; it is relatively more expensive than your other options, but more comfortable.

The MARC Penn Line is your best train option for getting to BWI from anywhere in the Washington, DC city limits. It picks up at Washington Union Station and will take you the BWI Rail Station for around $6-8. A shuttle runs from the rail station to the terminal where you can catch the Marriott’s courtesy shuttle downstairs which will take you to the hotel. The MARC does not run on Sundays, so those returning on Sunday night will have to take Amtrak back to Union Station, which will cost about $16 for an economy trip.

Your bus routes are slightly trickier, but still doable.

Bolt Bus stops in downtown Baltimore two blocks west of Penn Station. Walk up Maryland Avenue to W Lanvale Street, make a right onto Lanvale and a right onto Charles Street and walk south a block on Charles Street and the station will be on your left. The area around Penn Station is reasonably safe, but staying alert, walking quickly, and being street smart is recommended.

From Penn Station, you have two options. You can take the MARC Penn Line to BWI Rail Station and then take the shuttle to the terminal as described above. Alternately, take the Light Rail Link toward BWI Airport 16 stops south from Penn Station (Penn’s light rail platform is located in the northwestern corner of the station) to the airport, where the terminal and the courtesy shuttle to the hotel are a short walk away. The light rail route takes slightly longer than the MARC, but at $1.80 one way, is 3 times cheaper.

Megabus’ Baltimore stop is at the White Marsh Mall, which is nowhere near BWI (close to 45 minutes northeast), and getting to BWI from White Marsh will be a long, expensive, and cumbersome trip. If Megabus is your best or only option, take it to Union Station in DC and take the MARC Penn Line to BWI.

If you take Greyhound, it stops in downtown Baltimore near Camden Yards. Take an UBER or Lyft about three minutes to Hamburg & Lt Rail Station and take the light rail south to BWI. This will be about $8 one way.

An UBER or Lyft directly to BWI from downtown Baltimore will be about $17-20 one way. This can, of course, be split with fellow attendees of the festival.

OTHER LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:

General information about the Washington DC Metro system can be found at http://www.wmata.com, and a map of the system can be found here. The Metro trains and buses require a SmarTrip card; info about how to purchase one can be found here.

There are two different specific public transportation options local to the DC Metro area that will take anyone in this area, as well as any travelers who find themselves in this area (because they flew into DCA or IAD or whatever other reason) to BWI for a very low price.

For residents of Montgomery County, MD, the MTA 201 bus will take you from the Shady Grove metro station (northwestern end of the red line), the Gaithersburg Park & Ride, or the Georgia Avenue Park & Ride in Aspen Hill to BWI for $5 one way. This trip will take a little over an hour. The 201 accepts debit and credit cards for the current trip’s one-way fares only or cash in exact change (no change given if you overpay). This is also a good practical option for anyone who flew into DCA or IAD and can catch it from the Shady Grove metro station.

For residents of Prince George’s County, MD, including the College Park/University of Maryland area, the WMATA B30 bus goes from the Greenbelt Metro station at the northern end of the green line to BWI for $7.50 one way (exact change required). This bus isn’t really practical for anyone outside of PG County, however, as it is located further away from either of the DC airports than the 201 stops above.

Additionally, the B30 does not run on Saturday or Sunday, so anyone leaving for PG County on Sunday evening will have to take the 201 back to Shady Grove, then return to PG County via the red line and the green line, which will take close to three hours total.

FOOD:

You have two in-hotel dining options. Champions Sports Bar & Restaurant is a newly remodeled sports bar serving American food and a large selection of beer and wine all the way up to a half hour before the restaurant closes for the night. Chesapeake, as its name suggests, is a comfort seafood restaurant that serves a variety of seafood items including authentic Maryland crab cakes (or as we call them here, “crehhhb cakes”).

Your coffee fix will likely be supplied by the hotel’s Day/Night Bar, which serves Starbucks coffee.

For the frugal grocery shoppers, the closest Walmart Supercenter is located 11 minutes away at 3601 Washington Blvd, Arbutus, MD. Two other Walmart Supercenters are located 13 and 14 minutes away at 406 George Clauss Blvd, Severn MD and 6721 Chesapeake Center Drive, Glen Burnie, MD respectively.

If you prefer, the Linthicum Market is located 6 minutes from the hotel at 421 S Camp Meade Road, Linthicum Heights, MD. Additionally, the Good Day Gourmet is also located 6 minutes away at 700 S Hammonds Ferry Road, Linthicum Heights. Finally, Dollar General is located 9 minutes away at 7077 Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard, Glen Burnie, and Food Lion is located next door.

Restaurants located in walking distance of the hotel include: Maiwand Kabob (839 Elkridge Landing Road #110), McDonald’s (717 Nursery Road), Chili’s Grill & Bar (1715 W Nursery Road), Chick Fil A (1610 W Nursery Road), Potbelly (1622 W Nursery Road), NY Halal Food Court (1007 Main Avenue), and Adamm’s Airport Deli (891 Elkridge Landing Road – closes at 2:30pm).

Restaurants located slightly further away but still less than a 10 minute drive include: 700 South Deli and Cafe (1190 Winterson Road – closes at 3pm), Wendy’s (1589 W Nursery Road), Ruby Tuesday (950 International Drive), Cracker Barrel (1520 W Nursery Road), Bob Evans (996 Corporate Blvd), Urban Bar-B-Que (802 Pinnacle Dr. #100), Burger King (500 Progress Drive), El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant (529 S Camp Meade Road), and Matsu Japanese Restaurant (517 S Camp Meade Road).

Your food options directly at BWI airport are Potbelly, Chipotle, Dunkin’, Kraze Burgers, The Greene Turtle, McDonald’s, and Phillips Seafood.

Of course I can’t write about food options in the Linthicum Heights/Glen Burnie area without mentioning Crabtowne. This combination seafood restaurant and vintage video arcade, detailed in full in the above linked blog entry, is located only 15 minutes from the BWI Marriott, so if seafood and old-school arcade games are your thing, this is a can’t-miss attraction located close by!

That’s all for this entry. Hit the comments if you got anything to add and I’ll see you all at the BWI Marriott in April!