<p>Question: What is the best way to visit? I'm looking at coming over spring break, but I am from Nebraska - flights directly into CHO are pretty pricey. I could fly into Dulles in DC, but how do students get from there to school? </p>
<p>Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! I worry about this situation if I were to attend UVA too. :(</p>
<p>You’d probably carpool with a NOVA friend if you flew into Dulles. There is also a 30 minute flight from Dulles to Charlottesville. Another option is flying into Reagan, taking the metro to Union Station, and then taking Amtrak to Cville, but that’s pretty time consuming.</p>
<p>If you book early enough, flights to Cville aren’t any more expensive than the Reagan-Metro-Amtrak option.</p>
<p>[Notes</a> from Peabody: The UVA Application Process: Weekend Topic: Heading home](<a href=“http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/2008/03/weekend-topic-heading-home.html]Notes”>Notes from Peabody: The UVA Application Process: Weekend Topic: Heading home)</p>
<p>I had this same question, too. (I live in Chicagoland area.)
When it comes to the best travel to UVa area, I am not sure. Amtrak is expensive, as is airfare.
But, from DC to Charlottesville:
There is an Amtrak train that goes from DC to the Charlottesville stop, which is about a mile away from the university. I typed in a random date of April 17, and the price is either $29 or $45 depending on departure time. I would assume that they would, then, have a University shuttle or bus system that will bring you there and back.
There is also a Greyhound bus, which is $18.50 when purchased 2 weeks in advance. It is about an hour longer of a trip, though.</p>
<p>So, it looks to both of us like it’ll be a hell of a costly trip, but it’s probably worth it for UVa.</p>
<p>EDIT: Haha, or do what Dean J said. I guess he beat me to it.</p>
<p>she, not he</p>
<p>oops, my apologies. :(</p>
<p>you can take the trolley from the amtrak station (which is also where the greyhound stops… and also the trolley stops right by the actual greyhound building too) back to central grounds. where you go once you get off of the train though depends on where you are staying (with a student? hotel?).</p>
<p>No worries. It’s a common mistake. I don’t always notice it these days.</p>
<p>D is a 4th year from west coast, and this has been something to deal with-no doubt about it. Flights to Charlottesville are almost always much more expensive - even planning ahead - and are not direct flights. Until D got a car and made friends in the DC area (where she leaves car during vacation and then gets ride to Dulles), we normally used Amtrak. The airport shuttle (blue-can’t remember name) or taxi to Manassas/nearest Amtrak station from Dulles is about $35.00. Amtrak from Manassas to Charlottesville is not expensive - especially if done ahead of time, as prices tend to creep up the closer you are to date of travel. Hubby and I are doing this next month and our Amtrak tickets (combined) are $37.00 one way. Amtrak or Greyhound from Reagan (Union station, actually) to Charlottesville is doable also, though I would highly recommend Amtrak over Greyhound. We preferred Dulles however because Jet Blue’s prices and schedule were so workable from west coast.
While UVa’s location would not be a deal breaker, it has certainly been an annoying issue that we try to deal with ahead of time for best results.</p>
<p>While C-ville may be a little tough to get to, it is that fact, imho, that adds to the enjoyment of going to school there. On the weekends, the Grounds are still packed with students and there is anything but a commuter mentality found at UVA. While one may find some modest difficulty in booking inexpensive and efficient public means of ingress/egress, that modest difficulty helps make UVA the “whole” University experience that I believe it to be. For those considering attending, I suggest that UVA’s location is a definite plus rather than a minus.</p>
<p>haha. And imho, it doesn’t necessarily take a difficult ingress/egress to have a great college community/non-commuter feel. D is totally happy with her choice of UVa - transportation is always something to consider, however.
One other thing we’ve tried is Home Ride of Virginia. It is set up for kids leaving Charlottesville on Friday and returning on Sunday, so it’s schedule might be too restrictive, but it does provide reliable bus transportation from the UVa campus to Vienna (then cab to desired airport) on weekends. Better for students than visitors, but thought it is worth mentioning. Roundtrip is about $60.</p>
<p>[Here’s</a> the Home Ride website](<a href=“http://www.homeride.com/info-uva.html]Here’s”>http://www.homeride.com/info-uva.html).</p>