10 of our favoure gay bars Europe - six-two by Contiki

Contents:

• 10 OF OUR FAVOURE GAY BARS EUROPE
• GAY EUROPE TRAVEL GUI
• THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM
• LGBTQ+ BERL – THE CY’S BT GAY BARS, CLUBS AND SNAS
• LGBTQ+ AMSTERDAM – THE 14 BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• THE 10 BEST PARIS GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS PARIS
• THE 5 BEST PRAGUE GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS PRAGUE
• THE 10 BEST BARCELONA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BARCELONA
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

10 OF OUR FAVOURE GAY BARS EUROPE

Gay bars have been around for over 100 years European hotspots; Germany, the UK and France particular have a long history of gay bars and parti for the history books. It’s hard to fd a bad bar Dubl, but whether you’re talkg regular bars or gay bars, ’s hard to ny the nsistent love that everyone has for Panti Bar.

You go to RAIDD for the show, stay for the mic, and if you’re lookg for the gay scene Paris, you’re the right place amongst the nsistent crowds. If you’re lookg for somethg a b different than the typil gay bar scene, this is the perfect place for great food and a zy pub atmosphere. The bt LGBTQ+ bar Budapt is probably jt what you’d expect, the grty, trendy and dtrial style of our favoure parts of Budapt wh the glam, epic mic and shows of our favoure gay bars anywhere.

GAY EUROPE TRAVEL GUI

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+ equaly.On 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 Gee.Also 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 year-round.Other venu clu Bøssehet Christiania, home to theatre, performanc, exhibns and parti – a well-suated boutique hotel is SP34 (doubl om £133) the Lat Quarter.

THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM

The cy’s olst gay bar The Waterloo dat back half a century, while another classic spot is the Unrground bar, equally fun for drag or karaoke. Nearby Delmoni’s (known lolly as “Del’s”), has been Merchant Cy’s “gay triangle” sce 1991.To 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.

LGBTQ+ BERL – THE CY’S BT GAY BARS, CLUBS AND SNAS

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 1969.This 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 clientele.In 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. The season’s big gay dance ftival is XLSIOR, attend by about 30,000 people (17-24 Augt)HelskiA Pri gatherg at Helski Cathedral.

LGBTQ+ AMSTERDAM – THE 14 BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS

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. 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 men.LGBTQ+ 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.

You might even be able to jo the Helski Homovaas (Helski Gay Invasn), whose purpose is to “shake up the gay scene” by takg over random straight bars. Meanwhile, Madrid Pri (1-10 July) is the send biggt the world (after San Francis) and by far the largt Europe, attractg more than a 1.5ln people each year, cludg 300,000 overseas visors.Spa 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).

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

We talk a lot about how tim have changed, but the gay bar remas a staple of gay life'a lifele for many of , an old iend for the rt. There's no such thg as a five list of anythg, but that hasn't stopped om surg the world to fd 50 bars wh all the right quali to make you feel at AMERICAS:USAATLANTAMARY'STheme nights range om outrageo to downright unsavory: Hanky Co Party, No Pants Dance, and MondoHomo, to name a few. (512) 320-8823BOISE, IDEMERALD CLUBThe olst gay bar Boise attracts a mixed-genr crowd rangg om buffed-and-shed llege kids to olr upl matchg Wtern garb.

(208) 342-5446CHICAGO, ILROSCOE'SGays om all over the untry flock to this popular but low-key Boystown favore, where the mic is unabashedly bouncy.

(903) 887-2061LEXINGTON, KYTHE BAR COMPLEXThe gay crown jewel of historic downtown Lexgton, this nverted speakeasy radiat fad glamour and genteel manners wh s three bars, huge upstairs dance floor, and plenty of dark nooks to enjoy gentleman llers or a mt julep. Gay guys, women, and straight dus pack the jot nightly, and the bar has expand to a full-fledged dance club on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

THE 10 BEST PARIS GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS PARIS

) and the perfect pat, this is where many a gay Angeleno brgs his or her out-of-town pals to see'and experience'the heart of WeHo. (305) 534-6300)NEW HAVEN, CTGOTHAM CITISouthern Connecticut's biggt gay statn draws a wispread crowd to s three sleek floors of dancg and bchery. (203) 498-2484NEW YORK, NYTHERAPYAfter a long week the big cy, a drk at a sexy club the heart of the new gay village (Hell's Kchen) is theraptic.

