Cheap date ideas: 34 free and low cost dates that don't feel cheap

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst date, any season
• Timeabout 1 hour

Find a calm lake, river or beach with flat stones. Teach each other your technique (everyone has one), count the skips and keep score. It's surprisingly competitive and very relaxing at the same time. The conversation flows easily while you search for the perfect stone.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst date, any season
• Time1 to 2 hours

Many towns and parks have a small nature center with free exhibits, a rescued owl or turtle, a short trail and staff who love answering questions. It's quiet, easy and full of things to look at. Check their calendar too, since some run free guided walks or bird talks.

• Budgetfree
• Best forany date, coastal towns
• Time1 to 2 hours

On rocky coasts, low tide uncovers small pools full of crabs, anemones, snails and sometimes starfish. Check a tide chart and arrive a little before low tide. Wear shoes with grip, watch the water, look closely and put every rock back the way you found it.

Tip: Never turn your back on the ocean on a rocky shore, and head back before the tide comes in.

• Budgetfree
• Best forday trip, active couples
• Timea full day

The US National Park Service has a few fee-free entrance days each year, and many state and provincial parks run their own. Plan a day trip around one of them. Pack lunch, pick a trail and you've got a whole day out for the cost of gas. For trail ideas, see our guide to hiking dates.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst date, sunny days
• Time1 to 2 hours

Sculpture parks are often free and much more relaxed than a museum: you can walk, sit on the grass and talk at normal volume. Pick a favorite and a least favorite piece each and defend your choices. Photos with the strangest sculptures are mandatory.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst or second date
• Time1 to 2 hours

Walk the prettiest residential streets in your town and pick your dream house on every block. Explain why. Which one has the best porch, which garden is the most chaotic, which house is definitely haunted? It's an easy way to talk about how you'd love to live someday, without it sounding like a big conversation.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst date, daytime
• Time1 to 3 hours

Lots of cities have street art maps online or a neighborhood known for murals. Make a list of five to find, then walk between them. You'll end up in parts of town you don't usually visit, with a camera roll full of color.

• Budgetfree
• Best forany date, thinkers
• Time1 to 2 hours

Some parks have stone chess tables. Bring a cheap travel set (or check if pieces are available) and play a few games. If one of you doesn't know the rules, even better: teaching is a great conversation. Regular players often enjoy giving tips.

• Budgetfree
• Best forromantic, clear nights
• Time2 to 3 hours

Amateur astronomy clubs often host public nights where members set up telescopes and let you look through them. You might see Saturn's rings, craters on the moon or a faraway galaxy, with someone happy to explain what you're looking at. Search for an astronomy club near you and check their event calendar.

Tip: Bring warm layers and a red light instead of a white flashlight. White light ruins everyone's night vision.

• Budgetfree
• Best forsecond date, summer evenings
• Time2 to 3 hours

In summer, many cities host free salsa, swing or tango evenings in parks and plazas, often with a short beginner lesson first. Show up early for the lesson, laugh through the first few songs and stay for the music. Nobody's watching your feet as much as you think.

• Budgetfree to low
• Best forfirst date, weekends
• Time1 to 2 hours

Find the busiest plaza, market or pedestrian street on a weekend and spend an hour with the street performers: musicians, jugglers, a living statue. Bring a handful of coins and agree to tip the act you both like best.

• Budgetfree
• Best forany date, rainy day
• Time2 to 3 hours

Many public libraries in the US and Canada lend free or discounted passes to museums, zoos and gardens. All you need is a library card. Reserve one for a weekend and turn an expensive outing into a free one.

• Budgetfree
• Best forcurious people, evenings
• Time1 to 2 hours

Universities, libraries and bookstores host free talks all the time: astronomy, history, food, a new novel. Pick a topic neither of you knows much about. Then go for a cheap drink and argue about what you heard.

• Budgetfree to low
• Best forfirst date, new in town
• Timeabout 2 hours

Many cities have tip-based walking tours: a guide shows you the old town, the hidden courtyards or the local legends and you pay what you think it was worth at the end. You'll learn things about your own city and have plenty to talk about afterward.

• Budgetfree
• Best fordesign lovers, weekends
• Timehalf a day

Open house events in cities like London, Chicago and New York open the doors of buildings that are normally closed to the public: grand halls, private clubs, rooftops, old theaters. Most are free. Check when your city holds one and plan a route with three or four buildings.

• Budgetfree to low
• Best forromantic, evenings
• Time1 to 2 hours

Conservatories and university music departments hold student recitals and concerts that are free or very cheap. The players are often brilliant, the halls are beautiful and nobody minds if you're new to classical music. Check the school's events page.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst date, daytime
• Time1 to 2 hours

Old campuses have quiet quads, gothic buildings, great libraries and often a free museum or gallery. Walk around like you're visiting as new students, invent the majors you'd choose and find the best bench on campus.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst date, quiet people
• Timeabout 1 hour

Some big public libraries have spectacular reading rooms: high ceilings, green lamps, wooden tables. Walk through quietly, find a book each and read side by side for half an hour. Then whisper your verdict outside and continue the conversation over coffee.

