Gay-Friendly Travels

CZECHIA: Full of history, unique architecture and natural beauty is really hard to find anywhere in the world, but easily in Prague.

Our gay couple travel diary of Whistler Pride 2018 Gay Ski Week in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Our second Gay Ski Week brought us again to the Western part of Canada, to British Columbia’s Whistler, to be precise. Together with hundreds of gay men, lesbian women, and all members of the LGBTQ+ community, we spent a week on the slopes of the Canadian Ski Resort Whistler Blackcomb enjoying incredibly much Canadian powder snow. Besides the usual winter sports like skiing and snowboarding through the British Columbian dense forest, Gay Whistler offers several different winter sports like zip-lining and snowmobiling organized by The Adventure Group Whistler.

Next to all the sporting there were of course a lot of LGBTQ+ events like the night of comedy with Margaret Cho, the LGBTQ+ Social Media Workshop, a special dinner evening at Bearfoot restaurant and the famous Furocious, Splash Pool Party, the Sip N’ Dip at the Scandinave Spa and the great closing event Snowball.

Top gay-friendly destinations around the world at the Spartacus Gay Travel Index 2018. Spartacus, the German publisher of gay travel guidebooks based in Berlin just released their annual Gay Travel Index giving a detailed ranking of LGBT-friendly countries worldwide. Since 2013, gay and lesbian travelers can find information about how gay-friendly their holiday destination really is. The guys behind the Spartacus Gay Travel Index thereby include the facts of how legal homosexuality actually is and if there are any anti-discrimination laws regarding sexual orientation or HIV travel restrictions.

AMSTERDAM: The 15 Best Gay Movies 2018 selected for the 11 days LGBTQ+ Film Festival Roze Filmdagen in the Dutch capital Amsterdam together with Werner Borkes, festival director of the so-called Pink Movie Days.

NETHERLANDS: The 10 Best Lesbian Movies 2018 selected by the Dutch LGBTQ+ Film Festival Roze Filmdagen – It is time again to get ready for the biggest Dutch film festival “Pink Film Days”.

The 10 Best Queer LGBTQ Movies 2018 selected by the Dutch Film Festival Roze Filmdagen in Amsterdam – This year for the first time, we selected the best queer movies for the biggest Dutch film festival “Pink Film Days”. Festival director Werner Borkes helped us to find the top feature films about transgender journeys, intersexual identities, and deeply personal stories of individual struggles about sex, love, and faith. Movies like “Jesus is dead” with a very diverse family road trip from the Philippines, the story of a threesome relationship “We Are Thr3e” from Argentina and the queer LGBTQ movie “Saturday Church” about faith, hope and finding yourself are just a view of the best 8 Queer Movies for this year’s 21st edition of the LGBTQ Film Festival in Amsterdam.

USA: It was not easy to find the right accommodation around Los Angeles and Hollywood, but we managed to spot this beautiful apartment in a quiet area in between both cities.

Zip Lining Snowmobiling TAG Whistler Gay-friendly – We went on our pure adrenalin adventure Zip-Lining and Snowmobiling together with the two tour guides Marty and Thomas on Rainbow Mountain. After a hot chocolate break, we jumped on a ski-doo to experience a twilight snowmobiling tour…

CANADA: The West-Canadian metropolis is known for its multicultural lifestyle and, of course, for its culinary scene with fresh seafood, traditional Canadian dishes and the fine art of the modern cuisine.

Review of The Douglas Vancouver Hotel gay-friendly – An Autograph Collection Hotel by Marriott in Canada. Looking for a brand new design hotel in Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia with style, we can recommend the 5-star Hotel by Mariott that opened its doors in October 2017. Luxurious and stylish from the inside and outside, the boutique hotel The Douglas offers its guests spacious rooms on 16 floors inside the Parq Vancouver complex right next to the BC Place Stadium. Gay Travelers will find a proper home between the hip Vancouver neighborhoods Yaletown and Gastown just a short walk away from the waterside of False Creek.

