I’ve attended Pride around the world, these are the best LGBTQ+ locations

The original, and some say the best, New York Pride started in 1970 to mark a year since the 1969 Stonewall Riots that started the gay rights movement (the Stonewall Inn was a bar for the LGBTQ+ community that the police raided just once too often…) and has been going ever since.

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Budget: Freehand

There is no such thing as cheap in New York City but this might be a good bet, a cute boho-styled number quite near the Flatiron on the way downtown.

The stars aligned this year and Sydney, already famous for one of the world’s best Prides (called Mardi Gras… but what’s in a name?) also hosted World Pride, a moveable feast of a mega-Pride where the global LGBTQ+ community and its allies are welcomed, this year to the southern hemisphere for the first time.

It may have been a full-on ten-plus-day extravaganza with Kylie and Dannii reuniting on stage, the first ever Pride parade across the famous Harbour Bridge, the whole of Sydney, including the Opera House, lit up in rainbow colours, and a huge swimwear-heavy beach party on Bondi (our livers sent an official note of complaint to our doctors), but even your regular Mardi Gras is exceptional.

Expect a full cultural programme, kaftan pool cocktails, drag queens coming out of every doorway and parties, parties, parties.

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Budget: The Porter House

Brand new, fairly luxurious and walkable to the gay high-life on Oxford Street.

Yes, London is bigger and Brighton attracts the superstars but there’s no beating Manchester Pride, the unofficial Pride of the North, where the whole of the Gay Village is locked down for unparalleled partying (our straight girlfriend fell off her sky-high wedges and broke a ankle last year, so it’s not without its perils).

With the MCR undergoing a renaissance, the eyes of the world are upon it and, being the big show-off that it is, Manchester is revelling in the attention. The parade is magical (look out for the annual Coronation Street float loaded with soap stars), the Big Weekend around Canal Street a total mash-up and the entertainment 96 per cent queer with big names this year an eclectic mix along the lines of Jake Shears, Pabllo Vittar, Bimini, Danny Beard and, of course, Ginny Lemon’s Dog Show, which is legendary. Just promise us you won’t wear sky-high wedges.

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Budget: Whitworth Locke

Right by the Gay Village, you get a mini-apartment, so you can cook your own food and save a fortune.

You might not think of the Middle East as somewhere you want to go to celebrate Pride but Tel Aviv, Israel’s most modern city, is an oasis of tolerance in the middle of a region not known for welcoming the LGBTQ+s.

An amazing city at any time of the year – the food, the architecture, the beach, the history, and it’s just 45 minutes from Jerusalem – during Pride it comes alive.

The locals call the actual day of the parade – from a park through the city to the beach – Love Day, just to be even more inclusive, and everyone from grannies taking their grandchildren out in prams to scantily clad dancers and drag queens take part.

The heat is stifling and the al fresco party of people in swimwear after the parade is euphoric.

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Budget: The Vera

Cool and funky with – we seem to remember – wine-dispensing machines in the lobby and a cute little rooftop bar, this is a find. theverahotel.com

Blowout: The Jaffa

This is John Pawson minimalist loveliness in a classic building.

With a massive 92 per cent of the public strongly in favour of LGBTQ+ equality – as against 14 per cent in Russia – Amsterdam has long been Europe’s most tolerant city.

Its Pride may not be the biggest but it’s among the most magical mainly because the bulk of the action happens on the canals.

We’ve always been lucky to wangle a spot on the deck of the Pulitzer hotel, from where you get the best view of the barges floating by loaded with drag queens, go-go dancers, DJs on podiums and regular folk representing their groups or their industries.

And if you’re wondering what happens when the barges meet the bridges… everything, even the palm trees, collapses to get underneath, then bounces right up again when the bridge has been navigated. Talk about making a splash.

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Budget: Conscious Hotels

This is a mini chain in Amsterdam, basic but big on style and sustainability, with a cool choice of locations. conscioushotels.com

Blowout: The Pulitzer

Crafted out of 25 squeezed-together 18th-century canalside buildings, this gorgeous five-star hotel has the added attraction of its Pride Deck for a ringside view.

You should always have a ‘next Pride’ on your list and right at the top of mine is Nashville, and not just because there are probably going to be gay cowboys.

The drag scene (our contacts on the ground tell us) is second to none – well, they have the inspiration of the queens of country like Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette – and the line-up of acts is always impressive, with this year’s headliner lesbian icon – or ‘dykon’ – Fletcher, which has the ladies in a tizz.

The city itself is big on live music with bars and cafes and restaurants and, well, everywhere banging out the tunes.

So come Pride, that is apparently one of the big draws – although we hear they like a Lady Gaga and a Beyoncé number as much as any other self-respecting LGBTQ+, so don’t be expecting wall-to-wall C&W.

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Budget: The Russell

Set in hipsterish East Nashville, this quirky boutique number is a riot of colour and fun in a 115-year-old church.