Jake Harfield · October 26, 2021 (Updated) · 5 min read Whether you’re on holiday or just sitting around at home looking for something to do, there are plenty of sites that can help you find fun things in your area or wherever you’re visiting. While it’s easy to find the most popular tourist locations and activities, this article will show you how to find activities near you for free for anyone.
Best Sites to Find Things to Do for Free
1. Meetup
Meetup is an excellent website where you can create or find groups of people interested in particular activities. You can easily search for groups or events in your area and filter these searches by type of activities and events, category, date, and location. For instance, you could find a book club or hiking group near you.
While Meetup is helpful while on holiday, it’s most useful in your hometown. It’s also a great way to meet new friends!
2. Tripadvisor
You’ve probably heard of Tripadvisor. If not, it’s a website that provides information and reviews about locations, events, and activities worldwide. Therefore, it’s an excellent resource for planning your next trip or outing.
Begin by searching your location or destination into the search bar. It will then provide you with some basic information about that place, a list of to-dos and places to stay or eat, and additional categories that might be of interest.
Select Things to Do under the search bar and get browsing! Furthermore, use the links along the top to refine your search for activities or places of interest. When an activity piques your interest, you can select and read more about it along with reviews that people have left.
3. The Culture Trip
The Culture Trip is an excellent way to find out about activities and tours at your destination of travel (and in your home city).
Simply search for the location and select the types of activities you’re interested in (for instance, Culture & Education or Attractions). You can also input the dates of your stay. Then, Culture Trip will provide you with a list of upcoming events and activities during that period.
Culture Trip’s best feature is their Travel Guides. Here, you can input your location, and it’ll provide you with a list of places to stay, local experiences, articles about the location (including less well-known sites), guides to the location, and travel tips for that area in particular.
4. Instagram
Instagram is a great way to find local attractions. Simply open up Instagram and search for your location.
Now, you’ll see all of the images people have posted from that location. As you scroll through, note down places that catch your attention. You can find plenty to do this way including great food, awesome buildings, amazing natural vistas, and more.
5. Facebook
Similarly, use Facebook to find local events, places, and activities using The Events tab, and Facebook pages (or groups).
In the left-hand menu on your Facebook feed page, select the Events tab. You may have to select See More first.
The Events page will list events in your area based on pages that you’ve liked. You can search for particular events and sort by categories in the left-hand menu. Once you select a category, you can choose the location and date of events.
The second method is to search for local Facebook groups or pages that are either interested in particular activities or focus on specific locations that you want to visit. Making a group is easy, and many people do it to draw attention to local activities or attractions.
Facebook Groups can be a fun way to learn more about places you want to visit. For example, if you’re interested in birdwatching, look for a local bird-watching group. Once accepted, have a look through the posts for upcoming events.
6. Eventbrite
Eventbrite is another website (and app) that allows you to search for things to do never you at any location over a range of dates. Remember that Eventbrite is specifically for events, so if you’re looking for activities, places, or anything else, you should use other methods on this list.
Search for events in your area and then refine the search with specific dates or prices.
7. Visitor Centres or Hotel Information Boards
Most places you visit will have a visitor center, which will feature brochures from local businesses offering tours and activities. Your hotel will likely have something similar, like a bulletin board and pamphlets.
This is a great way to find things to do near you, but they’ll likely only cover the more tourist-focused things, so keep that in mind!
The sites we’ve listed here are the best way to find things near you, regardless of whether you want to do something locally or travel overseas.
So, what are you going to do next?
