Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Festivals & Events
Leather & Fetish Week
(
www.blf.de
) Europe's biggest fetish fest whips the leather, rubber,
skin and military sets out of the dungeons and into the clubs over the long Easter weekend.
It culminates with the crowning of the 'German Mr Leather'.
Lesbisch-Schwules Stadtfest
(
www.regenbogenfonds.de
) The Lesbigay Street Festival
takes over the Schöneberg rainbow village in June, with bands, food, info booths and party-
ing.
Christopher Street Day
(
www.csd-berlin.de
)
Later in June, hundreds of thousands of
people of various sexual persuasions paint the town pink with a huge parade and more
queens than at a royal wedding.
Transgenialer CSD
(
www.transgenialercsd.wordpress.com
)
Also in June, Kreuzberg celeb-
rates this alternative version of CSD.
Lesbischwules Parkfest
(
www.parkfest-friedrichshain.de
) The gay community takes over
the Volkspark Friedrichshain for this delightfully noncommercial festival in August.
Folsom Europe
(
www.folsomeurope.info
)
The leather crowd returns in early September for
another weekend of kinky partying.
Hustlaball
(
www.hustlaball.de
) The party year wraps up in October with a weekend of de-
bauched fun in the company of porn stars, go-gos, trash queens, stripping hunks and about
3000 other men who love 'em.
Gay & Lesbian by Neighbourhood
Museumsinsel & Alexanderplatz
GMF, the best gay Sunday party, currently has a residen-
cy at the retro Club Avenue on Karl-Marx-Allee.
Scheunenviertel
Gets a mixed crowd, but its stylish and trendy bars and cafes also draw a
sizeable contingent of queer customers.
Kreuzberg & Neukölln
Hipster central. Things are still comparatively subdued in the bars
and cafes along main-strip Mehringdamm. Around Kottbusser Tor and along Oranienstrasse
the crowd skews younger, wilder and more alternative, and key venues stay open till sunrise
and beyond. For a DIY subcultural vibe, head across the canal to northern Neukölln, which
also has a couple of outrageously offbeat theatres.
