What Makes a Great LGBTQ+ Travel Destination?

As a demographic, LGBTQ+ people like to travel – that's a fact. But what's less objective and more subject to debate and individual circumstance and preference is where we like to go, and why.

Out travel writer Matt Ortile considered this very issue in a piece for Condé Nast Traveler. Puzzled by some of the metrics in an index aimed at the LGBTQ+ market by a travel company, Ortile further explored what travel buffs in our community like and want and noted that there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

Bryan Herb of Zoom Vacations – which, Ortile wrote, "focuses on luxury gay group travel" – told Ortile that when the word "best" appears on a list of destinations around the globe where LGTBQ+ people go, it's a "relative" term. For one thing, Ortile explained, travel guides and indexes tend to cater to gay men more specifically than to lesbians (who might have other destinations or types of experiences in mind) or trans travelers.

Some attributes of travel destinations might seem intuitively universal – Ortile specified "safety" – but that's not necessarily true. What gay male travelers feel is "safe" could be quite different from what lesbians experience as safe, or trans people.

Besides, Ortile added, some travelers don't want to play it safe. Ortile cited Detours owner Miles Mitchinson, who pointed out that Egypt – a place far from the apex of safety when it comes to LGBTQ+ people – is a huge draw.

Preferences and priorities include more than safety, of course, and travelers don't need to get a passport to explore diverse destinations. For many gay men, Ortile's article noted, Orlando and Palm Springs are list-toppers. But Phoenix, Arizona is also a sunny domestic destination with a lot to offer an LGBTQ+ adventurer. As EDGE reported in a previous article, Phoenix is now "the fifth largest city in the U.S.; it has the diversity, inclusiveness, and LGBTQ+ population to become the Miami of the Sonora."

[READ MORE: Why Phoenix is on the Verge of Becoming an LGBTQ+ Epicenter]

For those who prefer seaside frolics to the hot and dry climes of the desert, Orlando isn't the only city in Florida that beckons. So does Miami – and, as EDGE previously reported, Miami's Little Havana offers a taste of another country without requiring that one leave the United States. It's also a locale that puts a capital D on Diversity; "We are Republicans, Democrats, Catholics, and Santeros. We are the conservative, mostly-white business owners who fled Cuba in the early '60s and the queer Afro-Cuban artists who were among the 125,000 Cuban immigrants who arrived during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. And we are everything in between and beyond," Ivan Quintanilla wrote of the city's Cuban-American population earlier this year. Indeed, Little Havana, Quintanilla noted, is a nexus where "machismo and queerness cohabitate."

For those who do want to cross great waters, of course, there are many fascinating lands to explore, some of them friendlier than others. Among the most welcoming destinations for the globally-minded LGTBQ+ traveler is the Danish city of Copenhagen, where, just this past August, a combined celebration of World Pride and the Eurogames drew a rainbow crowd. The city's embrace of our community isn't a response to market forces, either; as noted in an earlier EDGE article, "Aside from its significant physical beauty, Copenhagen proved a perfect setting for the most inclusive LGBTQ+ event of the year. After all, homosexuality has been decriminalized in Denmark since 1933."

"Wherever we go, we want to be treated with respect for our humanity," Ortile pointed out before encouraging readers to treat others in like manner, wherever they may roam. Part of that is making local customs and LGBTQ+-specific travel advisories part of the research when outlining one's itinerary.