TRAVELFive Places Where Lesbian Travelers Are Celebrated Not Just Tolerated6 min read
Montreal: The City That Doesn’t Make It About the Men
Most famous LGBT destinations skew heavily male. Montreal doesn’t. The city has actively cultivated a lesbian scene, and it shows — in the bars, the parties, the attitude. Canada legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, and Montreal leaned into its reputation as the most LGBT-friendly city in the country.
Rue Sainte-Catherine anchors the Village, Montreal’s gayborhood. Complexe Sky is the largest gay club in Canada, four floors of different music, and a rooftop with a pool and hot tub that makes every other rooftop feel inadequate. The legendary Le Drugstore — a lesbian bar that once ran across eight floors — has closed, but the scene it helped build remains. For something more low-key, Bar Alexandraplatz is a lesbian-owned industrial warehouse turned beer garden in the Mile-Ex neighborhood, exactly as cool as that sounds.
The organization LezSpreadTheWord — publishers of the LSTW feminist magazine and creators of the queer web series Féminin/Féminin — throws a bimonthly women’s party called “Où sont les femmes?” Worth planning your trip around. Montreal Pride runs in mid-August; the feminist-queer Slut Island Festival, a DIY music event for women, trans, and nonbinary performers, typically happens in July. Summer in Montreal is also just genuinely good: outdoor terraces everywhere, Jean Dore Beach on the St. Lawrence minutes from downtown, and the murals on Boulevard Saint-Laurent that make every walk feel like a gallery.
Mallorca: An Island That Built a Festival From Scratch
Before 2012, Mallorca was a European beach holiday. Then the Ella Festival launched in Palma, the island’s capital, and lesbian travelers started paying attention. The festival — for lesbian, bisexual, queer, trans, and intersex women — runs every August and packs in beach parties, live concerts, paddleboarding, beach volleyball, and organized island excursions.
The island itself rewards exploration beyond Palma. More than 260 beaches spread across Mallorca’s coastline; the small bays of Cala Formentor and Cala Pi are picturesque in the way that makes you want to never leave, while Cala Mesquida and Playa de Muro deliver wide open sandy stretches. Drive north to the Cap de Formentor lighthouse — the road alone is worth it. The inland villages of Sóller, Fornalutx, Valldemossa, and Deià are the kind of quiet, cobblestoned, olive-tree-shaded places that reset something in you.
The Ella Festival runs late August into early September. The site Lesbian Mallorca maintains a running directory of lesbian bars, women-owned restaurants, and LGBT-friendly hotels if you want to stay plugged in after the festival wraps.