Barcelona

Barcelona Gay Restaurants – The Nomadic Boys

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Barcelona is a cosmopolitan and exciting city, with a vibrant gay scene. We love coming here to party, celebrate Barcelona Pride, relax and stuff our faces! With such a great mix of people and culture, it makes sense that Barcelona also has a thriving foodie scene.

The unique blend of Spanish, Catalan and Meditteranean cuisine, along with Barcelona’s seaside location, make this a wonderful spot for a gastronomic holiday. You will get to try the freshest seafood, the most delicious tapas and many other types of food from all over the world.

The main gay area of Barcelona can be found in Eixample (often nicknamed ‘Gaixample’), with many fabulous gay hangouts to check out. A word of warning, most restaurants in Barcelona are closed on Sunday, but we’ve included the best ones that still serve food on the day of the Lord (a day when we’re usually nursing a heavy hangover and craving a bit fat greasy burger…!)

During our visits to Barcelona, we’ve managed to experience lots of excellent gay owned restaurants, as well as those with a mostly gay clientele, which serve up the most delicious dishes. These are our favourite gay or gay friendly restaurants which we tried and loved in Barcelona.

Restaurante D’Divine

Restaurante D’Divine has been going strong for around 13 years and is the best place to come to watch a drag show with your meal. Whilst the menu is a bit limited, the cocktails are delicious and the shows, hilarious!

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Barcelona Gay Travel Resources

Gay Barcelona – The Nomadic Boys

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Barcelona is one of the most open and diverse cities we’ve ever been to. Not only is it tolerant towards gay travellers, they practically roll out the red carpet for us! With a booming gay village, loads of excellent hangouts and fantastic festivals, Gay Barcelona is a pumping city begging to be consumed.

We’ve begun to consider the city as a second home – its frivolous nightlife scene, the large LGBTQ community and stunning weather make it impossible to stay away for too long. Here is our detailed guide to Barcelona for gay travellers following our many visits to this fabulous Spanish coastal paradise.

How friendly is gay Barcelona?

In short – very gay friendly!

In our opinion, we think Barcelona is one of the most gay friendly cities in Europe and in the world. Historically, it is the birthplace of the LGBTQ Pride movement of Spain, where activists in the 1970s took to the streets to demand their rights. This ignited a pink wave throughout the rest of the nation and began to increase visibility for the Spanish LGBTQ community. Today, Barcelona continues to be a pioneer across the world for gay rights – a textbook example for other places to follow on its treatment towards queer travellers and citizens. This is one of many reasons why we rate it as one of our top gay destinations in Europe.

With an exquisite gay scene, filled with clubs, bars, eateries, hotels, and bathhouses, the city is a thriving mecca for LGBTQ culture. On every corner, there is some nod to queer identity. Whether this is a statue honouring one of the country’s most beloved queer writers or a rainbow flag flying outside a bakery, Barcelona is a city which appreciates its gay community.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Barcelona Gay Travel Resources

Barcelona Gay Beaches – The Nomadic Boys

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We love going to the beach – and the Barcelona gay beaches, only solidify our love for the seashore.

With its epic beach parties, stunning crowds, beautiful weather and lots of activities, Barcelona has a beach to suit every mood. There are beaches for when you need some private time or for when you want to become the life and soul of the party. Each beach has a unique energy and attracts different crowds. However, they all have one thing in common: they’re all fabulous and worth shouting about!

This is our guide to the best gay beaches in Barcelona to check out:

What is the official gay beach in Barcelona?

Barcelona is well-beloved for its beaches and is recognised globally for how incredible they are. In fact, National Geographic has listed it as the number one best beach city in the world.

Whilst only two out of Barcelona’s beaches are considered officially “gay”, we found that every single one we went to is gay-friendly. The official gay beaches of Barcelona are San Sebastian and Mar Bella. However, there are a few others to check out, particularly as you head into Sitges.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Barcelona Gay Travel Resources

Barcelona Gay Saunas – The Nomadic Boys

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Being one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world, it’s no surprise that there is such a huge variety of gay bathhouses to choose from in Barcelona.

