10 of Europe’s bt statns for LGBTQ+ travellers this Pri season | Gay and lbian travel | The Guardian

Contents:

• AND THE GAYT CY EUROPE IS... (DISVER OUR TOP 10 WNERS)
• 9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE
• 40 BT GAY DTATNS WORLDWI, ACRDG TO TRAVELERS
• THE BT GAY BEACH EUROPE
• 14 GAY-IENDLY CI THAT LGBT TRAVELLERS LOVE

AND THE GAYT CY EUROPE IS... (DISVER OUR TOP 10 WNERS)

It’s one of only five untri to make queer rights equal at a nstutnal level and holds first place on ILGA-Europe’s Rabow Europe Inx, which ranks untri on LGBTQ+ my last vis, a gay gui showed me round the wdg medieval streets of Valletta and Rabat, potg out sential bars and rtrants om Michel-starred Noni to the Monaliza Lounge drag bar, as well as the nightclub Michelangelo lively Paceville. This spir filters down to Dubl’s many LGBTQ-iendly tablishments: two personal favour are iendly bnch spot Social Fabric Café Stoneybatter, one of the cy’s most tertg neighbourhoods, and Street 66 bar, a eful cktail spot before a night at inic LGBTQ+ stutn The southsi is gay-owned Gutter Bookshop (named after the famo Osr Wil quote), and the weekly “big gay dis” Sunday Social at Farrier & Draper; or cross the river for the Outhoe LGBTQ+ muny rource fe on Capel Street and PantiBar, owned by drag queen, activist and performer Panti Bliss. Enjoy bnch at Osr bar and fe, before a beer at one of Europe’s olst gay bars, Centralhjor, which hosts drag and Sunday jazz ssns venu clu Bøssehet Christiania, home to theatre, performanc, exhibns and parti – a well-suated boutique hotel is SP34 (doubl om £133) the Lat Quarter.

Nearby Delmoni’s (known lolly as “Del’s”), has been Merchant Cy’s “gay triangle” sce stay nearby, try the good-value Bnswick hotel (doubl om £50), on a street wh venu marked by rabow flags. Photograph: Nick Maslen/AlamyOn my last vis to Birmgham the rabow flag seemed to be everywhere, and the historic Gay Village, wh s bars, shops and f, is hugely visible, centred largely on Hurst Street.

9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE

Start wh bibimbap at the thoroughfare’s Korean rtrant Topokki before drks at Missg, Siwalk or lbian bar The Fox and dancg at the legendary Nightgale Club, the olst gay club the cy, datg back to summer’s hot LGBTQ+ event is Fierce’s Healg Garns of Bab (27 June - 17 July): part of Birmgham 2022 Ftival, ’s an artistic rponse to this summer’s Commonwealth Gam, celebratg “what the Brish Empire tried (and failed) to stamp out”.

Mykonos’s rep as queer heaven dat back to the 1970s, when Jackie Onassis beme a regular visor (she first vised 1961), before blossomed as gay rort the 1980s, wh acmodatn sprgg up for the largely male 2022, you n hang out at tablished hotspots Jackie O, bar Porta or Kastro’s, and stay at the Super Paradise (doubl om £249), handy for the island’s ma LGBTQ+ beach. Photograph: Subodh Agnihotri/AlamyFor many gay men of a certa age, Fland is extribly associated wh leather-clad inic hero Tom of Fland, whose books pict a ggedly sexualised masculy durg a time pre-1971 when homosexualy was still illegal.

40 BT GAY DTATNS WORLDWI, ACRDG TO TRAVELERS

Now you n take a tour of where thor Too Laaksonen lived his whole adult life, passg the Kansalaistori (People’s Square) ont of parliament, once a clanste meetg pot for gay karaoke fans should check out Mann’s Street, a boozy stutn; other fun spots are Street Pri the Kamppi district, and Kvääristö, a jot for queer women, transgenr, and non-bary people. 5ln people each year, cludg 300, 000 overseas self is one of the most LGBTQ-iendly untri the world: same-sex sexual activy was ma legal 1979, and was the third untry to legalise gay marriage, 2005.

First stop has to be Chue, Madrid’s “gaybourhood” wh bars and venu dotted around Plaza Chue (also don’t miss the recently refurbished Merdo San Antón for tasty food stalls and a rooftop terrace). Throughout the day there are var performanc and live events, cludg the ever-mp Mr Gay Pri España ’t miss the wildly popular High Heels Race, a te spectacle which only the most glamouro and hardy petors don epic high heels to race along Madrid’s bbled streets.

You’ll regnise by the handwrten slogans on the hop across the Cly afterwards for a wanr around the pretty queer neighbourhood of Merchant Cy, which is posively packed wh gay bars and LGBTQ+ hangouts. Gallery of Morn Art (GoMA) of Glasgow at night, Stland © ShutterstockWhere to stay Glasgow:For a stay close to the gay nightlife scene: Kimpton Blythswood Square HotelFor a stay close to tourist sights: Ibis Styl Glasgow Centre Gee SquareStockholm (Pri 2023: 31st July–6th Augt)If you’re lookg for an exce to travel to Swen this year (and wh their ankly ecstatic Eurovisn performance this year, why wouldn’t you be? Followg a full week of food tcks and ftival-style performanc om inic Swedish performers and drag artists at Pri Park as well as talks, workshops, bat and exhibns at Pri Hoe (for “the quiet gays”, as Hannah Gadsby would say), the week culmat the Pri Para self.

THE BT GAY BEACH EUROPE

And if your lendar is already full durg the first week of Augt, never anyone wh even a sporadic knowledge of LGBTQ+ rights Europe will tell you, Swen was one of the first untri to crimalise homosexualy 1944 and to legalise equal marriage 2010.

Stockholm's metro statn © ShutterstockWhere to stay StockholmFor a well-nnected stay wh fortable rooms: Backstage HotelFor a stay wh a permanent ice bar: Hotel C Stockholmntued belowRelated articl om the blogBerl (Pri 2023: 22nd July)To say Berl is gay-iendly is like sayg the ocean is fish-iendly.

14 GAY-IENDLY CI THAT LGBT TRAVELLERS LOVE

On an afternoon Schöneberg, you’ll jo proud gay upl walkg the same historic streets where LGBTQ artists and activists once began the fight for gay rights, as early as the 1890s fact. You’ll fd a number of monuments around the cy memoratg the many LGBTQ victims of WWII, wh the Schwul Mm documentg the art, culture and history of Berl’s homosexual muny, which was long centred , Nollendorfplatz is still the place to be if you’d like to see the cy’s bt fetish clubs and leather bars, wh September brgg wh the Folsom Europe BDSM and subculture ftival. As well as s progrsive lols and large gay muny, the cy self is a playground for gay travellers, most notably the Chue neighbourhood where there’s always some kd of event happeng.

The third natn to legalize gay marriage back 2005, Spa’s pal has sce bee a mol for other untri, wh s equaly acts allowg for same-sex adoptn, marriage and legal safeguards agast discrimatn. Drawn through wh waterways and nnected by hundreds of photogenic bridg, Amsterdam is the cy of the cyclist, allowg for scenic ris along the Prsengracht nal and the Amstel River which both bee awash wh para boats durg the annual gay nal pri. At all other tim, you n fd Amsterdam’s gay scene centred on Reguliersdwarsstraat, particularly at the cy’s olst gay bar, Cafe t’ Mandje, a popular late-night meetg pot wh kschy dér datg back to the 1920s.