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

Contents:

• GAY EUROPE TRAVEL GUI
• GAY/BI CLOTHG OPTNAL RORTS ROPE - LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL FOM
• 14 OF THE BT GAY-ONLY HOTELS & GUTHO THE WORLD
• FD GAY FRIENDLY HOTELS EUROPE
• EUROPE'S GAY-ONLY HOTELS
• THE WORLD'S BT GAY TRAVEL GUITHE BT GAY STATNS. FD THE BT GAY BARS, CLUBS, SNAS, BEACH AND MORE. EXCLIVE HOTEL REVIEWS, BIG DISUNTS & BOOK ONLE.BANGKOKLONDONBARCELONAMIAMISEOULSEARCH HOTELSLEARN MOREMALTAMALTA IS HOSTG THIS YEAR'S EUROPRI. VIS THIS BETIFUL MEDERRANEAN ISLAND.THE WORLD'S BT GAY TRAVEL GUI
• GAY HOTELS EUROPE
• GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS AMSTERDAM
• THE BT GAY BEACH EUROPE

GAY EUROPE TRAVEL GUI

To help you have a season to remember, we’ve round up the ntent’s bt gay hotels to stay for summer. From glisteng swimmg pools Sat Tropez, to dreamy island rorts Ibiza and Sicily, give yourself the gift of travel and geo LGBTQ+ acmodatn wh a stay at one of the fab gay hotels.

The Axel Hotel cha has bee the poster child for geo gay acmodatn across the world, and wh the fabulo summer-spired ameni at Axel Madrid, this is THE place to be for summer 2022.

GAY/BI CLOTHG OPTNAL RORTS ROPE - LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL FOM

Wh close proximy to Madrid’s happeng - and gay - Ch district, you n spend your days mglg wh the gay lols one of the area’s many bars, before retreatg for the afternoon on the hotel’s inic rooftop. Wh a gay-only clientele, this is also the perfect spot to meet other gay travelers Ibiza. Jt like Axel Madrid, this hetero-iendly hotel provis gay travelers all the fort, secury, and fun they sire om a fun summer getaway.

14 OF THE BT GAY-ONLY HOTELS & GUTHO THE WORLD

Loted the heart of Barcelona’s Gay-xample neighborhood, nvenience is key here!

The boppg island hosts many gay ftivals over the summer, but if you’re lookg to take thgs a ltle slower and enjoy a slice of luxury while Mykonos, check to the geo Rochari Hotel. This relaxg, gay-male-only rort is loted jt 100 meters om the popular Playa Del Inglés Beach, and offers a munal terrace and swimmg pool - flatable unirn clud, enough said!

Loted the cy’s gayborhood, Le Marais, you’ll be a part of the Paris gay scene no time. Now you've got the place to stay, 's time to check out the Bt Gay Events Europe this Summer!

FD GAY FRIENDLY HOTELS EUROPE

Some rpe uld be found trawlg through the listgs Gay Tim for gay-owned hotels and B&Bs.

EUROPE'S GAY-ONLY HOTELS

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. Two years later, Leo Varadkar was elected taoiseach, beg the world’s fourth openly gay head of ernment. 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.

THE WORLD'S BT GAY TRAVEL GUITHE BT GAY STATNS. FD THE BT GAY BARS, CLUBS, SNAS, BEACH AND MORE. EXCLIVE HOTEL REVIEWS, BIG DISUNTS & BOOK ONLE.BANGKOKLONDONBARCELONAMIAMISEOULSEARCH HOTELSLEARN MOREMALTAMALTA IS HOSTG THIS YEAR'S EUROPRI. VIS THIS BETIFUL MEDERRANEAN ISLAND.THE WORLD'S BT GAY TRAVEL GUI

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. 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 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. 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”.

GAY HOTELS EUROPE

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.

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

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 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.

GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS AMSTERDAM

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).

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.

THE BT GAY BEACH EUROPE

There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage".

But to actually be lockg ey wh Ellen and hold her, shakg hands as she said, "I'm gay, " on natnal televisn and for the first time, as she has shared outloud that way publicly, was such a profoundly extraordary and timate gift to that moment that I will forever be grateful for. All of Europe's gay-only hotels mapped and listed one place. Today’s gay-only hotels, gutho and B&Bs are gog up-market, terg to a more sophistited gut lookg to spend time wh like-md dividuals.