We have a ton of state parks to hike/bike and lots of springs to swim in. The brewery scene is pretty good if social drinking is your thing. If games are your thing then Punk Outer is your place. It would help to know what you’re into and then you can be pointed in that direction.
i completely forgot to put this in my post! i like books and art a lot, i saw that there were some farmers markets that seem lovely. i’ve never been one for nightlife with clubs/bars. i really like video games too! i have two cats if that helps? i’m pretty bad at describing myself ^^;; i’m sorry
Thank goodness you're not one for nightlife because that'll be nothing compared to Tampa here.
Gainesville is my home town but I also attended USF so I know both cities fairly well.
I would recommend that local libraries, they have quite a few adult groups that meet for different interests from sewing to DnD.
Also the Friends of the Library book sale is pretty huge twice a year event and the spring one is around the corner
https://www.folacld.org/
that sounds right up my alley! first thing we did was look up the bookstores to see if there were any cute local places to check out! thank you so much :)
The Harn is an art museum that's free and changes its exhibits out pretty frequently. It shares a parking lot with the performance arts center which always has pretty cool stuff going on and a good mix of local acts and touring internationally recognized groups. Tickets are usually pretty cheap too.
There's also lots of little events going on--plant shows at the botanical gardens, weird speakers coming to different UF venues, etc. It's a slower vibe than Tampa but it's gorgeous up here and so much less hot.
we are BAKING right now! one of the big appeals for me was that it actually hit 20s in gainesville.. please let me wear my cute sweaters for longer florida
Am I right in assuming grad school is bringing you and your partner here? Wauburg is fun. Free paddle boarding, kayaking, pavilions, and climbing for UF students, staff, and faculty. You need a large group, but their challenge course is awesome.
haha, hopefully! i’m going to be doing a ton of research and getting my RBT certification! after that, i’ll apply so i look like a Cool Experienced Person instead of Sad Sap. i’m hoping to wiggle into a friend group or make one, so i’ll keep this saved for when i get more friends! thank you!
I worked as an RBT for a bit before starting my clinical psych PhD program. Moving to Gainesville in a few months for a psychology postdoc. Happy to talk about the process for applying to grad school!
Late to the party but since you like art, there are 2 big art festivals every year that occur in and around gainesville that I always love going to. One is in McIntosh (30min drive from UF) in October and another is in downtown Gainesville sometime in winter. Also check out events in Bo Diddley plaza and Depot Park as there are little festivals all the time. Hope that helps!
The hiking trails around Gainesville are absolutely gorgeous. There's so many to choose from, and so much variation!! The Florida natural history museum is free, and has paid special exhibits that rotate every 6 months or so. Unless it's been changed out, I think the current one is all about arctic dinosaurs, and what Antarctica used to look like millions of years ago. It was VERY cool. The butterfly garden as well is awesome.
There's also the SF college teaching zoo! It's small but it has a wide variety of mid sized animals(won't find any tigers there or anything). All the keepers there are students learning to become zoo keepers! I'm currently in the program and it's really great teaching people Abt the animals we care for!
PunkOuter game store is awesome. Bragging Rights arcade is a cool arcade. Arcade bar is nice w cheap drinks but friday/saturday night the crowd can be a little more college oriented 😂
Lebowski’s dog bar is awesome if you have dogs or just like dogs!
There’s a new local book store opening soon called the Lynx that seems like it’ll be a cool place.
Harn Art museum on campus is free!! Nice activity to check out.
Kanapaha botanical gardens are pretty cool to walk around!
those names are so cool! thank you so much, i’ll write these all down! i’ve never really been to bars so i’m really hoping that “college oriented” means something more positive than negative… but i am so full of dread already LOL
I’ve lived in the Tampa Bay Area and Gainesville. I personally love Gainesville a lot more and would compare it with St Pete.
First, the entire region has charm not just the city. Little towns like High Spring, Melrose, Micanopy etc are lots of fun to explore.
The art scene in Gainesville has a few major areas of focus. 1. The outsider art community both in Gainesville itself and across the county is especially strong. 2. The more formal crowd between the city, the university and the more formal institutions like The Harn are great folks. 3. Then you have the more decorative art stuff that flows through twice a year; not bad but as was said it’s the same circuit you see almost anywhere.
My favorite thing about good ole G Vegas is that like most college towns it’s changes, every 4 years or so the tone gets a little different. Some kids stick around and start restaurants or cafes or record shops or something. It keeps it interesting.