Awesome News: We are thrilled to announce, that we will go to Canada again next winter! This time we as Gay Couple Travel Bloggers will attend the 26th edition of LGBTQ+ Whistler Pride & Ski Festival 2018 in British Columbia, which is considered to be one of the biggest and best Gay Ski Weeks worldwide. Last year we already had a great time exploring the East side of the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta driving along the Icefield’s Parkway starting from Calgary all the way up to Jasper joining the Gay Ski Week Jasper Pride. But now it is time to go West! In January 2018, we will fly with Delta Airlines to visit Vancouver, B.C. showing you around Tourism Vancouver’s 17-days Dine Out™ Vancouver Festival, Canada’s largest annual food and drink festival with over 200 participating restaurants and more than 30 events. After three days in Vancouver, we will take the shuttle to Blackcomb Glacier Provincial Park and the ski resort Whistler Blackcomb with is famous Peak 2 Peak Gondola connecting Whistler Mountain (2.182 m) and Blackcomb Peak (2.440 m). Get ready to see the best photos and videos of the 26th Whistler Pride & Ski Festival in 2018. Come to Whistler and join us for the 26th edition of Whistler Pride and see the gay ski event in Canada through a couple of men‘s eyes!

CANADA: Right before we hit the road from Lake Louise all the way north to Jasper, we left the Canadian province of Alberta for a 2-days short stay at Emerald Lake at Yoho National Park, British Columbia.

USA: On our road trip along the Pacific Highway number one from San Francisco to Los Angeles, we made a one night stop at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort Spa in Avila Beach.

Review of the Legendary Trunks Exhibition Amsterdam – The name Louis Vuitton stands for luxury and design and is known as one of the world’s most valuable luxury brands. Nevertheless, everything started with high-quality travel equipment and luggage. Those wooden framed travel trunks were the beginning of the well-known LV – brand dating back to the 1850s. It took a Swedish collector many years to collect a beautiful array of these special handmade massive trunks and now they are on the show.

Sleeping in a Slumber Wine Barrel Taufsteinhütte Central Germany – We have to admit, it was a very special experience to sleep in a wine barrel in the middle of a winter wonderland in the German state Hessen. During our Winter Road Trip from Frankfurt am Main to Nature Park Hoher Vogelsberg we spent a night in the gay-friendly hotel “Slumber Wine Barrel” village at Taufsteinhhütte in the middle of the forest. The view over the Hoherodskopf with its huge with its huge radio tower covered in ice and snow was stunning. Inside the wine barrel, we felt like two hobbits in love sitting in their cozy burrow warmed up by a heater system. The newly built sauna barrel as part of the 10 wine barrel village was perfect for the weather conditions. Just make your reservation for a private session and you will be warmed up after a day in cold nature on the chute with an additional unique view over the forest of the Vogelsberg. A delicious traditional dinner and a substantial breakfast the next morning completed our extraordinary accommodation experience. Enjoy our review about gay-friendly “Slumber Wine Barrel”!

Our Gay Couple Travel Year 2017 – Happy New Year’s celebrations everyone. May the year 2018 become a great year for you and your beloved ones full of love, peace, opportunities! We would like to take the chance to thank you for your support, love, and loyalty during our past travel year 2017 and, of course, for all your tips, advice, and for all the time we spent together all around the world.

Love Story of three Gay Couples: “Love Beyond Borders” – An extraordinary love between two human beings needs an extraordinary love story. And some really good storytellers, of course. But before we start to tell you a story of three couples, imagine the following scenario: you and the person you love are separated by several time zones, thousands of kilometers, a couple of countries and oceans, permanently. The only thing how you two can be in contact is to chat via apps, Skype, and, of course, to travel. But despite the distance between you and your love, the only thing that really matters to you is that you are in love.

Our Gay Travel Guide Gaudi Architecture Casa Mila La Pedrera – A landmark of pure Modernism. Barcelona is without any doubt the city of Antoni Gaudí, a Spanish Catalan architect of Catalan Modernism. Next to the UNESCO World Heritage Sagrada Familia, one of his most famous creations of Gaudí it the apartment complex Casa Milà. Also known as La Pedrera (the quarry), this civil building was Antonio Gaudi’s last work before dedicating his full energy to built the world famous, Sagrada Familia (estimated finish in 2026). The Casa Milà is one of our favorite buildings in Barcelona and definitely worth the queuing time. Get your ticket and start your discovery with an elevator trip to the roof top of the Gaudí’s building, we enjoyed an amazing view over the city. On our way down we explored fully, originally equipped apartments and learned about the difference of creating this huge piece of architectural art in the middle of Barcelona. Enjoy our photos and the Casa Milà through a couple of men’s eyes.

