Gay Barcelona Travel Guide & Map 2022

Upcoming Events in Barcelona

|  4 – 6 February 2022
Llum BCN 2022: annual light festival with projections, installations and light sculptures by contemporary artists. 2022 again in the Poblenou quarter, starting at the Disseny Hub Barcelona (Plaça de les Glòries).
@ Poblenou
-›  barcelona.cat
|  28 February – 3 March 2022
MWC Barcelona 2022: huge annual gathering and showcase of the mobile industry, with fair, conference and many special events. (Formerly Mobile World Congress.)
Not surprisingly, also some of the gayest days in Barcelona each year.
-›  mwcbarcelona.com
|  15 – 17 April 2022
Matinée Easter Weekend 2022: long gay party weekend by the organizers of the Circuit Festival Barcelona.
-›  matineeeaster.net
-›  facebook.com/MatineeEasterWeekend
|  16 – 18 June 2022
Sónar 2022: international festival of advanced music and new media art – one of the most important annual festivals for pioneering electronic dance music.
-›  sonar.es
-›  facebook.com/SonarFestival
|  6 – 14 August 2022
Circuit Festival Barcelona 2022: the largest gay clubbing summer event in Europe with thousands of guys from all over the world.
Tickets: 30-60 €
-›  circuitfestival.net/barcelona
-›  facebook.com/CircuitFestival

Accommodation Tip

Barcelona, TWO Hotel Barcelona by Axel
Gay Hotel. ****, from 60 €
The newer, second hotel of the Axel hotel chain in Barcelona. With air-conditioned rooms, modern facilities, rooftop pool & bar and a fitness room.
Only 10-15 minutes to walk to the gay bars.
@ C. de Calàbria 90-92
Barcelona 08015
Metro: Rocafort

About Barcelona and its gay life

For gay travellers Barcelona has been one of the favourite destinations in Europe for the last decades. 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). Barcelona is also a good place to enjoy the modern design that had bloomed after the end of the Franco dictatorship in Spain.

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, or Gaixample in Catalan) with most of the gay bars, hotels and shops in Barcelona.

Annual highlights and queer events in Barcelona are the bears meeting over Easter, Barcelona Gay Pride in June/July and the Circuit Festival party weeks in August.

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 which is quite popular with gay men, especially in August.

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.