5 happy gay bars in Barcelona

Loud interior, red light, Spanish pop music and the occasional drag performance: Cangrejo (Lobster) is the kind of gay bar you see in the movies and yes, it’s just as much fun as it looks like in those movies. Attracts a young crowd.

Sometimes it seems there’s only two types of gay bars: the cool kind (where people go to dance and show off their muscles) and the daft kind (with lots of funny little paintings on the wall and live drag shows). So it’s nice to know our age of non-binary queer liberation has spawned its own bar: the odd, arty, eclectic experience that is Candy Darling.

Two bars, a lot of fake art and plenty of television screens showing the music videos to the songs you hear. Museum is popular with men who frequent gyms but also with groups of friends who just want to have a good time dancing. On weekend nights it gets filled to the brim between 1 and 3 am.

The friendliest of the city’s gay bars. The staff are a joy to watch, and apart from the regular drinks they have some personal cocktails as well (such as the wodka-based ‘Swedish Bitch’). During the day food is served, mostly Italian. There’s a terrace on the square across the street.

I personally find it impossible not to like a bar that winks at comic hero Tintin in its name, specialises in gin & tonic, and calls its bartenders ‘ginboys’. And neither can the people of all ages who have found their way to this bar, right across from famed gay hotel Axel.