Since 1) there appears to be no entries for the French here and 2) I live near Gay Paris, I will give a few for the UVA French Army...
Places to visit/eateries:
1. The Charlottesville Downtown Mall (not really walking distance to Scott Stadium by the way if you are thinking of doing it on football game day)
2. The UVA Corner across from the Rotunda (there's a Mellow Mushroom and some other long time sandwich places that are pretty reliable...plenty of beer)
3. Shops at Stonefield - about 5 minutes north of UVA off Rt. 29
4. For a good breakfast, go to Villa Diner off Emmett Street...it's where the locals go..get there early as the wait may have you outside (especially on game day)
5. Barracks Road Shopping Center is walking distance to both JPJ Arena and a little farther walk to Scott Stadium...they have a lot of good places to eat like (chains) Chipotle, Brixx, etc.
6. Albeit a growing BBQ chain, I recommend Moe's BBQ with 2 locations (1 near downtown mall, 1 on edge of UVA campus near baseball stadium)...also, Stick's Kabob Shop with 2 locations (1 near downtown mall and 1 at Pantop's) is a local treasure
Lots of history:
1. Massah Jeffuhsun's Monticello of course
2. James Madison's Montpelier about 30-45 minutes away in Orange County (NE of Charlottesville)
3. UVA's Rotunda and the Lawn
4. Lexington is about 1 hour drive from Charlottesville, Woodrow Wilson Museum 30 minutes away in Staunton, heck to be honest you can go just about anywhere in the state of Virginia and find tons of historical interests
Lots of breweries/wineries:
1. 5 good breweries just inside the city and within 5 minutes of UVA
2. Breweries and wineries up in the mountains of Nelson County (just south 30 minutes from UVA)...
http://nelson151.com/
3. Wineries up in Barboursville (not far from Montpelier) such as Barboursville Vineyard
Negatives:
1. UVA has never embraced the RV scene so parking for RV's is a pain in the buttocks...I don't think they open a very small RV space until a few hours before game time and they push you to leave soon after...no overnight parking fields like you'll find so welcoming in Blacksburg
2. Parking in general sucks for football...you can still park for free at the JPJ (old University Hall) lot which is about a mile walk to Scott Stadium though right across the street from baseball and JPJ...a lot of visiting team fans assemble here...they used to leave U-Hall open for tailgating fans to walk in to use the restrooms which was convenient, but U-Hall was demolished (finally!) a couple of weeks ago so not sure what will happen with that now
3. There may be a few but the local hotels aren't very good about driving shuttles to/from Scott Stadium either...like is commonplace in places like Knoxville on game day
4. Generally speaking, while Charlottesville has its charm, it is a very compact small city...once you get on foot this can be a positive, but finding places to park is always a challenge
Alternatives:
1. You can park at one of the downtown mall parking garages and ride one of the shuttle buses to/from Scott Stadium (for a fee of course...nothing is free around here)
2. Surrounding Albemarle County has plenty of stuff and the other counties are loaded with tucked away breweries, wineries, great food joints all within 30 minute radius...not an abundance of golf in the area, but there are some good courses
3. The Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive are accessible off I-64, about 15-20 minutes west of Charlottesville...BRP is free access, Skyline Drive which goes through the G Wash National Forest is a fee of around 15 bucks or so
4. Downtown Mall does a Fridays at Five weekly thing through mid-Autumn if memory serves correct if coming in for an early season FB weekend (music, food, beer, stuff for kids)
5. Speaking of the Downtown Mall, Friday nights can bring out some of Charlottesville's...well...let's say, more interesting citizens. At any minute you expect Robert Smith and The Cure to crank up a goth music festival. :>) Dave Matthews and his guys got their start in those parts, btw.
Now that I feel like I've done my Chamber of Commerce duties here, feel free to reply with any questions or shoot me a PM. I welcome the real Frenchies to strike down everything I've said and give their own inputs. I've lived near TJ's Gay Paris for almost 30 years so I know a thing or two - both good and bad. Obviously, I believe there's a lot more good than bad to stay here that long. Welcome to France!