I want to register for classes in martial arts for fun. I would prefer that there is not too ground wrestling and it's at least somewhat effective in self defense. 

What type of martial arts or mixed martial arts classes do you recommend? 

Maybe Krav Maga?

Maybe Krav Maga?

That seems to be a practical one though it seems to be kinda violent, do you know if Krav Maga teachers and students are nice? 

A lot of martial arts clubs will allow you to one or two sessions for free.  Sometimes the trial period is for a full week.  Go and try a few out, see if you like it.  They're unlikely to throw you in the deep end and expect you to spar on the first day.

I've only ever been to one Krav Maga class so I can't be sure, but in my experience the vast majority of people involved in martial arts are nice people.

Maybe Krav Maga?

That seems to be a practical one though it seems to be kinda violent, do you know if Krav Maga teachers and students are nice? 

I think it's meant to train you to be an expert in self-defense. It's really about safety I think. I have a friend who's a teacher and she's very nice!

I have a friend who knows a few, most popular, martial arts. I've asked him the same question like a six months ago and he replied karate. As useful in self defense as boxing, but it adds leg elements, not too much ground wrestling(although it covers this subject) and is very developing as karate teachers often use very original workouts. He attended Kyokushin and was very happy with that school.

I train krav maga right now, and I'm inclined to say that's it's the best martial art I know of (I've tried out boxing, muay thai, kung fu and jiu jitsu before). It's definitely not more violent than other martial arts, and atleast here everything is done in a very calm manner. You get to learn a lot of practical stuff (defense against chokes and stuff like that), but also stuff like proper boxing and kicking techniques. If you want to compete, it's not for you, since you can't compete in krav maga. It's only for self defense. (Although some clubs offer sparring classes, and that's competetive enough for me.)

I've found, and this is only from my experience, that many of the asian/eastern martial arts are mostly bullshit: there's fancy high kicks that are useless in a real fight, and weird spiritual disciplines there's no point of.

Ofcourse, this all varies from club to club. I would recommend you just try out a bunch of different martial arts, and see what you prefer. And if you find one you like, stick with it. You won't see instant results, but it's really worth it in a while, and also it's really fun.

Just my point of view.

Thanks. 

I've been learning kickboxing. Very fun. 

I will take self defense or krav maga class when it becomes available this spring in the dojo that I'm going to.