I Might Move to Charlottesville - What Should I see on my Exploratory Visit?

I need to budget time in my day to walk through here.

A photo posted by Jim Duncan (@jimduncan) on Sep 8, 2015 at 5:58am PDT

What should we visit to see if Charlottesville is the city for us?

Charlottesville is a great place to live (I take pictures of Charlottesville here and here), but there’s more to Charlottesville than you’ll find on the many lists on which we find ourselves (here’s the most recent).

First – please rent first if/when you choose to move to the Charlottesville area.

Second – here are some tips for homebuyers in the Charlottesville area.

Third – When having this discussion – “should we move to Charlottesville?” I’d suggest considering what it is you do now, how/where do you anticipate living (what are your triangles?) in Charlottesville? Where do you think you might want to live? This is important — please, have coffee with a good Realtor and get context (please – this isn’t about me being a Realtor, but me being a human who wants the best for people) to the Charlottesville area and real estate market.

Fourth – real estate in Charlottesville can be seen as expensive, and there are some popular neighborhoods.

My response to the specific poster who likes hiking, needs great schools, and more.

Hike: Sugar Hollow or Humpback for starter, well-traveled hikes around Charlottesville. The Monticello Trail. Comfort in the Wild is a great local hiking blog (archived: 2024).
Schools – start with the ratings sites, but use these only as guidelines; ratings based largely on testing don’t tell the whole story. And be aware of redistricting potential in Albemarle.
Orchards – Carter’s Mountain gets crazy, crazy busy sometimes. Try Henley’s or Chiles (owned by the same folks as Carter’s) in Crozet.
Food – what do you like? I like ~~Brookville~~ (archived: 2024) ~~(almost all locally-sourced)~~, Revolutionary Soup. There really are so many great local restaurants, knowing what you like would help. Ace. And Bodo’s. re: Bodo’s — there’s going to be a line. It’s ok; it goes fast. And they don’t toast their bagels.)
Breweries – Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton & Devil’s Backbone Brewery ~20 minutes further are great and great for kids.
Neighborhoods – what do you think about Fifeville or Belmont? Looking for city/urban living? Suburban? Mix of both and be in the urban ring?
Coffee shops – we have plenty of great local ones – Shenandoah Joe’s, Mudhouse, Milli Joe for starters. One of the best for kids is Cville Coffee where they have an adult section on the left and kid section on the right. Try the honey bunches; they’re awesome.
Besides work locations, what else do you need/want to be “close to”? What’s “close” to you?
Traffic – Google’s a starting place, but understand that the Charlottesville area is becoming more and more segmented.
Weather – it snows here sometimes. And we have great weather people!

“Move” is a four-letter word – it’s exciting, traumatic, intimidating, expensive, and stressful. Have questions about the Charlottesville area or market? Please ask me.

I Might Move to Charlottesville – What Should I see on my Exploratory Visit?

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