The 10 Best Gay Beaches in The World—Have You Been?
Sydney’s North Bondi Beach
Pride season came and went; the 4th of July fireworks show is but a haze; and Labor Day is just a couple of weeks away. Can summer 2011 really be coming to a close? Say it ain’t so!
Farmer’s tan be damned—there’s plenty of time to head to the nearest body of water, strip down to your skimpy swimsuit and soak up the sun. (and let’s not forget catching some glimpses of topless hotties.)
GayCities has compiled a list of the 10 best beaches for gays and lesbians to mingle and soak up some rays. (Whatever else you do there is your business.)
Have we omitted your favorite sandy oasis? Let us know in the comments.
UP FIRST: Pines Beach in Fire Island
Small Correction: There is no “Farme de Amoedo beach” in Rio de Janeiro. Rua Farme de Amoedo is a STREET that is the “gay street” in the Ipanema neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. At the end of this street (where it meets the beach) is Ipanema beach. This particular area of the beach is between Posto 8 and 9 and is the “gay area” of Ipanema beach – and is also identified with numerous gay flags. Again Farme de Amoedo is the street name… and Ipanema is the beach name.
Nearby and around the corner, is Copacabana beach, another very long beach. This is essentially where the gay pride parade takes place each year. In front of the Copacabana Palace hotel in Copacabana is the “gay area” of Copacabana beach. Copacabana beach is also where you go to watch the amazing fireworks at New Years. Imagine a million or more people on the beach, most of them wearing white.
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Hey, what about the gay beach in Santa Moncia at Will Rodger States Park?
(Or as we commonly refer to it “Ginger Rodgers State Park”)
It was on that beach back in the day where Chris met Don.
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@Ian: I’ve been to this beach, and yes, the men are gorgeous. The Israeli men are particularly handsome. It’s kinds tough to tell who’s gay though since Middle Easterners and also European people tend to stare and keep your gaze longer than Americans. It doesn’t mean they’re gay. Usually when they’re on their knees in front of me, then I can assume they’re gay :)
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as stated above… Vallarta is overload & you really can’t even enjoy the water. It does seem baffling to me that P-town didn’t make the list, especially since the list is titled for “gay & lesbians” & the cove is one of the few where you’ll ever see any galz.
And since I’m in SFO, I’ll mention that on Baker Beach, right here in the city, we have gorgeous views of the GG Bridge, are allowed to go nekkid, & have the option of parking in the lot, or cliff-diving down to the cruisy part (seemingly a prerequisite for any ‘real’ gay beach!) Just don’t try & swim in the water.
This beach is actually part of the Nat’l Parks, which makes it extra fun, “winkin’ yer brown-eye” at Washington, DC who we can bet has NO IDEA the gays are up to no-good right on Gov’t property! :)
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Not a single West Coast beach (and no, Mexican beaches don’t count.) I knew some writers still on Queerty’s staff were from the old-school days of East Coast preference – otherwise known as: “What’s a West Coast” or “LOLZ that “Other/Left Coast!”" – but I thought they’ be encouraged to be a little less self-interested.
In any event, as noted: Santa Monica and Will(/Ginger) Rogers State Beach (LA) are good choices, but Baker Beach (SF) is an even better pick. I’ll also throw in the isolated bays of Laguna Beach (OC) as a very cruisy, (illegally) clothing-optional beach.
Both Baker and portions of Laguna are known as “the gay beaches” among locals, further ensuring their reputation and visitor base remains consistent.
Yet not a single West Coast beach gets mentioned, but the crappy sun, sand and (no) surf of Rehoboth and Fire Island get top billing?
Whatever.
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I prefer Lands End for the wind swept junipers and surf boom and spray in the stacks, and the naked beach on Hwy 1 south of SF, and Russian River for the Redwoods, and P-Town for the quaintitude. Fire Island is overly hierarchical for my taste. Of course, obsessing on looks and muscles over kindness and character is par for the gay course, but Fire Island is over the top.
