ADDICTED / MASPALOMAS / SWIMWEAR 2026
Gay Gran Canaria, between the dunes and the Yumbo
By November, the Viennese have swapped the Donauinsel for winter coats. In Maspalomas the beach season is still going, and in the first week of the month Winter Pride fills the Yumbo.
GRAN CANARIA
The south of Gran Canaria has been a winter home for gay Europe for decades. The sun shines when the rest of the continent has given up on it, and on this beach two men holding hands turn no heads at all.
The walk through the dunes to Kiosk 7
The dunes of Maspalomas stretch between Playa del Inglés and Maspalomas, and crossing them is part of the day. The wind keeps reshaping the ridges, so the path is never quite the same twice. From the last crest you finally see the Atlantic, and down on the beach the stretch around Kiosk 7 is where the gay crowd gathers.
Down here a narrow swim brief is not a statement, just the local uniform. Cut high at the leg and slim at the side, an ADDICTED swim brief in yellow and blue looks entirely at home in this light.
Neon by day, navy by sunset
Neon yellow and coral belong to the midday glare, when the sand is almost white and every colour looks turned up a notch. Later on, navy with a flash of yellow at the hip suits the slow hour before the beach empties.
In the late afternoon people drift back over the dunes towards Playa del Inglés, for a shower and the long debate about what to wear tonight.
Nights at the Yumbo and Winter Pride
The Yumbo Centrum opened in 1982 and is still the heart of gay Maspalomas, a shopping centre by day that turns into a maze of bars, terraces and dance floors after dark.
In November the Yumbo also hosts Winter Pride Maspalomas, in 2026 from 2 to 8 November, with free shows on the big stage every evening and the Pride Walk on Saturday 7 November, along the Avenida de Tirajana towards the Yumbo. That week calls for pink, and the beach days in between belong to ADDICTED swimwear.
