Best Cruising Areas in Benidorm

Late afternoon in Benidorm smells of after-sun and frying garlic. The Levante promenade empties as the light goes, and the crowd climbs the steps into the Old Town, where the terraces on Calle Santa Faz fill with men in pressed shirts, a drag queen warms up on a stage the size of a tablecloth, and someone is always singing along to a song from 1985. Behind several of those bars there's a curtain, a corridor and a darkroom. Benidorm's cruising scene is small, cheap and walkable: a handful of bars with darkrooms on Santa Faz and Calle Alicante, a fetish club on Calle de la Palma, one gay sauna that opens in the afternoon. Hours change with the season, so check before you go.

Legal in one line: Spain has had same-sex marriage since 2005, and cruise bars and saunas are legal, licensed venues for adults. Public sex is only a crime if minors or people with disabilities are present (Criminal Code art. 185), but "obscene exhibition" is a minor offence under the public security law, Ley Orgánica 4/2015 (art. 37.5), with a fine of €100–600 (art. 39.1).

The Old Town: Calle Santa Faz and Calle Alicante

Benidorm's gay village is in the Old Town, on the headland between Levante and Poniente beaches. Its spine is Calle Santa Faz (Carrer de Santa Faç), with more than 30 bars, cabarets and clubs in the surrounding streets, and Calle Alicante (Carrer d'Alacant) a block away. Most of the bars are social: drag, karaoke, cheap drinks and a big British crowd. The ones below have a darkroom or cruising area. Bring photo ID; the cruise bars are 18+ and mostly men only.

Kuma Bar

Kuma Bar (Calle Santa Faz 5, at the northern end of the street) is a men-only bar for bears, daddies and leather fans, with a cruising area, darkroom, video room, private cabins and lockers. A 2025 listing gives it as open daily except Tuesdays from 22:30 to 03:30, and a September 2026 Spanish guide mentions reasonably priced drinks and drink offers.

Bears Bar

Bears Bar (Calle Santa Faz 12) is a long-running men's bar with a leather and bear crowd and a darkroom and cruising area at the back, plus lockers. A 2025 listing gives it as open daily from 22:00 to 04:00.

New People

New People (Calle Santa Faz 29) is a pub-club of just over 100 m² with drag shows, dance music and a darkroom with a video screen. It was listed in 2025 as open Wednesday to Sunday from around 23:00 to 04:30. It's a party bar first; the darkroom is the add-on.

Mercury

Mercury (Calle Alicante 10) is a late-night gay disco-pub with house and dance music, a younger crowd than Santa Faz, and a darkroom and cruise lounge. A 2025 listing gives it as open daily from about 23:00 to 04:30.

Darkroom (Calle Alicante 12)

Next door, the bar called Darkroom (Calle Alicante 12) is a gay bar built around cruising: a darkroom, glory holes, private cabins, a small cinema room and erotic shows and game nights. A Spanish guide published in September 2026 gives the hours as 20:00 to 03:30, until 04:30 on the eve of public holidays, though it isn't clear whether that's every night or weekends only.

Cruise clubs outside Santa Faz

Copper Private Club

Copper Private Club (Calle de la Palma 9, about 200 m from the gay village) is a men-only fetish and cruising club with a leather bar, darkroom, private cabins and play equipment. A 2025 listing gives it as open Thursday to Sunday from 23:00 to 04:30, with entry at about €14. It's the Old Town's dedicated fetish club, so plan a Thursday-to-Sunday night around it.

Other names on Calle de la Palma and nearby

A local listings site updated in March 2026 also names XX Cruising Club (Calle de la Palma 37) and Anónimos (Calle Costera del Campo 8) among the Old Town's cruising venues, and a 2026 directory entry shows a men-only Lib Club on Calle de la Palma. We found little else about any of them, including hours or prices, so ask in the Santa Faz bars or check online before you walk over.

New Incognito and JJ Private Bar (Rincón de Loix)

Two places sit away from the Old Town, on Avenida de Uruguay in the Rincón de Loix hotel district at the eastern end of Levante. New Incognito (Avenida de Uruguay 8) is a bar-club for an older crowd, a few metres from the beach, with drag shows, a darkroom, booths and a small cinema; a 2025 listing gives daily hours from about 21:00 to 03:00 and a €10 cover. JJ Private Bar (Avenida de Uruguay 4) is listed as a private men's bar; we found few independent details about it, so check before you go.

The sauna: H2O

H2O Sauna (Calle Tomás Ortuño 46, about 400 m or a six-minute walk north of the gay village) has a dry sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, showers, a bar, video rooms, free private cabins, a darkroom and lockers, with free condoms and lube. A September 2026 Spanish guide says it has been running for more than 26 years and calls it the city's only gay sauna. Its own website gives the 2026 timetable as Tuesday to Friday 15:00–21:00, Saturday 15:00–20:00 and Sunday 15:00–21:00, closed on Mondays, with last entry one hour before closing; it doesn't open at night. Recent listings put entry at around €12–13. It's an afternoon place: go after the beach, before the bars. See also our Benidorm saunas page.

Sex shops and cinemas

A local listings site (March 2026) names Sex Cinema Peek A Boo at Calle La Parra 5 in the Old Town. The Eurovisex sex shop in the town centre has video booths; a September 2026 guide lists it as open Monday to Friday 10:00–22:00 and weekends and holidays 11:00–22:00, until 01:00 in summer.