The 9th edition of the Goldelsen-Cup Berlin Gay Lesbian Volleyball Tournament 2017 – It is time to kick-off our Gay Sports articles on our blog with this year’s Goldelsen Cup in Berlin! The 9th edition of the annual International Gay and Lesbian Volleyball Tournament in Berlin is considered to be one of the biggest European LGBTQ+ Sports Tournaments taking place at the end of November in the German capital. As chance would have it, Karl is a passionate Volleyball player who started his Volleyball career at the age of 12. After he came out of the closet, Karl decided to join the International Gay-Lesbian Volleyball League playing in tournaments all around the world with his Teams from SSL Vorspiel Berlin and SLS “Der Bogenschütze” Dresden e.V..

THE CRUISE: The weather could not have been better when the first high heels entered the dancefloor. Blue sky and warm summer sun were promising making the Lady Party a total success, again!

CRUISE: Right after being back from ashore, we slipped into our golden wrestling outfits, put on our disco wigs and golden sunglasses to join the party crowd on the pool deck to “Boogie Oogie Oogie” into the night.

Where are you from Party The Cruise 2017: As a permanent costume party feature, The Cruise by La Demence organizes the getting-to-know event as one of the first parties of the annual cruise week. There are more than two thousand gay men on board the cruise ship Monarch but we actually have no idea where every single man actually comes from! And there were lot men to take into account! In total 86 different nationalities from all over the world gathered together for one big colorful, peaceful gaycation celebration on board the gay cruise ship!

ICELAND: Lucky us, we had a little extra time during our 21-day Road Trip around Iceland to try a second whale watching tour, this time in Dalvík in North Iceland.

Gay Couple Travel Blogger Benidorm Pride Spain 2017 – Summer is over! No, wait it is not! The Spanish holiday destination Benidorm is inviting the LGBTQ+ community from Europe and the whole world to celebrate one of the last Gay Pride of the Pride season 2017 in the city at the Mediterranean Sea. It will be a whole week full of events, parties, and the rainbow colored gay pride parade in the summer sun of the popular Costa Blanca coast in Spain. For the 7th time, the gay pride will take place in Benidorm expecting more than 15.000 people, especially coming from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. We as gay travel bloggers will arrive September 6th in Alicante traveling further to our final destination Benidorm at the Hotel Meliá Villaitana. Besides the incredible and unique skyline of Benidorm, the Spanish city has a remarkable old town, too. Our plans are to do an E-Bike tour along Benidorm’s coast visiting small coves and beaches and might even go snorkeling! Furthermore, we will make sure to have enough time to test Benidorm’s Mediterranean cuisine, the water park Aqualandia and the theme park Terra Mítica. But our main focus, of course, will be Benidorm Pride 2017 with its three “F”: Fun Friendly Flirty. Join us in Benidorm and on our Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter and experience the Spanish LGBTQ+ Festival in Benidorm through a couple of men‘s eyes!

A stay at ROCKET ROOMS Velden am Wörthersee gay-friendly – Summer time is Pink Lake time! This year for the first time, we attended the 10th edition of the popular Pink Lake Festival in Southern Austria. Therefore, we stayed at the gay-friendly Hotel ROCKET ROOMS right in the city center of Velden am Wörthersee. Our double room with balcony, a rich breakfast, friendly staff and the central location provided us everything we needed for our time in Carinthia. The market town Velden am Wörthersee, well-known for the Renaissance castle Schloss Velden, is located at the Western lake side of Lake Wörth. It is one of the most famous holiday resorts of Austria. Especially in summer time, the warm and turquoise blue water of the lake together with several public and private bathing beaches are creating a wonderfully relaxed holiday atmosphere. When you are looking for a stay in a modern, stylish and hip place in Velden, ROCKET ROOMS Velden are the right choice. Enjoy our hotel review of the LGBTQ+ friendly accommodation in Velden am Wörthersee and see the ROCKET ROOMS through a couple of men‘s eyes.

Our Photos Videos (Gay) Pride Week Amsterdam 2017 – The team of this year’s Gay Pride Week of the Dutch capital had a difficult task to solve. Why? Well, since 2016 was the year of the Euro Pride in Amsterdam with a whole month full of activities, events, and more than 560.000 guests from all over the world, the expectations to organize an impressive LGBTQ+ Pride Event were set high. You wanna know how we rate the (Gay) Pride Amsterdam 2017 in our home city? We loved it. And we are talking not only about the world famous Amsterdam Canal Parade.

