University of Virginia Campus Tour

Free University of Virginia Campus Tour with Roamee Pro

Roamee Pro offers a free University of Virginia campus tour with audio narration. Explore The Rotunda, The Lawn, Serpentine walls, plus hidden spots like Pavilion Gardens and Edgar Allan Poe's room, at your own pace without booking a group tour.

• •The Rotunda — Completed in 1826 as Jefferson's architectural masterpiece, the Rotunda is modeled after the Pantheon in Rome at precisely half-scale, with a diameter of 77 feet. Jefferson designed it as the university library, placing knowledge rather than religion at the campus's symbolic center. The interior features a domed ceiling with an oculus, restored to Jefferson's original design by Stanford White in 1898 after a devastating fire. The Dome Room on the top floor, with its circular colonnade and painted dome, is the most revered room at UVA.
• •The Lawn — A terraced green space descending from the Rotunda between ten pavilions, the Lawn is the heart of Jefferson's Academical Village and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Each pavilion was built in a different classical order (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian) to serve as an architectural teaching tool for students. Professors still reside in the pavilions, and the 54 student rooms along the flanking colonnades are awarded annually to outstanding fourth-year students. Graduation ceremonies are held on the Lawn each May.
• •Serpentine walls — Jefferson designed these wavy, one-brick-thick garden walls to enclose private gardens behind each Lawn pavilion. Their sinusoidal curves provide structural stability without the need for buttresses, allowing a single-wythe wall to stand unsupported. There are eight surviving serpentine walls at UVA, the only remaining examples of Jefferson's design. The walls create intimate garden rooms used by pavilion-dwelling faculty, and visitors can glimpse them through gaps in the colonnade.
• •Old Cabell Hall — Completed in 1898 in Beaux-Arts style by architect Stanford White (of McKim, Mead & White), this auditorium anchors the south end of the Lawn, facing the Rotunda across 740 feet of terraced green. Its columned portico and triangular pediment create a formal terminus to Jefferson's vista. The interior seats 851 for concerts, lectures, and performances. A 1974 mural by Lincoln Perry above the stage depicts the founding and history of the university in four large narrative panels.

• •The Rotunda — Designed by Thomas Jefferson and modeled on the Pantheon in Rome at roughly half scale; completed in 1826, it originally housed the library at the head of the Lawn. Gutted by fire in 1895 and rebuilt, then restored toward Jefferson's interior plan in a 2012-2016 renovation.
• •The Academical Village (the Lawn) — Jefferson's planned core: a terraced lawn flanked by ten Pavilions (faculty residences and classrooms) connected by student rooms and colonnades, designed 1817-1826. Each Pavilion displays a different classical architectural order as a teaching tool.
• •Lawn and Range rooms — Single rooms on the Lawn and the Range are still assigned to about 50 honored fourth-year students each year; they have fireplaces and no private bathrooms. Edgar Allan Poe's Range room (No. 13, West Range) is preserved as a small museum.
• •John Paul Jones Arena — Opened in 2006, the roughly 14,600-seat home of Cavaliers basketball, located on Massie Road on the north side of Grounds.

• •Pavilion Gardens — Behind each of the ten Lawn pavilions lie private walled gardens connected by serpentine walls and colonnade passages. Each garden has a distinct character, from formal boxwood parterres to informal cottage gardens, reflecting the tastes of generations of resident professors. The gardens are accessible to the public through narrow passages between the student rooms, though many visitors walk right past without noticing the entrances.
• •Edgar Allan Poe's room — Room 13 on the West Range, where Edgar Allan Poe lived as a student in 1826 during his single year at the university, has been preserved as a small shrine to the writer. The spartan room contains period furnishings, a bust of Poe, and interpretive displays about his troubled time at UVA — he excelled academically but left after accumulating gambling debts. The door is often open for visitors to peer inside, and a raven statue perches nearby.

• •The Corner: the commercial strip on University Avenue across from Grounds - longtime spots include Bodo's Bagels and The White Spot (home of the 'Gus Burger')
• •Bodo's Bagels: a Charlottesville institution with multiple locations, known for boiled-and-baked bagels
• •Roots Natural Kitchen: build-your-own bowls, popular with students on the Corner
• •The Downtown Mall: a pedestrian-only brick street about 1.5 miles east with many restaurants, including The Whiskey Jar and Citizen Burger Bar
• •Corner pizza spots such as Christian's Pizza and Mellow Mushroom for late-night eating

Did you know? UVA's Academical Village is the only university in the United States designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 1987, jointly with Jefferson's nearby home Monticello). Jefferson considered founding the University one of his three proudest achievements and had it carved on his tombstone - which omits the fact that he was President of the United States.

Prospective students should book through the Office of Admission, which offers information sessions and student-led walking tours of Grounds; reserve in advance on the UVA admission website as slots fill. The Rotunda is open to the public for self-guided visits, and free guided tours of the Rotunda and Academical Village are offered by the University Guide Service. Parking is limited on Grounds; visitors typically use the Central Grounds Parking Garage on Emmet Street or metered lots, and free University Transit Service buses connect parking to the Lawn. The Lawn and Rotunda are walkable and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so allow extra time.