Something is happening on the Costa del Sol, and from where we sit in Amsterdam it is impossible to miss. For years, if you wanted Spanish sun with a gay scene attached, the answer was Sitges. Increasingly it is Torremolinos, and the split in our own circle has become obvious: the group that always went to Sitges is now half going to Torremolinos instead.
Contents
We are going back ourselves in December for a weekend of winter sun. Here is why it keeps winning, what is actually there, and the extraordinary piece of history most guides leave out.
Why Torremolinos Is Taking Sitges’ Crowd
We like Sitges enormously and we are not writing it off. But the case for Torremolinos has got much stronger, and it comes down to four things.
- It is cheaper. Noticeably so, on beds, food and drinks. Torremolinos delivers a comparable gay beach scene without the price tag of Sitges or Mykonos, and over a long weekend that difference is the entire cost of the flights.
- Málaga airport is the real advantage. It is one of the best-connected airports in Europe, with cheap flights from almost everywhere, all year. Torremolinos is about fifteen minutes away by train. Sitges means flying to Barcelona and then getting out to the coast.
- It genuinely works in winter. This is the decisive one for us. Andalusia in December is mild and bright, and the town keeps functioning. Sitges in January is lovely but quiet, with reduced hours and closures.
- The scene is growing rather than shrinking. Which, given what has happened to gay bar strips in Sydney, Amsterdam and half of Europe, is genuinely unusual and worth supporting.
Our honest read: Sitges is the prettier town and has the better restaurants. Torremolinos is the better value and the better winter bet. If you are choosing for a summer week, it is close. If you are choosing for a long weekend in December, it is not.
La Nogalera: Where Everything Is
The gay scene is concentrated in La Nogalera, and it is unlike any gay village we have been to anywhere.
It is not a street. It is a multi-level open-air concrete arcade in the old town, built in the 1960s, with bars stacked on walkways around interior plazas. On paper it sounds grim. In practice, on a warm evening with every terrace full and the noise bouncing around the levels, it is one of the great gay drinking environments in Europe. It has been the heart of the scene here since the 1960s.
- Eagle Torremolinos: Plaza del Pozo 19, La Nogalera, 29620 Torremolinos.
- Vida Bar: Calle Danza Invisible 3, local 523, La Nogalera.
- Aqua Terrace and a dozen more around the same plazas, with indoor and outdoor seating and a crowd that moves between them all evening.
Our tip for first-timers: do not try to find the right bar. La Nogalera does not work that way. Get a drink on any terrace, then walk a level up or down every hour. Everyone else is doing the same thing and that is the entire social mechanism of the place.
Pasaje Begoña: The History Nobody Tells You
Two minutes from La Nogalera there is a short passage that most visitors walk past without knowing what it is. It deserves better, so here it is.
In 1962, in a passage beside the Begoña building, a place called Tony’s Bar opened. It is widely recognised as the first gay-friendly bar in Spain. This was under Franco, in a country where the regime had recriminalised homosexuality. Over the following decade the passage filled with bars and clubs, and Torremolinos, precisely because it was full of foreign tourists, became somewhere a Spanish gay man could exist in a way that was impossible almost anywhere else in the country.
It ended on the night of 25 to 26 June 1971. Franco’s police raided the passage. Around 300 people were identified, roughly 119 were arrested, and 23 venues in the town were closed. It is remembered as the Great Raid of the Pasaje Begoña.
The passage has since been formally recognised as a place of Historical Memory and the Cradle of LGBTI Rights and Freedoms, by unanimous declaration of both the Spanish Congress of Deputies and the Parliament of Andalusia.
You are drinking on top of one of the most significant sites in European queer history. Go and stand in it for five minutes before you go back to the bars. Torremolinos is not just a cheap beach town, and this is the reason.
The Beach
- Playa del Bajondillo is the main town beach and the closest to La Nogalera, a short walk down from the old town. The gay section clusters around the beach bars.
- Unlike Sitges, the beach and the bars are not a two-minute walk apart. Bajondillo sits below the town and there are steps and a lift involved. It is not far, but it is not Sitges-close.
- In December, expect bright and mild rather than swimming weather. Perfectly good for lunch on a terrace in a jumper, which is exactly what we go for.
Where to Stay
Torremolinos has an unusual amount of dedicated gay accommodation for a town its size, including the Ritual Torremolinos, which bills itself as the largest gay hotel in Europe. Staying in or beside La Nogalera means you walk home from everything, with the usual trade-off that the arcade is loud until very late.
The seafront hotels are quieter and often cheaper, and the walk back up is five to ten minutes. For a short winter weekend we would take the noise and stay central.
Gay Torremolinos: Your Questions Answered
Where is the gay area of Torremolinos?
La Nogalera, a multi-level open-air arcade in the old town, a few minutes from the seafront. It has been the centre of the scene since the 1960s and almost every gay bar in town is inside it or beside it.
Torremolinos or Sitges?
Sitges is prettier, has better restaurants and a beach right beside the bars. Torremolinos is cheaper, far easier to reach via Málaga airport, and works much better in winter. For a summer week it is close. For a December weekend, Torremolinos.
Is Torremolinos good in winter?
Yes, and it is the main reason it is gaining ground. Andalusia in December is mild and bright, flights to Málaga are cheap year-round, and the bars keep running rather than scaling back.
How do you get to Torremolinos from Málaga airport?
The local train takes about fifteen minutes and runs frequently. It is one of the easiest airport transfers of any gay beach destination in Europe.
What is Pasaje Begoña?
The passage where Spain’s first gay-friendly bar opened in 1962, under Franco, and the site of a mass police raid in June 1971 in which around 119 people were arrested. It is now officially recognised as a place of Historical Memory and the Cradle of LGBTI Rights and Freedoms.
More Spanish sun from us: our gay Sitges guide, the Sitges bars and Judgement Square, and Gran Canaria for the serious winter option.
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