Gay Barcelona Travel Guide

Gay Barcelona Mobile Guide

News, Parties & Events in Barcelona

|  20  –  30 June 2013
Barcelona Gay Pride 2013: cultural festival with movies, exhibitions and concerts. Parade on the last Saturday, 29 June. Pride Village on Friday and Saturday from 10:00 to 02:00 at night at Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina. [ Map - Barcelona Gay Pride 2013 ]
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|  21  –  23 June 2013
Panteresports 2013: international multi-sport tournament for gays, lesbians and friends. Hosted by the Barcelona sports club Panteres Grogues.
|  22 June 2013
Panteresports Party: free (till 02:00) for participants of the sports tournament, 10 € (incl. 1 drink) for guests.
From 24:30 @ Suite 191 (Carrer d’Aribau 191) [ Map - Panteresports Party @ Suite 191 ]
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|  23  –  24 June 2013
Saint John’s Day: midsummer on the 24th of June is one of the most popular feast days in Spain, with lots of food, music and dancing in the streets. In the night before the 24th, friends meet at bonfires along the beaches. Not to be missed! (If you are brave enough to jump over a fire, make a wish and it may come true.)
|  8  –  18 August 2013
Circuit Festival Barcelona 2013: the largest gay clubbing summer event in Europe with approx. 30 parties, 60 DJs and 60000+ guys expected.

Video: TV report on Circuit Festival Barcelona in 2011 (10 min) [open video][close video]

About Barcelona and its gay life

For gay travellers Barcelona has been one of the favourite destinations in Europe for the last twenty years. The city has this perfect combination of a warm Mediterranean climate, beaches within and close to the city, mountains in the hinterland and the culture, nightlife, sights and infrastructure of an European metropolis.

Among the things that make Barcelona unique are the many fine examples of Catalan Art Nouveau architecture (Modernisme Català). Some of them are shown on our Tips and Photos pages. Barcelona is also a good place to enjoy the modern design that had bloomed after the death of dictator Franco.

As Barcelona is the capital of the autonomous region Catalonia you will notice signs of the efforts of Catalonia towards more and more autonomy from Spain. For example, while your older travel book might still use the Spanish (Castilian) street names, they disappear step by step in Barcelona. On this website we use the now common Catalan names.

As you can see on our gay maps, the center of Barcelona's gay scene is in the Eixample district (sometimes called the ›Gayxample‹ neighborhood) with most of the gay bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants and shops in Barcelona.

Annual gay events and highlights are New Year's Eve, the BEARcelona week in April, Barcelona Gay Pride in June, the Circuit Festival party week in August and the international gay & lesbian film festival in October.

Barcelona gay couple at the beach

For a day at the beach you can go by car or train from Barcelona to the nearby town of Sitges [ Map Barcelona - Sitges ] which is quite popular with gay men, especially in August.

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But there are also some beaches within Barcelona: Platja de Sant Sebastià at the end of the Barceloneta quarter with a popular, mixed and clothing-optional beach at its right side and a bit further north Platja de la Mar Bella with a clothing-optional section that is also quite popular with gays.

Travel security advice for Barcelona

Barcelona is Europe's capital of pickpockets. Some of them have specialized in gay tourists on the streets of the Eixample quarter and in the gay clubs in Barcelona. A healthy dose of caution can save you a lot of hassle. For instance, it should never be visible to others where you put your wallet or money. Studying maps in public identifies you as a tourist and can draw the attention of thieves.

The trick of many thieves is to distract their victim by some kind of body contact with one hand (slapping shoulders, shaking hands or arms, crotch grabbing etc.) while checking the pockets with the other hand. If a pure stranger touches you in any way, you can be pretty sure he is a thief. People in Barcelona are usually not that flirty that they would start physical contact on a street right away.