Tips and Tales Sitges

The beautiful old Church of St. Bartomeu is the most recognisable landmark of Sitges.

Tips

• From the Airport there is a direct bus (Monbus) which you can catch from platform 9 or 10 to central Sitges which costs 6€ per person and takes about 30 minutes.
• Stay in or close to the old town and the gay beach (near Restaurant Pic Nic) as it will be best for getting home late from the bars in town. (Don’t say we didn’t warn you).
• Mediterraneo Hotel Apartments is excellent central accommodation across from the beach.
• Sitges is 40 minutes by train to Barcelona. This is great for a day excursion or for catching a connecting flight from the airport.
• Parrot Pub and Central Bar Cafe in the centre of town are the main gay meeting places for drinks before dinner or before cruising on elsewhere.
• Best gay bars are XXL, El Horno, Yummy and Bears Bar which are all fifty metres up the street from the Parrot Pub and Central Bar. There are 29 gay bars in all. (Have a look at: GoGayGuide.com)
• New Organic is the best dance club. You might also like to try Union for a ‘what’s trending’ drink.
• Every gay man needs to have a drink at Hotel Romàntic Bar. Cocktails start after 6pm.
• Bears’ Weeks are in May and September each year. Keep up to date with what’s trending on bearwww.com.
• Fiesta Mayor, Pride Week, Carnival and Bears’ Week are good times to visit Sitges.
• Coffee costs around 2€ a cup on average and it’s OK to drink the water from the tap in Sitges.
• Siesta is between 1:00pm and 5pm and most places are closed for this time.
• Sitges is a walking town but bikes can be very handy for the day, hire from www.vilgomsbikes.com 
• The biggest and best supermarket is right near the railway station. However, there are minimarkets scattered throughout town for all those daily essentials.
• Buy your bread and any bakery items daily (or as close to daily) from one of the divine bakeries in the Main Street. You can’t miss them, they’re the ones with the stunning loaves of bread and scrumptious looking pastries on display. Oh, and did we mention the smell of freshly baked goods which you can’t miss when walking up the street? Just too delicious! You can’t tell we love a tart.
• The old church on the waterfront is a must explore area with small ancient streets, museums and art galleries nearby.
• Restaurants Bon Estar, Le Picara, El Trull and 33 Fusion are great finds and don’t bother going out to dinner before 9:30 pm. 
• Drinks, tapas and divine coffee and cake can be found at Bonita Bonita in Carrer Major. This place is our very favourite haunt with Max and Matthew making you feel like it’s your second home. Visit them every day and let them know we sent you. (See our full article about their inspirational story)
• PicNic restaurant on the beachfront for lunch in their main restaurant is excellent, or coffee in their cafe. (We do not recommend their cafe for food. Although the main waterfront restaurant is excellent, unfortunately their cafe offers a very poor standard of food by comparison.)
• The Gay Beach is right in front of Restaurant Pic Nic in the heart of Sitges. However, at peak times the beaches on either side will have an overflow of gorgeous men who got down to the water a bit late. Don’t be afraid to wander in either direction to find little gay ‘nests, gaggles and gatherings’.
• To hire two sun lounges and an umbrella on the beach costs about 18€ (Gasp!). If you’re not worried about a sun bed, buy an umbrella from a mini market for between 8 and 12 € at the start of your stay and that’s it for the beach costs. You will save yourself a lot of money.
• For the best beach food in town, find a beach bar called Xiringuito Bleda on the main beachfront area. This is a family run business where we had the freshest salads and the coldest drinks and nothing was too much trouble for the wonderful people serving us. Oh, did we mention it was very reasonably priced as well?

• Is there a nude beach in town? Hallelujah! Go to the church and follow the waterfront up and over the hill past restaurant Vivero and you will see many nude men at Playa Balmin. Cross yourself many times and go over the hill to take the waters with the rest of the worshippers. You will find it to be a spiritual awakening, particularly if you are there during Bears’ Week. 
• Unfortunately, the nude beach about two kilometres out of town is not really worth the journey because it is so difficult to access, but it’s name is Playa del Muerto and it was the first nudist beach in the world, around about 1930.
• Pharmacies are everywhere, as Spain is a self medicating country. You do not have to go to the doctor to get medication. Most items are kept behind the counter and most pharmacists speak English. Bring your medication packet so the pharmacist can see the active ingredients. Just letting you know, some people travel to Spain simply to renew their medications at a very affordable cost. Now you know!

A Few Tales

• One year we were in Sitges for Fiesta Mayor which is always held at about the end of August. (Check for actual dates) This is a very colourful and exciting time to be in Sitges. Dragon men doing acrobatics in the streets, fireworks down small alleyways, Spanish bands marching and we were lucky enough to see the final night of Fiesta Mayor where the fireworks from the old church lit up the night sky and fireworks from barges on the sea were truly spectacular. A great time to be in Sitges!
• A few years ago we stayed at Hotel Romàntic in Sitges. This hotel is a step back into the 19th century with its paintings, lamps, chandeliers, three storey staircase and period decoration. The hotel is almost totally occupied by a gay clientele. It has an extremely elegant bar and welcoming lounges. Breakfast is served in the quaint dining room indoors or out in the garden among the palm trees, ivy and honeysuckle. On a recent stay in Sitges, we drank sangria until late afternoon in the hotel’s garden and it is one of the most charming spots in Sitges. At around 6:00pm each day many guys drop in for cocktails. 
• We also reacquainted ourselves with Miguel who has been on the front desk of Romàntic for twenty seasons and says he has ‘seen just about everything‘. The hotel has only two stars but apart from being ideally situated on a street near the railway station, shops and bars, and just a few minutes walk from the beach, it has the ‘entertainment factor’. 
• On another visit we also stayed at El Xalet Hotel, very close to Romantic, where we were lucky enough to be offered a room with a traditional salon overlooking the hotel’s pool. The wonderful family who own and manage this hotel made us feel extremely welcome and this place, as well as Hotel Romantic, has been the subject of many stories back home about the incredible level of accommodation and unprecedented hospitality available in this part of Spain. We love Sitges!