Red Lot at $9 per 24 hours with the first hour free. It's an airport-operated long-term lot served by a continuous free shuttle to the terminal, and at that price it undercuts every garage on the property by at least 18%. The next cheapest is the Long-Term Garage at $11/day, which trades the shuttle ride for covered parking and a covered walkway to the terminal. (Rates published by Columbus Regional Airport Authority at flycolumbus.com/passengers/parking-options/, retrieved 2026-04-29.)
| Lot | Daily rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Red Lot (long-term shuttle) | $9/day, 1st hr free | Trips 1-3 days; cheapest official option |
| Long-Term Garage | $11/day | Bad weather, no shuttle wait |
| Green Lot (close-in surface) | $16/day, 1-hr grace | Quick drop-offs ≤ 1 hour |
| Short-Term Garage | $6 first hr, $30/day | Meeting an arrival, < 2 hrs |
| Park & Walk / Premium | $18 first hr, $30/day | Closest to terminal entrance |
| Cell Phone Waiting Lot | Free | Waiting for arriving passengers |
| Park With The Shark (off-site) | From $2/day uncovered, $5/day covered | Trips 4+ days; lowest absolute rate near CMH |
| OhPark (off-site) | ~$9.50/day | Long-trip alternative on Stelzer Rd |
Airport-operated rates sourced from flycolumbus.com/passengers/parking-options/, retrieved 2026-04-29. Park With The Shark headline rates ($2/day uncovered, $5/day covered) sourced from parkwiththeshark.com homepage, retrieved 2026-04-29. Always confirm current rates at the booking portal before traveling.
For the airport's own lots, use ezpark.flycolumbus.com — Columbus Regional Airport Authority's reservation portal. You'll create an account, enter arrival and return dates, pick from Red Lot / Long-Term Garage / Green / Short-Term / Premium, and pre-pay. Reserved spots guarantee a place even on Friday afternoons when the surface lots get tight. For off-site, Park With The Shark takes reservations directly at parkwiththeshark.com with covered, uncovered, and valet tiers; rates run roughly $2-$15/day depending on tier and dates. We don't currently sell either inventory on parkingaccess.com, so the honest play is to send you straight to whichever booking portal fits your trip.
The break-even is around day 3 to day 4. Red Lot at $9/day with the first hour free is hard to beat for a 1-3 night trip — you're at $9-$27 total, you walk off a shuttle that runs continuously, and you've never left the airport's official footprint. But for trips of 5+ days, Stelzer Road economics take over: 7 days at Park With The Shark uncovered ($2/day = $14) versus 7 days in the Red Lot ($63) is a $49 swing on one trip. Over a year of business travel, that compounds quickly. (PWS publishes $2/day as a headline rate; confirm your specific dates at booking — peak-period surcharges may apply.)
The catch worth knowing: Stelzer Road shuttle wait times stretch on early-morning weekday departures (5:30-7:30 AM) and Friday afternoons (3-6 PM). Plan to be at the off-site lot 90 minutes before your scheduled boarding time, not the standard 60 — vs. the Red Lot where the airport's own continuous shuttle and proximity to the TSA checkpoint makes 60 minutes workable in most conditions.
John Glenn Columbus International is unusually close to the metro core for a major US airport — sub-15-minute drives are normal from most of the east side and downtown.
| Origin | Distance | Typical drive |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown Columbus | ~7 mi | 12-15 min |
| Bexley / German Village | ~5-7 mi | 10-15 min |
| Ohio State / Short North | ~10 mi | 18-25 min |
| Dublin | ~18 mi | 25-35 min via I-270 |
| Westerville | ~14 mi | 20-30 min |
| Polaris / Powell | ~22 mi | 28-40 min |
| Hilliard | ~17 mi | 25-35 min |
| Grove City | ~14 mi | 22-30 min |
| Newark, OH | ~38 mi | 45-55 min |
| Athens / OU | ~75 mi | 75-90 min via US-33 |
Stelzer Road runs north of CMH between International Gateway (the airport access road) and I-670, and it's where central Ohio's off-site airport parking has clustered for two decades. Two operators are worth knowing:
Park With The Shark (1423 Stelzer Rd, 614-299-2244) is the headline-rate operator. They publish $2/day uncovered and $5/day covered as their advertised standard rates, with valet tiers running higher. The lot has 4.8 stars across 74 user reviews in our database — the highest rating of any CMH-area off-site we track. They run continuous free shuttles 24/7 and the office is staffed around the clock, which matters for late-night returns. Book direct at parkwiththeshark.com.
