Artists
Art Collective
Join a vibrant Art Collective to meet fellow creators, share ideas, and spark friendships through your passion for art!
Friendship communities & hobby groups to join near you.
Browse 18 communities — runners, readers, climbers, makers. Find a recurring group and make friends through doing what you love.
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Browse all friendship communities
Why hobby groups are the shortcut to adult friendship
Adult friendship has one stubborn requirement: repeated, unplanned contact with the same small group of people. That's hard to engineer as a grown-up — until you join something that already meets every week.
That's what a community is here: a recurring circle organised around a shared activity. Showing up three or four times changes everything. By week five you're nodding hello; by week ten someone invites you for a drink after; by month three you have actual friends.
Browse the full set below, or jump straight to the classics that work almost anywhere: running clubs, book clubs, language exchanges, climbing gyms, co-working circles, parent groups, and creative meetups.
What makes a community work
Meets weekly (or close to it)
Repetition is the single strongest predictor of new friendships forming.
Small enough to recognise faces
Under ~30 people per session; bigger groups become events, not circles.
Low cost to try once
First session free or near-free — friendships shouldn't require a paid membership to begin.
Welcomes solo newcomers
Explicit 'come alone, leave with people' culture beats invite-only by a mile.
Real-world activity at the centre
Doing something together — running, reading, building, cooking — is the glue.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
01How do I join a friendship community in my city?
Pick a community below, open your city, and you'll see the active groups, where they meet, and how to show up. Most are walk-in: turn up to the next session and introduce yourself. No application, no waitlist.
02I'm looking for a running club or book club near me — how do I find one?
Open the Running Clubs or Book Clubs community and select your city. We list the recurring meetups, day of week, typical pace or current book, and where they start. Showing up is the whole onboarding.
03What if my hobby isn't listed?
We're adding new communities every week — tell us what's missing through the About page. In the meantime, the closest adjacent community is usually a good entry point (e.g. cycling for triathletes, board games for tabletop RPG fans).
04Are these communities in person or online?
In person, almost always. We focus on IRL meetups because that's what builds friendship; online-only groups are useful but rarely turn into real-life closeness.
05How is this different from Meetup or Bumble BFF?
Meetup is a marketplace of one-off events; Bumble BFF is 1-to-1 matching. Communities here are recurring small-group circles — closer to a club than an event or a date. See our full breakdown on the best apps for making new friends page.
06Do I have to commit to going every week?
No. The communities that work best simply meet every week so the option is always there. Showing up twice a month is enough to start being recognised.
Keep exploring
Different angles on the same goal — finding people you'll actually want to see again.