It is time for our annual list of Queer Travel Presents. As Gay Travel Bloggers, we love to find extraordinary things like souvenirs from around the world and memorable presents that we buy close to home in Amsterdam. Sometimes, finding that particular thing to show how much you appreciate those special people in your life seems to become increasingly challenging. From a small thank-you gift to “making a big long-term dream come true”. But this year, we focus on gay travel gifts you can experience together. The icing on the cake is that you can buy or book most online, and are great last-minute presents. Do you like to gift an adventure that you can experience together? Then enjoy our selection of gay travel gifts 2023/24 and get inspired by our best queer travel present ideas. Happy giving!
What are the best queer activity gifts?
Instead of material things and overpriced luxury, we like to present lovely moments and memorable experiences. Don’t get us wrong, we like fancy stuff, but we love going on adventures and exploring the world and each other by doing things that excite us. But it is always good have someone who can guide you in the right direction… So, the first tip (with some personal gain): If you or your loved ones speak or read German, our gay travel book “Couple of Men – Ein Männerpaar reist um die Welt” is the perfect gay travel gift idea!
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The perfect present to inspire (German-speaking) LGBTQ+ travelers and their allies to travel the world open-minded, respectfully, and with a happy heart.
Order our book online or purchase it in bookstores in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
#1 How to get inspired by gay travel stories?
We always have a staple of travel magazines next to our sofa. Reading good queer travel stories is the one thing we love to do to get inspired for our next adventures. Our favorite magazines are the Swiss-German magazine Mannschaft, the German Spartacus Traveler, Siegessäule, and the British magazine Attitude. We have filled some of their pages ourselves with pictures and travel stories. Anyway, we think a travel magazine subscription as a gay travel gift for 2023/24 is a great idea!
#2 Where to go for a queer city trip in 2023/24?
Nothing beats a surprise getaway, right? If you have the coins and know your loved one is up for travel, then booking a queer city trip is the way to go. One of our favorite cities we visit regularly is Berlin. Did you know that we met each other at one of Berlin’s most notorious queer hotspots, the Kit Kat Club? Nowhere is the LGBTQI+ scene as vibrant as in Berlin, and staying up to date with all the fabulous parties, spoken word artistry, and just queer urban life is kind of crucial. For all the updated queer Berlin info you need, check out Place2Be.Berlin. Next to a good list of everything that is happening, they also focus on Berlin’s queer history. Take a deep dive before you go, and you will present the best queer city trip anyone can wish for!
#3 Flying to your next holiday? Book a surprise (upgrade)!
You probably noticed it already: We are big fans of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. One reason is that their home airport, Schiphol, is in our hometown, Amsterdam. The second part is their LGBTQ+ friendliness. A few years ago, we were able to team up with the KLM employee’s LGBTQ+ group “Over the Rainbow” to show you Amsterdam during Pride. Our tip: Secretly book a flight with KLM, or if you are already planning to fly somewhere, upgrade the seat category. Good to know: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has a very consumer-friendly policy regarding canceling and replanning a trip.
If you want to support our blog, please consider using the following link to KLM to find some great offers! Special tips for German travelers: You can fly from 10 German airports with just one stop in Amsterdam to 160 (mostly direct) destinations worldwide!
#4 When should you buy summer event tickets?
Dutch people are festival people. Hundreds of colorful and diverse events with fantastic music are taking place throughout the year. And you know how much we love a good LGBTQ+ summer festival! But due to various reasons, events and celebrations are getting increasingly expensive. Inviting a friend or loved one is, therefore, a fantastic way of surprise and consequently made it on our gay travel gift ideas list for 2024!
Our tip: Most summer events already have ticket sales online, with some pretty good early bird deals. For example, the tickets for Tropikali Festival are already available. But hurry! These festivals tend to sell out quickly! Click here for the tickets >
#5 How can you really relax during a vacation?
Wellness, Spa, Sauna – three words everyone loves to hear when it comes to getting a present. When we did our road trip to the central German highlands, we stayed in a Slumber Wine Barrel. And with the help of their sauna barrel, we spent the whole afternoon relaxed and in peace. Just heating up in the sauna and getting refreshed in real powder snow between sessions. Treat yourself and your loved one to a day full of sleep, warmth, and healthy food. It’s the perfect gay travel gift. We recommend booking a hotel with a wellness area or a spa close to the hotel of your destination. But you can also gift a spa day nearby. It will feel like a mini vacation.
