From swanky city-centre hotels in London, Paris and Berlin, to rustic guesthouses in the south of France and the Greek islands, the range of gay and gay-friendly accommodation that exists across Europe is huge.
Most of Europe's gay cities and resorts will have a good range of exclusively-gay hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses catering to those who really want to 'let their hair down' on holiday and be with like-minded gay Travellers. But increasingly, mainstream hotels, bed and breakfasts and guesthouses in Europe are making their gay guests feel more comfortable. Hotels are less likely than they were to give gay couples two single beds. Concierges are more likely to know where the nearest gay bars are. And the attitudes of other non-gay guests to lesbian and gay guests is also more positive.
That said, gay-only accommodation still remains quite popular. A lot of gay Travellers seem to like to spend at least one of their holidays a year in the company of other gay men or women. Most of these exclusively gay properties are small. Except for the Hotel Axel chain (Barcelona and Berlin), most gay-only accommodation is either guesthouses and B&Bs. And most are located along the Mediterranean - summer properties with pools dotted along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts, the Canary, Balearic and Greek islands, and along the southern coast of France.
Finding gay-only hotels, guesthouses or B&Bs in city-centres can be more tricky. Most of the hotels in the bigger cities are very gay-friendly, and offer more facilities than a small, gay-only property. And in cities, location can be more important to Travellers who are probably not be hiring a car. You'll find good hotels close to all of the gay 'quarters' on Europe's big city centres (all of which are marked with rainbow-coloured pins on our property search map).
