Southern Exposure

The most beautiful gay beaches below the equator.



What makes for a gorgeous beach? A great panorama, a unique setting, and of course the scantily clad patrons. The most stunning gay-popular beaches way down south are, not surprisingly, remote, undeveloped, and thus frequently clothing-optional—with a couple of urban choices for you city slickers. The perfect locales to tan away your Northern Hemisphere winter blues:

1. Sandy Bay
Cape Town, South Africa 

This roomy, secluded beach facing the Atlantic is one of the most picturesque in Africa. Close to upscale neighborhoods but occupying some of the last undeveloped coastline of the Cape Peninsula, Sandy Bay is a short drive from Cape Town. The bay is marked by huge granite outcrops that make natural wind buffers. Sloping mountains loom above, coated with virgin forests of the Table Mountain Nature Reserve. On a busy weekend, the southern part of this unofficial nude beach hosts hundreds of gay men but still doesn’t feel crowded.

2. Noosa
Queensland, Australia
In the lush, tropical state of Queensland, Noosa is an upscale, gay-popular resort town butting up to Noosa National Park. Full of koalas, possums, birds, and wildflowers, the park is also home to Alexandria Bay Beach (call it “A Bay” if you want to sound local). It’s here where a loyal following of gays, lesbians, and surfers enjoy the year-round bathtub warm water and the wide, private stretch of sand surrounded by untouched rain forest. And it wouldn’t be Australia without a party: A Bay is also home to the annual Alexandria Beach Carnival, with nude sack races, marathons, tugs-of-war, and conga lines. Crikey!

3. Plage de la Souris-Chaude
Réunion Island
Although unknown by most Americans, French tourists flock to the 970-square-mile, volcanically dramatic island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean for its rugged scenery and upscale resorts. Located about 450 miles east of Madagascar, it’s the last place on earth you’d expect to find gay tourists, but congregate on this tolerant racially mixed isle they do—at not one but two beaches: La Souris Chaude (which literally means “the Hot Mouse”) and to a lesser extent the black sand beach of L’Étang-Salé. Remote La Souris Chaude on the east coast of the island is scenically punctuated with black lava rocks jutting up from the yellow sand.

4. Little Palm Beach
Waiheke Island, New Zealand
This quaint, gay-popular beach near Kiwiland’s big city of Auckland is a sandy inlet around the rocky corner from (larger) Palm Beach. Typically, 30 to 50 sunbathers show up—gay and straight, clothed and nude—to swim in the cool, clear water. Boats anchor offshore for nautical barbecues, only a few tasteful homes dot the landscape, and a small grocery store on one end of the beach dispenses ice cream. Little Palm Beach is a great reason for a day trip on vineyard- and mansion-filled Waiheke Island, which can be reached via a popular ferry ride from Auckland.

5. Farme Beach
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
You can’t leave Rio without spotting a “Barbie”—one of those bronzed, muscled, Speedo-clad demigods who naturally inhabit the sands of this gorgeous city the way other beaches collect seashells. Rio’s foremost “Barbieland” is rainbow-flagged Farme Beach in Ipanema, close to the district’s gay cafés and bars. Mixed in with Farme’s onslaught of perfect flesh are lesbians, twinks, and even closeted TV stars (or so they say). The scenery extends beyond the beachgoers themselves with Farme’s hazy, mountainous, painting-like backdrop.



6. Nouville Kuendu Beach
Nouméa, New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a far-flung, gay-friendly South Pacific territory of France that draws a fair number of French and Australian tourists to its steamy beaches, sophisticated resorts, and its mellow café-lined capital of Nouméa. About 10 minutes from the city center is the pebble-sand Kuendu Beach, adjacent to a resort of the same name with thatch-roofed Polynesian suites built over a crystal lagoon. The palm-fringed sandy bay, surrounded by rolling jungle hills and bright waters, is popular with handfuls of gay locals and tourists who can be seen sunning in skimpy Euro bikinis, or you’ll find them au naturel at the nude beach of the same name next door.

7. Obelisk Beach
Sydney, Australia
Obelisk is the unassuming, in-the-know nude beach among Sydney-siders, and it’s nearly 100% frequented by gay men. The tiny crescent-shaped beach, surrounded by lush bush and smooth sandstone rock formations, is tucked away in a cove on the Middle Head peninsula near the upscale northern suburb of Mosman. You may feel miles from the civilization but not its comforts: A boat comes by selling beverages and ice cream every few hours.

8. Playa Cau-cau
Horcón, Chile
The queerest beach in Chile is half a day’s drive from the capital of Santiago and about an hour north of tourist-popular Viña del Mar. A longtime favorite hippie hangout, Cau-Cau lines a private cove dotted with thatched umbrellas, excellent seafood beach cafés, and forested cliffs. Enjoy a long sunny day after traversing the log staircase lined by wooden fences that descends to the gorgeous inlet. Gays easily mix with the straights at this easygoing, sociable enclave.

9. Playa Chihuahua
Punta del Este, Uruguay
Punta del Este, about an hour’s drive from Uruguay’s capital of Montevideo, attracts celebrities, hipsters, and the well-to-do to its clubs, casinos, resorts, and golf courses. Tucked away amid all this razzle-dazzle is tranquil, immaculate Chihuahua Beach. A lagoon at one end of the beach serves as a refuge for wild ducks, swans, and storks, who all serenade the sunset each evening. Chihuahua is the gayest beach in Uruguay (a country that recently legalized same-sex unions). You’ll find hundreds of queers chatting around the beach’s snack bar, bodysurfing under the gaze of the lifeguards, or lying about in the nearby dunes.

10. Praia dos Artistas
Salvador, Brazil
The gayest stretch of sand in the northern tropical region of Brazil has many humble charms: a mosaic boardwalk punctuated by palm trees, barracas or huts serving fresh food and drinks day and night, local fishing boats bobbing offshore, and multicolored homes overlooking the urban beach. Young gays, lesbians, and straights gossip while dangling their feet in the water, and the city of Salvador’s famous lighthouse gazes on in the distance. Best of all, unlike gay beaches further south on the globe, Praia dos Artistas is good for soaking in its warm waters year-round, ensuring that summer never ends.