Gay Friendly Plac Eastern Europe and How To Travel Safely

Contents:

• GAY EUROPE TRAVEL GUI
• 9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE
• GAY TRAVEL TOURS & TRIPS
• GAY TOURS AND GROUP TRAVEL
• THE 8 TOP GAY CIS FOR 2023
• GAY TOURS EUROPE
• TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS EASTERN EUROPE

GAY EUROPE TRAVEL GUI

The Gay European Tourism Associatn is here to help all bs and anisatns that are volved gay tourism Europe to prosper and grow. Members get accs to a wealth of rearch, directori, articl and rmatn - all signed to help you tap to the gay travel market. Wh over 3, 000 hotels, gutho, B&Bs and holiday ho and apartments across Europe, 's the most prehensive gay travel se Europe.

A key element of this is helpg our members to grow their bs by learng more about the gay market and how to work effectively wh .

GETA Gu tells you all about gay tourists, how to ensure that your product appeals to them and how to market to them. Each month GETA Gu will foc on a different element of gay tourism bg rearch, articl, se studi and foms to provi a prehensive, teractive examatn of a particular subject which will help your bs to grow.

9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE

Our exclive rearch report is out - and timat the value of the gay travel market Europe at a massive €50 billn per year. Reach gay dienc worldwi g our Gay Magaze Directory - every major gay magaze the world listed one nvenient place, savg you hours of time and makg planng your marketg much easier.

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. 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.

GAY TRAVEL TOURS & TRIPS

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 TOURS AND GROUP TRAVEL

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.

THE 8 TOP GAY CIS FOR 2023

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. 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). The island Mederranean natn is known for s iendly lols, betiful beach and vibrant gay scene after a ncerted effort to shift attus a untry domated by Roman Catholic were the bt LGBTQ+ statns cid? Belgium was the send untry the world to legalise same-sex marriage and elected their first openly gay Prime Mister, El Di Rupo, 2011.

GAY TOURS EUROPE

Earlier this year France passed a law banng so-lled gay nversn therapy, and is wily regard as progrsive on LGBTQ+ rights.

However, public attus lag behd legislatn wh 84 per cent of the public tellg the World Valu Survey they didn’t thk homosexualy was jtifiable between 2017 - remag Nordic untri, already famo for their high happs rankgs, are also high-ranked for their progrsive polics. However, the Rsian ernment has already drawn ternatnal ire for s ‘Gay Propaganda law’ which, siarly to now-repealed Sectn 28 the UK, bans discsg homosexualy Pri paras are banned Rsia’s major ci and there are also reports of ‘gay-hunters’ attackg gay men the street. All Pri week activi were banned Istanbul, the untry's largt cy, this has also been claimed that the Turkish ernment told Netflix to remove a gay character om one of their scripts or risk losg their license for filmg the untry.

Keepg all that md, here are jt some of the most gay-iendly untri Europe where LGBTQ+ travelers n enjoy a safe vis.

TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS EASTERN EUROPE

Portugal was one of the first European untri to approve gay marriage 2010, and the Portugue nstutn bans discrimatn of LGBTQ people. Lisbon also has a very popular and well attend Gay Pri Ftival and para and the ternatnal Queer Lisboa Gay and Lbian Film Ftival every year, too.

Belgium was the send European untry to legalize gay marriage and the send to crimalize same-genr relatnships all the way back 1795.

Ireland may seem like a rather nservative untry, but beme the first European natn to legalize gay marriage by a popular vote 2015.

A poll done 2019 said the 87 percent of Luxembourgers believed gay, lbian, and transgenr people should have the same rights as heterosexuals.

Detours is a laid-back, no-strgs-attached approach to gay group travel that feels more like explorg the world wh old iends than anythg else. Gay tours are a great way to break all down to memorable experienc and meet potential lifelong iends – or even a special someone – along the way.