#6 Are escape rooms still fun?
Sometimes, bringing someone into an entirely different world is easier than you think. The trend of playing an Escape Room spread across the globe several years ago. But is it still fun to book a room and take your friends as hostages for an hour or two? Absolutely! And it takes you on a trip to a different world without actually traveling. Living in Amsterdam, we love to play the Escape Rooms by Sherlocked. After setting a record (which was broken a week later) in “The Architect“, we played with a bunch of handsome men in the very advanced Escape Room, the Vault. As one of the most challenging escape rooms in the world, we ALMOST cracked the safe! Surprise your queer friends and (chosen) family with an Escape Room adventure and enjoy one hour of excitement, adrenalin, and teamwork!
#7 Should I book a gay cruise?
A lot of our friends are asking us about our gay cruise experiences. Many think it would be far too intense and claustrophobic to be stuck on a ship with 2,000+ gay men for an entire week (or even longer). So, is booking a cruise a good gay travel gift idea? Yes, they are intense, highly party-focused, and very sex-positive. But after doing a few of these cruises in the past, we found that if you…
- … take care of yourself and each other by skipping a party here and there,
- … getting enough sleep,
- … and maybe staying on board instead of exploring the port once or twice, you will have a wonderful time.
Many guys also fear not being muscled enough for a gay party cruise. But we found out that the crowd is way more diverse than you would expect. And although the energy can be high, most guys are super friendly and are there to have a nice time. With many gay cruise companies, there are (especially for the guys) plenty of options. Thankfully, slowly we see more and more queer cruises coming up. So, take a look and let us know if you found the cruise of your dreams!
#8 Where are the best theme parks?
We love theme parks! Buying tickets for your loved ones is just one of the most logical gay travel gift ideas there are. Over the years, we have been to many theme parks worldwide. However, the Universal Orlando Resort and Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando still host some of our favorite parks. According to us and many others, Disney Sea in Tokyo is the best theme park in the world. Japan might be a bit far away, so getting theme park tickets for your next trip to Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, Barcelona, Anaheim, Orlando, Hong Kong, Osaka, or Shanghai is, for some queer people, the best surprise there is!
#9 What are the best queer films?
You are not that much into traveling and more into some romantic cuddling time at home? Every year, new great LGBTQI+ movies hit the market and become the perfect present for organizing a chill movie night at home or while traveling. Do you like to share your cinematic experience with a like-minded audience? Then, gift your loved one’s tickets to one of the many LGBTQ+ film festivals worldwide. The Roze Filmdagen (Pink Filmdays) here in Amsterdam has a great list of amazing LGBTQI+ films that are perfect for a queer movie night!
#10 Where to go to celebrate Pride?
If you really want to impress your queer loved one, you gift them a trip to celebrate Pride! But where should you go? So many destinations celebrate diversity while standing up for equality these days. So, do you want to take them to the more famous Prides like Los Angeles, Brussels, or Berlin? Or maybe surprise them with a lesser-known Pride like the ones in Malmö, Jasper, or Munich? Wherever you choose to go, it will be unique because celebrating Pride in another country within another culture is an experience that you both will cherish for a very long time.
Did you get some good Gay Travel Gift Ideas?
We constantly seek gay travel gift inspirations and ideas for LGBTQ+ travelers to extend our list. If you have any tips, feel free to comment, message, or drop us a line. If you don’t have someone you can surprise this year, treat yourself with something nice, maybe even something from our gay travel gifts list! For 2024, we already have some exciting ideas and destinations, so stay tuned, and we might see you on one of our trips.
Would you like to learn more about us gay travel bloggers and experience our queer adventures with us? Then stay tuned and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram! See you on one of our next Gay Pride trips worldwide!
Karl & Daan.
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Nagel ▪ Berlin
Friday 13th of December 2019
Hey Karl, habt Ihr eigentlich schon Sydney besucht ? Das interessiert mich besonders . Gruss Frank
Karl Krause
Wednesday 1st of January 2020
Hi Frank, leider waren wir noch nie in Australien. Ist aber ganz bestimmt auf der Liste zusammen mit New Zealand! Wo geht es bei dir als nächstes hin?