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 2008
Diary Update:
Playa Des Ingles / Maspalomas
Gay Pride Weekend - 5th - 11th May 2008.
Gay Mardi Gras which is usually on a Friday and Saturday
towards the middle of the month. The 2 main events are the
drag competition on the Friday night and the parade through
Playa del Ingles on the Saturday day time.
Club
Mancha are hosting the official opening party on 5th
May. See www.clubmanchaevents.com
for further details.
GRAN
CANARIA WOMEN’S WEEK - 2nd – 9th June 2008
Maspalomas
Carnival 2008 - Playa del Ingles / Maspalomas 25th February
- 3rd March 2008
The annual carnival in the resort town of Maspalomas,
on Gran Canaria, features a drag queen competition, a parade
and a show, as well as many other events. There are fiestas
everywhere in town, although the main venue is the Yumbo
Shopping Centre in Playa del Inglés. This year highlights
are the election of Queen of the Carnival (Gala de la Reina)
on 24 February, the election of the the Carnival Princess
(Gala de la Reina infantil) on 24 February and the election
of the Drag Queen on 2 March. The Grand Parade is on 3rd
March and the funeral of the Sardina concludes the festival
the following day. A great week to visit with loads
of parties, the festival and fireworks etc.
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See
Sensations
Holidays for last minute deals, accommodation etc.
Gran
Canaria is without a doubt Europe's number one gay winter holiday
destination. Situated off the coast of Morocco, Gran Canaria is
one of the Canary Islands and, along with Tenerife, Fuerteventura
and Lanzarote are very popular holiday destinations for British
holidaymakers. Like all the Canary Islands, Gran Canaria was formed
by volcanic activity. As it's name suggests Gran Canaria is the
largest of the canary islands and the most popular island for
gay men. The island is Spanish territory with English and German
widely spoken.
Located just 4 hours from most UK airports, it's a year round
destination with temperatures rarely falling below 70F, even during
our winter months. During our summer months, the average temperature
is about 85F!
The Island is spilt into two very different parts - the northern
sub-tropical areas that include the city of Las Palmas, the capital
of Gran Canaria, and the arid parts of the South that include
the major resorts of Playa del Ingles and Maspolomas.
Playa del Ingles and Maspolomas are where you'll find most of
the gay-related and tourist places of interest - the area caters
towards the gay traveller by offering exclusively gay accommodation,
bars, clubs, discos, restaurants and excellent gay beaches!
Is
it Gay?
To be
accurate the main gay holiday resorts on Gran Canaria are Playa
Des Ingles and Maspaplomas. Playa Des Ingles (English Beach) is
Spain's largest tourist resort but, don't let that put you off.
The majority of the gay bars/clubs are situated in and around the
Yumbo
Center (Playa) which it where the majority of the evening's
entertainment takes place. The main reason for going to the Canaries
is that it enables you to escape the miserable British winter and
get some warm winter sun, at a reasonable price, in a gay friendly
environment. This guide will concentrate on the two resorts of Playa
Des Ingles, Maspalomas and the Yumbo
Centre itself.
Getting
there:
Being
such a popular holiday destination there are many cheap flights/packages
to The Canaries. Flight time from the UK is around 4 hours and
the clocks are the same as UK time so no jet lag problems. Most
holiday companies offer packages to Gran Canaria and the other
Canary Islands. Flight only start from as little as a £100
and a one week self catering package from around £300. There
are cheaper packages available but you'll probably end up in some
tower block. Ps If you're offered the Korona Rocha hotel I wouldn't
bother, it seems to be the one place that always seems to have
vacancies and you can probably guess why.
For the complete package of flights and accommodation your best
bet is to check out some of the offers available from Sensations
Holidays who specialise in gay holiday packages to Gran Canaria
and other popular European gay holiday destinations.
Money:
Euros
€. around €1.5 to a £1;. There are cash machines
on the island which take Visa, Mastercard, Cirrus (allowing you
to withdraw money from your current account).
Getting
around
The
island is well served by buses serving the beaches, however the
most common method of transport are taxis. These are cheap and plentiful.
It costs around £3 from Maspalomas to the Yumbo
Centre in Playa. When you go out in the evenings just ask the
reception desk at the hotel or apartment where you are staying to
call you one.
Gay
Bars / Nightlife
We all
got the impression that there were less people around than in previous
years although the bars filled up as the week progressed. As I mentioned
before The Yumbo, a vaste shopping centre during the day transforms
itself into a heaving mass of gay bars in the evening. We've been
coming here for 5 years on and off and that perhaps the problem.
Familiarity breeds discontent. The place is trashy and yet quite
fun. Gay bars of every description are there to tempt the punters.
The transformation from a family shopping centre into a gay mecca
is quite astonishing. In fact with their shutters down it is often
easy miss the bars during the day. However in the evening as the
families go home and the queens come out to play. Most people head
for the Yumbo centre around 10pm and work their way around the various
bars. Humbel Humbel is very popular and serves very reasonably prized
drinks. Enough to keep a "girl" happy anyway.
