In this guide
Virtual date ideas over video call
A video call becomes a date when you do something together instead of just catching up. Pick one, put it in the calendar, and treat it like you would a night out.
1. Cook the same recipe
Choose a recipe, shop for it separately, and cook side by side on video. Eating the same meal at the same time makes it feel like you're at one table.
2. Watch a movie in sync
On Apple devices, SharePlay lets you watch supported apps together during a FaceTime call. In a browser, Teleparty syncs playback for several streaming services. Or keep it simple: count down from three and press play at once.
3. Take a virtual museum tour
Google Arts & Culture has online tours and collections from museums around the world. Wander through one together and pick a favorite piece each.
4. Have a coffee date across time zones
If it's morning for one of you and evening for the other, meet in the middle: coffee for one, tea or a nightcap for the other, and twenty unhurried minutes.
5. Go stargazing together
Open a free star map app, find the moon or a bright planet, and look at it at the same time. If your time zones allow, you're quite literally under the same sky.
6. Take a class together
Learn something new side by side: a drawing tutorial, a few phrases in each other's language, a dance routine. Being beginners together is half the fun.
7. Start a two-person book club
Read the same book, a chapter or two a week, and talk about it on your next call. Or take turns reading aloud.
8. Have a karaoke night
Pull up lyrics videos and take turns. Duets count double.
9. Dress up for a fancy dinner
Order from your favorite places, or cook something special, then dress up and light a candle. Making an effort is what turns dinner on a call into a date.
10. Do a puzzle or craft side by side
Buy two of the same puzzle, paint-by-numbers or craft kit, and work on them together. Comfortable silence on a call is underrated.
Games for long distance couples
Games give a call a shape, a bit of competition and plenty to laugh about.
11. Play a co-op video game
Some games are built for exactly two players. It Takes Two, for example, lets a second player join with a free Friend's Pass, so only one of you needs to buy it.
12. Play board and party games online
Codenames has a free online version, chess sites make a quick match easy, and drawing games like Gartic Phone run in a browser.
13. Play two truths and a lie
An easy classic that still turns up surprises, even if you've been together for years.
14. Answer a question together
Take turns with "would you rather" or deeper question cards. Or make it a daily ritual: in 2Hearts you can ask each other questions, and your answer stays hidden until your partner has answered too.
15. Hold a trivia night about each other
Each write ten questions about yourself and quiz the other. Lowest score plans the next date.
Ideas to get to know each other better
16. Work through the 36 questions
Psychologist Arthur Aron's 36 questions were designed to build closeness between two people. They work beautifully over a long call, and they go deeper than you'd expect.
17. Make each other a playlist
Songs that remind you of them, the soundtrack to your first months, songs you want them to hear. Listen at the same time and explain your picks.
18. Write a shared bucket list
Places to go, food to try, things to do once you're in the same city. It's a date and a plan for the future at once.
19. Have a show and tell
Share childhood photos, a favorite object, or the story behind something in your room. Small stories fill in a lot of gaps.
20. Plan your next visit
Turn planning into the date: browse places to stay, map out the first day, and pick the restaurant for your first dinner together.
21. Take a quiz together
A love language or personality quiz is a fun excuse to talk about how you each like to feel cared for, especially when you can't just show it in person.
Low-key and no-screen ideas
Not every date needs a plan. These are things to do in a long distance relationship when you're both tired, busy, or simply need a break from screens.
22. Write a real letter
Handwriting, a stamp and a few days of waiting make a letter feel like a gift. It's something they can keep and reread.
23. Send a care package
Their favorite snacks, something from your town, a hoodie that smells like you. Open it together on a call if you can.
24. Go on a phone walk
Walk around your own neighborhoods while you talk, and describe what you see. It feels surprisingly like walking together.
25. Listen to the same album at the same time
No talking, just music, start to finish. Swap thoughts afterward.
26. Fall asleep on a call
Many long distance couples swear by it. Hearing someone breathe as you drift off is a quiet kind of closeness.
27. Share your heartbeat
With 2Hearts you can take your pulse with your iPhone or Apple Watch and send it to your partner to feel. If they join while you're recording, it becomes a live session and you feel each other's heartbeat in real time. Send one before bed, and it'll be waiting for them. Here's how it works.
28. Leave a voice note to wake up to
If your time zones don't overlap much, a voice note waiting for them in the morning means they start the day with you.
Valentine's Day, anniversaries and birthdays
29. Valentine's Day
Have flowers or a meal delivered from somewhere local to them, eat the same dinner over video, and swap a list of reasons you love each other. Valentine's Day ideas for a long distance relationship don't need to be big, just planned.
30. Your anniversary
Recreate your first date over video: same food, same music, same awkward first questions, now with all the answers you know today.
31. Their birthday
Send a box of small wrapped gifts and have them open one each hour, or arrange a surprise video call with their friends and family.
32. The holidays
Decorate together on a call, bake the same holiday recipe, and open your gifts to each other at the same time.
33. Countdown night
When your next visit is booked, start a countdown and make an evening of it: plan the first thing you'll do when you see each other, down to the hug at arrivals.
Tips for better long distance dates
- Put it in the calendar. A date you've planned feels different from a call that happens to run long.
- Be fair with time zones. Take turns being the one who stays up late or gets up early.
- Make an effort. Get dressed, tidy the corner of the room on camera, and put other notifications away.
- Mix it up. Alternate big plans with easy ones so dates don't start to feel like homework.
- Leave room for nothing. Some of the best calls are just the two of you, doing your own thing, together.
For the bigger picture, read how to make a long distance relationship work, or find the best apps for long distance couples.