Sitges Gay Guide – Bars, Clubs, Hotels, Beaches

News, Parties & Events in Sitges

|  6  –  12 September 2010
International Sitges Bear Week: with Mr. Bear Sitges contest, AnniBEARsary parties, beach, picnic, BBQ, paintball and other activities.
|  7  –  17 October 2010
International Fantasy Film Festival: probably the most important fantasy and horror film festival.

News Archive

About Sitges and its gay life

Sitges is a small city 35 km south-western of Barcelona. In the late 19th century Sitges started to become a mecca for artists and a center for Modernist and post Art Nouveau architects. During the 1960s (under the conservative dictatorship of Franco) it became a center for the counterculture in Spain.

Nowadays, Sitges' economy is based mainly on upscale tourism and business meetings and conferences. Unlike most other coasts in Spain which were taken over by cheap mass tourism in the 1970s and 1980s, Sitges fortunately preserved its special atmosphere of a charming and pleasant (but also more expensive) place to relax and have fun.

Sitges gay couple at the beach

That attracted also more and more gay tourists and expatriates, and in the 1990s Sitges became a gay hotspot. Especially in July and August Sitges is packed with gay men from all over Europe.

Although Sitges isn't short of sights, architectural features and museums, most gays probably come to Sitges for beach holidays.

The part of Sitges' beach that is mainly gay is beach #6, Bossa Rodona. [ Map: Sitges, Bossa Rodona beach ]

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Beach #2, Balmins, is a mixed straight and gay beach. [ Map: Sitges, Balmins beach ]

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And there are also some small bays with clothing-optional beaches south-western of Sitges, approx. 4 kilometres from the center of Sitges. The last kilometre to get to the gay beach l'Home Mort (with beach bar) you have to walk along the railway track – look out for the fast trains! [ Map: Sitges, Home Mort beach ]

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After a day on the beach the gay night life starts slowly in the evening and takes off after midnight till early morning. Bars and clubs in Sitges tend to get busy just for one or two hours each night. It seems as if an invisible power assigned a certain time slot to each location. If you visit a location outside these time slots you could easily be the only guests.

Although some of the gay bars in Sitges attract a young clientele or fetish crowd or Bears, you will find almost all bars quite mixed by age, nationalities, preferences and style. As you can see on our Gay Map Sitges, all the gay bars and clubs are located within walking distance of each other, so you can easily have a look and find your favourites.

Sitges is also well connected by rail with Barcelona (30 min). Don't miss this chance to see this amazing city and to enjoy it's sparkling gay night life.

Travel hints for Sitges

Sitges Carnival in February, Festa Major in August and the International Fantasy Film Festival in October are some of the annual festive highlights in Sitges.

As Sitges is situated in the autonomous region Catalonia many street in Sitges have both Spanish and Catalan names. While in the past the Spanish names were used predominantly, on this website we use the now common Catalan names (occasionaly with the Spanish version added in parentheses).

Still looking for a flight to Sitges? The closest airport is the Barcelona airport (also known as Prat of Llobregat), halfway between Sitges and Barcelona. The Spanish low-cost airline Vueling offers flights between this airport and several cities in Europe and within Spain.