Pride Month is coming up soon and around the world, people of all nations will celebrate the LGBTQ scene with pride this June.
The acronym LGBTQIA, with the addition of further letters, comes from English and stands for "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual". The term originally emerged from a collective movement to fight discrimination against sexual orientation and gender identity. This issue continues to this day in some countries where same-sex sexual orientation is still sometimes discriminated against.
Pride Month is characterised by many celebrations and events, of which the Pride parades are particularly noteworthy. So if you decide to go on a city break this summer and would like to take the opportunity to attend one of the Pride events, you can find inspiration in Holidu’s latest study. The data collection should help you get a better idea of the ease to reach the respective cities, what costs can be expected, how big the offer is for the LGBTQ community and how progressive the respective country is in terms of legislation.
For this, Holidu, the search engine for holiday rentals, examined different data points for more than 100 European cities. The maximum achievable score per city in the ranking was 50, as a score of 10 could be achieved in each individual category.
Please read on to see which European cities made it into the top 5:
1. London – Overall Score: 38.67
The UK's capital London took first place this year with an overall score of 38.67, making it the most LGBTQ-friendly city in Europe. In the category of Instagram hashtags as well as "LGBTQ-friendly bars", London achieved the maximum score of 10. In terms of equality, the UK is already very progressive in a Europe-wide comparison with a score of 8.2. The metropolis is also a pioneer in terms of accessibility and achieved a score of 9.12. The only drawback is the price of accommodation per night: with an average of 289 euros per night, visitors have to dig deep into their pockets for their stay. On Saturday, 2 July 2022, the big Pride parade will take place in London, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in the UK this year.
2. Berlin – Overall Score: 29.85
The German capital also climbs the winner's podium and grabs the silver medal in the rankings. Compared to London, you only pay about half as much for accommodation in Berlin, but the competition in this category is extremely strong, which is why the big city only scores 2.79 here. In terms of "accessibility", Berlin is only just behind London, scoring 9.30 out of 10. With more than 60 gay-friendly bars, the capital is also one of the top performers in Europe in this category. Berlin's Christopher Street Day, or Berlin Pride Parade, will take place this year on 23 July 2022, after a break due to the pandemic. But there are already many smaller demos, street festivals and events starting in June.
3. Hamburg – Overall Score: 27.32
Another German city made it into the top 5: Hamburg takes third place with an overall score of 27.32. Among other things, Hamburg scores well in the accessibility category (score: 7.98) and the Hanseatic city also delivers a presentable result in terms of LGBTQ-friendly bars, confirming that major German cities are very open to the LGBTQ community. For accommodation in mid-June, visitors pay around 138 euros per night. As far as social media is concerned, Hamburg still has some catching up to do – perhaps they will be busy setting Pride hashtags this year. This year's Pride week runs from 30 July to 7 August – the highlight is the Christopher Street Day demonstration on 6 August.
4. Amsterdam – Overall Score: 27.22
In fourth place in the ranking is the capital of the Netherlands with an overall score of 27.22. Of particular note in the Netherlands is LGBTQ equality, which has the highest score among the top 5. While Amsterdam is less well connected than its peers, it still ranks in the upper midfield with a score of 6.77. The number of bars where people belonging to the LGBTQ community are welcomed with open arms is also impressive. If Instagram users share Pride posts a little more diligently this year, Amsterdam can hopefully catch up in this category in the future. If you're staying here in June, you can expect to pay just over 244 euros for accommodation per night. Amsterdam Gay Pride starts on 30 July and ends on 7 August 2022.
5. Paris – Overall Score: 26.89
5th place goes to France's capital Paris. The metropolis scores particularly well in terms of accessibility (8.86 points) and LGBTQ-friendly bars (8.13 points). Since accommodation in Paris is among the most expensive in Europe, the city scores lower than its peers in this category. This also applies to posts on Pride-related hashtags. Paris Pride, or Marche des Fiertés LGBTQ, is celebrated on 25 June and has been taking place for more than 40 years. The event is the largest Pride parade in France, with around 700,000 people taking part every year.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
