What to do near me? Activities, outings and local life
By Adrien Gisclon, founder of LoveQR. Published on 27 September 2026.
In brief: there is almost always more happening around you than you can see, but the information is scattered between the town agenda, the library, posters in shop windows and word of mouth. This page brings together the sources that actually work, ideas sorted by situation, and shows how LoveQR Simply You displays the places, activities and outings around you straight in your camera, in the city and deep in the countryside.
Where to look: the five sources that cover almost everything
🏛️Your town's and tourist office's agenda
The most complete source for official events: festivals, markets, concerts, exhibitions, neighbourhood events. Tourist offices aren't just for passing visitors, and their advice on walks and viewpoints is often excellent.
📚The library and community venues
A free or nearly free programme, all year round: talks, workshops, book clubs, story hours, screenings, language classes. It's the most underrated source of all.
📌Posters, shop windows and noticeboards
Small things are never online: the club's flea market, the brass band's concert, the neighbourhood tournament, the trial class. Ten seconds in front of the village noticeboard are often worth more than an hour of searching.
🏃Clubs and associations
Sport, music, nature, games, volunteering. Most offer one or two free trial sessions, and many organise outings open to everyone, even non-members.
📍What residents leave on the spot
The best information is almost never published: which café gets the morning sun, which day the market is really worth the trip, where to find the viewpoint without tourists, who is setting up a volleyball game in the park tonight. That's exactly what LoveQR Simply You makes visible, place by place.
Ideas for your situation
🌙Tonight
- A concert in a bar or a neighbourhood venue
- A games or quiz night in a café
- An outdoor group sports session
- A sunset walk up to a viewpoint
🌤️This weekend
- The Saturday market, then the next neighbourhood on foot
- A hike or bike loop starting from home
- A flea market, car-boot sale or village fair
- A museum or temporary exhibition
🌧️When it rains
- An indoor pool or thermal baths
- A climbing gym, bowling, pool
- A café with board games
- A cooking, pottery or photography workshop
💸Zero budget
- The library: exhibitions and talks
- Museums' free-entry days
- Waymarked trails and fitness trails
- A free trial session at a club
🎒On your own
- A guided tour: you talk without having to approach anyone
- A one-off class or workshop
- Volunteering at an event
- A lively café, with a check-in
🌾In the countryside
- The village market and local produce
- A trail, river, lake or viewpoint
- A local society's fair, bingo night, concert
- Helping out between neighbours, carpooling
See what's around you, straight in your camera
LoveQR Simply You is a lightweight augmented reality engine that opens a local social layer. Tap Enter AR, and a world appears on top of your camera view: posts, emojis, LoveQR profiles, places, activities and outings floating around you, in the direction and at the distance where they were left.
🏙️ Your city place card
💬 A resident's post 55 m
☕ Café de la Poste 4 people checked in
🎉 Concert tonight 210 m
🌳 Fountain Park 120 m
You, in the centre
Elements stay where they were left. Tap the one that interests you and its card opens.
A local social activity search engine
Simply You doesn't just display dots on a map: it searches around you for outings and social occasions worth the trip. A game of pétanque looking for two more players, a concert in a cellar, a Sunday-morning walk, a farmers' market, a café hosting a games night. Results are sorted by distance, not by an engagement score.
Two sections on every place card
- Community: what members have left here, posts and emojis, tips, activities, events. It's the memory of the place, and it stays useful to those who come after you.
- Presence: the check-in, to say you are there and see who else is too. Nothing appears there without a deliberate action.
An important detail for everyone's peace of mind: you don't see people, you see what they have left. Nobody appears permanently on a map. A person is visible in a place only if they chose to check in there, with the emoji and the intent they decide. That's what makes the app comfortable, including for reserved people.
- Open the AR view or the map and look at what floats around you. Understanding the AR view
- Tap an element to open the card of the place, activity or outing. LoveQR places
- Leave your own trace: a recommendation, useful information, an open invitation to anyone who wants to join.
- Check in if you are looking for company on the spot, with an emoji and your current intent.
Location is only used when you open the map or the AR view. There is no background tracking and no live position sharing.
Rediscover the place where you already live
Most of us know three routes and five addresses in our own town. The rest is waiting. A few simple ways to break the routine:
- Be a tourist at home. The guided tour you have ignored for ten years, the viewpoint everyone recommends, the museum you walk past without going in.
- Change direction. Do a familiar route the other way round, or on foot rather than by bus. Courtyards, façades and shops you had never seen appear.
- Explore the next neighbourhood or village. An hour's walk is enough to find a market, a square, a bakery that becomes your new Saturday morning.
- Set yourself a micro-adventure. A sunrise, a picnic on a Tuesday, an off-season swim, a local summit. Good memories rarely depend on budget.
- Follow the seasons. Summer markets, grape harvests, Christmas markets, the first days of spring: every period has its regular events.
Go alone, or find someone
Many activities work very well solo, and some are even better that way: museum, walk, market. Others need at least a second person.
When the activity needs people, there are two options: post an open suggestion on the place card, or check in with an explicit intent. The details are in the guide to finding activity partners.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out what's happening near me?
Four sources cover most of it: your town or tourist office agenda, the programme of the library and community venues, posters in windows and on noticeboards, and what residents leave on the spot. LoveQR Simply You covers that last one: every place around you has a card gathering the posts, activities and outings left by members.
What can I do near me for free?
Libraries and their exhibitions, talks and workshops; markets; waymarked trails and viewpoints; museums on their free-entry days; concerts and rehearsals of local societies; neighbourhood festivals; and free trial sessions at sports clubs.
What can I do near me when it rains?
Museums and small galleries, libraries, indoor pools and thermal baths, climbing gyms, bowling and pool, cafés with board games, covered markets, cooking or pottery workshops, and neighbourhood cinemas.
Does it work in the countryside or only in cities?
The augmented reality of LoveQR Simply You works everywhere, including remote rural areas: a village, a trail, a lake or a fair ground has its card just like a city boulevard. As everywhere, what you see depends on how active the area is: where few people are yet active, you will mostly see places and few posts.
How do I find a last-minute outing for tonight?
Check local agendas filtered on today, the pages of venues and bars that programme events, then open the augmented reality view or the map: recent posts left around you often contain last-minute suggestions, including open invitations from members looking for company that very evening.
How do I rediscover the city I already live in?
By walking through it the way a visitor would: take the guided tour, climb to the viewpoint everyone recommends, cross the next neighbourhood on foot, enter the museum you walk past every week. Doing a familiar route in the opposite direction often reveals things you had never noticed.
See what's happening around you
Create your profile, tap “Enter AR”, and discover your street differently.
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