Is it free? If you find yourself asking that question more than paying an entry fee, this list is meant for you. We search for free things to do, sometimes coming up short, sometimes learning about the hidden cost in the presumed “free” event. How can we best navigate a world featuring assumed free events while hiding the true cost of attendance? We’ve mustered together a reliable guide to walk you through the nitty-gritty act of finding free things to do.

1. Facebook

Name a better online resource than Facebook events. I wrote a whole listicle about useful resources, but Facebook always comes out on top, in my bias. Within the app or web browser, toggle over to the menu icon to the event banner. Click on the icon and dive into a whopping list, categorizing the top upcoming events of the week, month, and year. The menu board also boasts events where your Facebook friends confirmed their spot or showed interest. The feature permits users to set a custom date range for finding future events in their city or online.

2. TikTok

Facebook events beat TikTok for me because I am a visual learner who retains information through reading. Learners who need audiovisual input to understand situational events prefer using TikTok to find free events. TikTok adds the flair of showing and telling bonus details about an event that you can’t get through a Facebook ad. 

3. YouTube

Imagine you just moved to a new city. You’ve walked around the outskirts a few times, deciding what piques your interest, but your indecisiveness gets the best of you. Unaware of where to start in your new chapter, you pull up YouTube to type in “best free things to do in X city.” Luck is on your side with this because, spoiler alert, you aren’t the only person who experienced this occurrence. Countless YouTubers create videos detailing events or encounters to check out in specific cities. Other Youtubers focus on general ways to find free things in your new home.  

4. Eventbrite

Eventbrite specializes in circulating information about free events. The free website serves as a home for all kinds of events that need guests. A virtual grief support group meeting, New Year’s Eve parties, and Christmas gatherings with a zero-dollar entrance fee fleck the free events page, appealing to as many groups as possible. Eventbrite operates as a ticketing service, meaning you need an email and a phone number to receive a ticket, even for free events. 

5. Cafe Postings 

Ever wandered into a cafe and sauntered toward the back area of the restaurant? Before you scurry in the restroom doors, you notice a bulletin board teeming with announcements of events and happenings in your area. Postings of yoga events, people who need work, animal adoption, all take up space on the community bulletin board. I’ve ended up attending free yoga seminars by stumbling upon these listings. 

6. Library Bulletin Boards

Library bulletin boards have a wider reach, in my opinion, due to their location. The library is a free resource open to the public, so it makes sense the hub wants to showcase other free spaces populating the local area. Oftentimes, libraries host free events such as movie nights, special reading times with parents and kids, craft making, or informational seminars on topics like Medicare. 

7. City Websites

Does your city of choice have a pertinent website? I bet it does. I’m going to use Gulfport, Florida, a city where I used to reside, as an example. The city’s official website, mygulfport.us, contains several subheadings on the main page: Home, Government, Meetings, Departments, Services, Events, Recreation, and Parks all occupy the upper portion of the website. Once you click on the event tab, the website shuttles you to a page dedicated to the affairs going on in Gulfport. The upcoming events tab journeys to a calendar full of upcoming events, including their status, price line, and location.

8. Take a Walk

You never know what you can find by strolling outside. During the Halloween season, my friend and I decided to drive through the surrounding neighborhoods to peer at all the festive Halloween decorations. After the first two neighborhoods, we spotted a sign parading a free community event taking place on Halloween. The announcement that attracted the majority of visitors was free food. We stopped by for a free dinner and then realized the overwhelming amount of other free offerings in the neighborhood. Bouncy houses lined the public park as adults sat in their driveways handing out “adult beverages” to trick-or-treaters over the age of 20. 

9. Research Free Museum Day

What’s your favorite museum? Do you know when its free museum day commences? My hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida, hosts a free museum day each year in partnership with local arts alliances. The arrangers hope to spread art to the public without restrictions through the nixed entrance fee. Not every single museum strikes the price once (or twice) a year. However, a fair number participate. Visit the website corresponding to the museum of choice for details. 

10. Free Tours

Remember earlier when I mentioned YouTube or TikTokers who take it upon themselves to sift through free activities in order to introduce the general public to the same joy? There’s a website specializing in the medium of free tours relating to specific cities. Freetour.com allows users to type in a city for a wide selection of no-cost tours. Following the verified tour, guests tip (or don’t) based on the tour’s quality. The website pores through online databases, registering free tours hosted by legitimate companies. Freetourcommunity is another website featuring no-cost tours by experts. 

11. Self-Guided Walks 

Envision the last time you walked around a new city. Did you dawdle around searching for an intricate, eye-catching monument, or did your gaze land on the first interesting thing you spotted? As you approached the interesting sight, what did you notice? Was it plain, unaccompanied with any explanation, or was an inscription attached to the sculpture/statue/landmark explaining its significance? Was your immense curiosity enough to propel you to find other charming artifacts? Or did you need additional guidance?

If you need additional guidance, the app GPSmyCity provides regimented walking tours with detailed descriptions of each stop. The app gives a three-day free trial to users testing out the database. Following the free trial, the app costs a few dollars per month. 

12. Open Markets 

Cities swell with free markets. The open-air shops entice visitors and locals with promises of well-made crafts and homemade food. The markets promise free entry in exchange for a minimal purchase. Following the satisfaction of your capitalistic cravings through purchasing market-made goods, browse the vendor tables for brochures detailing upcoming free events put on by businesses. When this ideology fails, pop over to another free market and execute the same plan. Or, stick with rummaging through free-entry markets as a spectator.

13. Parks

National parks organize a bunch of fun-filled activities throughout the year. Locations with all four seasons put on marathons, skiing events, camping weekends, astronomy seminars, and biking events. A couple of times throughout the year, the parks drop the entrance fee for patrons. Visit the park’s website on a regular basis to keep up.

14. Festivals

Whoever invented music festivals knew the secrets of the universe. Putting a crowd of people together so they enjoy the best art form in the world evokes sheer happiness. Numerous festivals charge per head these days, yet a couple refuse to put a price on musical appreciation. Musicfestivalwizard.com is a perfect platform that lists all free music festivals held in the world. Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Tucson Folk Festival, St. Kilda Festival, and E-Lake are among the priceless celebrations. 

15. Newspaper Events

Newspapers are fantastic resources for finding free events, considering they include calendars of events in their issues. Back when I worked at a newspaper, I collected free and low-cost events for the weekly newsletter. I found the interesting happenings and stayed away from repeat events in an attempt to cater to everyone reading the paper.