The fascination with hot, steaming rooms dates back to the bathhouses which could be found all around Europe in medieval times. Back then, people would go to saunas to bathe, socialise and unwind. At one stage, they even began to believe saunas held magical powers. With that idea put out into the universe, the Church quickly turned around and said a big hell-no to sauna use, which led to the closure of many bathhouses across Europe.

Over the past century, saunas have grown more popular than ever, particularly within the gay community…what could be sexier than a boiling room, filled with steam and naked guys just hanging out? They’ve become an important staple of the LGBTQ community, a safe haven where you can come for action and to explore your sexuality or simply just to chill.

The gay scene of Barcelona in “Gaixample” (pronounced “gay-shample”) is vast, brimming with many queer hangouts and of course, plenty of gay saunas. Why they are so popular here is mainly a result of the intense recession the country has faced over the past decade. This led to high unemployment rates, particularly among young guys, who as a result of this have had to live with their parents to save money, making it hard to bring back a date (or two!). Hence the rise in demand for gay saunas across the city.

In this guide, we’ve put together the 6 best gay saunas in Barcelona to check out where you can connect with locals, bears, otters, twinks or whatever and whoever takes your fancy!

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Barcelona Gay Travel Resources

The Magnificent Barcelona Cathedral – Keep Calm and Wander

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Barcelona Cathedral - Keep Calm and Wander

Better than Santa Maria Cathedral, the Barcelona Cathedral is the epitome of religious devotion, and most importantly, of Gothic architecture. Its high-rise pillars, the overall size of the cathedral, and the atmosphere inside awakened my spirit and encouraged me to stay there for more than an hour.

Before I could feed you in on what I saw there, I’d like to mention its fascinating history first.

The Barcelona Cathedral was not erected in a few years, instead, its architectural history spans over six centuries as it has seen many renovations, additions, and degradations at the hand of the sands of time.

The main patrons of this building were the guilds and the brotherhoods of that era who donated their funds to construct a cathedral that could serve as an awe-inspiring medieval architectural and a victory icon.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Andalusia Gay Travel Resources

Barcelona’s Palau Guell Mansion – Keep Calm and Wander

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Barcelona's Palau Guell Mansion - Keep Calm and Wander

The Palau Guell in Barcelona may look ordinary outside but wait until you step on inside. It’s splendid! Truly magnifique!

Barcelona is love not because of its 24/7 party scenes, but also because it has some of the most architecturally and artistically revered ancient buildings such as the Paul Guell Mansion.

I was in the city only for a few days and boy, there’s so much art around. And there’s no doubt that Gaudi rules above all other artists. In fact, Barcelona is also called “The City of Gaudi.” That’s how famous he is Catalan. His works are visible everywhere. Art was merely an excuse, I wanted to see Palau Guell – I wanted to see how how the wealthy aristocrats of the past resided in their designer mansions and how those very designers managed to create the residence of their dreams.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Barcelona Gay Travel Resources

Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona – Keep Calm and Wander

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Palau de la Musica Catalana - Keep Calm and Wander

A historic concert hall built in 1908, the Palau de la Musica Catalana is a turn-of-the-century piece of modern architecture by Lluis Domenech I Montaner. Its immaculate design, stained glasses, detailed mosaics, and expressive façade are some of the few things that attract tourists from around the world.

The building is serving the role for which it was initially constructed and that is providing a platform for the talented artists to showcase their talent in the most exuberant way possible. Owing to this fact, many famous artists, including Igor Stravinsky, Woody Allen, and Herbert Von Karajan have performed in this “Palace of Music.”

