Tips for Gay and Lesbian Travelers

Seattle is one of the most gay-friendly cities in the country, with a large gay and lesbian community located around Capitol Hill. Here in this neighborhood, you'll find numerous bars, nightclubs, stores, and bed-and-breakfasts catering to the gay community.

The first place to start looking for Seattle information is on the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau's LGBT web pages (www.visitseattle.org/visitors/lgbt). Once you're in Seattle, you can pick up a copy of the Seattle Gay News (tel. 206/324-4297; www.sgn.org), which is the community's newspaper and is available at area bookstores and gay bars and nightclubs.

The Lesbian Resource Center, 227 S. Orcas St. (tel. 206/322-3953; www.lrc.net), provides community and business resource information as well as a calendar of upcoming events and activities.

The Gaslight Inn and Bacon Mansion are two gay-friendly bed-and-breakfasts in the Capitol Hill area.

The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) (tel. 800/448-8550 or 954/776-2626; www.iglta.org) is the trade association for the gay and lesbian travel industry, and offers an online directory of gay- and lesbian-friendly travel businesses and tour operators.

Many agencies offer tours and travel itineraries specifically for gay and lesbian travelers. Above and Beyond Tours (tel. 800/397-2681; www.abovebeyondtours.com) are Australian gay tour specialists. San Francisco-based Now, Voyager (tel. 800/255-6951; www.nowvoyager.com) offers worldwide trips and cruises, and Olivia (tel. 800/631-6277; www.olivia.com) offers lesbian cruises and resort vacations.

Gay.com Travel (tel. 800/929-2268 or 415/644-8044; www.gay.com/travel or www.outandabout.com), is an excellent online successor to the popular Out & About print magazine. It provides regularly updated information about gay-owned, gay-oriented, and gay-friendly lodging, dining, sightseeing, nightlife, and shopping establishments in every important destination worldwide. British travelers should click on the "Travel" link at www.uk.gay.com for advice and gay-friendly trip ideas.

The Canadian website GayTraveler (http://gaytraveler.ca) offers ideas and advice for gay travel all over the world.

The following travel guides are available at many bookstores, or you can order them from any online bookseller: Spartacus International Gay Guide, 35th Edition (Bruno Gmünder Verlag; www.spartacusworld.com/gayguide); Odysseus: The International Gay Travel Planner, 17th Edition (www.odyusa.com); and the Damron guides (www.damron.com), with separate, annual books for gay men and lesbians.