Entertain visiting friends in the stunning, vaulted two-story lobby bar, or dine in the Berns's fabulous restaurant, which was designed by Sir Terence Conran. Traditionalists usually stick with the Grand Hotel, however, a jewel of a building dating from 1874 with a stunning harborside location that has long been the choice of visiting political leaders and Nobel Prize winners. For so large a city, Stockholm doesn't have a huge number of gay clubs, but several popular spots that are here pack plenty of punch. Two or three times a month, Bitch Girl Club throws Scandinavia's largest women's parties. These are held in a spacious dance club and DJ'd by some of the city's top spin artists.
Visitors are welcome, as long as they observe the dress code and pay a small cover.
A lot of the guys who patronize SLM, along with many nonleather types, frequent the Basement, a gay blue-movie palace with lockers and booths that's open 24 hours a day. This moored vessel has several levels, one with a restaurant where fresh lobster is the specialty, and the others with outdoor deck areas. The crowd is young and sceney, but otherwise eclectic. There's no more romantic place in this city to snog with your date than on the deck of the Patricia while looking out over the twinkling lights of Stockholm. Andrew Collins is the author of Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA , The Connecticut Handbook , and six regional gay guides for Fodor's.