Closed or unclear: older cruising lists (2018–2020) mention an Eagle Bar and a Sex Cinema El Sofá in Benidorm. We found no current trace of either in 2025–26, so treat them as closed.

Practical tips

• Entry and ID: expect to pay at the clubs: around €14 at Copper and €10 at New Incognito (2025 listings), and around €12–13 at H2O. Bring photo ID everywhere.
• Dress codes: Copper and Kuma lean towards leather and fetish; check the theme of the night before you go. Clothes and bags go in a locker where there is one.
• Phones and valuables: lock them up. Never take a phone or wallet into a darkroom in an open pocket, and keep an eye on your drink.
• Consent: a hand moved away means no. Darkroom etiquette is the same here as anywhere.
• Chemsex: never mix GHB/GBL with alcohol. If someone collapses, call 112.
• PrEP and PEP: PrEP is available through the Spanish public health system. After a risk, Spain's Ministry of Health advises going to a hospital urgencias (A&E) department: PEP can be started within 72 hours, ideally within the first 6, and lasts 28 days. For Benidorm that means the public Hospital Marina Baixa in La Vila Joiosa or the Hospital General in Alicante.
• Getting home: the Old Town is walkable from most hotels on Levante and Poniente; for anywhere further, take a taxi. The TRAM's Line 1 runs along the coast to Alicante. In summer 2026, the TRAMnochador added Friday and Saturday night trams from 3 July to 29 August: the extra L1 departures from Benidorm towards Alicante were at 02:05 and 03:35, and the L9 to Altea ran until 04:50. Outside that season, check the TRAM app for the last tram before you head out.
• Apps: Grindr is widely used, especially in summer and during Pride. Meet in a bar first, and don't share your room number on the first chat.

Local colour

Benidorm runs on British holidaymakers, and so does much of the gay village: cabaret, quizzes, karaoke and all-day breakfasts on Santa Faz. For something more Spanish, walk a few streets to Calle Santo Domingo, the Old Town's tapas street, where you eat standing up with a caña and small plates before the shows start. Levante beach is where most gay visitors spend the day, and its promenade leads straight back up to the Old Town bars.

Benidorm Pride 2026

The 16th Benidorm Pride ran from 1 to 6 September 2026, organised by Santos Torres with the town hall. The programme listed 18 parties: Old Town bar nights on 1 and 2 September, a pool party and the Divas party on Thursday 3 September, the White Party at the Julio Iglesias Auditorium in the Parque de l'Aigüera on Friday 4 September, and closing parties in the Old Town on Sunday 6 September. The parade left on Saturday 5 September at about 16:30 from Avenida Ametlla de Mar on the Levante seafront, with 16 floats and seven walking groups, and ran along the seafront, Avenida Europa, Avenida del Mediterráneo and Avenida de l'Aigüera to the auditorium, where the Main Stage party followed. Mayor Toni Pérez saw it off. The organisers, the town hall and Visit Benidorm put the number of visitors who came for it at more than 20,000, mostly from the UK. The event has joined InterPride and twinned with Seville's Pride. We found no confirmed dates for 2027 in November 2026.

A few words of Spanish

• Cuarto oscuro: darkroom. Cabinas: cabins.
• Código de vestimenta: dress code. Taquilla: locker.
• Entrada: entry fee. ¿Cuánto cuesta la entrada? How much is entry?
• Playa nudista / naturista: naturist beach. Cala: cove.
• Ambiente: the scene; a bar de ambiente is a gay bar.
• Orgullo: Pride. Desfile: parade.
• Urgencias: A&E. Profilaxis postexposición (PPE): PEP.

At a glance

Frequently asked questions

Where are the gay cruise bars in Benidorm?

Almost all of them are in the Old Town, within a few minutes' walk of each other. Kuma Bar, Bears Bar and New People are on Calle Santa Faz, Mercury and the bar called Darkroom are on Calle Alicante, and Copper Private Club is on Calle de la Palma. Most open between 22:00 and 23:00 and run until 03:30 or 04:30.

Is there a gay sauna in Benidorm?

Yes: H2O Sauna at Calle Tomás Ortuño 46, about a six-minute walk north of the gay bars. Its 2026 timetable is Tuesday to Sunday from 15:00, closing at 21:00 (20:00 on Saturdays), with last entry an hour before closing. It is closed on Mondays and does not open at night.

How do I get home after a night out in Benidorm?

In summer 2026 the TRAMnochador ran extra Friday and Saturday night trams from 3 July to 29 August, with the last L1 departure from Benidorm towards Alicante at 03:35. Outside that season, check the TRAM app for the last tram and plan on a taxi after the bars.

When was Benidorm Pride 2026?

The 16th Benidorm Pride ran from 1 to 6 September 2026. The parade left the Levante seafront on Saturday 5 September at about 16:30 and ended at the Julio Iglesias Auditorium in the Parque de l'Aigüera. Organisers put the number of visitors at more than 20,000; we found no 2027 dates in November 2026.

Part of the GayOut cruising series. See the full gay Benidorm guide for bars, hotels, beaches and events, the Benidorm bars guide, and, up the coast, our Valencia saunas guide.