Cartagena gay guide
Our gay travel guide to Colombia includes top destinations to attend, gay highlights, gay Pride events, safety tips, parties, and more.
- Gay mega clubbing with 5, Colombian boys in Bogota? Tick!
- Swimming in a rainbow river, the Caño Cristales?Tick!
- Remote paradisiac Caribbean Islands fancy Providencia? Tick!
- Partying in the most exciting Carnival of South America outside of Rio? Tick!
- Sniffin' up tons of fresh cocaine in Pedro-Escobar-heartland: Medellin? Ti…no wait…
…you may also have been inspired to visit this incredible country from Netflix's Narcos series, but as every Colombian will rightly narrate you, the awful cocaine industry that gripped the country with an ugly civil war for decades is now ancient history. And good riddance to it!
Colombia has evolved to not only become one of the leading and safest tourist destinations in all of South America, it has also become one of the most gay friendly.
We spent 6 months travelling in Colombia during our big trip in Latin America, using Medellin and Bogota as a base.
Our Gay Travel Guide for Colombia
Our trip to Colombia was our first trip ever to South America, together. Daan already visited Ecuador about ten years ago, and we possess traveled to Central America already, Costa Rica to be precise. For our Gay Colombia Travel Instruction, we started our Colombia adventure with some days off in the Caribbean sun. Therefore, we flew from Dresden via Amsterdam with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to Cartagena. For the first week we didn’t plan anything super wild but to rest and adjust to the time difference in the so-called ‘Pearl of the Caribbean’ swimming in the Caribbean Sea under palm trees and exploring the historical center of Cartagena.
The next stop on the gay travel bucket list was Bogotá, the Colombian capital city. And yes, we were super delighted to spend Halloween in Bogotá. After a couple of days at around 2, meters altitude, we jumped on a plane off to Medellín, the so-called “City of Permanent Spring”. The plan was to end our Colombia trip with a glamping experience. And then, off to our ne
Jack Kenworthy( Queer Commute Expert )
Queer journal expert Jack Kenworthy turns + municipality adventures into your guide for trustworthy, vibrant, and inclusively fabulous global journeys.
Gay Cartagena is a glorious mess of cobbled alleys, bougainvillea-covered balconies, vibrant plazas, brightly-colored buildings, and historic grandeur. We just wish it had a little more for us gay folk.
A city that welcomes everyone and seizes you in its captivating grip, Cartagena has developed a reputation as one of the Caribbean’s most gay-friendly destinations – along with Punta Cana. In part thanks to its amiable and open-minded locals, though the vibrant Pride events held here, each August definitely helped!
Gay travel here, however, is all relaxation and recreation, so don’t expect lgbtq+ nightlife to link other gay beach hotspots like Puerto Vallarta, Mykonos, and Phuket.
This might be Colombia, but it seems the raw strength and unbridled lgbtq+ nightlife of Medellin and Bogota possess not quite made it to the sleepy coast just yet.
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Despite its sordid history with the drugs cartels, Colombia has undergone a major transformation over the last 20 years. And although Catholicism is still sturdy here, Colombian society is often considered more tolerant compared to its neighbors because of the diversity within the population. It is however worth noting that the machismo attitude still persists quite strongly in rural areas, particularly near the coast.
Legal rights and protections for Queer people in Colombia are considered among the most progressive in Latin America. Same-sex marriage was legalized in April in Colombia with the first lgbtq+ wedding taking place in Cali on 24 May In addition, Congress passed a law banning discrimination on sexual orientation in , adoption for gay couples was legalized in and the right to change your gender has been in place since Colombia’s progressive legal rights and protections has won the destination the title of best LGBTQ+ emerging destination at the FITUR travel trade show in Madrid, and is one of the reasons why Colombia was considered the Leading LGBTQ+ De