In anticipation of Berlin's annual gay pride march, Christopher Street Day, gay travel writer Adam Groffman of Travels of Adam and travel guide publisher Berta Luise Heide from Walk This Way published the QueerBerlin map of LGBT-friendly museums, shops, sights, restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs and other hotspots.
"Berlin is one of the best cities in the world for LGBT tourists," said Groffman. "With the QueerBerlin map, we highlight some of our favorite places-the very same which we would recommend to family and friends that tourists might not be able to find on their own."
Groffman lives in Berlin and travels around the globe publishing city guides for gay travelers on his website Travels of Adam.
He is originally from Texas and was a graphic designer for a major U.S. book publisher before setting off to travel the world after being inspired to quit his job and travel by a long weekend trip to Iceland.
Groffman started his website as a travel blog but then decided to focus on publishing information on LGBT travel.
"I realized there were not a lot of sources for helping gay travelers," he said. "There were a lot of great blog,s but my experience wasn't really reflected in them. I targeted my audience to focus on LGBT people."
Groffman is now known for his Hipster City Guides and covers both mainstay LGBT destinations as well as lesser-known hotspots.
"I see the Hipster City Guides as gay travel guides," he says. "Gay travelers today, especially in more gay-friendly cities aren't necessarily going to just "gay" bars. There are a lot of cool bars that attract LGBT people but they are gay hangouts."
[READMORE]READ MORE: 8 Fun Pride Options in July [/READMORE]
Groffman also likes to feature cities that aren't often thought of as gay-friendly.
"I like to showcase these off-the-beaten-path cities that have a draw for gay travelers," he said.
For example, Groffman just made a hipster guide to Columbus, Ohio.
"The city has a huge gay scene and a really interesting culture where the people foster a creative spirit. There is a cool hipster vibe," he said.
He also noted that Columbus has one of the largest gay pride celebrations in the Midwest.
Groffman also discovered that, in addition to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem has a cool gay scene.
"Obviously, there are some issues there, but there are independent hipster bars and galleries that have an equally interesting and hip scene to Tel Aviv," he said.
Still, Berlin remains the most popular of all the city guides Groffman produces.
[READMORE] READ MORE: IGLTA Selects New York Hilton for 2019 Convention [/READMORE]
"I use social media to connect with other people," he said. "People get to see me living in Berlin and that grows the popularity of my Berlin guide because, through me, they get to see what gay Berlin is really like."
Now, he has added to his repertoire of Berlin guides with the QueerBerlin map. In addition to the hotspots for LGBT travelers visiting Berlin, there are specific walking tours included in the map.
For those interested in purchasing QueerBerlin, it's available at select retail shops in the city as well as online for 5€.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
