<p>I'm traveling from out of state to attend Preview at the end of the month. I will be in Gainesville all weekend along with my best friend (who also got in to UF) and we were wondering what to do when Preview is done?</p>
<p>We enjoy the casual bar scene since we're both 21+, but we are open for suggestions. I want to get a feel of the what the college night life is like in Gainesville. </p>
<p>I heard people go to "midtown" or "downtown", could anyone elaborate on these areas and on their distance to campus?</p>
<p>We're just looking for something fun to do, and get to know the local hangout spots since we're moving there next month.</p>
<p>midtown is on west 17th st and university. you’ll notice thats basically on campus. its fairly greek-heavy as far as the bar/club scene goes. there are about 6 or so venues there.</p>
<p>downtown is bigger with a wider variety of places. you might do well to just walk around and cope stuff out there and see what might interest you. midtown, is much less diverse.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! Downtown sounds good. Is there an adress or the name of a bar in downtown so I can look it up and get to the area? I have no clue how to navigate around Gainesville. :(</p>
<p>look up the hippodrome theater. walk around that area and north and west of it and you’ll find several bars with different things going on. might get better information from someone you meet walking around down there.</p>
<p>Thanks so much. Will do =)</p>
<p>On Saturday night go to the Neon Liger at Spannk 
It’s really fun!</p>
<p>Popular places are:
Midtown: Swamp & Grogg
Downtown: 8 Seconds (country), Spank (Techno), The Vault nightclub (hip-hop), and Stubbies (if you’re a beer fan)</p>
<p>Good luck and be safe!</p>
<p>Is there anywhere cool to go if you’re under 21?</p>
<p>LOVE the suggestions! Thanks guys.</p>
<p>sidenote- what do girls usually wear? Is it more “short club dresses” and heels, or like jeans and cute shirt? Not sure how casual or dressy these places are.</p>
<p>Most girls wear shorter club dresses (especially downtown because that’s where most of the clubs are). You can definitely dress more casual if you’re headed to midtown but a lot of the girls will still be in dresses and heels.
If you’re looking to go to a club I would suggest a club downtown such as Forum. Different clubs will be popular depending on what night you’re going. If you’re going to the bars, midtown will be more young college kids whereas the bars downtown will usually be a mix of younger and slightly older people. Also midtown is a lot more drunken/wild while the bars downtown are usually a little more classy.</p>
<p>The nightclubs and bars are hardly ever empty, except for maybe the very beginning of the week, and probably for summer A. I’d say that all of them are “popular”, except that not very many people go to Vault or Status (as far as I know, and I know my friends and I don’t… they’re expensive and not that great, and you can have a lot more fun at other places for less money). You can go anywhere in midtown or downtown, regardless of being under 21… except for Balls and Salty Dog, and some nights at Cantina. I’d say you can’t really go wrong anywhere, and that the nightlife is always pretty busy. There are certain places that are more popular on different nights, though…</p>
<p>Popular places by night:
Sunday: Sunday Funday at 101 Cantina (Midtown, free shots every hour)
Monday: Swamp (Midtown… not sure why this is so popular, I find Swamp kind of boring… it’s kind of a Greek thing, I think)
Tuesday: Techno Tuesday at 101 Downtown (Downtown)
Wednesday: Grog or Gator City for Ladies Night (Ladies drink free, both bars are next door to each other in midtown)
Thursday: Beef o Brady’s (Penny Wine Night, between downtown and midtown) :08 (Ladies night, downtown) or Sharab (Downtown)
Friday: Anywhere! Every bar and nightclub will be insanely busy
Saturday: Same as above, but Spannk has a big dance party every week called Neon Liger that’s always really crowded (Downtown) and Forum is becoming really popular, too… there’s almost always a line outside (Downtown)</p>
<p>I went to downtown on a Saturday, and it was a pretty mixed scene. Lots of people in their 40’s/50’s, and some college students. Me and my friends stopped at Stubbies but one of us forgot their ID so they didn’t let us in. By the time we got back to the apartment and got the ID, it was almost 1am and decided to just go to a bar nearby. That 2am curfew sucks especially coming from a big city where clubs usually close at like 9am.</p>