For a fun and adventurous date, visit downtown. For example, if I lived in San Jose, I could take a drive to San Francisco. While there, I might do the awesome touristy things like Pier 39, Alcatraz, or Lombard Street.
There’s always so much to do in huge cities that you could spend days there.
This can be especially fun if your date grew up in a small town and doesn’t get to go to big cities that often. When you get hungry, you’re in luck—big cities have everything from street food to fancy places a food snob goes crazy for. Go to the best restaurant in town, or find some old mom and pop restaurant.
Afterward, you could ride the elevator in the tallest skyscraper, or take a tour of one of the historical buildings, like the Empire State Building, Coit Tower, or maybe the Space Needle.
Don’t forget to do some people watching while you’re at it; you’re bound to see all sorts of interesting folks downtown (in other words, the crazies).
What you need for this visit downtown date:
Get the car keys, fill up on gas (depending on how far you have to go), and enjoy. Maybe you can research online the best downtown places to explore. If you need to drive to a few cities over, so be it! Take pictures with your phone or camera so you can preserve the memories.
My experience with this fun cheap date idea:
I’ve taken girls to visit downtown a lot. It’s one of those dates that will never get old.
One time, a friend of mine set me up on a blind date with a girl named Jill. I told her we would take a trip downtown and be spontaneous when we were there. I knew she would like the spontaneous bit, because duh, who wouldn’t? Okay . . . maybe my friend told me that Jill would like it. But still, spontaneous is always good.
Blind dates usually aren’t my favorite thing in the world, but I am always open to the idea. I picked up Jill and immediately got more excited—she was super cute and seemed really awesome.
Time to visit downtown
We drove downtown and walked around the outdoor mall they had. The mall was incredible, probably one of the best I’ve been to. Jill was being flirty with me so I flirted back; everything was playing out well.
After a lunch of quality Chinese food, she wanted to see a movie, which I don’t usually like to do on a first date. But since things were going so well, I didn’t object. Part of my excitement may have been the prospect of holding hands in the dark. And I was right. We held hands, she flirted, it was great.
But seeing as love is weird, as the date went on, I slowly began to decide she might not be the one for me. By the time we got home, I’d lost interest. Dumb? Maybe. She was cute, smart, fun to be with, and liked a lot of the things I liked.
It just happened to be another episode where a cool girl liked me but for some reason, I didn’t. I hate it when that happens.
This particular date was a little more expensive than it could have been. However, when you visit downtown you don’t have to spend any money if you don’t want to, maybe very little at all. It all depends on what activities you wind up doing there.
Overall it was a very fun experience even though the outcome was not exactly a perfect one. So if you are looking for a fun and inexpensive date idea visit downtown where all the lights are bright.
Watch this video I made about this visit downtown date idea
Do you have experience with this creative date idea? Let me know in the comments how it went and if your date, spouse, significant other liked it. You can buy a copy of the book 101 Creative Dates: ideas, tips, and personal experiences from the life of a hopeless romantic here or visit the shop.
Here are other date ideas you might like: