Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a city with centuries of fame as a powerful maritime trading hub. Its beauty and its liberal atmosphere, well ahead of most other European cities and countries at the time, led many to regard it as the gay capital of Europe in the second half of the 20th century.

The gay scene is spread across several areas that sit fairly close to one another, so getting around is easy. Reguliersdwarsstraat, the street with the hard-to-pronounce name, is one of the main spots and tends to get busy at the weekend. Regular gay clubs and parties are not as numerous as they once were, and the biggest, most crowded nights are now the ones held monthly or every few months, so it is worth checking dates in advance if you want a dancefloor packed with hundreds of half-naked, sweaty guys.

The queer calendar is full of annual highlights: the Roze Filmdagen LGBTQ film festival in March, King's Day on 27 April (or 26 April), the Milkshake Festival in July, Amsterdam Gay Pride with its famous canal parade in August, and the Amsterdam Dance Event in October.