Welcome. Whether you have moved here for work, for university or for somebody else, this is how to get your bearings without spending your first month indoors.
One thing worth saying up front: if your first few weeks are harder than the brochure suggested, you are not doing it wrong. A good part of why this site exists is to make the getting-out part take less out of you.
Start with where you live
Open Areas of Sheffield and find your neighbourhood. You get the nearest GP and pharmacy, the closest tram and bus stops with live vehicles on them, the pubs and cafes, the nearest defibrillator and public toilets, and what is on this week within walking distance.
Register with a GP in your first week rather than when you are ill. It is the single most useful hour you will spend here. If you are a student, the students section pulls the student areas together with rents, broadband and who else lives there.
Getting about
- Sheffield is hilly and the bus network is better than it looks. The live map shows every bus and tram moving right now, plus cycle parking, 20 mph zones and car parks.
- Every event page tells you which buses head towards the venue, how far the walk from town is, when it gets dark and whether it is going to rain.
- The tram runs to Meadowhall, Hillsborough, Halfway and Malin Bridge, and the train station is a ten minute walk from the Peace Gardens.
Free things, which is most of the good stuff
Filter What’s On by free, or start at free things to do in Sheffield. This city is generous: open sessions, markets, park runs, gallery openings, talks and film nights. Classes lists the weekly things across sport, dance, language and craft, and plenty of them are built for people arriving on their own.
If you are looking for your people rather than only for something to do, the useful thing about Sheffield is how much the scenes overlap. Turning up once to something next door to what you already like is usually how it starts.
Money
The home page shows the cheapest petrol and diesel in the city each day and the cheapest hours to run the washing machine. Housing has the real numbers behind rents and sold prices by area, which is worth ten minutes before you sign next year’s contract.
When you need help
Help near you lists GPs, dentists, pharmacies, foodbanks, warm spaces and advice drop-ins with their opening times. It is there for ordinary weeks as well as bad ones.
Get outside
A third of Sheffield sits inside the Peak District, which is an absurd thing to be able to say about a city. Parks and routes and the area pages cover nature reserves, rights of way, river levels, pollen and UV.
Learn the language
If someone calls you love, says it is nesh out, or points you down a gennel, the glossary has you covered.
And if the thing you are into is not listed yet, add it so the next person arriving finds it.