Our wedding venue is next to the Ragged Mountain Natural Area, a reservoir and 980 acre forest. You can take the 7 mile loop hike or just explore. This is a good place to escape to or take kids on the morning of the wedding. Charlottesville is about a 30 minute drive from the Shenandoah National Park, which occupies a section of the Appalachian trail through the Blue Ridge Mountains. It holds over 500 miles of hiking trails. Humpback Rock is a steep and exhilarating hike, with a spectacular view of the Shenandoah valley at the top. There's also a slightly eerie farm museum near the bottom of the trail, with buildings that recreate early farm life in the mountains. We also love Sugar Hollow a lot as it is the site of our first date. It is an area about half an hour outside Charlottesville and features natural swimming spots. Talk to us for details if you want to check it out.
The outdoors can also be enjoyed by taking a drive along Skyline Drive, a 105-mile road that winds along the crest of the mountains through the length of the park. It has great views, especially at sunset.
For a very accessible (in many ways: it's both flat terrain with paved pathways and only 5 minutes drive from the downtown mall) walk, we recommend Riverview Park. The Rivanna River Company offer Kayaking, Canoeing and Tubing trips from this spot.
Downtown Charlottesville is pedestrianized with lots of restaurants, cute shops and ice cream parlors (And just off the mall is the courthouse where we had our legal wedding). Also, there is a cafe in the back of the drugstore which is a little like going back in time. Our favorite bookshops Downtown are New Dominion, a lovely independent bookstore, Daedalus Books, a wonderful warren of 2nd hand books, and Blue Whale, which sells mainly 2nd hand/rare books and art prints and has a resident corgi.
Both the University of Virginia and Monticello are UNESCO world heritage sights. There also many very old and wonderful books in the university's special collections library including the Borges and Faulkner collections (if that's your sort of thing). UVA also has a room honouring its most celebrated drop-out, Edgar Allen Poe.
Some places we like are: Saturday Morning Farmers Market at IX Park La Michoacana (yummy affordable Mexican Food) Himalayan Fusion Lunch Buffet. Lampo (Upscale Pizza) Marie Bette/Petit Marie Bette (Coffee and French pastries) Paradox Pastry (for coffee and cake) Monsoon Siam (Thai Food) Brazos Tacos Coconut (Thai. In Crozet just outside of town) If you are feeling fancy, there's C&O For a diner, we recommend Blue Moon. Please note: it can be hard to get brunch on weekend mornings without waiting in line for a while.
Charlottesville is surrounded by wineries. (There are 35 within a 30 mile radius of town). Carter Mountain Orchard is easy to get to and offers cider, donuts, apple picking and a lovely view over Charlottesville. Potters is also a fun cidery (where Luke has DJ'd!)
There are a couple of small galleries on or near the Downtown Mall. The Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection is (apparently) the only museum outside of Australia dedicated to the exhibition and study of Indigenous Australian art. The Fralin Museum of Art near the university has a small collection of European and American painting, photography African art, and American Indian art.