Six LGBTQ+ destinations around the world

Beyond famous hotspots like Brighton and Berlin, these are some of the most accepting places for LGBTQ+ travellers to visit.

Even though it’s Pride season, it can still be a potentially nerve-racking time for LGBTQ+ travellers. While LGBTQ+ rights and visibility have increased greatly in the last decade, so have some increasingly intimidating threats, as the community continues to battle international customs, legality and cultural norms.

Case in point: in May 2024, the US State Department issued a worldwide travel warning about the “increased potential for foreign terrorist organisation-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events.” It recommends staying alert in locations “frequented by tourists, including Pride celebrations and venues frequented by LGBTQI+ persons.”

Matthieu Jost, CEO of LGBTQ+ accommodation app misterb&b, which has 1.3 million registered users, advises queer tourists to “travel and stay like a local, particularly in areas you’re not sure about, and get advice from LGBTQ+ residents before you even step foot in a new travel destination.” Even in less LGBTQ+-friendly places, Jost maintains that “LGBTQ+ travellers often aren’t as deterred to visit as you would expect, and that’s likely due to local gay hosts as well as allies within the community itself.”

Due vigilance aside, there are still hundreds of queer-friendly destinations around the world, from Berlin to Mykonos and Amsterdam to Madrid. But for every Brighton and San Francisco that are famous for their inclusive culture, there many other queer-friendly destinations you may not think of, such as Torremolinos, Spain and Malta.

This list of six LGBTQ+-friendly destinations is based on several sources, including the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index, which ranks European countries on LGBTQ+ equality; its parent site, ILGA, which compiles global rankings; and Asher Fergusson’s 2023 report on LGBTQ+ travel, which involved 400 hours of research and examines many factors related to LGBTQ+ safety – from protections against discrimination to same-sex marriage – in more than 200 countries.

“It was important for us to cover this topic because it so greatly affects so many travellers,” said Lyric Fergusson, who runs the travel safety site with her partner, Asher. “Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that the majority of the world is still far from safe for LGBTQ+ people. But because laws are always being revised, it’s our mission to update this list at least once a year.”

Here are six LGBTQ+-friendly destinations on five continents proving that despite recent warnings, much of the world remains an open, welcoming place.

Standing proudly at #1 on the Asher Fergusson list is Canada, which decriminalised homosexual acts back in 1969 and same-sex marriage in 2005. While its largest city, Toronto, hosts one the world’s largest Pride celebrations (running through 30 June 2024), Montreal’s queer scene is pioneering: back in 1918, this was where the first-known queer magazine in North America was published, Les Mouches Fantastiques.

The epicentre of the city’s LGBTQ+ scene, The Village, in Ville-Marie, is the province of Quebec’s largest gay neighbourhood. Its main drag, Saint Catherine Street East, is home to a buzzy strip of bars like Le Stud, Aigle Noir and Complexe Sky. Non-binary, queer women and trans visitors should also check out parties such as Elle Lui and Sweet Like Honey.

“The queer community is well-mixed between anglophones and francophones, so I guess some kind of richness comes with having most of our events bilingual,” said Theo Tessier from the Montreal LGBTQ+ Community Centre, established in 1988, whose library, she explained, holds “more than 20,000 books, essays, documentaries and films.” Meanwhile Montreal’s Gay Archives, which is open to the public, contain thousands of books, zines, posters and periodicals.

Thailand legalised same-sex activity back in 1956 and has laws that ban discrimination over gender identity and sexual orientation. What’s more, the same-sex marriage bill was just passed last week, making Thailand the only South-East Asian country to recognise same-sex unions. However, since same-sex marriages still weren’t legal in 2023, the Asher Fergusson report placed it at #62 on its most recent list.

“And yet, Bangkok is truly one of the most LGBTQ+-friendly destinations in the world” for travellers, said Blue Satittammanoon, founder of White Party Bangkok, an annual event attracting 32,000 attendees from 93 countries. “It’s not only the largest gay dance festival in Asia,” he said, “but also the biggest gay New Year’s Eve in the world.”

For those visiting, Satittammanoon recommended neighbourhoods like Silom, home to venues such as “DJ Station, G Bangkok and The Stranger Bar, plus new clubs like Beef and Rush“. As Satittammanoon said, the key to Bangkok being a “haven for LGBTQ travellers [is] Thailand’s [increasingly] progressive stance on LGBTQ rights, coupled with the warm hospitality that is so deeply ingrained in Thai culture.”