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Netherlands Gay Bars & Clubs

Prik

1 review

Spuistraat 109

Prik is Amsterdam’s favorite gay hangout, a cozy pink cocktail bar that’s been serving the city since 2006 and has picked up a shelf’s worth of awards along the way, including ”most popular gay bar in the Netherlands” and Time Out’s ”best gay venu...

Café Montmartre

Café Montmartre

1 review

Reguliersdwarsstraat 48

Café Montmartre is one of the most iconic and beloved gay cafés in Amsterdam, a true institution of the city’s LGBTQ+ nightlife since the early 1980s, known for its warm Dutch gezelligheid, friendly team, and unforgettable sing-along atmosphere. A...

1 review

Bilderdijkstraat 165-E

De Trut is a true Amsterdam legend, a raw, unpolished, and unapologetically queer party held every Sunday night in the basement of a legalized former squat in Oud-West. Running since 1985 and staffed entirely by volunteers, it’s as much an act of ...

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1 review

Kerkstraat 4

Spijker Bar is Amsterdam’s oldest gay dive bar, a cozy, unpretentious ”brown café”-style spot on Kerkstraat that’s been serving the community since 1978, back when this street was the beating heart of gay Amsterdam. Set in a 1904 building that onc...

The Queen’s Head

The Queen’s Head

1 review

Zeedijk 20

The Queen’s Head is an Amsterdam institution, an iconic gay bar on the Zeedijk that opened in 1998 when John Dijkmeijer took over a struggling lounge bar so his partner Willem de Wit could perform drag under the stage name Dusty, a basement space ...

1 review

Schiedamsesingel 173

Transcafé Rotterdam is a warm, welcoming social gathering for everyone exploring gender identity, hosted twice a month at COC Rotterdam Rijnmond, one of the oldest LGBTQ+ rights organizations in the world. On the first and third Sunday of every mo...

1 review

Reguliersdwarsstraat 42

Club NYX is a queer legend in the heart of Amsterdam, rising from the ashes of the beloved Exit disco (which partied in this same spot from 1988 to 2010) to become the anchor nightclub of Reguliersdwarsstraat, the city’s main gay street. Named for...

1 review

Reguliersdwarsstraat 42

Exit Café is one of the liveliest spots on Reguliersdwarsstraat, the heart of Amsterdam’s gay nightlife: a cozy, kitschy ”après-ski” bar done up like a Swiss chalet, with a colorful terrace out front and all. Playing mostly house and international...

1 review

Reguliersdwarsstraat 36

Soho is one of the biggest and most iconic gay bars in Amsterdam, an English-pub-style café-club on Reguliersdwarsstraat set in an 18th-century coach house, with all fine wood paneling, large mirrors and Chesterfield seating, with a nod to London’...

1 review

Reguliersdwarsstraat 45

Taboo is a modern, welcoming gay bar right on Reguliersdwarsstraat, Amsterdam’s main gay street, popular with a genuinely wide mix of people—young and old, locals and tourists alike. Reopened in 2022 with a striking new interior, a stage for drag ...

Coffeeshop The Otherside

Coffeeshop The Otherside

1 review

Reguliersdwarsstraat 6

The Otherside is a beloved Amsterdam institution and the only named gay coffeeshop in the city, open since 1990 right on Reguliersdwarsstraat, the heart of Amsterdam’s gay nightlife district, just around the corner from the world-famous floating F...

Weteringschans 6-8

Rapido is Amsterdam’s most famous gay dance party, an internationally renowned circuit event that’s been drawing the great and good of gay Europe since 2004. Staged only a few times a year, often coinciding with King’s Day, Pride or Halloween, it ...

Keerweer 14

Café Keerweer has been a household name in Rotterdam’s gay community since 1985: a small, camp, and colorful cabaret bar that’s one of the city’s great late-night institutions. Cozy and unpretentious, it’s known for its plenty of drag queens, live...

Coffeeshop The Dolphins

Coffeeshop The Dolphins

Kerkstraat 39

Coffeeshop The Dolphins is a beloved Amsterdam institution, an ocean-themed coffeeshop that’s been serving Kerkstraat since 1985, a street that was the beating heart of gay Amsterdam from the 1950s through the 1980s. Under airbrushed dolphins and ...

Reguliersdwarsstraat 41

Bar Blend is the intimate original of the Blend family, a colorful, unapologetically itself little bar right in the middle of Reguliersdwarsstraat, the spine of Amsterdam’s gay nightlife. It works more like a modern neighborhood bar than a club, a...

Albert Cuypstraat 124

Bar Buka is one of the few dedicated lesbian and queer bars left in Amsterdam, a warm, easygoing spot in De Pijp opened in March 2019 by Marianne van der Wildt, who took the bar’s name from the Indonesian word for ”open,” a nod to the welcome exte...

