Time your visit for Pridefest in June for a week of events that include home tours, sunset sailing and a two-day street festival. The fun-loving southernmost city is selected repeatedly as “Best Gay Resort Town” by readers of Out Traveler magazine.Īlong with shops and boutiques, you’ll find most of the town’s gay bars along walkable Duval Street, including Aqua Nightclub and 801 Bourban Bar, with their fun drag shows, and La Te Da Hotel and Restaurant, which has a poolside lounge, piano bar and cabaret room. Gay transplants have been relocating and vacationing in the island paradise of Key West since the 1970s, with gay and lesbian guesthouses proliferating to meet the demand. Every April, in nearby Davie, the Florida Gay Rodeo Association sponsors the Sunshine Stampede Gay Rodeo, a two-day rodeo that draws thousands for parties, line dancing, bull riding, barrel racing, calf roping and a “rodeo school” for beginners. Prime times for visits are May for BeachBear Weekend, October for the Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival or June for Stonewall Summer Pride. Rent a kayak or paddleboard from Atlantic Coast Kayak to cruise the seven-mile loop that wraps around Wilton Manors. The city is surrounded by forks in the Middle River, making it a true island. It’s not difficult to find high heels in size 11 here. Shop along curving Wilton Drive, where stores and restaurants like The Pink Submarine, Gaysha New World Sushi Bar and Out of the Closet proudly display their rainbow flags.
Census – check out Stonewall National Museum & Archives, known as the “LGBTQ community’s Smithsonian.” The walkable suburb with a small-town atmosphere houses the largest circulating LGBT book and film program in the United States. In Wilton Manors – dubbed the country’s “Second Gayest City,” second only to Provincetown, Mass., as a result of the 2010 U.S. The famous Aids Memorial Quilt typically makes an appearance – a must-see for those who have not viewed this powerful reminder of the AIDS pandemic up close. Since 1977, the city has hosted the week-long Pride Fort Lauderdale every February, with hundreds of outdoor vendors, live music, dancing and parties. Birch Rd., consistently wins high marks on the Travel Channel’s coveted “Best All-Inclusive Resorts.” One of the first gay resorts in Fort Lauderdale, the Grand Resort and Spa, at 539 N. The city has more than 100 gay-owned businesses, including bars and clubs, cafes and coffeehouses, and award-winning hotels and guest houses. Here are some of Florida's most welcoming and popular LGBTQ cities and areas:Ī longtime destination for gay visitors, Fort Lauderdale and its neighboring gayborhood of Wilton Manors welcome more than 1.1 million LGBTQ travelers a year.
That's because the Sunshine State rolls out the rainbow carpet for LGBTQ travelers, beckoning with year-round warmth, top-notch dining and clubs, inclusive events and festivals, and friendly accommodations, Florida is one of the world's premier gay and lesbian travel destinations,