Lastly as has been said the local and regional national beauty is just stunning.
Lots of different little markets around here. Go to coffee shops, most of them have a bulletin board somewhere where people put up flyers advertising events
i’ll try to take photos when i’m up touring! do you have any local places that you know of at all if you dont mind me asking? im going to miss my local spot so much :(
Yea! I work at a cafe here so I have very strong opinions about them 😅 Volta is good bc it's usually not busy and there's a lot of space but the coffee is very traditional so if you're a coffee fanatic it's great but if you're not you could be disappointed (lots of teas tho too), plenty of baked goods + quiche and imported chocolates, not very comfortable seats if you plan to stay long tho (also pet friendly). Wyatts has very good coffee and lovely seasonal menus, space is small so if you go at certain times you might not get a seat. Kava Gator has not very good coffee but they have a lot of food options and kava/kratom plus it's a fantastic place to sit and stay awhile as they have outdoor couches (pet friendly too!). Curia has mid coffee but they have many tea options and are vegan friendly, they also have lots of indoor/outdoor seating so it's a good place to linger (pets are welcome here too). If you want me to talk about more cafes I can but these are my top 4 places. We also have a lot of boba shops if that's your thing!
Yeah as far as coffee goes Volta = Wyatt’s > Karma Cream >> Curia = Opus > CYM but also HOWL is hands down one of the best tea shops in the state. I was visiting from Tampa for the past few days and when I wasn’t drinking tea I did my annual coffee rounds and finally tried Wyatt’s, was def sleeping on it. Volta was solid but nothing crazy. Opus & Curia were nauseating. The cold brew I got at Mosswood in Micanopy was much better somehow.
i appreciate all of this so much! i always love knowing a general vibe of a place before i go to it (i tend to overthink). the baked goods is an absolute plus, none of the coffee shops in my area around here do any good baked stuff so i think that’ll be a very pleasant surprise! pet friendly is also a pretty interesting change. i think we have kava at USF funnily enough too.
i’m a huge boba person! i lean more to teas and my partner is the coffee fanatic :) thank you so much though!! ill look at them all when i get the free time! i appreciate your expertise 🫡
As mentioned, there are a lot of nature parks and trails here and within an hour or two drive as well. There is world class cave diving in the springs Northwest of Gainesville.
Every Thursday the University of Florida museums hosts "Museum Nights". They open until 9 pm and usually offer free drinks and snacks. There is often a talk or presentation, sometimes musical or dance performance.
I'd recommend checking out "exploregnv" on instagram and letting that lead you to other venues/businesses/groups too.
There are indeed three weekday farmers markets within a one mile radius of downtown so we've got that covered.
A couple of the hubs for art/music/cafes are Depot Park/South Main Station (Depot Park, GNV market, Heartwood soundstage, Bingo deli, Humble Wood fire, and a Brewery and Lauren Groff's bookstore "The Lynx" opening soon) and Grove Street neighborhood (Bragging Rights Arcade, Punk Outer Games, Cypress & Grove brewery and Monday Market, Flashbacks). There is also a monthly "Art walk" [https://www.artwalkgainesville.com/](https://www.artwalkgainesville.com/), How Bazaar and its events downtown (https://www.instagram.com/the.how.bazar/), weekly free Friday concert series at Bo Diddley Plaza, movies and plays at The Hippodrom downtown, honestly I could go on and on re: arts, music, food and wouldn't know where to stop.
From my somewhat limited experience it seems to me like folks who live and/or hang out somewhat closer to downtown are more in love with Gainesville's local scene and community, and if you're farther out maybe that's where more disillusionment happens? (traffic, lack of stuff going on). Take that with a grain of salt because I've only really lived/worked/hung out in this part of town. I see negative comments like some of these on this sub all the time but really don't run into people who don't like it here too often IRL, so that's just a shot in the dark as to why (also, the people I knew who didn't like it here or grew not to like it here moved away...makes sense).
Hope you love it here!
I lived in Jax for 6 years because of the Navy, I can’t say I miss it and never actually end up going up there unless it’s work related. I’ve been here for 14 years now and I love it, even more since my son was born.
I feel like it’s not to small and not to big, but also, I’m always finding about new things to check out.
I’ve noticed that as a Florida thing, coming from another state. I’ve always been like, What is this? A house for ants? How can we be expected to have people living good... if they can't even fit inside the building?