• Budgetfree
• Best forromantic, quiet evenings
• Timeabout 1 hour

Cathedrals and old churches are often free to enter and beautiful to sit in. In the UK, many Anglican cathedrals hold choral evensong, a sung service that's open to everyone and free. Be respectful during services, dress modestly and leave a small donation if you can.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst date, rainy day
• Timeabout 1 hour

Big historic train stations are free to walk through and often stunning: vaulted ceilings, old clocks, painted halls. Watch the departure boards, guess where everyone is going and pick the train you'd jump on if you could. Many have a market hall or a bakery inside for a cheap snack.

• Budgetfree
• Best forsecond date and later
• Time1 to 2 hours

Big furniture stores with full room setups are made for this. Walk through and pick your dream kitchen, your sofa, the bed you'd fall asleep in. Disagree about lamps. It's a playful way to find out how someone lives, and the cafe at the end usually has cheap snacks.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst date, weekends
• Time1 to 2 hours

Browsing is free. Talk to the makers, try samples and pick the one thing you'd each buy if money were no object. Set a tiny budget for one small item for each other if you want a souvenir.

• Budgetlow
• Best forany date, creative people
• Time2 to 4 hours

Put $20 (or £20) in an envelope. That's the budget for the whole date: food, drinks, activity, everything. Plan it together or let one person plan it as a surprise. Rules like this make people surprisingly creative, and the receipts are funny to look back on.

Tip: Take turns planning a $20 date each month and keep the envelopes. After a year, you'll have a little history of your dates.

• Budgetlow
• Best forany date, evenings
• Time2 to 3 hours

Local theater groups put on plays and musicals for a fraction of big stage prices. The sets are wobbly, the enthusiasm is huge and sometimes the acting is excellent. Either way, you'll have plenty to talk about at intermission.

• Budgetlow
• Best forfirst or second date
• Time2 to 3 hours

Pick a neighborhood and hit three spots for one cheap thing each: a taco, a slice of pizza, a dumpling or a samosa. Split everything. Rate each stop and crown a winner. It's dinner and a walk in one, for less than a sit-down meal.

• Budgetlow
• Best forcurious eaters
• Timeabout 2 hours

Go to a Korean, Indian, Polish, Mexican or Middle Eastern grocery store and buy three things each that you've never tried, under $10 total. Take them home and taste everything. Look up how locals eat it. Some will be a revelation, some will be a story.

• Budgetlow
• Best forUK, Australia and New Zealand
• Time1 to 2 hours

Grab fish and chips from a takeaway and eat them out of the paper on the seafront or a harbor wall. Watch the boats, guard your chips from the seagulls and walk along the water afterward. In the US, a clam shack or a fish taco stand does the same job.

• Budgetlow
• Best forpatient people, mornings
• Time2 to 4 hours

Fishing is mostly sitting by the water, talking and waiting, which makes it a great date. Borrow gear if you can and check local rules first: many places require a license, and some US states have free fishing days. Catch and release keeps it simple.

• Budgetfree
• Best forcouples, nights in
• Time2 to 3 hours

Some libraries and community centers lend more than books: projectors, board games, telescopes, karaoke machines, even instruments. Borrow something you'd never buy and build a date around it. A projector and a white wall make a pretty good cinema.

• Budgetlow
• Best forcouples, nights in
• Time2 to 3 hours

Set yourselves a challenge: a starter, a main and a dessert for $10 (or £10) total. Think soup from scratch, pasta with a simple sauce and baked apples or pancakes. Shop together, cook together and write a little menu card. Cheap ingredients and good company make a better dinner than you'd expect.

• Budgetfree
• Best forcouples, rainy evenings
• Time1 to 2 hours

Each of you picks five objects from your home that tell a story: a concert ticket, an old toy, a strange souvenir. Write a museum label for each one with a title and a short description. Then give each other the guided tour.

• Budgetlow
• Best forany stage, playful people
• Timeabout 30 minutes

Milk, sugar and vanilla in a small zip bag, sealed inside a bigger bag with ice and lots of salt. Then shake it for a few minutes until it thickens. Your hands will freeze, you'll laugh at how silly it looks and you'll get soft ice cream at the end.

• Budgetfree
• Best forcreative couples, rainy evenings
• Time1 to 2 hours

A zine is a tiny homemade magazine, often folded from a single sheet of paper. Pick a theme, like "the best snacks in our neighborhood" or "our first month", and fill the pages with drawings, collages and silly headlines. Make one copy each, or a few for friends.

• Budgetfree
• Best forfirst or second date, dog lovers
• Time1 to 2 hours

Offer to walk a friend's dog and bring your date along. The dog breaks the ice, sets the pace and gives you something to laugh about. Your friend gets a tired, happy dog back. Everyone wins.