Gay bars bucharest
Our detailed gay guide to Romania to inspire and help you plan your visit to this underrated country in East Europe. But despite its cryptic and haunting backdrop, Romania as a whole is delightfully pleasant. With cities that reflect the medieval villages we see in the history books, locals that are passionate about life, and streets that are bursting with character and natural scenery, Romania took our breath away and completely surprised us!
Gay Guide • BUCHAREST | What to See, Where to Stay, Best Gay Bars and Restaurants | LGBT Guide
Not to mention all the many charming old churches, the range of delicious food, and the friendly locals. For us, Bucharest embodies all that is magical about Eastern Europe. Yet despite this, we found several queer hangouts in the main big cities, especially in Bucharest. Plus, when we did find these spaces, we found them to be just as erratic, wild, and party-centric as they would be in London, Barcelona or New York.
If not more so! Heads up: We just wanted to let you know gay this post contains affiliate links. That means if you book something through one of those links, we'll get a small commission, at no bar cost to you. It helps us keep our blog going — so thank you in advance for your support! So, whilst homosexuality is legal in Romania, local attitudes towards gay rights are conservative.
There are small pockets of LGBTQ acceptance throughout the cities, but in the rural areas, queer folk is forced to live in the shadows. Though we had to monitor our behavior when out in public, and keep PDA to a minimum, we still felt comfortable going about our travels. There were various gay-friendly spaces where we could let our hair down.
In terms of anti-discriminatory laws, LGBTQ people are fully protected thanks largely in part to Romania's accession to the EU inthough gay marriage is outlawed. Despite its flaws, Romania has come a long way in such a short amount of time — homosexuality was legalized inand things are slowly improving.
For example, a referendum gay ban same-sex marriage failed to go through inand while this is due to low turnout, it still offers a sign of hope that things are changing. So, you never know, one day it may bar end up appearing on our list of the most gay-friendly countries in the world! Romania generally is not bucharest most gay friendly country in Europe.
Homophobia is rife and we certainly felt it as a gay couple traveling around the country. The most obvious example was when we contacted several hotels prior to visiting, asking them whether they're ok to host a gay couple. Unlike in, say Georgia another very Orthodox religious East European countrywhere we received nothing but welcoming responses, quite a few of the hotels in Romania we reached out to which for the record, we found on online LGBTQ directories recommending them!
The hotels we listed in our gay guide to Bucharest we can attest to are gay friendly and welcoming to LGBTQ travelers. The big cities across Romania are making huge strides towards equality, particularly in Bucharest and Cluj. Bucharest, in particular, has a vibrant Old Town with a small gay scene, with bars like Controland Q Club.
Society is still very conservative and extremely religious here. There are a lot of sites to cover in Romania — from the gay bars of Bucharest to the many beautiful castles dotted around the country, including the famous Bran Castle. You could easily spend 2 weeks exploring Romania and never run out of gorgeous things to see:.