As the evening progresses the crowd tends to congregate on the
top level of the Yumbo
centre where you will find a younger trendier crowd. The main
bars on on the top level are Tybos, The Mykonos Bar, And Why Not,
and finally Metropolis which is a large bar with a dance floor.
Both Metropolis and Mykonos bar have popular dark rooms where
unmentionables go on. Don't forget moderation at all times and
certainly safer sex all round. Some of those Spanish boyz do tend
to get carried away.
"Robbing
dogs." Be careful when you go out in the evenings to
just take the money to need and try to leave credit card at home
especially is you go in the dark rooms. You may think you're in
for a treat when someone starts fumbling with your zip but half
the time the only thing you'll be relieved of is your wallet/credit
cards. And that would definately bugger up your holiday.
Around 3am the crowd moves onto the other side of the Yumbo centre
where you will find the XL Club and Kings. Although Kings was
traditionally the most popular of the two clubs, over the last
couple of year XL seems to have stolen the lead in popularity
with its mix of popular dance tracks blasting out over the dance
floor. The is also a large seating area outside both bars where
people sit, chat, cruise or generally loiter before they decide
enough is enough andventure
back to their "virgin couches".
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UK
Gay Travel Agents offering holiday packages to Gran Canaria
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Sensations
Holidays offer gay holiday packages to popular European
gay holiday destinations including Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Mykonos,
Sitges, Palma plus European city breaks to Amsterdam, Barcelona,
Madrid and Prague.
Contact: Sensations Holidays, 89 Wembley Park Drive,
Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 8HS
Tel: +44 (0)20 8902 7177. Website: www.sensationsholidays.com
Email |
Accommodation
There
is a huge variety of accommodation available. Playa is more built
up with a large number of large hotels from 5* down to your average
2/3 star self catering hotel block. Playa is often refered to
as Maspalomas has more "chalet-type" apartments, some of which
operate on a time share basis. Maspalomas seems to get slighty
better weather as its not so close to the mountains as Playa.
If your going to spend your evenings in the Yumbo
Center you might try and request hotel accommodation close
to that. However taxis are cheap and plentiful and its only around
5 euros or £3.5 from one resort to the next.
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Club
Mancha Maspalomas, Gran Canaria |
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 Club
Mancha is the only exclusive men only gay resort in Playa
del Ingles, we guarantee to provide the best service and value
for money. At Club Mancha we believe that we do just this.
Don't take our word, why not try us. Guarantee not to be disappointed!
Address:
C/o Mantrav, 18 C/Irlanda, Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria
35100, Spain
Tel: (UK) 0845-02-66-906, Fax: (UK) 0845-83-86-922
Website:
Click
here Email: bookings@clubmancha.com
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Maspalomas
/ Playa Del Ingles, Gran Canaria |
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Welcome
to the world of Club Tucanes, the largest selection of accommodation
for the gay community in Gran Canaria. Our aim is to provide
the very best service, value for money and accommodation for
the discerning traveller anywhere on the island. With our
resorts, we believe that we have done just that. But don’t
just take our word for it, why not see for yourselves..
Address:
Maspalomas / Playa Del Ingles, Gran Canaria
Tel: +44 (0)20 8902 7177
Website:
Click
here, Email: info@clubtucanes.com
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Villas
Blancas-Magnolias Maspalomas, Gran Canaria |
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Gay
resort exclusively for men. Self-contained 1 bedroom bungalows
situated near the dunes and gay beach at Maspalomas, Gran
Canaria. Gay night-life at Playa Del Ingles only a five minute
taxi ride away.
Address:
Avenida Tjaereborg, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria,
Tel: +34 902 168 169, Fax: +34 902 268 269,
Website:
Click
here Email: info@villasblancas.com
|
UK
Gay Hotel and Travel Guide (www.gaytravel.co.uk/ www.gayhotel.co.uk)
is the UK's leading directory of worldwide gay friendly accommodation..
Click
here to advertise you hotel/villa/travel agency on this page.
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Playa
Del Ingles - Gay Bars and clubs
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Bar
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Description
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Address
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Detox
Retox. Popular trendy new gay bar just a short walk away
from the Yumbo Centre. Open from 6.30pm to 2am daily. Great
cocktails, drinks, 2 video screens playing different music
every night. Website www.detoxretox.com |
Avenida
de Tirajana 9, Edificio Tenesor local 4, 35100 Playa del Inglés/
Tel: +34 928 767 459 |
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Jackies
Bar - The only lesbian bar in the Jumbo Centre.
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Ground
floor,Yumbo centre.Near Cafe Eden, opp Veuvettes. Email
Website.
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We
will be adding new bars shortly.
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Culture:
You
must be joking. If you want a day out sightseeing the north of the
island tends to be more lucious. The are also plently of shops in
the capital Las Palmas including a Marks and Spencers in case you
may have lost any underwear on your travels.
