Will Stone
If you think macho fun on the Spanish coast begins and end with Sitges, you’ve got another think coming. If you think you need to fly to the Canary Islands to find fetish men by a Spanish beach, think again. Think Torremolinos, the gay resort town in the heart of Spain’s Costa del Sol. It’s the only place in Spain—not Madrid, not Barcelona—that boasts a monthly leather event. Take that, Maspalomas!
It’s a familiar story. Torremolinos, like Provincetown and Puerta Vallarta, began as a small fishing village. Things changed when movie stars and other creatives discovered the local charm. In the first half of the 20th century, it was playwrights Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams in Provincetown. Decades later, it was Liz Taylor and Dick Burton in Puerta Vallarta. Glamor came to Torremolinos mid-century when Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot, and other celluloid royalty arrived. Like most of the Western world, Torremolinos experienced free love in the ‘60s. Pasty-white northern Europeans flocked to southernmost Europe to frolic on the steamy Mediterranean shore. Spain’s first gay bar opened in Torremolinos in 1962. Dictator Francisco Franco turned a blind eye to the blue-eyed hedonism because the rich northerners spent freely in down-on-its-luck Spain.
By the ‘70s, fed-up local authorities began raiding gay bars. Headlines screamed across northern countries’ newspapers that their citizens were being held in jail in a seaside town in Spain. This created a notoriety for Torremolinos that drew mainstream tourists in the post-Franco era. Things started deteriorating. What had been a jet-set and counterculture haven gained repute as a tacky town filled with drunken straight British expats and bland high-rise hotels. Eventually, the locals had enough. Height restrictions were enacted for new construction. Historic structures got spruced up. Recently, Brexit has sent a lot of British expats back to their chilly northern roosts, restoring Torremolinos’s Spanish flavor. Authorities now celebrate Torremolinos’s hedonistic past by marketing to LGBT visitors, holding flamboyant festivals year-round.
Each month, a group of local leather-lovers—including Mig Leather, the newly sashed Mr. International Leather & Boots Spain—hosts Copas en Cuero, Spain’s only monthly leather social. This April, they’ll join forces with the promoters of TLF—Torremolinos Leather & Fetish. It’s a five-night celebration of fetish—with sex parties, dance parties, bar nights, pub crawls, a dinner, and a contest. TLF takes place over Easter weekend. So if Easter in Berlin is too chilly for you, pack your gear and head for the Sun Coast. Wear whatever the fuck turns you on!
If you fantasize about cavorting with porn stars, plan to stay longer. The weekend after TLF, Torremolinos hosts the European Grabby Awards. Saturday night’s awards ceremony is followed by an all-night after party. There will also be a gala dinner Friday night, as well as breakfast buffets Saturday and Sunday for you pigs that like to feed at the trough.
Spain’s hairiest will make the trek to the coast in August for Mad.Bear Beach Torremolinos. For ten sweaty days and nights, bears will prowl the calles and playas of Torremolinos, sniffing out the best dance parties, pool parties, party boats, pub crawls, and beach spots. Take that, Sitges!
Torremolinos is easy to get to. In less than 15 minutes, a train will take you to the center of town from the airport at Málaga, the largest city on Spain’s southern coast. If you’re already in Madrid, add a sunny side trip to Torremolinos without having to hop on a plane. A high-speed train will whisk you to Málaga. Then it’s just 20 minutes by local train to Fetish Central on the Costa de Sol.
Once you arrive, it’s a five-minute walk to Hotel Ritual, Torremolinos’s Big Gay Hotel with a rooftop pool for nudists. Other fetish-friendly places in town are Hotel Sireno, near the train station, and Hostal Guadalupe, at the beach. After you’ve checked in, head to Boxer, the local outpost of the Barcelona-based fetish chain. When it’s time to hit the waves (and when isn’t it?), scout out a spot on the sands outside Eden Beach Club or Paraíso Beach to find the boys. For getting wet indoors, meet horny guys at Apolo Sauna Cabaret. When you need to take a break from fucking in the sauna, enjoy drag shows, go-go dancers, and live DJs in the cabaret. Scan the agenda at Alcatraz and Exxtreme, sex clubs with leather and fetish nights.
For fetish-friendly cruise bars, go to Men’s Bar or Querell. This being Spain, there’s a lot more than drinking going on. Both bars come with extensive playrooms. But for something a little mellower and more sociable, down some cocktails at Bar Kiko. It’s the home of the monthly Copas en Cuero leather social. Tell them Will Stone sent you!
Links:
Copas en Cuero www.instagram.com/copas_en_cuero/
TLF Torremolinos Leather & Fetish www.facebook.com/TLFTorremolinos/
Grabby Awards grabbyawards.com/
Mad.Bear madbear.org/
Hotel Ritual Torremolinos www.hotelritualtorremolinos.com/en/
Hotel Sireno www.hotelsirenotorremolinos.com/
Hostal Guadalupe hostal-guadalupe.torremolinoshotels4all.com/en/
Boxer boxerbarcelona.com/en/stores
Eden Beach Club edentorremolinos.com/
Apolo Sauna Cabaret www.facebook.com/SaunaApolo/
Alcatraz Men’s Club alcatrazmensclub.com/
Exxtreme exxxtremeclub.com/
Men’s Bar www.facebook.com/mensbartorremolinos/
Querell querelltorremolinos.com/
Bar Kiko bar-kiko-bar.business.site/
BY WILL STONE for more gay fetish guides see Leathermentravel.com or selected locations here on www.Alphatribe.com
