25 Long Distance Date Ideas That Feel Like Being Together

The best long distance date ideas give you something to do together, not just something to talk about. Watch a movie at the same moment, cook the same meal, play a co-op game or build something side by side, and a video call starts to feel like an evening you spent together. Most of the 25 ideas below are free and need nothing more than a laptop or a phone.

We see this in Glint. When we looked at active rooms this September, almost 4 in 10 had exactly two people in them, and some of the people who answered our survey told us they use it for long distance dates. What they want is simple: a place to be together that isn’t just two faces on a screen.

What makes a good long distance date?

If you’d like a place to keep coming back to, see Glint for long-distance couples. You can build a room together, leave notes and watch YouTube in sync.

A good long distance date has three things: a shared activity, a set time, and a little bit of effort. The activity gives you something to react to together, so the conversation doesn’t have to carry the whole evening. The set time makes it a date instead of a call that happened to run long. The effort (dressing up, the same snacks, a playlist) is what makes it feel like an occasion.

The ideas below are grouped by mood, so you can pick one for a tired Tuesday and save another for an anniversary.

Which long distance date ideas are best at a glance?

Date idea	Best for	Cost	What you need
Watch a movie in sync	Relaxed nights	Your streaming plan	Teleparty or a synced player
Cook the same recipe	Weekends	Groceries	A video call and one recipe
Co-op video game	Gamers	Varies by game	A console or PC each
Online board games	Game nights	Free	Board Game Arena
Build a room together	Cozy, creative nights	Free	Glint in a browser
The 36 questions	Getting closer	Free	The list and an hour
Stargazing	Romantic nights	Free	Stellarium Web or a clear sky
Leave notes to find	Different time zones	Free	A shared space that stays

What are easy virtual date ideas for a weeknight?

Weeknight dates should cost almost no energy. These work when you’re both tired and just want to be near each other.

1. Watch a movie at the same time

Press play at the same moment and talk through it the way you would on a couch. For Netflix and several other streaming services, Teleparty syncs playback and adds a chat. For YouTube videos, pick a player that syncs play, pause and skipping for both of you, so nobody has to shout “wait, pause it”. Glint does this for any video you put in a room.

2. Cook the same recipe on a call

Pick one recipe, buy the ingredients separately, and cook it together on video. Prop the phone against the backsplash, race each other through the chopping, then sit down and eat “together”. Easy crowd pleasers are pasta, dumplings, tacos and pancakes for a breakfast date.

3. Order dinner to each other’s door

Each of you secretly orders a meal to the other person’s address, then you eat on a call. It’s a small surprise, and it takes the cooking out of a weeknight.

4. Have a parallel play evening

Get on a call and each do your own thing: study, read, knit, draw, answer email. You don’t have to talk much. Hearing the other person turn a page is the whole point. It asks the least of you of any date here, and it still makes the distance feel smaller.

5. Share a morning coffee or fall asleep on a call

Bookend a day together. A ten minute coffee call before work, or leaving the call on while you both fall asleep, gives you the small daily moments that distance takes away.

6. Listen to an album together

Pick an album neither of you has heard and listen to it front to back at the same time. Spotify’s Jam lets you both add songs to one queue and hear it in sync (the host needs Premium). Rate every track, then argue about the ratings.

7. Take a walk on the phone

Go for a walk in your own neighborhoods while you’re on a call, and describe what you see. Point your camera at the dog you just passed or the sunset. It’s exercise, fresh air and a date in one.

What games can long distance couples play together?

Games are the easiest way to fill an evening with laughing instead of catching up. Here are ones that work across two homes, and there are 30 more in our guide to long distance games for couples.

8. Play a co-op video game

Some games are built for two. It Takes Two and Split Fiction both have a Friend’s Pass, so only one of you needs to buy the game, and It Takes Two is literally about a couple. Stardew Valley and Minecraft are slower and cozier, and you each need your own copy. For puzzle lovers, The Past Within and We Were Here are escape rooms where each of you sees half the clues and has to talk the other through it.

9. Play board games in the browser

Board Game Arena runs hundreds of board games in a browser tab, most of them free to play. Try Carcassonne, 7 Wonders Duel or Azul on a video call and keep a running score for the month.

10. Draw badly for each other

Gartic Phone and skribbl.io are free drawing games that get funnier the worse you draw. They’re best with a group of friends, but they work for two as well.

11. Guess where in the world you are

GeoGuessr drops you into Google Street View somewhere on Earth and you guess where you are. Play duels against each other, or team up. Free clones like OpenGuessr work if you don’t want a subscription.

12. Ask each other the 36 questions

The 36 questions come from psychologist Arthur Aron’s 1997 study on how strangers grow close. They start light (“Would you like to be famous?”) and get deeper as you go. Even couples who’ve been together for years learn something new.

13. Keep a daily game going on your phones

Not every date has to be an evening. Words With Friends, GamePigeon in iMessage, or comparing your Wordle and Connections results every morning gives you a small thing you share every day.

What are creative long distance date ideas?

