Our Best Photos and Video of Benidorm Gay Pride Rainbow Carnival Spain – The Summer in Northern Europe seems to be over, while the South of Spain still offers temperature above 30 degrees and sunshine at the Mediterranean Sea. We decided to attend the colorful Gay Pride in Benidorm as part of our Summer holidays. As the last Gay Pride Event of the European Pride Agenda, the colorful LGBTQ+ festival takes place at the beginning of September. Nothing better to combine a late Summer beach holiday staying at The Level Meliá with a Pride event on the Costa Blanca between Valencia and Alicante. We walked together with the rainbow-colored and the fancy-dressed crowd along the popular Levante beach starting at Rincón de Loix ending at the Julio Iglesias Arena. Thousands of spectators lined up along the route gazing in amazement filming, waving, and enjoying beautifully dressed drag queens, trucks with dancers, and demonstrators waving rainbow flags. Although the sun hid behind clouds, even some warm summer rain couldn’t stop the party mood of the people. Enjoy our best photos and our after movie of the 7th edition of Benidorm Pride in 2017 and get excited about next year’s gay pride agenda through a couple of men‘s eyes!
– in collaboration with Benidorm Tourism –
Our best 40 Photos of Benidorm Gay Pride Parade
The Pride Parade was scheduled to begin in the late afternoon at 5 pm just after the hottest period of the day in Benidorm. The LGBTQ+ community of the Costa Blanca gathered at Rincón de Loix, the eastern end of Levante Beach to get ready for the pride summer closing event of Europe. People of every age dressed in fancy outfits, friends, and visitors equipped with rainbow flags walking, dancing on a truck, or riding their own little vehicles prepared to transform the Benidorm into the Spanish Carnival capital for a day. We joined the colorful crowd equipped with our cameras taking pictures and movie shots of this year’s Gay Pride in Benidorm.
Benidorm Pride Parade along Levante Beach
Once the preparations finished, the parade started to move slowly in a western direction facing the sunset and some dark clouds. The mood of the people walking the parade and of the spectators lining up along Levante Beach was great and peaceful. It seemed like the holidaymakers and tourists had a blast taking pictures of numerous drag queens, men and women disguised in self-made costumes, and demonstrators holding their posters with political messages.
The Holiday Resort turns into a Spanish Carnival Zone
It was all about celebrating equality and self-displaying diversity of gender definition and sexual orientation. Part of the parade was, of course, provocation and opening up the narrow-minded view of the world of the western European tourists. The contrast between fetish-dressed gay guys kissing on the street and tourists trying to capture the “Spanish Carnival” was incredible. And so was the atmosphere along the Av. Madrid at Playa Levante on our truck and on the road.
Parade from Rincón de Loix to Julio Iglesias Arena
Even though it started raining on halfway, the people’s mood stayed exuberant cheered up by the demonstrators of the parade and us on the last truck waving our rainbow flag. One of the highlights of the second half of the route was the rainbow crosswalk at Av. de Europa. When the parade hit the Av. del Mediterráneo, there was just a short part left before we arrived at the Plaza de SS. MM. los Reyes de Espana with the entrance to the Julio Iglesias arena. At the main stage in the arena, the free open-air party after the parade was the best completion of the day we could have wished for.
The Level at Meliá Villaitana Benidorm
It was the first time for us to stay in an adult-only resort. We didn’t know what to expect and what the advantages would be until checking in at the Meliá 5-Star Resort build as a traditional Spanish village in the mountains.
Our Best Photos of Benidorm Gay Pride Rainbow Carnival Spain
The Parade in Benidorm was a fantastic and well-organized Gay Pride event, divers, fancy, and sometimes really trashy but especially peaceful. Although it sometimes seemed, that the people lining up along the parade route had no idea what was happening, the demonstrators and spectators enjoyed themselves while watching the colorful, self-confident crowd. During the whole pride week, we felt very safe, loved, and accepted, despite the fact, that many tourists turned their heads when we walked hand-in-hand through the streets of Benidorm. Spain is one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly countries in the world, Benidorm is no exception. A special thanks go to Visit Benidorm and Valencia Region for making this trip possible. Nevertheless, our opinion, writings, and photos/videos are our own, as always.
Do you want to know more? Stay tuned… on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. See you in Spain!
Karl & Daan.