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the list should extend beyond 10 because i can name a few more beaches which should be named ie: sitges(spain), baker beach although the water sucks the view is priceless(san francisco), haulover state beach (sunny isles,florida) , queens beach (honolulu), san gregorio beach (san francisco), blacks beach (san diego), san onofre beach ,socal. little makena nude beach on maui. cmon guys add to the list!
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Hmm, well Oregon may have better beaches then all mentioned for some. There are two gay/str8 nude beaches where all is bared and woods for those who choose to dare….have sex that is. And they do, lots of it. And the guys are med to hot. Not ocean beaches but great sandy beaches nonetheless called Sauvies Island and Rooster Rock on the awesome Columbia River. If you ever get up to see the backwoods Portland boys of the Great Pacific NW, (forget Seattle, not pretty) you won’t be disappointed.
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Haulover beach in Miami Beach is very popular, and is legally clothing optional. The northern end of the beach is mostly gay. It is frequented by all age groups.
But I can understand why it Haulover is not included in this list — pictures would be NSFW.
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I simply don’t know what a gay beach is. Is there a sign which says “gays only”? Is there a barrier that you must cross on the basis of how gay you look? You know, I’m desperately interested to find out. Do you need to have a poodle with you? Honestly, I’m crying out for an answer.
Where on earth are these “gay beaches”?
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@Ganondorf: So lets see if I understand you correctly. All the plastic narcissistic gym bunny self-centered look down your nose people go to the textile beaches, while real people who are comfortable with their selves and others around them go to nude beaches. The people who wouldn’t give you the time of day and wouldn’t acknowledge your existance because you don’t meet their standards of beauty all hang out at the clothing beaches and the friendly helpful folks who are HUSBAND material are at the nude beach. Thank you very much but I prefer to hang out with the “fugly” on the OUTSIDE people than the ones who are pretty to look at and are disgusting on the inside. You stick with your superficial looks, I’ll stay with the high quality nudists. Paul(obvious nudist)F.
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@TommyOC: Finally someone opened that can of worms. Stupid and venal queens that nobody can stand if they’re not on their knees go to beaches with no surf. They are bored and mean of course, because they can’t go into the water for any fun. Besides, if they do they’ll get muscle toned and fit, forcing them to look older and more butch than a fourteen year old girl. I love how they self select though, if you go there the cocktail mixers are the same way. Eat Coast beach clones are like ’92 forever, and yes, it was boring then too. Just let’s not remind them too often, OK? They’ll forget anything was said in 3, 2, 1…
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What about Mallorca, I’m thinking increasing the list to 25 would more inclusive.
In California, there are several beachs, their popularity has changed but they are still, very Gay, but maybe not as young. San Gregorio, has stories wonderful Gay beach stories.
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Hey guys, I have just come back from holiday in Sitges and Barcelona in Spain. Both have fab gay beaches, clothed and nudist, with hot guys as well as blokes next door types on them!
My favourite has to be Balmains, the gay nudist beach in Sitges. It is set in this lovely bay with clean, warm shallow water going out really far. As said there was a great mix of types on the beach, hotties on the outside, hotties on the inside and both and neither!
Highlight of the week was spotting a couple of horse hung porn stars from the Michael Lucas stable-just as good in the (ample) flesh!
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The gay beach in Laguna is called West St Beach. I practically spent my entire teenage summers at this beach and back then it was fun and boisterous. It even had it own micro mini pirate radio station called Kweer FM – this was in the 80′s so it played basically the Gogo’s! And it was so small that its frequency range was about 500 yards.
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“?est gay beaches in the world”. Totally pretentious title. Where are the famous cruising spots of Spain, Greece, France or Italy? Perhaps you meant “Gay beaches in the Americas”.
Try Elia in Mykonos, Eressos in Lesbos, Banana in Skiathos or Kallithea in Rhodes and you will forget everything else.
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You can find the 3 most beautiful beaches here at http://www.top3best.com/top-3-.....ul-beaches
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No p-town or ogunquit?