Eating
Out
There
are many restaurants in the Yumbo centre catering for a variety
of tastes from steak and chips to traditional spanish tourist fare
such as Paella. For those of you self catering there is a very reasonably
prices supermarket in the middle of the Yumbo centre. Its situated
on the middle level right in the centre of the complex. It sells
cheap spirits and food for those queens that don't live solely on
booze and cigarettes.
The
Other Islands
Click
here for our gay guide to Tenerife
Communication:
The
are a number of cyber-cafes situated in Playa des Ingles and a number
of the bars have Net machines which cost around 500 ptas for five
minutes use, enough to check your email or send a quick message
home.
Mobile
Phones.
As long
as you have a dual band mobile phone and informed your service provider
before you leave home you shouldn't have any problem. Certainly
phones using TMobile and Vodafone networks switched across to the
local with any problems as all. We actually found having a mobile
essential if there are a large group of you travelling and not everyone
is staying in the same apartments. Remember though when someone
calls you on your mobile overseas you also pay for the incoming
call (around 80p/minute) so don't get carried away.
Beaches:
The
gay beach is situated about a mile along Maspalomas beach on the
southern tip of the island. There are plenty of buses or cheap taxis
which will take you down to the lighthouse at one end. Walk through
the shops and then trek along the beach for about a mile until you
see the queens congregated en masse. In the evening people often
walk back across the sand dunes towards Playa. Here the phrase "feeling
like Mary's donkey" comes into its own. Its a fair ole trek across
soft sand. For those people wishing to toast their "buns", nude
sunbathing is also allowed on the beaches.
Carnival
Week and Gay Pride
Although
Gran Canaria makes a fine holiday destination throughout the winter
months we have traditionally tried to plan our holiday to coincide
with the carnival week that takes places in the first week of
March. The carnival itself runs over two weeks although the second
week is the highlight with a huge Drag queen competition. The
are also spanish groups entertaining the crowds. The local population
turns out in force as well to celebrate carnival. The week finishes
with a parade through the town on the Saturday afternoon, an all
night open air party and then a firework display on the Sunday
night when they set fire to a large sardine which will apparently
bring the island good luck during the year ahead. The whole thing
is very camp with lots of dressing up, attractive spanish boys
in costumes mixing with outrageous drag queens. The beauty is
the spanish don't even bat an eyelid as everyone is basically
there for a huge piss up. Try and make it that week. It certainly
adds something to the holiday.
 Gay
Pride Weekend is 5th - 11th May 2008. The Maspalomas
Gay Pride weekend is increasing in popularity and is to be
recommended if you're looking to fit in a spring weekend break.
In
2008 Maspalomas Carnival week takes place from 24th February
- 3rd March
The annual carnival in the resort town of Maspalomas, on Gran
Canaria, features a drag queen competition, a parade and a show,
as well as many other events. There are fiestas everywhere in
town, although the main venue is the Yumbo Shopping Centre in
Playa del Inglés.
Shopping
/ Duty Free
The
other advantage of coming to the Canaries is the cheap shopping.
Like the other island, Gran Canaria is so called tax free meaning
prices of luxury goods such as electrical, perfums and alcohol are
sufficently cheaper than in the UK. Shopping for booze is easy.
Just head into one of the large supermarkets and take your pick.
With perfum and electricals bargains are to be had but don't accept
the price on the shelf or the first price you are quoted. Everything
is up for negotiation which you may hate or see as a challenge.
Be prepared to walk away if you're not happy with a price. The salesperson
will normally come back with a better offer. Although part of Spain,
the Canary Islands are classed as being outside Europe. You are
therefore allowed to buy duty free cigarettes and booze at the airport
before you leave but given the islands are tax free themselves you
probably find it cheaper to buy stuff when you get there.
Cruising
Your
best bet is a wander in the sand dunes (behind the gay beach) in
the late afternoon. Don't forget the sun block. Swimming trunks
optional. If you're desperate the dark rooms are alway there although
there are so many gay men out at night if should be too hard to
flash those lashes and attract company.
Conclusion:
To sum
up Playa des Ingles is basically trash and tower blocks and is commonly
refered as Brimingham is the sun.
Yes there is a large gay scene but one that harks back to London
in the early 90's. Trashy bars that quite happily take you money
without with fair expensive drinks although some bars downstairs
in the Yumbo are more reasonable.
We went carnival week in Maspalomas which runs in the first week
of March each year. The main events concentrated around the Yumbo,
that vaste unsightly shopping centre which houses the majority
of the gay bars.
In its favour Gran Canaria like the rest of the Canaries offers
a sunny break away from the cold british winter nights and if
you go with a group of friends it can be a lot of fun. If you're
visiting Gran Canaria this year let
us know how you get on.
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Gran
Canaria / Maspalomas Carnival Photos
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