A Guide to Safe Caribbean Destinations for LGBTQIA+ Travel

Curaçao’s breezy spirit would make LGBTQIA+ vacationers like me truly feel welcome, many thanks to a welcoming and welcoming society, catered nightlife, situations and accommodations, and a Pride celebration.

However its neighbor and sister island Aruba typically steals the highlight, Curaçao is a concealed gem regarded for its saying “Biba i laga Biba” which interprets to “Live and enable dwell.”

LGBTQIA+ vacationers that descend upon Curaçao are welcomed by this attitude and surrounded by a good deal of organic natural beauty, pristine waters, and coral reefs, not to mention 70 dive web-sites, 35 alluring seashores, and lovable Dutch Caribbean architecture through. 

Curaçao’s document on legal rights and protections for LGBTQIA+ travelers is not as solid as some of the other possibilities on this listing, but the small island is earning progress, and attitudes are currently friendlier to queer tourists than most other places in the Caribbean.

Discrimination legislation are in area for queer persons and exact same-sexual intercourse sexual action is authorized, but similar-intercourse marriage by itself is not legal yet irrespective of there becoming an ongoing debate and motion for that to improve quickly. Legal rights for trans men and women are at the moment nonexistent. 

Exactly where to go: Although I have not been for the duration of the competition itself, Curaçao hosts a Pride parade and other year-round occasions catered at queer people today, and there are a number of LGBTIA+ associations on the island.

The once-a-year Carnival celebrations — stuffed with costumes, floats, dancing, and a celebratory temper — materialize in February and have extensive drawn queer travelers like myself. Meanwhile, Mambo Seaside is a gay-pleasant beach with multiple fashionable seashore golf equipment.

Even with its smaller sizing, Curaçao also has very good nightlife alternatives for LGBTQIA+ vacationers, like the focused Rainbow Lounge and Bar. Cabana Seaside has a mixed, helpful crowd, as does Soaked & Wild Beach front Club, which hosts a well-known Sunday Funday-design and style day social gathering. 

On the island, consider ATV rides as a result of Shete Boka National Park, hike the highest peak on the island at Christoffel Nationwide Park, or choose for underwater aqua safari excursions, snorkeling, and diving.

For a bucket listing expertise, reserve a non-public boat charter to the uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao, “Minimal Curaçao,” the place you will get pleasure from secluded and pristine shorelines, a jaw-dropping shipwreck, and a lighthouse. 

Exactly where to stay: The majority of accommodations are homosexual-friendly and the island has viewed a surge of new openings in the past two years, which include Curaçao Marriott Beach front Resort, Desires Curaçao Resort, Spa & Casino, and soon, partners will appreciate the first Sandals on the island — Sandals Royal Curaçao. 

My recommendation is the gay-welcoming Bario Resort, which has fair prices on studio, suite, and apartment-fashion lodging.

Baoase Luxurious Vacation resort is another queer-helpful beloved and has an island-stylish, welcoming environment, and villa-fashion rooms, several of which consist of private plunge pools.

Other ideas: In the main port city of Willemstad, Pietermaai is a stylish community that draws in queer visitors and is equivalent to Miami’s Wynwood, filled with murals and stylish destinations to try to eat and have a night time out.