How to Find a Girlfriend: 18 Places and Dating Apps that Work

Best Dating Apps for Finding a GF

Places to Find a Girlfriend

1. The Gym

While not everyone at the gym is there to find a relationship, there are going to be women who are open to it! Here are a few quick tips for how to find a girlfriend at the gym:

• Fitness classes are a great place to start. Get there early and stay a few minutes late when people tend to interact more.
• Don’t wear headphones as that can make you completely unapproachable if a girl is interested.
• Talk to everyone! Don’t just try and talk to girls you’re interested in. Talk to the staff, other guys, etc. You never know what that might lead into, and it works to make you more comfortable talking to strangers at the gym.

2. School

If you’re not in school, this one doesn’t apply! But if you are in school, look around your classes a bit more. A great place to find a girlfriend is in school because you’re probably already in the same age bracket and already have some shared interests.

• Forming study groups (with guys and gals) is a great place to start and worst case scenario you get better grades!
• Get involved in extracurricular activities. These are goldmines for finding potential girlfriends.

3. Work

In most job settings, it’s okay that coworkers date. Additionally, if you work in a service industry, you’ll be interacting with tons of people that will probably include some attractive females.

• Make sure you understand your company policies first so you don’t do anything that will get you in trouble.
• Be careful of making things awkward at work. We recommend being direct with someone you’re interested in (ask them on an official date). If they say no, it’s done in a second and you can move on. If you drag out the process, though, it can create some awkward situations at the office.
• Try and steer clear of dating your boss or someone in your chain of command (up and down). In other words, date someone on the same level as you or in another department.

4. Hanging Out With Friends

When it comes to how to get a girlfriend, your friends might be your best asset. We’ve written an entire guide on this that you have to check out.

Read: How to Ask Your Friends to Help Set You Up On a Date

5. Online Dating Apps

Girlfriend apps are a phenomenal way to meet a ton of women super fast! And the best part is that you know these girls are actually looking for a relationship because they have it written right on their profile. It removes all the guess work and can have you talking to potential girlfriend candidates in minutes without ever needing to leave the house.

If that sounds awesome (which it should), here are a few of our favorites!

eHarmony – The Best Dating App for Getting a Girlfriend

Zoosk – Most Options to Find a Girlfriend

Christian Mingle – Best App for Christian Girlfriends

JDate – Best Dating App for a Jewish Girlfriend

Elite Singles – Best for Single Young Professionals

Catholic Match – Best for Finding a Catholic GF

6. Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteering is something that is just awesome to do even if you’re not looking to find a girlfriend. On that same token, it tends to attract a lot of high-quality women who care about their community. If you’re wondering how to get a girlfriend and you want a quality one, this is a leading option.

7. Community Sports Leagues

These are GREAT ways to meet a ton of quality women and also make new friends. The best part is that even if you know no one in your city, you can join and they’ll put you on a team. Not great at sports? That’s okay. Many teams play just to have fun. Remember, there are a ton of sports you can look at like kickball, soccer, softball, flag football, and more.

8. Church

If faith is important to you in a girlfriend, then meeting someone at church could be an awesome idea. We’ve put together a dedicated guide for this as well to help!

Read: How to Meet Someone to Date at Church

9. Coffee Shops

Finding a gf at a coffee shop is actually easier than you think. These place are frequented by 1,000s of women every single day, which means you’ve got options galore. You will need to have a little confidence, though, to strike up a conversation.

• Frequent the same location at the same time. This may create more opportunities with the regulars who are also in there.
• Have some questions you can ask to strike up a conversation. “What was that you ordered?” “Is that book any good?”
• Be aware that some women are coming to get coffee and get out fast or to sit and not be bugged. If you don’t get receptive vibes right away, move on quickly.

10. Museums, Art Shows, and Cultural Events

Wanna know a great place to solve the how to get a girlfriend question? Cultural events. They attract smart, creative, and unique women, and there are always things going on to talk about. Bonus points: learn a few interesting things before you go about the exhibits that you can share (without trying to sound like a know-it-all).

11. Grocery Stores

Yes, you can approach and meet women at the grocery store who could potentially become your gf. The tough part, as always with something other than online dating, is that you don’t know who is single and who is looking. Additionally, some women aren’t as open to meeting people in places like the grocery store. It’s still a great place to strike up random conversations about products, recipes, or anything else that you can work with.

12. Arcades

Getting a girlfriend who likes gaming gets a lot easier when you start frequenting arcade. Yes, these places will be guy-heavy, but there are a lot more women frequenting these places now-a-days.