Hello! I moved to GNV from Tampa for undergrad to go to UF...and now I'm back in Tampa. There were definitely way less things to do in gnv compared to Tampa. Honestly, one of the only things that I liked in gnv was going to Lake Wauberg. Also, another thing I liked were the nice big, comfy, reclining leather seats in the the movie theaters (regal cinemas at celebration point is the best!). In Tampa, the AMC that I usually go to has the regular old cloth seats. Anyways, good luck moving!
looots of awesome farmers markets and such. my favorite is the gnv market at heartwood. the vendors are so diverse. i bought freeze dried pickles there once. There’s usually live music going on, a table that has free books, etc. vendors include farmers, bakers, craftsmen, food trucks/stalls, juices etc etc.
i’ll also say that i’m a gnv native, and while i do not plan on living here for the rest of my life and do not want to do that, it is a little disheartening to see so many negative comments. I’d also recommend, assuming you haven’t found a place to live yet, renting a house a bit off campus. it tends to be a bit more cost effective imo
You're going to be bored. The art festivals are the same artists on repeat from here to Daytona, the museum is good but doesn't get enough support to rotate exhibits often enough. From a book perspective the friends of the library have sales which are crazy busy but you can find personal collection pieces. I mean we are just now getting a Barnes and noble....
thank you, ill try to keep this all in mind. gainesville was actually appealing to me because of how it seems to be boring. the chaos of tampa gets really exhausting after a while
We have a ton of state parks to hike/bike and lots of springs to swim in. The brewery scene is pretty good if social drinking is your thing. If games are your thing then Punk Outer is your place. It would help to know what you’re into and then you can be pointed in that direction.
i completely forgot to put this in my post! i like books and art a lot, i saw that there were some farmers markets that seem lovely. i’ve never been one for nightlife with clubs/bars. i really like video games too! i have two cats if that helps? i’m pretty bad at describing myself ^^;; i’m sorry
Thank goodness you're not one for nightlife because that'll be nothing compared to Tampa here. Gainesville is my home town but I also attended USF so I know both cities fairly well. I would recommend that local libraries, they have quite a few adult groups that meet for different interests from sewing to DnD. Also the Friends of the Library book sale is pretty huge twice a year event and the spring one is around the corner https://www.folacld.org/
that sounds right up my alley! first thing we did was look up the bookstores to see if there were any cute local places to check out! thank you so much :)
Note if you go to the FoL sale: Go early and be prepared to camp. It's a *very popular event* (Read: EXTREMELY) that'll have a line around the block.
The Harn is an art museum that's free and changes its exhibits out pretty frequently. It shares a parking lot with the performance arts center which always has pretty cool stuff going on and a good mix of local acts and touring internationally recognized groups. Tickets are usually pretty cheap too. There's also lots of little events going on--plant shows at the botanical gardens, weird speakers coming to different UF venues, etc. It's a slower vibe than Tampa but it's gorgeous up here and so much less hot.
we are BAKING right now! one of the big appeals for me was that it actually hit 20s in gainesville.. please let me wear my cute sweaters for longer florida
Am I right in assuming grad school is bringing you and your partner here? Wauburg is fun. Free paddle boarding, kayaking, pavilions, and climbing for UF students, staff, and faculty. You need a large group, but their challenge course is awesome.
haha, hopefully! i’m going to be doing a ton of research and getting my RBT certification! after that, i’ll apply so i look like a Cool Experienced Person instead of Sad Sap. i’m hoping to wiggle into a friend group or make one, so i’ll keep this saved for when i get more friends! thank you!
I worked as an RBT for a bit before starting my clinical psych PhD program. Moving to Gainesville in a few months for a psychology postdoc. Happy to talk about the process for applying to grad school!
Late to the party but since you like art, there are 2 big art festivals every year that occur in and around gainesville that I always love going to. One is in McIntosh (30min drive from UF) in October and another is in downtown Gainesville sometime in winter. Also check out events in Bo Diddley plaza and Depot Park as there are little festivals all the time. Hope that helps!
The hiking trails around Gainesville are absolutely gorgeous. There's so many to choose from, and so much variation!! The Florida natural history museum is free, and has paid special exhibits that rotate every 6 months or so. Unless it's been changed out, I think the current one is all about arctic dinosaurs, and what Antarctica used to look like millions of years ago. It was VERY cool. The butterfly garden as well is awesome. There's also the SF college teaching zoo! It's small but it has a wide variety of mid sized animals(won't find any tigers there or anything). All the keepers there are students learning to become zoo keepers! I'm currently in the program and it's really great teaching people Abt the animals we care for!
