Last updated: September 19, 2026 · By Joe Ghafari, CEO of Visiting Wrld
The short answer: The best gay resorts in the USA sit in five places: Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Provincetown and the Russian River, with Rainbow Mountain in Pennsylvania and the Dunes in Michigan for everyone in between. Palm Springs has the most by a wide margin. Almost all of them are small gay-owned guesthouses, priced per night, and in Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale and Key West most are men-only and clothing optional. Provincetown and the Russian River are mixed LGBTQ+ towns where the bars matter more than the pool rules.
We run gay men's retreats abroad, not US resorts, so we have no reason to push any property on this list. What follows goes city by city through what is open in 2026, what each place is actually like, which ones are men-only, which are clothing optional, and which famous names have closed or changed. If you came here looking for an all-inclusive, that is a different trip, and our guide to the best all-inclusive gay resorts covers it.
How gay resorts in the US actually work
Forget the resort in the brochure sense. A US gay resort is usually a converted motel or a cluster of old houses around a pool, owned by gay men and run for gay men. Five things are true of most of them.
- They are small. Triangle Inn in Palm Springs has nine rooms. Worthington Resorts in Fort Lauderdale has 96 across four buildings, which is about as big as the category gets.
- You pay per night. Breakfast is often included, and a handful of Palm Springs resorts include lunch as well. Dinner and drinks happen in town. None of the properties in this guide is all-inclusive.
- Men-only is common. In Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale and Key West, most of the well-known gay resorts are for men only. The phrase you will see on their websites is "gay men's resort."
- Clothing optional is common too. Usually at the pool and jacuzzi, sometimes across the whole property. Some say "swimsuit optional," which means the same thing at the pool and something stricter on the paths.
- Adults only, almost always. The minimum is 18 at some and 21 at others. CCBC in Cathedral City wants a physical government photo ID at the door.
The social life is the pool. At a ten-room resort you know most of the other guests by the second afternoon, which is either the whole point or the thing you should know before you book.
Palm Springs: the most gay resorts in the country
Palm Springs has more gay men's resorts than anywhere else in the US, and many of them sit in Warm Sands, a quiet grid of small streets southeast of downtown. Arenas Road is the bar street. The season runs from fall through spring. Summer afternoons are brutally hot, and several resorts cut their rates to match.
The resorts split three ways. The quiet end is Santiago Resort, Twin Palms, Descanso, The Hacienda at Warm Sands and Triangle Inn: small, men-only, swimsuit or clothing optional, and built for reading by the pool. The middle is INNdulge, El Mirasol Villas and Vista Grande, where the pool is social and going alone is easy. The play end is Casa Oliver, the old All Worlds Resort, and CCBC Resort Hotel in Cathedral City. Both run pool parties and day passes and are open about what they are.
Closed: Canyon Club Hotel, a gay hotel from the 1980s on, closed on December 8, 2025, and is being turned into a mainstream hotel. If a Palm Springs list still tells you to book it, check the date on that list.
Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors: the beach and the gayborhood
Gay Fort Lauderdale comes in two halves. The beach side, a few blocks back from the Atlantic, has the big men's resort complex and the gay beach at Sebastian Street. Wilton Manors, a short drive inland, is the gay neighborhood: Wilton Drive, the bars, the restaurants and a string of small men-only guesthouses. Most men stay on one side and take a car to the other. The season is winter and spring.
Worthington Resorts. Four properties that were once booked separately, The Worthington, The Grand Resort & Spa, Alcazar and Villa Venice, now run together as one men-only, clothing-optional complex with 96 rooms and several pools. You must be 21 to be on the property. It sits about 500 feet from the ocean and a five-minute walk from the Sebastian Street beach, and it calls itself the largest clothing-optional resort in the US. Busy and social, and a good base if you are going alone.
Pineapple Point. The pretty, romantic option, in the residential Victoria Park neighborhood between downtown and the beach. Six buildings on more than two acres of tropical garden, men-only, with clothing-optional pool areas, a lap pool, two jacuzzis, a gym, breakfast and an evening happy hour. Book it for a slow week in the garden rather than a party.
The Cabanas Guesthouse & Spa. Men-only and clothing optional, on the water in Wilton Manors, with 18 rooms, two pools, a jacuzzi, a steam room, a day spa and kayaks. The pick if you want Wilton Drive close by.
The small Wilton Manors guesthouses. Fantasy Island Inn and Casa806 are men-only and clothing optional, both small, casual and close to the bars.
Changed: The Royal Palms on Breakers Avenue was for years one of the best-known gay men's resorts in town. It no longer presents itself as a men-only resort, so check its current guest policy before you book.
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Apply for your spotKey West: two men-only classics and one that closed
The gay guesthouses in Key West are in Old Town, a few blocks from Duval Street, and the island is small enough to get around by bike. The town is relaxed about almost everything, which is the appeal.
Island House. A men-only, clothing-optional compound from 1976 on, with a few detached units that women can also book, outside the compound. A heated pool, a 24-hour gym, a steam room, a sauna, two jacuzzis, a poolside café and bar that is open around the clock, massage, and pool parties on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. It is sociable, sex-positive and not shy about either.
New Orleans House. A gay men's guesthouse that now says all guests are welcome, upstairs from the Bourbon Street Pub complex on Duval, with a clothing-optional back garden, a 24-hour pool, a fifteen-man jacuzzi, a sundeck and a garden bar that stays open late. You are sleeping above a nightclub, and that is the point.
