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

Contents:

• 7 GAY FRIENDLY WTER SUN DTATNS YOU CAN’T MISS
• THE 8 TOP GAY CIS FOR 2023
• UNR THE ‘GAYDAR’: 10 BT GAYTN DTATNS THAT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU
• WHY HALLOWEEN IS 'GAY CHRISTMAS' TO MANY LGBTQ AMERINS
• HE TRAVEL – GAY TRAVEL TOURS, GAY ADVENTURE TRAVEL, ACTIVE VATNS
• LGBTQ TRAVEL & GAY HOLIDAYS
• GAY TRAVEL TOURS & TRIPS
• 25 CHRISTMAS SONGS ONLY GAY PEOPLE AND (INTELLIGENT) STRAIGHT PEOPLE KNOW ARE TLY GAY BOPS
• AFFORDABLE GAY VATN TOWNS
• REMENDATN FOR VATN PACKAG FOR SGLE GAY MAN - LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL FOM

7 GAY FRIENDLY WTER SUN DTATNS YOU CAN’T MISS

Even durg wter, say, between December and this gui, I will tell you about the most betiful gay iendly wter sun statns where you will fd safe and enjoyable plac for LGBT muny members. Gay iendly wter sun statns EuropeCanary Islands – Tenerife and Gran CanariaGay iendly wter sun statns AmeriSouth Florida – Fort Lrdale, Miami, and Key WtMexi – Cancún, Playa l Carmen, Tulum and Puerto VallartaBrazil – R JaneiroGay iendly wter sun statns AsiaThailand – BangkokGay iendly wter sun statns OceaniaAtralia – Sydney and Sunshe CoastGay iendly wter sun statns AiSouth Ai – Cape TownGay iendly wter sun statns EuropeCanary Islands – Tenerife and Gran CanariaEurope is the northern hemisphere, so there are not many warm plac to vis December. We know well that Spa is one of the most gay-iendly untri the world, and s islands are no are two islands particular that I would remend to queer people: Tenerife and Gran Tenerife, LGBT tourism is prent almost everywhere on the island.

The most popular beach are Playa Teja, Playa Médano, and Los Ros at the end of Playa las Teras close to Santa Canaria is also perfect for your gay wter sun holidays.

It’s great to be on the beach, even if the water may be a b iendly wter sun statns AmeriSouth Florida – Fort Lrdale, Miami, and Key WtAre you lookg for the perfect gay iendly wter sun statn the USA?

THE 8 TOP GAY CIS FOR 2023

Ls obv than Miami is Fort Lrdale, which is only 30 away and enjoys a no ls remarkable gay you move further south, there are the Florida Keys, an archipelago of islands that extends for over 100 between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexi. It is famo for beg a place of peace and short, Miami, as well as Fort Lrdale and Key Wt, you’ll enjoy your gay wter sun holiday plete – Cancún, Playa l Carmen, Tulum and Puerto VallartaMexi is another perfect untry for LGBT wter sun holidays. There may be wd, clouds, and some ra for a few days, so ’s bt to check advance before you make your the other ast – the Pacific – there’s probably the gay-iendlit cy Mexi and one of the gayt Lat Ameri: Puerto Vallarta.

Bt known for s famo Febary rnival, R is the send-largt cy Brazil and one of the most gay-iendly statns Lat is one of the perfect gay iendly wter sun statns bee the perd om December to March is the hottt of the year wh temperatur that n reach 95-98º F (35-37º C) you happen to vis the cy November, know that they celebrate R Gay Pri durg this month. However, the real gay nightlife hub R is the Ipanema area where you will fd the beach and a large ncentratn of rtrants, bars, and read: Gay Friendly Ci – The Bt Travel Dtatns for LGBT PeopleGay iendly wter sun statns AsiaThailand – BangkokLookg for an Asian LGBTQ wter sun statn? Then you should nsir visg untry is probably the most gay-iendly of all Southeast Asia while nsirg that public display of affectn is not the norm, both for heterosexual and homosexual upl.

However, Thailand’s gay-iendls is an exceptn, nsirg the difference culture wh neighborg untri where beg openly gay is que climate is tropil and the bt time to vis is om December to mid-Febary.

