Find your next hobby
1,538 hobbies, sports and crafts, grouped here by what you might actually want out of one — something to make, somewhere to be, people to meet, or an evening that is not a screen. 121 are written up in depth.
Make something
What can I take up that leaves me with something at the end?
Subhashish Panigrahi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
3D printing
Making physical objects layer by layer from a digital model — a manufacturing process that became a domestic hobby, with all the calibration that implies.
£100–£300 to start · indoors · sedentary
Christopher J. Fynn / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Amateur perfumery
Blending fragrance from essential oils and aroma chemicals — a craft of structure, patience and a great deal of smelling.
£300–£1,000 to start · indoors · sedentary
Fanny Schertzer / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Bicycle maintenance
Servicing and rebuilding bicycles, from a puncture to a full wheel build — the rare craft that pays for itself.
£100–£300 to start · indoors · gentle
Get outdoors
What will actually get me outside regularly?
Annatsach / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Astronomy
Observing the night sky, from naked-eye constellations to telescopic deep-sky objects.
£100–£300 to start · outdoors · sedentary
Pacopac / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bikepacking
Multi-day riding with everything you need strapped to the bike — camping, navigation and cycling combined into one problem.
£300–£1,000 to start · outdoors · very demanding
Birdwatching
Finding, identifying and recording wild birds — a hobby you can start from a kitchen window.
£25–£100 to start · outdoors · gentle
Get active
What will make me fitter without me having to enjoy exercise?
derivative work: Jesfr ( talk ) Track_and_field_stadium.jpg : Eija / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 1.0
Athletics
Track and field as an organised club sport — running, jumping and throwing under one roof, and open to adults at every level.
£25–£100 to start · indoors or out · very demanding
Pacopac / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bikepacking
Multi-day riding with everything you need strapped to the bike — camping, navigation and cycling combined into one problem.
£300–£1,000 to start · outdoors · very demanding
Mobilus In Mobili / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Bouldering
Climbing short, hard problems close to the ground, with mats instead of ropes — the lowest-friction way into climbing.
£25–£100 to start · indoors or out · very demanding
Other ways to narrow it down
Every one of these is a cut of the catalogue somebody actually asked for, with a page of its own.
- What can I take up without spending much?Hobbies you can start for under £25
- What can I do if I have no space?Hobbies for a flat with no spare room
- What will I enjoy straight away, rather than after six months?Hobbies that are rewarding from the first session
- What can I do in the evening that is genuinely relaxing?Quiet hobbies for winding down
- What can we actually do together, rather than me supervising?Hobbies to do with children
- What can I start with things I already own?Hobbies that need almost no equipment
- What will actually introduce me to new people?Hobbies for meeting people
- What will I still be doing in February?Hobbies that work all year
- What can I take up that I will still be getting better at in twenty years?Hobbies with a lifetime of learning in them
Or by what kind of thing it is
The three strands the whole catalogue divides into. Plenty of subjects sit in two of them.
- HobbiesPursuits followed for their own sake — where the reward is the doing, the knowing or the collecting.848 activities
- SportsPhysical activities with rules and a measurable outcome — whether or not you ever enter a competition.448 activities
- CraftsSkilled making practices — materials worked into objects, technique learned a stage at a time.503 activities
Looking for something specific?
The complete catalogue lists all 1,538 activities alphabetically — the 121 written up in depth and the 1,417 classified and waiting. If we know about it, it is on that page.