OhPark sits on the same Stelzer Road corridor at a higher published rate (~$9.50/day) but with stronger review volume — 4.0 stars over 140 user reviews. The pricing premium over Park With The Shark suggests OhPark is positioned more toward a secured-lot experience; review volume suggests it's the lot most repeat business travelers default to.
For 5:30-7:30 AM departures, plan to be at your parking spot 90 minutes before boarding if you're using the Red Lot or Stelzer Road off-site, and 70 minutes before boarding if you're using the Long-Term Garage or Park & Walk. CMH's TSA security checkpoints are operated under standard TSA staffing guidelines for a single-checkpoint mid-size airport — wait times outside holiday peaks are usually short, but plan as if a 20-30 minute checkpoint queue is possible. The shuttle ride from Red Lot adds 8-12 minutes plus boarding wait, and Stelzer Road shuttles add 10-15 minutes plus driver-loading time.
CMH operates a single passenger terminal, so terminal-by-terminal lot selection isn't a concern — every lot serves the same building, and the difference is walking distance vs. shuttle ride. The terminal has three concourses (A, B, and C) all reachable from one central security checkpoint. The Long-Term Garage and Short-Term Garage connect to the terminal via a covered walkway that gets you ticketing-counter-side without crossing any open road. Confirm your airline's specific gate at the time of departure, as concourse assignments can shift.
Three scenarios where you should skip every option on this page:
Yes — the Cell Phone Waiting Lot is free. It's intended for picking up arriving passengers and you must remain with your vehicle. The Green Lot also offers a one-hour grace period at no charge for short drop-offs. There's no free long-term parking option at CMH.
Yes, through ezpark.flycolumbus.com — the airport authority's reservation portal. Reservations guarantee a spot in your chosen lot (Red, Long-Term Garage, Green, Short-Term, or Premium) and let you pre-pay. We recommend reserving for any Friday-afternoon or Sunday-evening return window, when the surface lots can hit capacity.
CMH's Red Lot at $9/day undercuts most CVG long-term lots and is competitive with DAY's economy parking. The bigger comparison is total trip cost: CVG has more nonstop flights and lower median airfares, so for international or hub-bound itineraries the savings can offset the longer drive. For Columbus-metro residents on domestic point-to-point trips, CMH wins on every dimension except flight selection.
Yes — CMH's Red Lot shuttle operates continuously matching flight operations. Frequency drops between 1-4 AM, but the shuttle still runs. Plan an extra 10 minutes of buffer for very early or very late departures.
1423 Stelzer Road, Columbus, OH 43219. Phone (614) 299-2244. Drive time from CMH terminal is roughly 4-6 minutes; their free shuttle handles the round-trip on a continuous loop.
The airport's Long-Term Garage at $11/day is the cheapest covered option on airport property. Off-site, Park With The Shark advertises covered parking from $5/day — the cheapest covered rate in the CMH market. Both keep your car out of weather and shaded.
Yes. There's no maximum stay limit for the airport's long-term lots. Two weeks at the Red Lot runs $126 ($9 × 14). For longer stays (3+ weeks), Park With The Shark's covered tier ($5/day = $105 for 3 weeks) typically becomes the cheapest option overall, but call ahead to confirm availability for extended stays.
Yes, CMH offers valet parking through the Premium / Park & Walk option positioned at $30/day. Park With The Shark also offers valet tiers off-site at higher rates. For most travelers, the time saved by valet is marginal versus the Long-Term Garage's covered walkway, but for late-night returns or mobility considerations it's worth the premium.
For Columbus residents inside I-270, Uber and Lyft are price-competitive against parking on trips of 3 days or fewer. COTA (Columbus's transit authority) does not currently operate a frequent-service direct bus from downtown to CMH, so transit isn't a practical option for most travelers. Friend or family drop-off remains the cheapest non-parking option if available.
Rates and operational details verified as of 2026-04-29 from publicly published sources (flycolumbus.com/passengers/parking-options/, parkwiththeshark.com). Always confirm current rates at the airport authority's reservation portal before traveling.
Use the official airport parking information above for current rates, then check back here as we expand live inventory coverage.
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