Gay Couple Biking Tour Fort Island Pampus – Amsterdam during summer time is the best time of the year to explore the city but also the beautiful natural surroundings. But how are the Dutch people doing it? Of course, by bike! This weekend we decided to bike back in the past to learn more about Dutch history and the defense systems around Amsterdam, which have been declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We started our tour in Amsterdam center.

Our Strong Photos Gay Euro Pride Amsterdam 2016 – Amsterdam during the first weekend in August is like a festival of colors, rainbows and a lot of love. It is the time of the annually Gay Pride with a worldwide unique canal parade of colorful boats along the historic Prinsengracht. This year over 560.000 LGBT people from all over the world celebrated their pride in the Dutch capital, one of the most open-minded, gay-friendly and equality providing cities in the world. The gay couple Karl and Daan enjoyed this warm summer weekend in their hometown, sharing their 33 Strong Photos Gay Euro Pride Amsterdam 2016. Happy Pride 2016 from Amsterdam!

FINLAND: Kept as a secret, the citizens of Helsinki are more than proud to live in their wonderful nature connected city.

FINLAND: The biggest Amusement of Finland is named Linnanmäki located right north of the city center of the Finnish capital city Helsinki. And of course, we had to test it our during our Gay City Trip to Helsinki

The First Utrecht Canal Gay Pride 2017 The Netherlands – It is time. Time for the LGBTQ+ community of Utrecht to celebrate the annually Gay Pride Event with their first own, unique and rainbow colored Canal Pride Parade. “The heart of the Netherlands” will turn pink when for the first ever dressed up Grachten boats will ride the old canals of the fourth biggest city of the Netherlands accompanied by proud gay, lesbian, bi, trans and friends from all over the world. Starting at Ledig Erf, the Utrecht Gay Pride Parade on the canals will end at the Zandbrug, just around the corner of the well-known gay bars “Bodytalk” and “Café Kalff”.

CANADA: Visiting a Dinosaur museum was not the first thing that came to our mind when thinking of traveling the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta. But it was a great unexpected adventure.

CANADA: Thinking about Calgary, a public art scene would not be necessarily the first thing that comes to your mind, especially not in Downtown Calgary with all its huge skyscrapers and financial offices. We have been disabused. A variety of sculptures, gigantic graffitis, outdoor paintings and sunny parks with public art are scattered all around the heart of the Canadian city in the province of Alberta. Additional to the outdoor art installations, a multiplicity of public art in most of the foyers and backyards of the modern buildings showcase art pieces from all over the world. During our stay in Calgary right before our road trip through the Canadian Rocky Mountains of Alberta, we became gay city explorers.

FINLAND: Being one of the most powerful but grounded Gay Pride Parades in Finland, Europe and worldwide we attended so far, we could capture our favorite moments of love, diversity, and beauty.

The Telus Spark Calgary Star Trek Academy Experience – There is always time for a Star Trek Day, at least for us Trekkies. And so we made sure to visit the Science Museum Telus Spark in Calgary for its Star Trek The Starfleet Academy Experience and day full of fun with Mister Spock, Captain Kirk, Captain Picard and Kathryn Janeway. Entering a perfectly themed world, we completed a phaser training, improved our Klingon knowledge with language lessons and tried to pass the Kobayashi Maru test. But there was more to see! The museum complex just 5 minutes by car north of Calgary Zoo opened in 2011 and is since then a place for interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational demonstrations in Calgary, Alberta, and Canada. Right before our 2-week Road Trip through the Canadian Rocky Mountains of Alberta, we spend some adventurous days exploring Canada’s third-largest municipality and the surroundings sights. The exhibition around the Federation of Planets at Telus Spark is still open until May 4th. Enjoy our photos and story of our Star Trek experience and see the Canadian Science Museum Telus Spark through a couple of men’s eyes!

CANADA: Exploring the Canadian Rocky Mountains around Banff and Lake Louise: Visit and stay at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, the “Castle in the Rockies” at Banff National Park.

