The honest summary: Arona is the municipality that holds Los Cristianos and the eastern half of Playa de las Américas, and that makes it home to most of what south Tenerife has in the way of a gay scene. It's a small scene. One gay club (EXITO, weekends only), one gay shop and a drag dinner show sit inside Arona. A cruising bar and the island's southern gay sauna are a short walk away, just over the municipal line in Adeje. There's no gay street and no gay village, and nothing on the scale of the Yumbo Centre in Maspalomas on Gran Canaria. What you get is year-round sun, a big choice of hotels, and a handful of gay venues you can walk between in ten minutes.
Legal in one line: Spain has had same-sex marriage since 2005 (Ley 13/2005), the national trans and LGTBI law is Ley 4/2023, and the Canary Islands' own Ley 2/2021 protects gender identity and bans conversion therapies in the islands' health services.
Where things are
Playa de las Américas is split down the middle by the Barranco del Rey. The eastern side, with C.C. Verónicas, the Golden Mile hotels and Playa del Camisón, is in Arona. The western side, with Troya, San Eugenio, Torviscas and Fañabé, is in Adeje. Visitors treat the whole strip as one resort, and so do we: Adeje venues within about a kilometre of Verónicas are listed on this page with their municipality noted.
Los Cristianos, the old fishing town at the southern end, has the harbour, the ferries to La Gomera, Playa de Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Vistas. Arona town itself is inland, up the hill, and is quiet. Inland villages such as Chayofa and Valle de San Lorenzo are where people go for rural hotels and views.
The gay venues
EXITO Gay Club is the only gay dance club in south Tenerife. It's in C.C. Verónicas 2 on Avenida Rafael Puig Lluvina, next to Papagayo. It started as Butterfly Club in the Salytien centre, moved to Verónicas as Babylon Disco Pub after the Butterfly closed in 2017, and has traded as EXITO since. Google and Travel Gay give its hours as Friday and Saturday, 23:00 to 04:00. Travel Gay quotes entry at about €10 including a drink. The Instagram account (@exito_gay_club) posts each weekend's DJs and acts.
Q&K Cruising Bar is in Edificio Viña del Mar on Calle Guatemala in San Eugenio, the Adeje side, under 1 km north of Verónicas. It has a bar, a darkroom, a maze and lockers. There's no entry fee. Google lists it open Monday to Saturday from 21:00, and Tuesday is underwear night.
Sauna Stonewall is in C.C. Pueblo Canario on Avenida Eugenio Domínguez Alfonso, also on the Adeje side, about 800 m from Verónicas. Travel Gay and Spartacus list a Finnish sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, darkroom and cabins. Opening hours differ between sources. Google and Travel Gay (January 2026) both show Wednesday to Sunday from mid-afternoon, closed Monday and Tuesday. The old website is gone, so phone +34 922 798 450 before you go. It is the only gay sauna in the south; the other one on the island, Sauna Babylon, is in Puerto de la Cruz on the north coast.
Gay/Men Shop Tenerife Sur, at Avenida Rafael Puig Lluvina 19 (local 34-B), is a small gay men's shop. Google gives its hours as Monday to Saturday, 11:00 to 14:00 and 18:00 to 22:00.
MHT – Music Hall Tavern, at Avenida Rafael Puig Lluvina 7, runs English-language comedy drag dinner shows. Travel Gay and QList list it, but the audience is mostly mixed holiday groups. Book ahead.
Beyond that, the bars along the strip are mainstream British, Irish and Spanish holiday bars. Some are perfectly relaxed with gay customers, but we don't list a bar as gay-friendly without evidence, and Travel Gay currently names nothing else here.
Beaches
Arona's beaches (Los Cristianos, Las Vistas, El Camisón and Los Tarajales) are ordinary family town beaches with no gay section. The gay-popular naturist beaches of the south are outside Arona. Playa de la Tejita and the small coves under Montaña Roja are in Granadilla de Abona, east of the airport, and Playa Diego Hernández is reached on foot from La Caleta in Adeje. We don't give directions or times for cruising at any beach. Public sex is illegal everywhere in Spain, and you should expect families and walkers on these paths.
