Carnival is already queer to its core. In spite of everything, if there’s something the LGBTQ+ group is aware of finest, it is how you can come collectively for celebration—one which culminates in a fabulously ostentatious parade… or 5. Creativity runs in our veins, and also you’ll all the time discover us on the coronary heart of any Carnival celebration, glitter weapons and streamer cannons armed and prepared. Good’s Lou Queernaval, nonetheless, is the primary formally homosexual carnival in France, which takes the dial and turns it as much as 100.
Queernaval is a celebration inside a celebration—an inclusive, joyous explosion of creativity at Good’s Carnival, created by the LGBTQ+ group for the group. It’s additionally a rattling good excuse to plan a gaycation to Good—as when you’d want one to go to probably the most beautiful metropolis on the French Riviera. However when you do want a motive, listed below are six good ones so as to add Queernaval in February/March to your yearly calendar.
The Parade is EPIC
The Queernaval parade works underneath the successful philosophy that extra is all the time extra. It’s the fruits of months of labor spearheaded by the native LGBTQIA+ heart of Good, and all that arduous work exhibits, because it rivals any parade we’ve ever seen, Delight, Carnival, or in any other case.
Your complete spectacle takes place within the heart of Place Masséna the place you possibly can anticipate attractive dancers and drag queens atop dazzlingly embellished floats, native queer bands fairly actually dancing to the beat of their very own drums, glitter, bubble machines, streamers, and sure—loads of costumed eye sweet. Queernaval’s queer vitality is palpable, and the music is a finest hits from any homosexual document assortment.
Yearly brings a brand new theme to maintain issues recent. In 2025, it was The Large Blue Sea, that includes floats impressed by The Little Mermaid, drag queen mermaids, fluorescent jellyfish puppets, line-dancing seahorses, hula dancers swinging their hips to Beyoncé, buff Vikings, sailor go-go dancers, and sizzling mermen wielding each tridents and six-packs. There’s all the time a powerful ethical message thrown into the combo, and this time, it was our human obligation to protect our treasured oceans.
As soon as the parade involves an in depth, the crowds descend from the stands to bop and mingle within the sq.. It’s a good looking second that represents the group of Good—and its guests—coming collectively. In spite of everything, nothing unites individuals like celebration!
Queernaval is for Everybody
The LGBTQIA+ group of Good believes Carnival ought to be for everybody. Not like different Carnival events in Good (or just about wherever else for that matter), entrance is totally free. You’ll discover all letters of the LGBTQ+ group represented at Queernaval, with native LGBTQ+ teams taking their rightful place in an surroundings that’s totally inclusive. Costumes are elective, solely enjoyable is obligatory.
There’s no false promoting within the metropolis’s title both—Good individuals are, certainly, very good! Among the many crowd you’ll all the time discover somebody to speak to, even when your French leaves one thing to be desired.
Good Goes All Night time
The festivities don’t finish there. Though there’s no afterparty on the streets themselves (you possibly can’t drink outdoors in Good), the costumed crowd retains the spirit of Queernaval going—usually with the assistance of some precise spirits—at Good’s many homosexual bars and golf equipment.
Among the best bars within the space is Le Six, which has DJs taking part in a mixture of pop and home music to a full dance ground. What infuses it with that playful Good spirit, although, is its eccentric touches like a climbable ladder main as much as the second ground and vintage telephones that have been allegedly as soon as used to name guys who caught your eye on the opposite aspect of the bar. Blitz Bar is one other in style post-parade selection, a extra intimate bar taking part in techno music with raunchy queer artwork splashed throughout its partitions.
For golf equipment, the 2 large decisions are L’Omega Membership and Le Glam. The previous hosts big-name WE Get together-style DJs and is run by the beautiful homosexual entrepreneur couple who additionally personal Good Sundown, a seafront cabaret bar and restaurant. Le Glam, then again, has a extra industrial pop music vibe, full with some go-go dancers thrown into the combo. Nightlife in Good actually goes all evening, with La Klubber serving because the afterparty spot—beginning at 4 AM and working till 11 AM, and providing the all the time successful mixture of techno and topless males.