Our stay at the Calgary Airport Marriott Terminal Hotel Gay-friendly – After our wonderful road trip through Alberta and the Canadian Rocky Mountains all the way up to Jasper for Jasper Pride Festival, we returned to Calgary the head full of impressions and pictures of stunning nature. Before we started our trip back from Canada to Europe early in the morning, we stayed in the brand new Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel with a unique view over the International Airport YYC, Downtown Calgary, and the snowy tops of the Canadian Rockies. Luxurious interior, access to the M Club Lounge, and the super short way from the Hotel check-out to the Airport check-in made our gay travel In-Terminal hotel experience a great final adventure in Canada in the year of its 150th anniversary 2017. But why booking an In-Terminal Hotel? And did we sleep well although facing the runway of the airport? Enjoy our gay-friendly hotel review with our best photos, info, and tips for your stay in a gay-friendly hotel in Calgary and see the Calgary Airport Marriott Terminal Hotel through a couple of men’s eyes.

Our Fat Tire Biking Calgary Nomad Gear Rentals adventure during our Gay Couple City Weekend Calgary, even in winter time! How is that possible? With a new trend “winter sports” called fat tire biking with spikes for the ice parts on the street. The city of Calgary as gay- and bike-friendly metropole in Alberta, Canada offers quiet some kilometers of well-prepared and safe bikeways throughout Downtown Calgary but also along relaxing scenic attraction along the Bow and Elbow River. Although the temperature on the thermometer dropped down to minus 20 degrees Celsius, we decided to take the opportunity of clear fresh winter air and sun shine to bike around Calgary.

The historic Fairmont Palliser Hotel Downtown Calgary Canada – With over 100 hundred years of luxurious hospitality tradition in one building right in the center of Calgary in Alberta, the Fairmont Palliser Hotel is an institution to experience the glamor of recent decades of Canadian Railway Hotel businesses. Opened in 1914, the remarkable building was designed by Architect Lawrence Gotch of E. and W.S. Maxwell of Montreal. Fans of Edwardian architecture will love the Fairmont building in Chicago School Look, especially from the outside since it was the highest building in Calgary town, at least until 1958. But also from the inside, the Palliser Hotel did not lose a piece of its majestic presence due to several renovation and investments in the past couple of years. The very central location right next to the Calgary tower and in Downtown Calgary at Palliser Square made our stay very comfortable. The gay-friendly staff, the luxurious pool and spa area in the basement, the comprehensive breakfast, and very well equipped rooms made our long gay couple city weekend Calgary right before our Winter Road Trip through the Rocky Mountains to Jasper extra convenient. Enjoy our review of our gay-friendly hotel stay Calgary with photos, stories, and info about the historic Fairmont Palliser Hotel Calgary and see the legendary Canadian over one hundred years old luxury Calgary City Hotel through a couple of men’s eyes.

The Jasper Ice Pride Maligne Canyon Ice Walk Tour with Sundog Tours. – Spectacular and an experience we would not want to have missed! Hiking the frozen Maligne river through the Maligne Canyon in Jasper National Park Alberta Canada was without any doubts one of our gay travel highlights during our Winter Road Trip from Calgary to Jasper. The Canadian Rocky Mountains with their thousand waters, spectacular snow topped mountain ranges, and the hidden secrets of the pure nordic nature life have been a great adventure, especially with high snow and chilly minus 20 degrees in March! Just 10 minutes by shuttle from Jasper Town, Alberta a icy winter wonderland waits to be discovered. Together with our mountain guide from gay-friendly Sundog Tours we hiked to the bottom of Maligne Canyon, the deepest accessible canyon of Jasper National Park where we explored deeply frozen waterfalls, stunning ice caves, hidden ice crystals, and a great place for ice climbing. The 3.5 kilometers long hike has it all. At the end we were able to enjoy a spectacular view from the mountain top of Maligne Canyon. Ask everything you wanna know about wildlife, the nature reserves, and if you will encounter bears during the tour. The rangers and tour guides know what they are talking about. But now enjoy our Ice Pride Walk during Jasper Pride Festival 2017 through a couple of men’s eyes with all info you need to know for your special ice experience!

The Coco’s Café Jasper Best gay-friendly Food Place – We know it, you know it, finding the best breakfast place in town, especially when you are vegan or vegetarian is not always the easiest task to start your day with. Especially, when you are about to start a day full of nature explorations around Jasper National Park and beautiful Rocky Mountains. But if you are looking for a gay-friendly restaurant of café with locally sourced organic ingredients in Jasper Town, we found the right place for you!

NETHERLANDS: Scar Tissue, a Dutch gay short movie, written and directed by Nish Gara, produced by Martijn Krediet, shows how a casual hook-up between a Syrian refugee and a Dutch man, can end up being more difficult than you would think.