The modernist era was a movement more than a time period. It completely changed the very fabric of the architectural styles in Barcelona. The form of the palace or the hall speaks volumes of the craftsmanship of Lluis Domenech I Montaner. It is fluid, vibrant, and descriptive of the themes that the place is built on.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Barcelona Gay Travel Resources

Amazing Views of Barcelona From Montjuic Castle – Keep Calm and Wander

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Amazing Views of Barcelona From Montjuic Castle - Keep Calm and Wander

The views of Barcelona from Montjuic Castle is stunningly marvelous. Situated on the top of the Montjuic hill overlooking Barcelona, Castle Montjuic is an epitome of the resilience of Barcelona against the oppressions and invasions. Yet, it is also a monument of the victory of Spain over Catalan some 350 years ago. The victory is in the walls of the castle, in its spacious verandas, and its fortifications. You can see it everywhere and it augments as you overlook the city sprawling right in front of it. The castle indeed has witnessed not only many years of civil war and unrest in the 20th century, but also the growth of the city.

Well, that was just a brief history of this place. If you are an avid traveler and you have stepped on the soil of Barcelona, you’ve got to visit Castle Montjuic for the following reasons:

1. To see it speak its history

Running for about hour and a half, the guided tours of the castle are a great way to get to know about how it stood multiple invasions and warded off all the oppressors at the same time incarcerating prisoners itself. Aside from the history, the tours will also carry you through all the architectural significances of the castle, its built, the stones used, and the amalgam used to bind them. If you have no time for tours, you can, of course, wander around by yourself.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Barcelona Gay Travel Resources

Five Gay Spanish Party Cities – The Nomadic Boys

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Five Gay Spanish Party Cities - The Nomadic Boys

Spain is famous for being very gay friendly and we absolutely love it!

As well as having some of the hottest men you’ll ever see, it also has some of the best gay parties we’ve been to, from the famous Madrid Pride, to Barcelona’s Circuit festivals. We’ve put together our 5 favourite gay cities in Spain to come and party like crazy.

Madrid

The Spanish capital is famous for being the best gay city for partying in Spain. We love visiting Madrid, whether it’s for Pride, or just an ad hoc weekend of partying. Either way, we know that a visit here is always going to be a lot of fun.

The Madrid Pride (“Orgullo Gay de Madrid”) takes place every year in June/July, and it is huge. It is famous for being one of the best and largest gay pride parades in the world with around 3-4 million people attending. We absolutely love it because as well as guaranteed beautiful weather (remember to pack plenty of sunblock cream!), the entire city gets involved and it becomes one giant rainbow street party. The focal point is around the gay neighbourhood in Chueca, where the bars spill out into the streets, and free outdoor concerts take place.

The annual WE Pride Festival in July is another huge party highlight in Madrid. It is 5 days of parties with the biggest brands and famous DJs.

During the winter months, there is another huge gay party: the We Party New Year Festival. This is the biggest gay winter event in Europe, with around 20,000 people attending to see in the New Year.

The gay clubs of Chueca always have a party taking places every weekend. The main ones are Boite, DLRO, MalaMala, Kluster and Baila Cariño. Just one word of advice, the Madrileños LOVE to party till the early hours of the next day – so fact in a disco nap before heading out!

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Spain Gay Travel Resources

Hospital Sant Pau: Barcelona’s Window to Art Nouveau – Keep Calm and Wander

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Hospital Sant Pau Barcelona - Keep Calm and Wander

The former hospital Sant Pau is Barcelona’s window to art nouveau. The moment you enter the gate, you know you’re inside a place that would take you to bygone times. You’d never even know that in the past, these buildings were used as hospitals. From outside, the pointed spires and well-decorated walls and windows give you a Gothic feel but wait until you see its interior.

I’m not really good at remembering addresses but it’s less than 10 minutes walk from Sagrada de Familia. My google map led me there. If you ask a local who lives around Sagrada, there’s no way he won’t know. If you find a gas station at the corner, and facing it, follow the street on its left lined with cafes. The closest subway/metro is Sant Pau or Dos de Main.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Barcelona Gay Travel Resources