Top 10 Gay Travel Gifts 2023

Daan Colijn

It is time for our annual list of Queer Travel Presents. As Gay Travel Bloggers, we love to find extraordinary things like souvenirs from around the world, but also memorable presents that we buy close to home in Amsterdam. Sometimes, it seems to become more and more challenging to find that special thing to show how much you appreciate those special people in your life. From a small thank-you gift to “making a big long-term dream come true”. But this year, we focus on gay travel gifts you can experience together. The icing on the cake is that you can buy or book most online and are, therefore, great last-minute presents. Do you like to gift an adventure that you can experience together? Then enjoy our selection of gay travel gifts 2023 and get inspired by our best queer travel present ideas. Happy giving!

What are the best queer activity gifts?

Instead of material things and overpriced luxury, we like to present lovely moments and memorable experiences. Don’t get us wrong, we like fancy stuff, but we love going on adventures and exploring the world and each other by doing things that excite us. But it is always good have someone who can guide you in the right direction.. so..

First tip (with some personal gain): If you or your loved ones speak or read German, our own gay travel book “Couple of Men – Ein Männerpaar reist um die Welt” is the perfect gay travel gift!

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The perfect present to inspire (German-speaking) LGBTQ+ travelers and their allies to travel the world open-minded, respectfully, and with a happy heart.

Order our book online or purchase it in bookstores in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

On Amazon >

#2 Where to go for a queer city trip in 2024?

Nothing beats a surprise getaway right? If you have the coins and know your loved one is up for travel, then booking a queer city trip is the way to go. One of our favourite cities that we visit often is Berlin. Did you know we actually met each other at one of Berlin’s most notorious queer hotspots, the Kit Kat Club? Nowhere is the LGBTQI+ scene as vibrant as in Berlin, and staying up to date with all the fabulous parties, spoken word artistry and just queer urban life is kind of crucial. For all the updated queer Berlin info you need, check out Place2Be.Berlin. Next to a good list of everything that is happening, they also focus on Berlin’s queer history. Take a deep dive before you go, and you will present the best queer city trip anyone can wish for!

#4 When should you buy summer event tickets?

We know, we know! It is cold outside, but summer will come soon enough. And you know how much we love a good summer festival! Events and festivals are getting increasingly expensive, so getting invited to one of your favourite festivals is such a great gay travel gift for 2024! Most summer events already have ticket sales online, with some pretty good early-bird deals. For example, the tickets for Tropikali Festival are already available. But hurry up because these festivals tend to sell out quickly! Click here for the tickets >

#5 How to really relax during a holiday?

Wellness, Spa, Sauna – three words everyone loves to hear when it comes to getting a present. When we did our road trip to the central German highlands, we stayed in a Slumber Wine Barrel. And with the help of their sauna barrel, we spent the whole afternoon relaxed and in peace. Just heating up in the sauna and getting refreshed in real powder snow between sessions. Treat yourself and your loved one to a day full of sleep, warmth and healthy food. It’s the perfect gay travel gift. We recommend booking a hotel with a wellness area or a spa close to the hotel of your destination. But you can also gift a spa day nearby. It will feel like a mini holiday.

#6 Are escape rooms still fun?

Sometimes, bringing someone into a totally different world is easier than you think. The trend of playing an Escape Room spread across the globe several years ago. But is it still fun to book a room and take your friends hostage for one hour? Absolutely! And it takes you on a trip to a different world without actually travelling. Living in Amsterdam, we love to play the Escape Rooms by Sherlocked. After setting a new record (which was broken a week later) in “the Architect“, we played with a bunch of handsome men, the very advanced Escape Room, the Vault. As one of the most challenging escape rooms in the world, we ALMOST cracked the safe! Surprise your queer friends and (chosen) family with an Escape Room adventure and enjoy one hour of excitement, adrenalin, and teamwork!

#7 Should I book a gay cruise?

A lot of our friends are asking us about our gay cruise experiences. Many think it would be way too intense and claustrophobic to be stuck on a ship with 2000 gay men for an entire week. So, should they book a cruise as a gay travel gift? Yes, they are intense, extremely party-focused and very sex-positive. But after doing a few of these cruises, we found that if you take care of yourself and each other by skipping a party here and there, getting enough sleep, and maybe staying on board instead of exploring the port once or twice, you will have a wonderful time.

Many guys also fear not being muscled enough for a gay party cruise. But we found out that the crowd is way more diverse than you would expect, and although the energy can be high, most guys are super friendly and are there to have a nice time. With many gay cruise companies, there are (especially for the guys) a lot of options. Thankfully, slowly we see more and more queer cruises coming up, so have a look and let us know if you found the cruise of your dreams!

#8 Where are the best theme parks?

We love theme parks! Buying tickets for your loved ones is just a logical gay travel gift idea. Over the years, we have been to many theme parks worldwide. However, the Universal Orlando Resort and Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando still host some of our favourite parks. According to us and many others, the best theme park in the world is Disney Sea in Tokyo. Japan might be a bit far away, so getting theme park tickets for your next trip to Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, Barcelona, Anaheim, Orlando, Hong Kong, Osaka, or Shanghai is, for some queer people, the best surprise there is!

#10 Where to go to celebrate Pride?

If you really want to impress your queer loved one, you gift them a trip to celebrate Pride! But where should you go? There are so many destinations that celebrate diversity while standing up for equality these days. So, do you want to take them to the more famous Prides like in Los Angeles, Brussels, or Berlin? Or maybe surprise them with a lesser-known Pride like the ones in Malmö, Jasper, or Munich? Wherever you choose to go, it will be unique because celebrating Pride in another country within another culture is an experience that you both will cherish for a very long time.

Did you get some good gay travel gift inspiration?

We are constantly looking for gay travel gift inspirations for LGBTQ+ travellers to extend our list. If you have any tips, feel free to comment, message, or drop us a line. If you don’t have someone you can surprise this year, just treat yourself with something nice, maybe even with something from our gay travel gifts list! For 2024, we already have some exciting ideas and destinations, so stay tuned, and we might see you on one of our trips!

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Karl & Daan

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