Sitges Gay Travel Guide

News, Parties & Events in Sitges

• |  13  –  19 July 2009
• International Tango Festival:  annual festival with a tango orchestra from Buenos Aires and tango dancers and teachers from all over the world.
• -›  Festival Website

• |  21  –  27 August 2009
• Festa Major:  annual Sitges town festival in honour of Sant Bartolomeu, the town’s Patron Saint. Fireworks on the 23rd.

• |  7  –  13 September 2009
• International Bear Week:  Bear vacations in Sitges with Mr. Bear Sitges contest, AnniBEARsary parties, Happy Hours, Welcome Party, beach, excursion and other activities.
• -›  Official Website

• Promotion Video 2007

News Archive

About Sitges and its gay life

Sitges is a small city 35 km south-western of Barcelona. In the late 19th century Sitges started to become a mecca for artists and a center for Modernist and post Art Nouveau architects. During the 1960s (under the fascist dictatorship of Franco) it became a center for the counterculture in Spain.

Nowadays, Sitges' economy is based mainly on upscale tourism and business meetings and conferences. Unlike most other coasts in Spain which were taken over by cheap mass tourism in the 1970s and 1980s, Sitges fortunately preserved its special atmosphere of a charming and pleasant (but also more expensive) place to relax and have fun.

That attracted also more and more gay tourists and expatriates, and in the 1990s Sitges became a gay hotspot. Especially in July and August Sitges is packed with gay men from all over Europe.

Although Sitges isn't short of sights, special architectural features and museums, most gays probably come to Sitges just for beach holidays. The part of Sitges' beach that is mainly gay is beach #6, Bossa Rodona.
Beach #2, Balmins, is a mixed straight and gay nude beach.
There are also some small bays with nude beaches south-western of Sitges. To get to the gay beach (l'Home Mort) you have to walk along the railway track (look out for the fast trains!) as indicated on the map.

After a day on the beach the gay night life starts slowly in the evening and takes off after midnight till early morning. Bars and clubs in Sitges tend to get busy just for one or two hours each night. It seems as if an invisible power assigned a certain time slot to each location. If you visit a location outside these time slots you could easily be the only guests.

Although some of the gay bars in Sitges attract a young clientele or fetish crowd or Bears, you will find almost all bars quite mixed by age, nationalities, preferences and style. As you can see on our gay map of Sitges, all the gay bars and clubs are located within walking distance of each other, so you can easily have a look and find your favourites.

Sitges is also well connected by rail with Barcelona (30 min). Don't miss this chance to see this amazing city and to enjoy it's sparkling gay night life.

Travel tip for Sitges

Still looking for a flight to Sitges? The closest airport is the Barcelona airport (also known as Prat of Llobregat), halfway between Sitges and Barcelona. The Spanish low-cost airline Vueling offers flights between this airport and several cities in Europe and within Spain.