UNR THE ‘GAYDAR’: 10 BT GAYTN DTATNS THAT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU

Also worth mentng are Phet, Koh Samui, Koh Pangan, and other romantic iendly wter sun statns OceaniaAtralia – Sydney and Sunshe CoastAtralia is the ial gay iendly wter sun statn as b the gay atmosphere and summertime December. Further up north, the South-Eastern area of Queensland, the Sunshe Coast serv attentn both for s naturalistic bety and for beg absolutely iendly wter sun statns AiSouth Ai – Cape TownIt is not easy to fd LGBT wter sun statns Ai, nsirg that more than 35 untri crimalize gay relatnships and people are not very tolerant.

WHY HALLOWEEN IS 'GAY CHRISTMAS' TO MANY LGBTQ AMERINS

While plenty of rorts wele diverse travelers, some really roll out the rabow rpets—whether they’re part of a gay-iendly brand; home to an out-and-proud LGBTQ+ staff; or part of a fabulo statn.

The brand is a Gold Global Partner of the Internatnal Gay & Lbian Travel Associatn (IGLTA), and has been honored for more than a as one of the HRC’s annually ranked Bt Plac to Work for LGBTQ+ Equaly. Along wh Grand Palladium’s tramark ntemporary sign and range of on-se rtrants and entertament, gay and lbian guts n enjoy ameni like the Zentropia Spa & Wellns and s fully equipped gym, several pools and Jacuzzis, sports facili, and direct beach accs. South Ai is probably the most gay-iendly untry Ai, and Royal Malewane is a member of IGLTA, assurg your South Ain LGBTQ+ experience is as fortable as n be.

The term – a phemism that dat back to the 1950s – was once ed to dite gay social events on daily cise le programs, whout explicly llg out members of the muny on board.

HE TRAVEL – GAY TRAVEL TOURS, GAY ADVENTURE TRAVEL, ACTIVE VATNS

As travel on the high seas ntu to bounce back om the COVID-19 panmic, gay and lbian travelers should nsir settg sail on a fun-filled cise vatn as their next planng a cise, vatners should first nsir what their ial sailg looks like. Cisers should also thk about whether they'd like to travel aboard a gay-iendly mastream le, such as Celebry Cis or Virg Voyag, or opt for an all-gay, full-ship charter wh a third-party vatn pany. Of VACAYA's all-gay charters, he says, "For one magil week, our muny gets to be the majory and live life out loud the blissful utopia VACAYA creat on a gay cise.

This le gets the stamp of approval om prev LGBTQ cisers, who praise the ships' genr-ntral bathrooms, onboard shows wh rint drag queens and diverse Voyag offers gay-specific sailgs through travel pani like Atlantis Events, but s more mastream erari still offer a welg, clive atmosphere that attracts LGBTQ cisers year-round. For s all-gay cis, Atlantis charters megaships om popular l like Royal Caribbean Internatnal and Norwegian Cise Le, so cisers will have a fully immersive board, travelers n enjoy all the perks the megaships have to offer (thk: pools, hot tubs, sports urts and plenty of dg choic), pl special events like drag performanc, motivatnal speakers, LGBTQ movi on mand each b and high-energy circu parti across the ship.

LGBTQ TRAVEL & GAY HOLIDAYS

"As an LGBTQ ciser, you're lookg for a ship wh lots of entertament, cludg dance parti and events, " says Mars Martez, founr of Men Who Bnch, a Black gay liftyle blog. Celebry Cis(Courty of Celebry Cis)Celebry Cis sets the scene for an excellent vatn for gay travelers, om s extravagant annual Pri parti to s daily LGBTQ programmg throughout the year. Private travel pani like VACAYA also charter Celebry ships for all-gay voyag throughout the (Getty Imag)Specifilly marketed toward lbians and LGBTQ women, Olivia has hosted more than 350, 000 travelers by land and sea over almost five s.

Outsi of the sailg experience, Royal Caribbean has also publicly mted to support the LGBTQ muny throughout the year, and was the first cise le to earn the tle "Gay Traveler Approved" om GayTravel 2023, nsir a Royal Caribbean voyage that sails to gay-iendly statns. ]The Cise Wh La Demence(Courty of The Cise wh La Demence)Acrdg to past cisers, if you're lookg for one of the bt party scen on the open seas, nsir an all-gay cise wh La Demence.

