Travel Thursday: Where The Gay Things Are in Miami

I finally popped my Hotel Gaythering cherry recently and it was a blast.

There has been much speculation that gay Miami is no more, but one place leading the parade and shouting a big “F U!” is Hotel Gaythering.  It’s been touted as Miami Beach’s Gayest Hotel and umm,  yeah, that’s an understatement.  The hotel’s Facebook page draws you in and speaks softly in your ear to, “Stay & Play like a local while you take full advantage of our King Size Rooms, Men-Only Clothing-Optional Sauna, Gayborhood Bar, & Daily Curated Entertainment like Karaoke, Trivia, Bingo & so much more!”  

The hotel and the sexy adorable nice staff have a lot to offer its guests. I was looking for a nice relaxing, exciting, low key, high intensity weekend and well, you can do all of that at the Gaythering. When I booked the room, they had mentioned that the Fun King Room was booked for one of my two nights there and asked if I wanted to experience the Fun King.  A quick look at their Gaythering.com website, I saw that the Fun King Room might pop more than my cherry with its amenities (a large mirror on the ceiling above the king sized bed, a sling/swing, and a fun bench). I thought I should leave that room to someone that would be using all of those fun items better than myself.

When I checked in, I was given a nice little tour of the three main spaces on the first floor; the bar area where dancing, drinking, socializing, and breakfast was served, the living room area which was where you could watch movies, view and buy art (a place so comfortable I could have lived in), and the sauna area where, well, you could do a lot of things.  I didn’t take too many pictures in there as I wanted to leave some things for you to be surprised about. 

So, getting to my room, I had to chuckle at the elevator buttons for this three-story building, and entering my room, I knew there wasn’t going to be a sling and I was very fine with that. I still had a smile on my face as I read the sex forward, manjuice maintenance signs around the room. 

Extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Biscayne Bay to the west on Miami Beach, FL, Lincoln Road features various shops, cafés, galleries, restaurants, bars and other businesses. It attracts over 11 million visitors annually from all over the world not just for its premier shopping destinations, restaurants, and nightlife but also for its architecture. When famed architect Morris Lapidus was commissioned to redesign Lincoln Rd in the 1960s, his distinguished style positioned the road as one of the most luxurious destinations in the city during that time. Today, Lincoln Road is an iconic pedestrian district that serves as a hub for modern culture seekers, both local and international. Anchored by three internationally respected cultural institutions, the New World Symphony, Arts Center South Florida and the Colony Theater, Lincoln Road serves as a charging station for the mind, body and spirit.

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Hotel Gaythering

The Award-winning Gaythering is a unique gay hotel in Miami Beach. A place where guests don’t just stay but are also encouraged to play. The central hub for gay vacationers and locals alike to enjoy a cocktail at its neighborhood bar or relax in the complimentary, clothing-optional Men’s Only Self-Spa featuring a Jacuzzi, Steam Room and Sauna. Gay owned and operated since 2014, Gaythering is a boutique hotel with “handsome industrial” design. It’s large rooms all have King-size beds, 40″ HDTVs, showers, Keurig coffee machines and original artwork. Located two blocks from the Lincoln Road Mall and only a 15-minute walk to Ocean Drive or a 10-minute bicycle ride using one of the complimentary bikes.

Besides being a great space for the community to enjoy, the bar just recently, well, yesterday, participated in a giving back activity. This great event that we missed this year since we were out of town was the Miami Beach Pride Bar Crawl benefitting Miami Beach Pride. This will definitely be on our agenda for next year. 

Knowing that some drinks in Miami can be $15 to $18 at some of the more touristy bars and they automatically add on a gratuity of 18% (always check your receipts in Miami before you add more tip and sign), knowing this, it is great that The Gaythering and other bars participated in a Pride fundraising event. 

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But COVID…

I had my little weekend stay at the Gaythering in April. It was my birthday weekend and yes, COVID was still going strong with the vaccinations rolling out, but by that time, I knew I needed to get out for a staycation. Scheduled to get my second vaccination shot 2 days after leaving the hotel, I took the leap and made the reservation.  Living in Fort Lauderdale, this would be like a staycation. Us in Florida and the nation were watching Miami back through March and into April deal with the influx of people for Spring Break, and as part of that , the city had established a curfew for the entertainment district, which the bar / hotel / sauna sits barely outside of. The gays knew where to go to keep the party going. The hotel was fully booked, mask policies were up and were respected, the bar was hopping, and the properties multiple little courtyards were full of men just chatting and drinking.  It reminded me of just a great house party, maybe a gay frat house, but it didn’t get that crazy in the common areas.  I wasn’t sure what was going on in the sauna. 

In my opinion, there are two pods of gayness in Miami. Yes, the gays are everywhere in Southern Florida, but they congregate in two spots when it comes to Miami, and these pods are just a 1.3 mile walk away from each other. The Gaythering is an anchor and the only option in one, but oh what an option. This hotel could turn any small town ‘Merika gay. The other locale, I highlighted in Travel Thursday: Staying in the Heart of South Beach and Gay Miami, is over where the trail ends on the map below (lower right) and is just about where Twist, Nathan’s Bar, and Palace Bar are located. 

So, yes, I will go back again to The Hotel Gaythering.  It’s a place you can go alone, with a friend, with a fb, with a fwb, with a partner, or with all of them. See you there.

As with most of my travel stories, I share some extra pics at the end. 

And then there is DJHOTTPANTS and his ability to get the fun going.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Hôtel Gaythering (@gaythering)

And we do kind of love their advertising.  Definitely check out their Instagram.

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