Student Guide

Reach beyond campus and explore what Gainesville has to offer!

Places to Eat

The "Gainesville Ultimate Restaurant/Bar List" from Spoon University.

Get Outside

Visit Depot Park near downtown or find places to explore.

Cool Events

Gainesville has lots of events year-round that you can find on the Visit Gainsville and 352 Arts websites.

Free things to do

Check out this list of 25 free things to do in Gainesville.

Tour of Gainesville

Learn about historic downtown Gainesville with the Matheson History Museum Cell Phone Tour.

Sports

Gainesville has more than just Gator Games, check out this list of sporting venues.

Cade Museum

Visit the new Cade Museum near downtown Gainesville to spark your creativity.

24 Hours

Plan your day with 24 Things To Do in 24 Hours at UF in Gainesville.

Bo Diddley Plaza, Downtown Gainesville

Bo Diddley is Gainesville's downtown community plaza, used as a event space and music venue. Check out their upcoming events such as free yoga.

Farmer's Market Wednesdays

Come join the community at Gainesville's downtown farmer's market on Wednesdays from 4-7pm for local food & veggies, live music, and craft vendors. People love to hang out and have picnics, play with their kids, and even do some hula hooping and acrobatics! Find out more here.

Free Fridays

From May through October you can hang out on Friday nights from 8-10pm and listen to music at Bo Diddley Plaza. There are always different genres and performers, check the schedule of upcoming shows.

Bus

Gainesville's bus system is called RTS (Regional Transit System). The live bus tracker shows you where all RTS buses are in real-time.

You can download the Rider app to track buses on-the-go or download the Transloc app to use Gainesville's Last-Mile, First-Mile service, a shuttle that transports you from your home to the bus stop when it's further away.

You can get information about fares and passes here. Students of Santa Fe and the University of Florida can ride RTS busses for free by showing their student ID.

Parking

Learn about Gainesville parking options on their website. Buy a parking permit for a downtown garage here. If you live off-campus, find out about neighborhood parking decals here.

Scooters

Scooters are popular around UF campus and downtown Gainesville. Purchase a city parking decal to park your scooter in residential zones if you live off-campus. Consider taking a scooter safety course and ride safe!

Biking

Biking is very popular in Gainesville. In fact, Gainesville is a silver-level "Bicycle Friendly Community".

Check out the city's Bicycle/Pedestrian Programs and look at a map of Gainesville's bicycle facilities.

Learn how to put your bike on an RTS bus.

To protect your bike, register it with the Gainesville Police Department or your campus police department.

Traveling out of Gainesville

Bus

There are several companies that pickup in Gainesville for long-distance bus travel.
Compare bus trips with Busbud or Wanderu or check individual bus company websites.
Redcoach, Greyhound, GMG, and Megabus are all bus companies that operate in Gainesville.

Gainesville Regional Airport

You can easily go home for break or travel somewhere new by flying out of the Gainesville Regional Airport. Visit the Gainesville Regional Airport Website for flight information.
Read about the Gainesville Regional Airport expansion here.

Jobs

Find a job with the City of Gainesville here. You can find positions ranging from part-time swim instructors and recreation assistants to full-time engineers.

Internships

The City of Gainesville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department (PRCA) offers internships you can find out about here.

As a UF student, you can apply to the City of Gainesville Local Government Fellowship through the Bob Graham Center.

Be sure to check search engines such as Chegg's internships.com and indeed.com (or others) for internships with the city or organizations around Gainesville!