13. Concerts

• Smaller concerts are more ideal, where you can talk
• It doesn’t have to be a major band or a huge venue to work
• You can strike up a conversation easily asking things like how long they’ve been a fan or if they’ve ever seen the band live before
• Try to avoid situations where you have to yell to have a conversation

14. Parks

Women may feel safer getting approached in a place like a park where it’s wide open and there are lots of other people around. If you’re trying to meet a new girlfriend at the park, here are some additional tips:

• Never approach a woman at night in the park
• Only approach when there are lots of other people around so she feels more comfortable
• Don’t hover or chase someone in the park; if you want to talk to them be direct so you don’t come off as creepy

15. Open Mic Nights

These events have a great atmosphere and are usually at chill bars or coffee shops. Just make sure you mingle and actually make an effort to talk to people or you’ll just end up sitting at your table by yourself all night.

16. Game Nights

One of our favorite answers to the how to get a girlfriend conundrum is game nights! Bars and coffee shops are now regularly hosting board game nights, trivia, and things of the sort. These are phenomenal ways to make new friends and meet women because they almost force interaction amongst everyone there.

17. Festivals and Special Events

• Search your local events calendar to find unique things going on
• If the event is a cultural event, do some homework first to learn about what you’re going to
• Sign up early, especially if there are interactive things you can do within the event

18. Anywhere in Public

You can find a gf literally anywhere in public, as long as you have the confidence and courage to strike up a conversation and deal with some rejection. If that’s not your jam, remember that online dating and girlfriend apps remove a lot of that awkwardness and really make the process a lot smoother (and easier).

How to Find a Girlfriend – 3 Steps

When it comes to answering the ever-popular question of how to find a girlfriend, there’s quite a bit we need to cover. It starts with getting things in your life right, leads into figuring out what type of girl you’re looking for, and ends with knowing where to look. Let’s get into all of that for you right now!

Step 1 – Get Yourself Squared Away

You have to be the kind of person that your ideal girlfriend would want to date.

We made that statement it’s completely own paragraph because it’s THAT important. You don’t have to be perfect, and you don’t have to have every aspect of your life in order to start looking for a girlfriend. However, if you’re not even close—it’s probably worth taking some time to work on yourself first before you dig into how to find a girlfriend. A great girlfriend will make you a better person, but they need to be complementary. If you are expecting a woman to fix you, you’ll have no luck finding love.

Here are a few sample areas that you may want to consider improving yourself on before jumping into the search for a girlfriend.

• Your health – This includes things like eating habits, weight, and overall how you take care of yourself.
• Your mind – Are you someone who NEEDS a girlfriend? If you are, you’re going to struggle in dating. Take the time to get to a point where you’re happy with yourself before you jump into the dating scene. You will thank us for this.
• Your finances – No, you do not need to be rich to start dating. Everyone deserves love no matter what their financial situation is. That being said, people who have good control on their financial situation are more attractive and usually make better partners. You wouldn’t want to find a girlfriend who has bad spending habits and no respect for controlling their finances. There is a big difference between being rich and having control of your finances. Good control includes things like a savings plan, minimal frivolous spending, minimal debt or at least a plan to pay off that debt, no bad buying behaviors, etc.

Step 2 – Determine What Kind of GF You Want

You’re not going to have a whole lot of luck finding what you’re looking for if you don’t know what you’re looking for! Take a few minutes and figure out what you’re looking for in a girlfriend. Be careful not to get too crazy with a checklist, and make sure to separate the deal breakers from the things that would be nice to have. There’s a major difference between wants and needs when it comes to the ideal girlfriend.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to get to the bottom of this. It’s important you spend some time here, as this is an often overlooked step in how to find a girlfriend.

• How committed of a relationship am I looking for?
• What is the age bracket I’m interested in?
• Am I open to a girlfriend who has kids?
• Do I have any deal breakers when it comes to things like drinking and smoking?
• Am I looking for a girlfriend who has the same faith as me?
• Am I interested in getting a girlfriend that lives close by or is long distance okay?
• Is there a particular style or personality I’m looking for in a girlfriend?

Step 3 – Know the Best Places to Find a Girlfriend

As you can probably already gather, we think that girlfriend apps online are the best places to find love. Why? Because you can see more options in a short period of time, search for exactly what you’re looking for, and you know right off the bat which girls are single and which are looking for a committed boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. If that sounds like a winning combination to you (which it should), we’d recommend scrolling back up this page and finding one of the options that suits you best.

Are there other answers to where and how to find a girlfriend other than online? Of course! We outlined a ton of these great options at the top of this page 🙂

FAQ

How can I get a girlfriend easily?

The easiest way to find a girlfriend is to use online dating apps. Girlfriend apps are designed to be efficient and streamline the search process. That being said, it’s still going to take work. Make sure you have realistic expectations that finding a gf may take some time (if you really care about finding the right one).

Can I get a girlfriend online?

Yes, online dating often results in finding a girlfriend (or boyfriend for that matter). Once you have begun speaking with a match and getting more comfortable you may want to begin officially dating. If your match agrees to be your girlfriend, it is time to put in the work as a partner to foster and maintain your relationship.

Do online relationships work?

Online relationships can work very well as long as both partners are willing to put in their share of the work. You don’t always need to be face-to-face to enjoy time together or have a date, but if one partner is constantly unavailable or unwilling to try, the relationship will likely fail.