Pink Parade (Pride) 2015

If you can’t tell already by the lack of Gay French Riviera blog posts, it’s been a very busy summer here in the French Riviera.

The sunshine seems to bring out all sorts of energy and with that the abundance of activities and social events to attend all up and down the coast.  Beach parties, evening soirees, and this past weekend were filled with events pertaining to the Pink Parade that was held on Saturday.

People in the region always seem to be on the go day and night and Pride weekend was no exception.

As I have mentioned before in this blog, one of the things I love about the region the most is a community spirit can be found most anywhere in the Cote d’Azur and I have never seen it more so than in the LGBT community.

Pink Parade is what North Americans would refer to as Pride Weekend. Here, the parade itself and events are not heavily sponsored by corporate businesses, rather the community comes together, are well represented and does what they can to show their proud LGBT spirit and those who would normally be considered competitors business wise show unwavering support for one another.

I find that to be the case year round in the region though too, not just during Pink Parade.

What I really enjoy about the actual Pink Parade too is this isn’t a parade where you watch from the sidelines. You belong in the LGBT community so you have the choice to march along with the floats, even ride on them if you want with everyone else.

It’s very fulfilling to see people smiling, the music playing, flags waving, a real show of support and a great way to meet new people. Even tourists and people who live in the city of Nice seem to get caught up in the moment and stop to smile and watch everyone go by, I also saw many people join in along the parade route.

The Pink Parade could not be done without the support of everyone involved, from the local business owners, the LGBT Community Centre, Nice Tourisme and the City of Nice.

Thank you for bringing smiles to faces, and even letting us originally from North America feel like we belong and are welcomed.

Photo credits: William McEnough, Nice Matin

Video credit: http://www.zag-rider.com

Le Choko

The party scene in the French Riviera just continues to grow with yet another new establishment having opened this spring by the name of Le Choko!

This new concept mix of before sushi restaurant bar and overall nightclub opened with much fanfare in April of 2015.

With weekends being the busiest so far, at Choko one can enjoy a delicious drink and some sushi on their outdoor terrace along the popular pedestrian path of rue Halevy, barely a block away from the main beach in Nice.

Once evening rolls in, the outdoor atmosphere moves inside to enjoy a night of top dance beats, tall drinks amongst a very chic international crowd!

Although not technically a gay bar…more on the straight side, Choko is still very gay-friendly and the place itself was at one time practically the only gay nightclub in town called ‘Le Klub’ which closed a number of years ago due to noise complaints, or so the story in the local media stated.

Le Klub was huge back in the day! Before the internet and by word of mouth, if you were new to town you just somehow heard through the grapevine that most anything goes when you hit that nightclub.

Alas, things change but with the opening of Choko (which hopefully got some soundproofing installed during renovation) and thanks to the open-minded owners, they to seem to have not forgotten about Le Klub and in fact are having their first ‘Remember Klub’ night later this month and you better believe the LGBT community will be out in attendance for that one!

Now that Choko has opened up and appears to be doing brisk business, perhaps once this first gay-friendly night takes place in June, they will continue and hold other monthly events.

Overall, Choko is a cool new nightspot to enjoy. It makes for a great change of scenery to hang out with friends and you don’t have to worry about being singled out if you are gay. As usual in the French Riviera, as long as you are having fun and part of the party, you’ll enjoy yourself.

Check out Choko for yourself!

Travel to the Gay French Riviera

Right now in the French Riviera you can practically feel the buzz of excitement in the air. It’s a tell-tale sign that summer is quickly on its way with the Cannes Film Festival about to begin and shortly after that the Monaco Grand Prix.

The degree in which people are socializing has increased, the beaches have been getting fuller and the seaside restaurants and bars have definitely picked up.

For my business, Experience The French Riviera, we felt this right away. Although the region gets 300+ days of sunshine per year, the winter months do tend to slow down a touch in comparison to the summer.

Fortunately we still get a large number of people visiting the French Riviera and they tend to take advantage of the local ski hills that can be found just over an hour drive north of places like Nice and Cannes and many even spend their Christmas holidays in a sunny destination such as ours.

Every year is different, but this year things seemed to open up early in March and all of a sudden there was a rush on people wanting to book their villa rentals, were interested in the luxury real estate market and came to us for help in planning their upcoming summer holidays.

One of the exciting things about our work is we get to showcase the region to people from around the world. It’s not unusual at the start of the day to see emails from people in places as far away as Australia, United States or China that want to plan a visit.

To us, it’s exciting to learn from the different cultures and nationalities, to know what they like and require and to make sure the logistics of their trip have gone off without issue once they arrive.

As a gay individual and the owner of the Gay French Riviera blog, it would be a great pleasure to welcome individuals and groups from the LGBTQ community to this beautiful part of the world. 

Having initially made yearly trips to the region since the late 1980’s as a kid from Canada, I have personally witnessed the gay and lesbian community in the French Riviera go from one gay nightclub to now a plethora of gay clubs, bars, restaurants  and shops that continue to grow yearly in the region.

Being a truly international destination, we have it all here! It’s not unusual on a night out to meet people from all over the world as the area is known for its networking, so whether you are on your own, with your partner or with a group of friends, it’s easy to meet new people!

With that, at Experience The French Riviera we welcome you to use all our services for your vacation or business plans in the region.

Currently we have 26 local, proven and trusted business partners on board that can provide you with all the best we have to offer in the French Riviera, along with the backing of a number of tourism agencies such as: Nice Tourism, French Riviera Tourism, Cannes Tourism and Monaco Tourism.

It’s our job to work with our partners to obtain for you the top deals in such things as: luxury villa rentals to holiday apartments that sleep up to six people. We know where the best shops are located, the secret beaches, where the private events will be held and are friends with many gay and gay-friendly restaurant, sauna, bar and nightclub owners.

We also pride ourselves on being able to work with any travel budget by gearing towards your interests and providing honest advice (removing the online guesswork with planning and reviews), helping you with the logistics and getting you the perfect deals saving you time and money so that you can explore even more of the region and truly Experience The French Riviera!

It would be our pleasure to take you beyond the usual tourist tracks and give you an insight on what it is really like to live like a local and experience “The Life” as it is called here in the Cote d’Azur.

Contact us at Experience The French Riviera for more information and follow us on social media for updated information, deals and services.

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Go to the source!
Come visit us in the beautiful French Riviera