Creative dates leave you with something you made together, which is the closest thing to a memory you both have in the same place.

14. Build and decorate a room together

This is the one we built Glint for. You both open the same room in your browser, talk over voice or video, lay the floor tile by tile and press stickers into it from a sticker album: a bed, a lamp, a sleeping cat, a record player. Your avatars sit in the room with you while you decorate, and you can put a video in the room and watch it in sync.

The part couples like most is that the room stays. Next time you meet up, your place is still there, a little fuller every week. Glint is free, runs in a browser tab with nothing to install, and several sticker series are free to use. You can also grab the Autumn Cabin series as a free present. Full disclosure: I make Glint, so take this one with that in mind. There’s more on how building works in the rooms and stickers update.

15. Make each other a playlist

Give each other a theme (“songs that remind me of you”, “our road trip”, “the summer we met”) and a week to build a playlist. Swap on your next date and listen to them together, with commentary.

16. Paint along with Bob Ross

Full episodes of The Joy of Painting are on the official Bob Ross YouTube channel. Get the same cheap paints, put an episode on in sync and paint the same happy little trees. Compare results at the end.

17. Plan your next visit or a dream trip

Open a shared map or doc and plan something real: the next time you’ll see each other, a weekend away, the city you’d move to. Having the next visit on the calendar gives every call something to count down to.

18. Make a shared photo album

Go through your phones and build a shared album of your relationship so far, with a caption for each photo. It’s a good date for an anniversary, and a good one to come back to.

19. Write letters and open them on a call

Mail each other real letters, then open and read them together on video. Add a pressed flower, a photo or a small gift.

What are romantic long distance date ideas for special occasions?

For birthdays, anniversaries and Valentine’s Day, go a little further than a normal night.

20. Dress up for a fancy dinner

Dress up like you’re going somewhere expensive, light a candle and cook something nice (or order it). Set the laptop at eye level and put the phone away. It sounds silly and it feels great.

21. Take a virtual museum tour

Google Arts & Culture has free tours of museums around the world, from the Musée d’Orsay to the Rijksmuseum. Explore one together and each pick your favourite piece.

22. Stargaze together

Find a clear night, go outside and look up at the same sky while you’re on the phone. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, Stellarium Web shows the night sky from anywhere, free in a browser.

23. Do an online escape room

Beyond games like The Past Within, lots of escape room companies run live online rooms with a real host. Book one for an anniversary and see how well you work as a team.

24. Have a spa night

Send each other the same face masks, run a bath or light a candle, and do a slow, quiet self care evening on a call.

What can you do on a date across different time zones?

When your evenings don’t overlap, dates don’t have to be live.

25. Leave something for them to find

Record voice notes, schedule an email for when they wake up, or keep a shared journal you both write in. In Glint, you can leave a note or a new sticker in your room while they’re asleep, and it’s there when they open it in the morning. A place you both keep adding to feels like a home, even when you’re never in it at the same time.

How do you make a virtual date feel special?

A few small things make a video call feel like a date:

• Put it on the calendar. A set time makes it something to look forward to.
• Get off your phone. Use a laptop or prop the phone up, and put headphones in.
• Match something. The same snack, the same drink or the same outfit colour.
• Plan it in turns. Take turns picking the date so it doesn’t always fall on one person.
• Have a next date ready. End each one by picking the next.

Which apps are best for long distance dates?

App	What it’s for	Cost
Teleparty	Watching streaming services in sync	Free, paid plan available
Spotify Jam	Listening to music together	Host needs Premium
Board Game Arena	Board games in the browser	Free, premium games extra
Gartic Phone	Drawing games	Free
Glint	Building a room together, watching videos in sync, hanging out	Free
Google Arts & Culture	Museum tours	Free
Stellarium Web	Stargazing	Free

Frequently asked questions

What can long distance couples do online for free? Plenty. You can cook the same recipe on a call, play board games on Board Game Arena, draw in Gartic Phone, stargaze, take a virtual museum tour or build a room together in Glint. None of these cost anything.

What are good virtual date night ideas? Watching a movie in sync, cooking the same meal, a dress up dinner, playing a co-op game and building something together all make good virtual date nights. Pick something you do together, not just something you talk about.

What games can long distance couples play? It Takes Two and Split Fiction (one copy with a Friend’s Pass), Stardew Valley, Minecraft, The Past Within, board games on Board Game Arena, GeoGuessr duels, and phone games like Words With Friends.

How do you watch a movie together long distance? Use Teleparty for Netflix and other streaming services, or a synced player for YouTube videos, so play and pause happen for both of you. Start a call next to it so you can react.

How often should long distance couples have a date? There’s no rule. Many couples set one proper date a week and fill the rest with small daily things, like a morning call or a game you both play every day.

What do you do on a long distance date with a big time difference? Make it asynchronous. Leave voice notes, write in a shared journal or add to a room you both keep, and save live dates for the hours when you’re both awake.

If you want a place that’s just yours, open Glint, make a room and send the link to your person.