Read Your Indulgence

To look at them, you would think that somewhere along the line, all the Eastern Europeans held a meeting, put their heads together, and made their alphabets as bewildering as possible (“Who needs vowels?” asked the Poles; “Who needs consonants?” asked the Romanians, “Let’s use as many accent marks as possible!” demanded the Hungarians). All I am saying is that when you find yourself in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, for its wildly colorful Pride Week (August 13 – 18), get ready to give your tongue a workout. And I mean that in an entirely non-sexual way. Mostly.

When the Iron Curtain came down, it was like a magician yanking off a drab tablecloth to reveal a rainbow-hued wonderland. Prague, “Praha” to the locals, already one of the world’s most beautiful cities, quickly became an art-and-culture capital. How could it not? The surrounding region is called Bohemia, and with  “Bringing Our Colors Together” as the official Pride banner, the Czechs are revving up to show just how bohemian they can get: Prague Pride is East Europe’s biggest pride event, and it is only two years old.

Unlike a few other European cities (looking at you, London), Prague makes it easy on visiting LGBTs by having a declared gay section of town, Vinohrady. It is here that you’ll find gay venues Club Valentino, Club Termix, and The Saints for a little East-meets-West “diplomacy,” and consider ON Club the center of it all, but things hit a climax all on their own on the 18th, the day of the parade. Starting in Wenceslas Square, at the statue of St. Wenceslas — the good king of the Christmas carol himself — and cavorting west through some of the most picturesque ‘hoods of the city, the parade ends on Střelecký Island in the Vltava River. Generally speaking, Střelecký is where most of the “official” Pride partying takes place, with stages set up for non-stop music from all over the world; the Israeli electropop band The Young Professionals (they tore Tel Aviv Pride a new one) is already signed up.

“We want to show the Czech society as well as visitors from abroad that we will continue to put Prague on the map as Central and Eastern Europe’s capital of diversity and as one of Europe’s main LGBT travel destinations,” the director of the festival, Czeslaw Walek, says.

For more information, go to praguepride.com.  Steele Luxury Travel also has the inside scoop of Luxury Praha.  Contact us at [email protected] or call 646-688-2274 to set up your luxury trip to Prague.