Barcelona

A mid-sized bar on Carrer de la Diputació with go-go dancers most nights and a crowd that arrives earlier than most of its neighbours.

A big queer bar with multiple rooms and a rotation of events, sitting close to Plaça de la Universitat on Gran Via.

A discobar on Carrer del Consell de Cent in the heart of the Eixample Esquerra, drawing a predominantly male crowd on weekend nights.

A late-night bar in the Raval neighbourhood of Barcelona with a camp, old-school character and a crowd that skews toward gay men but draws a broader mix on weekends.

A horror-kitsch bar whose entire interior commits to the bit: red neon, leopard upholstery, a painted fireplace with a glaring face, and a cabinet displaying black-and-white stills of cult icons alongside skulls and candles.

A bar on Muntaner in the Eixample Esquerra, one of Barcelona's main stretches for gay nightlife, drawing a predominantly male crowd.

A bar on Carrer de Salvà in the Poble Sec neighbourhood, drawing a local crowd away from the more tourist-heavy Eixample circuit.

A gin bar opposite the Axel Hotel with a Tintin obsession that runs through the whole space.

A bear bar that opened on Carrer de Muntaner in late 2025, running from morning coffee through to late-night drinks, which makes it genuinely unusual on the Eixample circuit.

Probably the most considered bear bar in the Gayxample, without any of the self-congratulation that phrase might imply.

A members-only bar-and-cruising club on Carrer d'Aribau, directly opposite the Axel Hotel, with an interior that stops people in their tracks: hammered metallic cladding lines the entrance corridor from floor to ceiling, and the main bar runs dark red with geometric neon frames and velvet stools.

A music bar that opened in summer 2025 on Villarroel, squarely in the Gayxample.

A queer bar in the Raval with a corner-of-the-city feel, known more among Barcelona's alternative scene than on the tourist circuit.

One of the most distinctive gay bars on Muntaner, La Chapelle fills its narrow, terrace-fronted space with crucifixes, devotional statues and religious ephemera that lean fully into camp rather than provocation.

A small queer bar on Carrer de Salvà in Poble Sec, well clear of the Eixample tourist circuit and better for it.

A drag bar that earns its reputation on performance rather than posture.

A small tribute bar on Carrer de Muntaner dedicated entirely to Raffaella Carrà, the Italian pop icon who became a gay icon across southern Europe.

A queer, drag, trans and non-binary bar sitting between Sant Antoni and Poble-sec, on Avinguda del Paral·lel, just outside the main Eixample circuit.

A men's cruise club on Carrer de la Diputació, the Eixample's main strip for this kind of venue, with a 7am close on Fridays and Saturdays that makes it one of the later options in the city.

A Muntaner bar that sits at the more relaxed end of the Gayxample spectrum: loungey sofas, a long gin menu, and DJs rotating pop and reggaeton.

Music video bar with walls plastered in Vogue covers and fashion magazine art, drawing a photogenic male crowd for pop music and dancing.

A compact bar on Carrer de la Diputació with a cruising area at the back, glory holes, and free condoms, which sets it apart from the straightforward cocktail bars on the same strip.

A sex shop and cruising venue on Diputacion in the Eixample, one of several such spots along Barcelona's Gayxample grid.

A cocktail bar that holds its own on a street where most people are drinking for convenience rather than quality.

A veteran of the Muntaner strip, Punto BCN has the settled confidence of a bar that has never needed to reinvent itself.

A men-only cruising club on Carrer de Balmes with a bears-leaning crowd and an unusually strict no-phones rule: everything goes in the cloakroom on arrival, drinks run on a tab tied to your cloakroom tag, and the atmosphere is noticeably different from venues where everyone's scrolling between scenes.

A queer cocktail bar in the Raval, a block or two from MACBA, run by the team behind Almayer Bar in Gràcia.

A men's sauna in the Eixample district, on Carrer de Pau Claris, drawing a mix of locals and visitors to one of Barcelona's more established bathhouse addresses.

A men's sauna on Carrer de Casanova in the Eixample, one of several well-established saunas in Barcelona's Gayxample district.

One of Barcelona's older gay saunas, Condal sits in the Gothic Quarter rather than the Gayxample, tucked into a discreet cul-de-sac close to Plaça Catalunya.

A large gay sauna in the Gayxample with over 900 square metres of facilities, which puts it at the bigger end of Barcelona's bathhouse options.

Sky Bar sits on the rooftop of the Axel Hotel — Barcelona's most famous gay hotel — and is one of the best places in the Eixample for an evening drink with a view. The terrace overlooks the rooftops of the city; the indoor bar is sophisticated and more intimate. The crowd is a mix of hotel guests and in-the-know locals; the music stays at cocktail-bar volume. It's refined, relaxed, and entirely worth going to even if you're not staying at the hotel. Come at golden hour and stay for the night.

A neon-lit music lounge bar on Consell de Cent, opened in October 2025 as one of the newer additions to the Gayxample strip

A bar on Carrer de Villarroel in the Eixample, drawing a predominantly male crowd from the neighbourhood and beyond.

A cruising club for older men, off the Gayxample circuit and into the older streets near Ciutat Vella. The basement holds the bar and the play area: slings, gloryholes, a wet area, the layout direct enough that nobody's confused about why they came.

A Villarroel bar with a Latin-inflected playlist and a small dancefloor that gives it a warmer, looser energy than most bars in the area.

A Saturday-night club on Carrer de Tarragona in Sants-Montjuïc, drawing a party-focused crowd for one of Barcelona's more energetic weekly gay nights.

A sex shop on Carrer de la Riera Alta in the Raval neighbourhood, well-placed within walking distance of Barcelona's main gay bars and clubs.