Romania

Gay Romania – The Nomadic Boys

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Gay Romania - The Nomadic Boys

Romania, the homeland for the goths at heart.

After all, the central region of Transylvania is the inspiration for the legendary novel “Dracula”. Hands up, who didn’t have a vampire phase? What gay teenager didn’t pine after Robert Pattinson in “Twilight”? But despite its cryptic and haunting backdrop, Romania as a whole is delightfully pleasant. 

With cities that reflect the medieval villages we see in the history books, locals that are passionate about life, streets that are bursting with character and natural scenery, Romania took our breath away and completely surprised us! Not to mention all the many charming old churches, the range of delicious food and the friendly locals. For us, Romania embodies all that is magical about Eastern Europe. 

From the outset, we knew Romania wasn’t the most gay-friendly country that we’ve been to. Yet despite this, we found several queer hangouts in the main big cities, especially in Bucharest. Plus, when we did find these spaces, we found them to be just as erratic, wild and party-centric as they would be in London, Barcelona or New York. If not more so!

We’ve put together this LGBTQ country guide for Romania based on our personal experience to help inspire gay travellers wanting to see just what Romania has to offer.

How welcoming is Gay Romania?

Romania generally is not the most gay friendly country in Europe. Homophobia is rife and we certainly felt it as a gay couple travelling around the country. The most obvious example was when we contacted several hotels prior to visiting, asking them whether they’re ok to host a gay couple.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Life in Romania – The Nomadic Boys

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Gay Life in Romania - The Nomadic Boys

t’s no secret that gay life in Romania is quite a challenge! Whether it’s one of online polls showing how much Romanian society opposes homosexuality or that hideous referendum in 2018 to ban gay unions (which for the record, failed!), it sure ain’t easy.

We even got a flavour of Romanian homophobia as gay travellers: when approaching a bunch of hotels in Bucharest and Brașov asking whether they’re ok to host a gay couple and allow us to share a double bed, the response we got from quite a lot of them (like the Rembrandt Hotel in Bucharest and the Aro Palace Hotel in Brașov ) was along the lines of:

“We welcome you but on condition you understand we have children in the hotel so all inappropriate behaviour should be avoided in public areas”

…of course…’cause that’s all Seb and I apparently are seen to do as a gay couple…frolic around naked everywhere, shagging everything in sight, children included….ffs!!

Yet despite the homophobic atmosphere prevalent across Romanian society, the country’s LGBTQ community has made great strides towards equality. For example, Romania has full anti-discrimination laws in place (which include hate speech), and every day, more and more politicians are coming out in favour of legalising civil unions. Oh and that awful referendum to ban civil unions in 2018? It simply failed due to lack of voter turnout (30% needed, they only got 20.4%).

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Bucharest – The Nomadic Boys

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Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, is one of Europe’s hidden gems. It’s a fantastic city to explore – safe, with a rich history, many excellent bars, restaurants, a bustling Old Town and even a (small) gay scene. This is a big deal for an Eastern European country like Romania where LGBTQ rights are sadly lagging behind the rest of Europe.

Bucharest is also very inexpensive compared to other European capitals, and easy to reach with all major budget airlines across Europe. Score!

We used Bucharest as our base to explore Romania – a stunning country, with some impressive mountain scenery in Transylvania in the north and even a beach in the Black Sea at Constantia in the south. Bucharest is located right in the middle of the country with the best connections to all other parts of Romania. It’s also a super fun place to go out, whether in the vibrant nightlife of the Old Town of gay Bucharest or to one of the many gay and gay friendly places we set out in this guide.

This is our comprehensive gay guide to Bucharest from our personal experience and recommendations from friends with our favourite gay friendly hotels to stay, the gay bars/clubs, events, things to do and more.

Is Gay Bucharest Safe for LGBTQ Travelers?

Romania is generally not regarded as a gay-friendly country, but that is changing! As with much of East Europe, homosexuality is a massive taboo in society, which can get you into a lot of trouble if you shout out loud about it. On the plus side, however, as part of its ascension to the EU in 2007, Romania was forced to adopt an array of anti-discrimination laws, particularly in relation to hate crime and hate speech. Laws to recognise civil unions are being discussed and the right to change legal gender was introduced as far back as 1996. And thankfully, in a 2018 referendum, Romanians voted against banning same-sex marriage!

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys