Spain is famous for being very gay friendly and we absolutely love it!
As well as having some of the hottest men you’ll ever see, it also has some of the best gay parties we’ve been to, from the famous Madrid Pride, to Barcelona’s Circuit festivals. We’ve put together our 5 favourite gay cities in Spain to come and party like crazy.
Madrid
The Spanish capital is famous for being the best gay city for partying in Spain. We love visiting Madrid, whether it’s for Pride, or just an ad hoc weekend of partying. Either way, we know that a visit here is always going to be a lot of fun.
The Madrid Pride (“Orgullo Gay de Madrid”) takes place every year in June/July, and it is huge. It is famous for being one of the best and largest gay pride parades in the world with around 3-4 million people attending. We absolutely love it because as well as guaranteed beautiful weather (remember to pack plenty of sunblock cream!), the entire city gets involved and it becomes one giant rainbow street party. The focal point is around the gay neighbourhood in Chueca, where the bars spill out into the streets, and free outdoor concerts take place.
The annual WE Pride Festival in July is another huge party highlight in Madrid. It is 5 days of parties with the biggest brands and famous DJs.
During the winter months, there is another huge gay party: the We Party New Year Festival. This is the biggest gay winter event in Europe, with around 20,000 people attending to see in the New Year.
Partying with the sexy Spanish boys in the streets of Madrid during Pride
Barcelona
Barcelona is our happy place! It’s one of the cities we have totally fallen in love with, and just like Montreal, we could definitely see ourselves living here one day. We love the proximity to the beach, especially the two gay beaches – Mar Bella and Sant Miquel. The gay scene is also a lot of fun, based mainly around the “L’Eixample” neighbourhood (nicknamed locally as “Gayxample”).
In terms of gay parties, Barcelona is famous for its annual 10 days Circuit Festival in August. Each year nearly 100,000 gays from all around the world descend on the city to attend one of the many parties during Circuit. There’s a different themed one every day. Our favourite, not-to miss event is the “Water Park Day” at Illa Fantasia. This is a whole day of wet fun in the Spanish sunshine, with an open air party, followed by more partying at the park’s club venue till the early hours of the following day.
Outside of the Circuit Festival in August, Barcelona has a gay party taking place somewhere in Gayxample, especially at clubs like Matinee at the Pervert Club, Arena Madre and Metro Disco.
The gorgeous Matinée boys posing on the Mar Bella gay beach of Barcelona during the Circuit Festival
Sitges
Sitges is one of Europe’s top gay destinations, just 45 minutes train ride away from Barcelona. We love coming here whenever we visit Barcelina. It used to be a small fishing village, but today has grown into a small coastal town with around 30,000 inhabitants. It’s a super cute coastal town with pretty, narrow cobblestone streets, lots of gay bars, clubs, restaurants and boutique shops. Sitges also has one of the best gay beaches in Europe – the “Playa de la Bassa Rodona”, as well as 2 nudist beaches: “Playa del Muerto” and “Playa de las Balmins”.
The best event is the Sitges Gay Pride, which take place every June/July along the beach promenade. Although it’s smaller than the Madrid and Barcelona prides, with “just” 50,000 people attending, it’s more party orientated, with popular events like the Poseidon Pride Boat Party, and the Gay Beach Party.
Other big gay events in Sitges include Europe’s largest Bear festival every September and the carnival in February, which although not officially a gay event, it attracts around 300,000 people, most of which are gays.
Posing with the Gaydar models during Sitges Gay Pride
Ibiza
Ibiza is one of the 4 Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, just 55 minutes flight from Barcelona. It’s famous for being the #1 clubbing destination in Europe with some of the largest clubs in the world. We love the exciting, party-like atmosphere here: we arrived at 3am on a Wednesday morning and the place was completely alive – buzzing with people and life!
During the summer months, the main gay clubs host huge gay parties. The most famous are: SuperMan by SupermarXé and La Troya at Club HEART. In Ibiza town there is a smaller, but just as fun gay club called Lola’s. There are other gay parties announced at different clubs throughout the summer months. Our advice is to look out for the flyer boys, who we saw during the day at the “Es Cavallet” gay beach, and in the early evening at the Mona Lisa gay bar in Ibiza town.
Other gay events to watch out for include the Ibiza gay pride in June, as well as the women-only “Velvet” event in April.
IBIZA TIP: one of our favourite summer holidays was combining Barcelona+Sitges and Ibiza. It’s very easy to do as they are all close to each other. We recommend the Spain Seven Degrees 8 days package.
Hanging out at Ibiza’s Es Cavallet gay beach with friends during the day
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria is part of the Canary Islands, located off the west coast of Africa, therefore guaranteeing 365 days of great weather. We also love it because it has a massive gay scene in the south at the “Yumbo Centre” shopping mall.
The Yumbo Centre is a huge complex with many gay bars, clubs, restaurants and boutique shops. Slightly further south of this, past the sand dunes, is the gay beach. You can find out more in our gay guide to Gran Canaria.
One of our favourite gay parties in Gran Canaria is the Maspalomas Gay Pride in May. This is a 10 days festival of shows, parades and pool parties. In October, the Yumbo Centre comes alive with the Maspalomas Fetish Week and includes a variety of themed parties like leather, chains or underwear, with fetish art exhibitions and pornographic shows. Also look out for the Bear Carnival parties, which usually take place in March/April and in August.
We visited Gran Canaria with a group of friends and enjoyed a week of parties, gay beach fun, and many other activities. For example, you can visit bodegas in the north of the island, hike up to Roque Nublo, rent a boat for the day with friends or enjoy a gay surf camp holiday.
Boat fun in Gran Canaria
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