WANDERLUST

11 Hot Ways To Thaw Out In Europe This Spring

20Spring is just around the corner, and it can’t come soon enough for a Europe that’s been socked in under one of the gloomiest and snowiest winters on record.

So when the temperatures start rising, expect an especially strong surge of pent-up Eurogay energy to be unleashed at these springtime events happening across the continent.

From the rough and tumbly BLF Easter Leather and Fetish Weekend in Berlin to the refined and fancy Life Ball in Vienna, there’s a little something on tap for every queer taste.

 

Click through for Europe’s 11 Hottest Springtime Events!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcgfDdXLXlU

BLF Easter Leather and Fetish Weekend
Berlin
March 26-April 2

This year marks the 15th annual BLF Easter Leather and Fetish Weekend in Berlin, so an extra-special slate of fetishy frolicking is on tap in the always naughty German capital. A highlight, as always, is Sunday’s German Mr. Leather contest.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FWoqMwA5Hw

Bearcelona
Barcelona
March 27-April 1

The furry take over Spain’s second city for the 13th annual Bearcelona weekend. Expect a non-stop agenda of parties (including a pool party and several sex parties), and keep your eyes peeled for the Bear Inspectors.

 

http://vimeo.com/53872343#

Fringe! Gay Film Fest
London
April 11-14

London’s Fringe! returns for its third year, with more than 30 queer-centric events including film screenings, experimental art, workshops, and wild parties. Kicking things off will be the touching American film Five Dances, which also recently opened Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera Film Festival.

 

haring

Keith Haring: The Political Line
Paris
Opens April 19

This special exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris focuses on the artist’s political pieces, especially his works related to apartheid in South Africa, the threat of nuclear war, the destruction of the environment, homophobia and the AIDS epidemic.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPuehC5WKX4

Queen’s Day
Amsterdam
April 30

Second only to its Canal Parade as the biggest gay event of the year, Amsterdam’s orange-infused Queen’s Day will particularly big and memorable this year, since it will also mark the abdication of the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix and the coronation of her son as King Willem-Alexander. Gay parties happen on across the city, including on Reguliersdwarsstraat, along the Amstel between Muntplein and Waterlooplein, and on Westermarkt by the Homomonument.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcUXHJfpjks

SleazyMadrid
Madrid
April 30-May 5

For the 13th time, the Spanish capital gets down and dirty with a long weekend of fetishes and music, highlighted by its Full Fetish, Noctox, and Into the Tank parties.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKbzlcxaK8g

GayPride Maspalomas
Gran Canaria
May 4-12

The gay capital of Spain’s Canary Islands celebrates Pride with a week of sunny events, including a beach party, several pool parties, and a street parade.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaUPQH14hqc

Dublin Gay Theatre Festival
Dublin
May  6-19

The world’s biggest gay theater festival and Ireland’s largest LGBT cultural event celebrates its 10th incarnation this year, presenting two full weeks of drama, comedy, musical theatre, cabaret and more in venues centered in Dublin’s historic Georgian heart.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8NXtdsHzik

Belgian Pride
Brussels
May 18

Belgium’s premier Pride event kicks off Europe’s 2013 Pride season with a bang. The Saturday parade, performances, and huge after party in the streets of the gay quarter drew some 70,000 people last year, and even more are expected this year.

 

krakow

Queerowy Maj
Krakow
May 16-19

It might not be the first place that comes to mind when celebrating diversity in Europe, but Poland’s cultural capital of Krakow presents this important annual festival of gayness, presenting debates, workshops, film screenings, art happenings, sporting events, and a Pride March.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqWgUlwpNZI

Life Ball
Vienna
May 25

This elegant annual Vienna event – this year taking the theme 1001 Nights – is one of the world’s largest fundraisers for HIV/AIDS charities. A fashion show at City Hall Square is followed by the ultra-exclusive ball and party inside City Hall itself, for which some 95,000 requests came in last year for the less than 3,800 available tickets.

 

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