Pride and events
Since 2024 the town hall has run "Arona Vive con Orgullo" in late June with the local association Canary Pride. The 2026 programme ran from 22 June to 1 July. The rainbow flag went up at Playa de Las Vistas on 26 June, and the second Premios Orgullo de Arona gala was held on 1 July. Dates for 2027 had not been announced at the time of writing. It's a modest local programme, not a big Pride weekend. The island's main Pride is in Puerto de la Cruz in the north. The big Canary Islands gay events, Maspalomas Pride in May and Winter Pride in November, are on Gran Canaria.
Arona's Pride is also a political subject. In 2023 the new council didn't raise the rainbow flag, and Vox, a partner in the governing coalition since January 2025, refused to take part in 2025. None of this affects how you'll be treated as a visitor, which in a resort this international is with indifference.
Closed or changed: gone but still Googled
The Salytien centre bars that old guides still list (Chaplin's, Punto Zero, Gemini's, the Cellar Bar) and Adonis Sauna are long closed, and the centre is now largely empty. Butterfly Club closed in 2017 and its successor Babylon is now EXITO. Agua de Coco in Los Cristianos is reported closed. Playaflor Chill-Out Resort, once advertised as a gay resort opposite Verónicas, is marked permanently closed on Google and its website no longer works. Joyce and The Night Owl are mainstream venues, not gay bars.
Practical tips
Tenerife South airport (TFS) is about 18 km from Los Cristianos, a 20-minute taxi or bus ride. Tenerife North (TFN) is about 80 km away. The islands run on Atlantic time, one hour behind mainland Spain. The climate is dry and subtropical, about 18 °C in February and 25 °C in August, which is why winter is high season. The gay venues are open late and mostly at weekends; on a Monday in summer the scene can feel very quiet. If you want a bigger scene, Maspalomas is a ferry or short flight away.
A few words in Spanish
Ambiente means gay scene ("un bar de ambiente"). Gay is used as in English. Orgullo means Pride. "¿A qué hora abre?" means "What time does it open?"
At a glance
Gay club: EXITO (Arona, Fri–Sat)
Cruising bar: Q&K (Adeje side)
Sauna: Sauna Stonewall (Adeje side)
Gay shop: Gay/Men Shop Tenerife Sur
Drag show: MHT – Music Hall Tavern
Pride: Arona Vive con Orgullo, late June
Nearest bigger scene: Maspalomas, Gran Canaria
Last verified: October 2026.
よくある質問
Yes. Spain has had same-sex marriage since 2005 and the Canary Islands have their own gender-identity law (Ley 2/2021). Los Cristianos and Playa de las Américas are international resorts where same-sex couples don't attract attention. The usual resort precautions apply late at night: watch your drinks and your phone.
Around C.C. Verónicas on Avenida Rafael Puig Lluvina, in Playa de las Américas. EXITO Gay Club and the MHT drag dinner show are there, and the Gay/Men Shop is a 10-minute walk south. Q&K Cruising Bar and Sauna Stonewall are under 1 km north, just over the line in Adeje.
A small set: EXITO (gay club, Friday and Saturday 23:00–04:00), Q&K (cruising bar, Monday to Saturday from 21:00), Sauna Stonewall (usually Wednesday to Sunday from mid-afternoon; phone first), the Gay/Men Shop Tenerife Sur and MHT – Music Hall Tavern (drag dinner show, mixed crowd). Old guides list bars in the Salytien centre such as Chaplin's and Butterfly; those have closed.
No. Arona's beaches (Los Cristianos, Las Vistas, El Camisón) are family town beaches. The naturist beaches that gay visitors use, Playa de la Tejita and the coves under Montaña Roja, are in Granadilla de Abona, east of the airport. Public sex is illegal in Spain.
The town hall and the local group Canary Pride run Arona Vive con Orgullo in late June. In 2026 it ran from 22 June to 1 July, with the rainbow flag raised at Playa de Las Vistas on 26 June. The 2027 dates hadn't been announced at the time of writing. Tenerife's main Pride is in Puerto de la Cruz, and Maspalomas Pride (May) and Winter Pride (November) are on Gran Canaria.
Only if you want a quiet beach holiday with a little nightlife. Arona has one gay club that opens at weekends, a cruising bar and a sauna. Maspalomas on Gran Canaria has dozens of gay bars in the Yumbo Centre. Many visitors stay in south Tenerife for the weather and hop over to Gran Canaria for a weekend.
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