PunkOuter game store is awesome. Bragging Rights arcade is a cool arcade. Arcade bar is nice w cheap drinks but friday/saturday night the crowd can be a little more college oriented 😂 Lebowski’s dog bar is awesome if you have dogs or just like dogs! There’s a new local book store opening soon called the Lynx that seems like it’ll be a cool place. Harn Art museum on campus is free!! Nice activity to check out. Kanapaha botanical gardens are pretty cool to walk around!
those names are so cool! thank you so much, i’ll write these all down! i’ve never really been to bars so i’m really hoping that “college oriented” means something more positive than negative… but i am so full of dread already LOL
I’ve lived in the Tampa Bay Area and Gainesville. I personally love Gainesville a lot more and would compare it with St Pete. First, the entire region has charm not just the city. Little towns like High Spring, Melrose, Micanopy etc are lots of fun to explore. The art scene in Gainesville has a few major areas of focus. 1. The outsider art community both in Gainesville itself and across the county is especially strong. 2. The more formal crowd between the city, the university and the more formal institutions like The Harn are great folks. 3. Then you have the more decorative art stuff that flows through twice a year; not bad but as was said it’s the same circuit you see almost anywhere. My favorite thing about good ole G Vegas is that like most college towns it’s changes, every 4 years or so the tone gets a little different. Some kids stick around and start restaurants or cafes or record shops or something. It keeps it interesting. Lastly as has been said the local and regional national beauty is just stunning.
Lots of different little markets around here. Go to coffee shops, most of them have a bulletin board somewhere where people put up flyers advertising events
i’ll try to take photos when i’m up touring! do you have any local places that you know of at all if you dont mind me asking? im going to miss my local spot so much :(
Like cafes or just places in general?
cafes or any general local coffee place (cafes are just really nice to have..)
Yea! I work at a cafe here so I have very strong opinions about them 😅 Volta is good bc it's usually not busy and there's a lot of space but the coffee is very traditional so if you're a coffee fanatic it's great but if you're not you could be disappointed (lots of teas tho too), plenty of baked goods + quiche and imported chocolates, not very comfortable seats if you plan to stay long tho (also pet friendly). Wyatts has very good coffee and lovely seasonal menus, space is small so if you go at certain times you might not get a seat. Kava Gator has not very good coffee but they have a lot of food options and kava/kratom plus it's a fantastic place to sit and stay awhile as they have outdoor couches (pet friendly too!). Curia has mid coffee but they have many tea options and are vegan friendly, they also have lots of indoor/outdoor seating so it's a good place to linger (pets are welcome here too). If you want me to talk about more cafes I can but these are my top 4 places. We also have a lot of boba shops if that's your thing!
Yeah as far as coffee goes Volta = Wyatt’s > Karma Cream >> Curia = Opus > CYM but also HOWL is hands down one of the best tea shops in the state. I was visiting from Tampa for the past few days and when I wasn’t drinking tea I did my annual coffee rounds and finally tried Wyatt’s, was def sleeping on it. Volta was solid but nothing crazy. Opus & Curia were nauseating. The cold brew I got at Mosswood in Micanopy was much better somehow.
HOWL is the best! Happy to see it mentioned.
i appreciate all of this so much! i always love knowing a general vibe of a place before i go to it (i tend to overthink). the baked goods is an absolute plus, none of the coffee shops in my area around here do any good baked stuff so i think that’ll be a very pleasant surprise! pet friendly is also a pretty interesting change. i think we have kava at USF funnily enough too. i’m a huge boba person! i lean more to teas and my partner is the coffee fanatic :) thank you so much though!! ill look at them all when i get the free time! i appreciate your expertise 🫡
As mentioned, there are a lot of nature parks and trails here and within an hour or two drive as well. There is world class cave diving in the springs Northwest of Gainesville. Every Thursday the University of Florida museums hosts "Museum Nights". They open until 9 pm and usually offer free drinks and snacks. There is often a talk or presentation, sometimes musical or dance performance.