Do you have to really feel the decision, Good is house to a handful (so to talk) of cruising bars like Le Code and Morgan Membership, which regularly host themed nights throughout Carnival, in addition to an award-winning sauna, Les Bains Douche.
Fireplace and Flowers: Carnival’s Closing Celebrations are Epic Too
Good Carnival is a two-week affair boasting six parades, with the closing celebrations on the Saturday after Queernaval—effectively value venturing out with a hangover to see. The Bataille de Fleurs (Flower Battle) is a chic parade of floats that throw flowers down on the crowds—simply don’t catch one of many bouquets until getting married within the close to future appeals to you!
Good Carnival ends with a bang when the crowds collect—reasonably tribalistically—on the seashore for the burning of the “Carnival King” on the seafront (fortunately, an effigy, not an actual particular person) and a powerful fireworks show. What’s extra, subsequent 12 months Good’s Carnival is doing its half to interrupt the glass ceiling by switching issues up with their first Carnival Queen.
Good Serves French Riviera Perfection
Then there’s Good itself. The town is the French Riviera at its most interesting—a quintessentially French coastal city with a touch of Italian affect. It boasts azure waters fronting pebblestone seashores, a stunning promenade, and an previous city full of charming cobblestone streets lined with quaint French-style cafés, eating places, galleries, and museums.
Between Carnival celebrations, take a second to go sightseeing or simply take a stroll alongside the Promenade des Anglais and reside out your French getaway fantasies. To get a style of actually genuine Good, it’s best to go to the market in Cours Saleya. Among the many array of stalls, you should buy gorgeously colourful flowers, scrumptious native produce, and road meals favorites just like the well-known Pan Bagnat sandwiches and Pissaladière (an open-faced onion tart). A hike—or elevator experience—up the close by Fortress Hill will reward you with panoramic views over the French Riviera, even when the precise citadel not exists.
Past its magnificence, Good has cultural substance, too. Queers of tradition will discover a wealth of galleries and museums value their consideration. Many artists have known as Good house through the years, most notably Marc Chagall, whose vivid, dreamlike work full of shade—which accurately paint biblical scenes in a brand new gentle—could be considered on the Nationwide Marc Chagall Museum, simply outdoors town heart.
Additionally, be certain you pop into the Vigna Bookshop, which is the one LGBTQIA+ culture-focused bookshop outdoors of Paris and has a large choice of spicy homoerotic artwork for any connoisseur of the male type.
Good Locations to Eat and Keep
In Good it’s straightforward to eat just like the French aristocracy. The town’s delicacies is a successful mixture of French and Mediterranean flavors, with high eating places dotted throughout the Outdated City. Household-run eating places not often disappoint, and probably the most iconic establishment in Good is Acchiardo, having been owned by the identical household for 4 generations. It’s particularly in style with the LGBTQ+ group, serving up the perfect Niçoise delicacies within the metropolis—the ravioli is to die for, as is the pleasant homosexual waiter. For a queer cabaret present together with your dinner, head right down to Good Sundown alongside the seafront—they all the time have a present on throughout Carnival, and in our case it included a Michael Jackson impersonator.
Good’s spirit of creativity and acceptance extends to its motels, too. A favourite amongst LGBTQ+ guests is the Resort Windsor Jungle Artwork Resort, recognized for its artsy quirks—every room is designed and embellished by a unique artist—and calming tropical backyard with a pool, the proper respite from the Carnival festivities.
So, there you have got it. Good throughout Queernaval is the final word gaycation—as a result of Queernaval isn’t only a celebration or a parade; it’s a love letter from Good to the worldwide LGBTQ+ group. And it says: You’re welcome. You’re needed. You’re stunning. So come celebration with us.