Manhattan's ever-by gay staple shows no sign of flaggg, and though you really may not re for Mil Mondays, this two-floor Chelsea staple has somethg for everyone'pecially when you're wasted and not too fsy. (212) 691-0073OAKLAND, CAWHITE HORSE INNCome for the party rpet'featurg stars and rabows that glow the black light'and stay for the karaoke (the wner of the East Bay Idol ntt tak home a ol grand) at 'the Ho, ' an East Bay stutn that's one of the untry's olst gay bars.

(602) 254-0231SANTA FE, NMSILVER STARLIGHT LOUNGE AND CABARETY, this is a bar the RabowVisn gay retirement home'er, 'ndomium, pennt and assisted livg muny''but the Starlight offers the bt damn pomegranate margara (ma by Mike) you're ever gog to have. (416) 977-2160COSTA RICAQUEPOSARCO IRISJt north of Quepos on the wt ast of Costa Ri, Ar Iris ('rabow' Spanish) has long been a gay enclave.

THE 5 BEST PRAGUE GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS PRAGUE

There are plenty of gay or gay-iendly gutho and rtrants, and the gay nu beach is a hot spot durg the day wh Euros, Canadians, and Amerins as well as Costa Rins.

Anythg go this down-home, cidly stic dance club, where men and women, gays and straights, profsnals and prostut, and Costa Rins and Tis alike mix and mgle, and language is no barrier to the bs at hand.

Performanc clu break-dancers, trapeze artists, and magic shows, and electro-fed beats tickle the ears of the straight, gay, and straight-up pijos the crowd.

THE 10 BEST BARCELONA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BARCELONA

011 33 (01) 40 20 98 'S BARThe crowd is young, gged (thk T-shirts, flannel, and leather), and 'ber-nghty at Berl's classic gay n. ) 011 49 30 2134570PORTUGALLISBONS'TIMO C'UNo European neighborhood embodi yed nce like Lisbon's Bairro Alto'so 's no surprise that the seaport's most fabulo gay bar is ntled among s bbled hills. 011 351 21 346 6471SPAINBARCELONAAXEL SKY BAR (pictured)Perched atop the Hotel Axel, which bills self as homo-iendly, Sky Bar mands stunng views over the Catalan cy, and 's also handily suated by the hotel's pool and Jacuzzi.

Loted the Eixample, the heart of the gay quarter of Barcelona, Sky Bar is perfect for kickg off an eveng or hangg out all night.

Anyone fashnable is wele among the mostly gay crowd here, where handsome bartenrs n hand-crack ice for your mojo or serve you at your art banquette. 011 90 212 243 2879UNITED KINGDOMGLASGOWTHE POLO LOUNGEGlasgow'like s sister cy Edburgh'has a small gay scene proportn to s size. Of the five or six gay bars or clubs the cy, the Polo is probably the most popular, terg to an upmarket crowd'or at least as upmarket as Glasgow gets.

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

011 44 141 553 1221LONDONTHE JOINERS ARMSThis tradnal East End boozer was once a haven only for slly gays om the hog tat that surround , but the gentrifitn of Shoredch has brought a new clientele. From s baret and edy nights through s bgo and live-mic evengs to s legendary Saturday night event Duckie to the last fiant gasp of the weekend on Sunday, the RVT is an stutn attractg a wi range of gay lols and visors om across London and beyond. 011 44 020 77 374 043WORKINGTONTHE STEAM PACKETThe only gay bar the Lake District, the Steam Packet (known, affectnately we assume, as the Fag Packet) is a tly bizarre place unlovely Workgton.

Ntled the Sydney suburbs is the three-bar Imperial Hotel, which is home to a mixed muny of gays and lbians (together at last). The crowd, though mostly straight, is almost exclively expat, so if there's a well-heeled homo travelg through Kathmandu at the same time you are, chanc are he'll swg through here. Especially popular wh gay men – though wel everyone – the ont room blasts out pop hs while the back room offers harr hoe beats.