Oostelijke Handelskade 4

Bear Necessity is one of the largest and longest-running bear parties in Europe, founded in 2008 by Sjag Kozak and still a mainstay of Amsterdam’s queer calendar. Held several times a year at the spacious, stylish Panama Amsterdam in the Eastern D...

Reguliersdwarsstraat 44

Blend XL is the bigger, clubbier sibling of Bar Blend, opened in 2021 a few doors down on Reguliersdwarsstraat and quickly established as one of the newest stars of Amsterdam’s gay scene. Spacious, stylish and a little more glamorous than its smal...

Café Bonaparte

Nieuwe Binnenweg 117A

Café Bonaparte is a long-standing gay and drag night café in the heart of Rotterdam, part of the city center’s cluster of LGBTQ+ bars. Recently taken over by new ownership (2026), it remains a late-night spot for the queer community. Check its soc...

Elandsstraat 119-HS

Saarein is the oldest surviving women’s café in Amsterdam, a classic ”brown café” in the heart of the Jordaan that a collective of ten women bought and named after the original owners, Saar and Rein, back in 1978. A frisky, warm, and unmistakably ...

Van Oldenbarneveltstraat 154

Strano is an essential ingredient in any night out in gay Rotterdam: a small, cozy, trendy bar-club that’s been part of the scene for over two decades. Intimate and stylish, with red leather couches, baroque touches and a little dance floor lit by...

Café 't Mandje

Zeedijk 63

Café ’t Mandje is one of the most significant bars in Dutch LGBTQ+ history, a tiny, quirky, unmissable Zeedijk landmark opened in 1927 by Bet van Beeren, a self-willed lesbian biker who became the uncrowned queen of the street and welcomed gays, l...

Humberweg 3

Club Raum is Amsterdam’s dedicated queer techno temple, the long-awaited permanent home of Spielraum, the legendary underground party that founders Diego Meijers and Sven Bijma launched in 2017 and grew into a cultural beacon of the city’s queer n...

Van Oldenbarneveltstraat 148A

Elio is Rotterdam’s cheerful new queer bar, opened in April 2025 as the younger, more laid-back sibling of the city’s famous Ferry, and quite possibly home to the largest bright-pink-painted bar in the Netherlands. Set in the beloved former premis...

Westblaak 127

Ferry is the beating heart of LGBTQ+ Rotterdam, a stylish, multi-concept venue right downtown that rolls a gay bar, restaurant, nightclub, art gallery and shop into one. By day and early evening it’s an easygoing café-restaurant with a creative me...

Lellebel: Queer Bar

Lellebel: Queer Bar

Utrechtsestraat 4H

Lellebel, self-described as the only tiny alternative indie grunge rock queer bar in Amsterdam, is a trans and queer women-owned and -operated institution just off Rembrandtplein, open since 1997. Founded by Hans Wijtenburg, one half of the legend...

Weteringstraat 60

Café Mankind is a warm, welcoming gay café and restaurant tucked on the Lijnbaansgracht canal, a quieter, more unhurried alternative to the busier Reguliersdwarsstraat scene and just steps from the Rijksmuseum and the Museum Quarter. Everyone’s we...

Jacob van Lennepstraat 86H

PAMELA is a vibrant, colorful queer and BIPOC safe haven in Amsterdam’s Oud-West, founded in 2020 by Dutch-Nigerian owner Lola Edobor, who spotted a real gap: the city’s well-known gay bars weren’t always built with queer people of color in mind. ...

Doctor Jan van Breemenstraat 1

TILLATEC is a raw, underground nightclub in Amsterdam West’s De Baarsjes that has become a genuine anchor of the city’s nightlife scene. Its inclusive policy is a conscious choice rather than a marketing line, with particular care for queer people...

Schiedamsedijk 4

Bar Loge 90 is one of Rotterdam’s most enduring and lively gay bars, a genuine landmark of the local scene for over 30 years, handily located on Schiedamsedijk near Beurs metro station. Warm, laid-back and welcoming, it’s the kind of neighborhood ...

Halstraat 30

On Halstraat, Café de Halte has been part of Breda’s gay life since 1967 - the city’s very first gay venue, and still going strong as a cosy café with a club vibe. Sociable and laid-back early on, it builds into a livelier, dancier night towards t...

Sint Janstraat 5

Flamingoos is Breda’s coziest gay café - a warm, characterful little bar decked out in rich, glowing colors, where the gezellig atmosphere and easy conversation keep regulars coming back. It’s the kind of relaxed, friendly local that’s perfect for...

Nieuwstraat 19

’t Piggenhuis is a genuine Breda institution - a much-loved gay café where everyone feels at home and all are welcome. Unpretentious and warm, it’s the sort of place locals treat as a second living room, easy to settle into whether you’re a regula...

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