If you’re looking for a comprehensive list of gay events across all of Europe, then you’ve come to the right website. The Gay Welcome gay events calendar is far the biggest of its kind on the internet. In fact, it’s probably the biggest gay events calendar in the world - except that it only lists gay events in Europe. We start with the assumption that there’s no point offering a gay events calendar unless it has a lot of events on it. Other gay travel websites include some gay events listings on their sites, but when you click to view them it’s always rather disappointing. You only get a handful of events, and very often none at all for most gay travel destinations.

Not just gay events

The Gay Welcome events calendar works on the assumption that gay travellers aren’t just interested in gay events. We’ve also included the very best mainstream events in Europe - the top art exhibitions in London, Paris and Berlin, for example. The best of the continent’s theatre. Film festivals such as Cannes. Music gigs from performers that might not be gay, but who are popular within the gay world. Sports events that you can’t afford to miss - such as the Tour de France and Wimbledon. And comedy tours from some of the world’s funniest comedians. Clearly, we can’t include every major event in Europe - and nor would we want to. Instead, we’ve cheery picked those mainstream events that we feel would most appeal to a gay audience.

The best gay events calendar in the world

The result is a perfect fusion of the best of all-gay events, such as pride marches, leather festivals, bear cruises, gay clubbing nights, gay-only holidays and tours, gay film festivals and gay-themed art exhibits - with those mainstream events that most appeal to gay travellers. That way, no matter where you’re travelling, you can see at a glance the very best entertainment options all on one page.

Gay pride marches in Europe

All of Europe’s top gay pride marches are included in our listings. Not just the very biggest ones, in London, Berlin, Madrid and Barcelona - but also smaller pride festivals in cities such as Cologne, Dublin, Prague and Montpellier. As well as the basic details of when the festivities begin and end, we also list the major events within each pride festival - such as parties, pageants, shows and talks.

Leather, Rubber, Fetish, Bears and Sportswear

Our gay events calendar covers the many sub-cultures within the gay world well - with comprehensive listings of everything from bear weeks and bear cruises, leather festivals and pageants and even sportswear weeks and art. You’ll find the Hustlaball in Berli, for example, and ‘Bearcelona’, and the Folsom Europe event held each year in Berlin and ‘Sleazy Madrid’.

The best of Europe’s gay clubbing

If you’re looking for the top club events across Europe, then just choose ‘clubbing’ from our category dropdown menu and you’ll see all the top gay club and circuit party events listed. We scour the internet to find the very best clubbing dates each year - from big clubbing brands such as La Démence, Matinée, WE Party, Circuit, XL and Rapido. There are also other one-off annual club events such as the Elysium Pool Party held each year in Mykonos and the Space of Sound night in Madrid.

Gay Sport?

Yes - we’ve even included sports events in our calendar. Not the best of mainstream rugby and soccer (although both sports have enthusiastic gay followings) - but rather events such as the Smashing Pink gay tennis tournament in Paris, the Gay Games and of course the growing number of gay ski weeks held each winter in the Alps (France, Austria and Switzerland) as well as Scandinavia. We’ve also included the best of big mainstream sports such as Wimbledon and the Tour de France.

Gay Cruises, tours and holidays

We have a dedicated page on the website for gay cruises, tours and holidays. However, all of these ‘events’ also appear in our gay events calendar to make them doubly easy to find. As well as the big Atlantis gay cruises, we list other gay-only cruises on Europe’s rivers, canals and seas, as well as gay-group cruises. These are organised groups of gay travellers who join a big mainstream cruises, and enjoy events and tours arranges just for them. Our gay events calendar also includes gay tours - everywhere from culinary tours of Tuscany to biking in the Alps. And then there are also gay-holidays - usually week-long package holidays with lots of parties, tours and entertainment planned for everyone who participates.

Other gay events in Europe

Our gay events calendar stretches to gay theatre festivals, gay film weeks, ballet and dance performances of interest to the gay community, fashion events and big music festivals or tours of big, gay-popular artists. We also list Europe’s top opera festivals - from the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden to La Scala in Milan and the Wagner festival in Bayreuth, Germany. Lastly, we list Europe’s growing number of gay beauty pageants. They’re held in cities across the continent, with the regional winners meeting up at events such as Mr Gay World and Mr Gay Europe to battle it out for that coveted sash. To get start with Europe’s largest gay events calendar, click on the Location or Category dropdowns at the top of the page, or type in search terms to search for a specific gay event.