Gay Winter Festival | Dec. 24th – Jan. 7th
A gay winter festival will take place in Tel Aviv for the first time, during the high holidays this year. Initiated by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, the Pink Winter Festival will take place between December 24th, Christmas Eve, and the first week of the New Year, January 7th.
The Pink Winter festival is set to include nonstop gay parties including 2 main events which will be open to the public: A Tel Aviv world-famous street party and an ongoing Chillout Party at Hilton Beach – known as a gay beach.
Additional events include a gay film festival, a Christmas tree lighting and Hanukkah candle lighting, a tribute show to the Eurovision Song Contest, beach activities that include surfing lessons, watersports and much more.
The Pink Winter Festival is designed to take full advantage of both the warm climate and the vibrant diversity of the Nonstop City.
Tel Aviv is one of the world's leading gay tourism destinations, voted in 2011 as the world's leading gay destination on GayCities.com. The Pink Winter Festival is expected to draw LGBT tourists from around the world.
As Tel Aviv has over 300 days of sunshine a year and 14 km of white sandy beaches along the Mediterranean, the average temperature during the events is expected to be 20 degrees Celsius, allowing European travelers to escape the cold winter and enjoy a nonstop summer in the Nonstop City, a renowned gay-friendly city.
This event comes as a great addition to Tel Aviv Pride Week, taking place every year at the beginning of June, with a Pride Festival that attracted 130,000 participants, among them 30,000 tourists in 2014. Tel Aviv Pride Week has become an integral part of the global gay calendar, and the City expects the Pink Winter Festival to become an essential part of this calendar as well.