Prev cisers had high praise for the erari – which exclively vis gay-iendly lotns – as well as the uy cktails, themed nights (stum strongly enuraged), glamouro entertament, and unique events like drag bgo and high heel Demence sails every summer to statns like Rome; Athens and Mykonos, Greece; Kotor, Montenegro; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and more.

GAY TRAVEL TOURS & TRIPS

’Outsirs may thk of the old Conferate pal as a cy stuck s ways, but ltle do they know that Richmond, Virgia is anythg “g out” 2014, Richmond has emerged as the gay pal of the South. 4 percent of the cy’s populatn intifi as LGBT), the New England pal has bee a haven for East Coast gays lookg for somewhere tamer and quater than Boston and NYC. The Milwkee Gay Arts Center offers one-of-a-kd LGBTQ productns, and Walker’s Pot is settg self up to be the next big most renowned “gay statns, ” Santa Fe, New Mexi don’t have a go-to district like L.

S., but ’s also home to North Carola’s annual Pri Ftival and the state’s Gay & Lbian Film if that’s not enough for North Carola, head wt to Asheville and fd an LGBTQ bohemian paradise smacked the Smoki.

25 CHRISTMAS SONGS ONLY GAY PEOPLE AND (INTELLIGENT) STRAIGHT PEOPLE KNOW ARE TLY GAY BOPS

Lolly known as the San Francis of the regn, the gay cultural landspe is vibrant, and the drag scene is easily among the bt the natn–jt watch “Kgs, Queens, and In-Betweens” cy is also a risg fashn mec, hog the third most fashn signers the untry, along wh retail giants like L Brands, Exprs, Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fch. ” It mt be somethg the over 140 gay-owned bs, rangg om B&Bs to bars to art galleri to cuty ice cream shops, the small neighborg towns of Sgatuck and Douglas are home to the largt gay rort the Midwt–and thanks to lol protectn of genr inty and sexual orientatn, you’ll be hard-prsed to fd anti-LGBTQ attus here.

AFFORDABLE GAY VATN TOWNS

The cy created the first gay and lbian muny center the untry, and ’s Albany that was home to one of the earlit transgenr groups datg back to the cy may not have the crazy, never-endg nightlife of NYC, and may not have the sheer numbers of NYC, but, for general “Queer Life, ” Albany ranks seventh the untry–not to shabby for a cy overshadowed by the Big LGBT muny and the Mormon church hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye.

That event cid wh Sydney’s famo Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras, which is one of the largt LGBTIQ+ celebratns on the pla and tak place durg Febary or March of each year. Mt-vis LGBTIQ+ neighborhood: The heart of gay Sydney is the Darlghurst neighborhood, which is nveniently loted near Sydney’s central bs district and is easily accsible by the cy’s mass trans system. Mt-vis LGBTIQ+ neighborhood: The heart of Berl’s LGBTIQ+ activy is Schöneberg, which has had gay and lbian bars sce the 1920s, makg one of the olst gay boroughs on the pla.

Its Gay Hostel is a unique lodgg opportuny that’s only available to LGBTIQ+ people unr the age of 38, creatg a safe space where you’re bound to meet some new iends. "Merrie cherryAn extravaganza of the supernatural, all thgs sweet and larger-than-life stum, many LGBTQ Amerins like Roberts hail Halloween as "gay Christmas. " But the ntemporary excement around the supernatural holiday has a long history wh the LGBTQ morn phrase "gay Christmas" actually stems om an earlier queer nickname for the holiday, "bch Christmas, " acrdg to Marc Ste, a profsor of history at San Francis State Universy, and thor of "Cy of Sisterly and Brotherly Lov.

REMENDATN FOR VATN PACKAG FOR SGLE GAY MAN - LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL FOM

"Followg the wave of LGBTQ activism and visibily sparked by the 1969 Stonewall rts, more formal versns of queer Halloween celebratns began poppg up "gayborhoods" around the untry.

" As a gay man, he scribed Halloween as one of the only tim a year growg up when he was not "ostracized or punished or cricized for havg the flamboyant, creative tennci. 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. 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”.