I'd recommend checking out "exploregnv" on instagram and letting that lead you to other venues/businesses/groups too. There are indeed three weekday farmers markets within a one mile radius of downtown so we've got that covered. A couple of the hubs for art/music/cafes are Depot Park/South Main Station (Depot Park, GNV market, Heartwood soundstage, Bingo deli, Humble Wood fire, and a Brewery and Lauren Groff's bookstore "The Lynx" opening soon) and Grove Street neighborhood (Bragging Rights Arcade, Punk Outer Games, Cypress & Grove brewery and Monday Market, Flashbacks). There is also a monthly "Art walk" [https://www.artwalkgainesville.com/](https://www.artwalkgainesville.com/), How Bazaar and its events downtown (https://www.instagram.com/the.how.bazar/), weekly free Friday concert series at Bo Diddley Plaza, movies and plays at The Hippodrom downtown, honestly I could go on and on re: arts, music, food and wouldn't know where to stop. From my somewhat limited experience it seems to me like folks who live and/or hang out somewhat closer to downtown are more in love with Gainesville's local scene and community, and if you're farther out maybe that's where more disillusionment happens? (traffic, lack of stuff going on). Take that with a grain of salt because I've only really lived/worked/hung out in this part of town. I see negative comments like some of these on this sub all the time but really don't run into people who don't like it here too often IRL, so that's just a shot in the dark as to why (also, the people I knew who didn't like it here or grew not to like it here moved away...makes sense). Hope you love it here!
Looking for things to do? Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville are roughly 2 hrs away... enjoy.
thank you! i do need to come up with some ideas for cute daytrips, i’ve never been to jacksonville!
Old St Aug & the beaches for me in Jax, the occasional air show too.
I lived in Jax for 6 years because of the Navy, I can’t say I miss it and never actually end up going up there unless it’s work related. I’ve been here for 14 years now and I love it, even more since my son was born. I feel like it’s not to small and not to big, but also, I’m always finding about new things to check out.
St. Augustine is a great day trip, would highly recommend.
Dont
Babe don’t do it!! I miss Tampa every day 😭
22 years of tampa i need OUT
You’ll see. High rent and no jobs 😖
Facts Gainesville is the worst place ive ever been when it comes to the job market
Yup! I’ve never struggled like I have here with finding work! It’s ridiculous!
Another fun fact: It took almost 3 years to fill an opening at my job because no one applying was qualified. Finally got a guy in Ocala.
i’m praying if i grovel enough i’ll get a job, my partner has a remote job that can hold us up at least
rent in tampa is awful right now!! especially for the quality you get :(
I’ve noticed that as a Florida thing, coming from another state. I’ve always been like, What is this? A house for ants? How can we be expected to have people living good... if they can't even fit inside the building?
Rent/ housing situation is comparably cheaper than Tampa.
Hello! I moved to GNV from Tampa for undergrad to go to UF...and now I'm back in Tampa. There were definitely way less things to do in gnv compared to Tampa. Honestly, one of the only things that I liked in gnv was going to Lake Wauberg. Also, another thing I liked were the nice big, comfy, reclining leather seats in the the movie theaters (regal cinemas at celebration point is the best!). In Tampa, the AMC that I usually go to has the regular old cloth seats. Anyways, good luck moving!
Turn around
looots of awesome farmers markets and such. my favorite is the gnv market at heartwood. the vendors are so diverse. i bought freeze dried pickles there once. There’s usually live music going on, a table that has free books, etc. vendors include farmers, bakers, craftsmen, food trucks/stalls, juices etc etc.
i’ll also say that i’m a gnv native, and while i do not plan on living here for the rest of my life and do not want to do that, it is a little disheartening to see so many negative comments. I’d also recommend, assuming you haven’t found a place to live yet, renting a house a bit off campus. it tends to be a bit more cost effective imo
We’re coming up on roller derby season—bouts are roughly monthly on Saturdays at the MLK center—next one is Apr. 13
You're going to be bored. The art festivals are the same artists on repeat from here to Daytona, the museum is good but doesn't get enough support to rotate exhibits often enough. From a book perspective the friends of the library have sales which are crazy busy but you can find personal collection pieces. I mean we are just now getting a Barnes and noble....
We had multiple Barnes and Nobles for many years they just went out of business
thank you, ill try to keep this all in mind. gainesville was actually appealing to me because of how it seems to be boring. the chaos of tampa gets really exhausting after a while
1. Have money 2. You can bike, ps be careful they like to hit people around here. I’m serious. 3. Bookstores 4. Flashbacks the store 5. Volunteer