I lived in dorms and houses that didn't have AC when I was there and didn't find it that uncomfortable, but then I was coming from the coast (Newport News) where the humidity is much higher. In the summer I've slept with a blanket over me in C'ville; where I grew up you didn't dare have a sheet over you and you had a fan in the window (no AC).

I've found PATC's guidebook to the Massanutten Mountains to be very good. Other useful sources include:

"Waterfalls of Virginia and West Virginia" by Kevin Adams

National Geographic's Staunton/Shenandoah Mountain Map (Map #791) if you want to head out to the mountains on the West Virginia border, which are not too far from Charlottesville.

adventurer wrote:Granted that it's been unusually hot this year. However, even a normal year in the Charlottesville area would be miserable without A/C from mid May through at least mid September.

+1.. certainly for July and August... it's been brutal...
both of my daughter's went to UVA and I've spent alot of time there. summer heat can get quite oppressive with the humidity just being the melted icing on the cake.
get the apartment with the AC.