Alexander's Guesthouse. The mixed option: LGBTQ+ friendly, adults 21 and up, and one of the few guesthouses in the district that welcomes women. A restored Conch house with a pool, a jacuzzi, breakfast and a complimentary happy hour. Its own website does not advertise clothing optional, so pack swimwear.
Closed: The Equator Resort on Fleming Street, a men-only, clothing-optional guesthouse for more than a quarter of a century, closed in January 2025. It still turns up on older lists.
Provincetown: a gay town, not a men's resort
Provincetown, at the far tip of Cape Cod, works the other way round. The town is the gay resort. Guesthouses are mixed, many are adults-only, a lot of them are gay-owned, and the social life happens at Tea Dance, on Commercial Street and in the bars rather than around a clothing-optional pool. Summer is the season, and July and August are the most expensive and the first to book up.
The Brass Key Guesthouse. Gay-owned and one of the most polished stays in town: nine historic buildings around a courtyard with a heated infinity pool, breakfast, a nightly wine hour and the Shipwreck Lounge bar. Adults 21 and up.
Boatslip Resort & Beach Club. The waterfront hotel that hosts the afternoon Tea Dance by its pool. Adults only. Stay here if you want to be in the middle of the day.
Gifford House. Gay-owned, in a building from 1858, with the Purgatory nightclub and a porch bar on site. Stay here if you want to be in the middle of the night.
Crown & Anchor: bars open, rooms closed. Tryst Hospitality bought the Crown & Anchor, and its bars and clubs are open for the 2026 season. The hotel rooms are closed for a renovation and are due back in 2027 as The Tryst Provincetown. Do not try to book a room there this year.
If you want men-only and clothing optional in New England, Provincetown is not that trip. If you want a whole town where gay men are the majority for a week, it is the place in the US to do it.
Guerneville and the Russian River: redwoods and a pool bar
Guerneville is a small river town in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, surrounded by redwoods. It has been a gay getaway for decades, and you can hike in the morning and float the river in the afternoon.
R3 Hotel. The center of gay Guerneville: an LGBTQIA+ hotel for more than 40 years, with 23 rooms, a pool, sun decks, a bar, a restaurant and an outdoor stage for drag shows and pool parties. It is the home of Lazy Bear Week every summer, which reached its 30th year in 2026. The owners relisted the property for sale in April 2026, and it is operating while it is on the market.
The Woods. Gay-owned cottages and cabins a short walk from the center of town, with one of the bigger pools in the area, suites with full kitchens, and an adults-only policy. Quieter than R3, and a good fit for a couple or a group of friends.
Summer is the season here too. Winter is quiet and wet, and pools that rely on the sun for heat are cold.
Rainbow Mountain and the Dunes: the drive-to options
If you searched for a gay resort near me and you live nowhere near a coast, these two cover the Northeast and the Midwest.
Rainbow Mountain Resort, Pennsylvania. In the Poconos near East Stroudsburg, within driving distance of New York City and Philadelphia. Gay-owned and serving the LGBTQ+ community from 1981 on, on 25 acres with hotel rooms, cabins and glamping tents, a pool open from Memorial Day to mid-September, a gym, a sauna, a bistro, and a nightclub with a karaoke lounge. You have to be 21 to stay. It is mixed, and it markets itself to couples as much as to anyone.
The Dunes Resort, Michigan. In Douglas, next door to Saugatuck near Lake Michigan. An LGBTQ+ resort with about 80 rooms, cottages and suites, a pool scene, a disco, a cabaret and an outdoor patio bar with its own dance floor. The main season runs from the end of May through Halloween weekend.
Puerto Rico is a US territory with its own gay scene in San Juan, and it gets a separate guide.
Men-only vs gay friendly vs clothing optional
These labels decide your week more than the room does, and they get mixed up constantly.
Men-only means only men can book. It says nothing about nudity. Most of the Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale and Key West resorts above are men-only.
A mixed gay or LGBTQ+ resort is gay-owned or gay-run and open to the whole community and usually their friends. Alexander's in Key West, the Brass Key and Boatslip in Provincetown, R3 and The Woods on the Russian River, Rainbow Mountain and the Dunes all work this way.
Gay friendly means a mainstream hotel that welcomes gay guests. Perfectly good, and a different social week, because the other guests are a random mix.
Clothing optional is a property rule, not a gender rule. It can cover the whole property or only the pool and jacuzzi, and "swimsuit optional" usually means nude at the pool and dressed on the paths. Nobody makes you take anything off. Ask exactly where the rule applies before you book.
Sex-positive is the part the listings are coy about and the resorts mostly are not. Casa Oliver and CCBC in Palm Springs and Island House in Key West are open about it. Santiago, Twin Palms, Descanso, the Hacienda and Pineapple Point are built for rest. Both are fine. Just know which one you booked.
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Apply for your spotHow to pick a gay resort in the USA
- Going alone and want to meet people: INNdulge in Palm Springs, Worthington Resorts in Fort Lauderdale, Island House in Key West. Big pools, social hours, pool parties. Our guide to the best gay vacations for single men covers solo trips beyond the US.
- A couple who wants quiet: Santiago, Twin Palms, Descanso or the Hacienda in Palm Springs, Pineapple Point in Fort Lauderdale, the Brass Key in Provincetown.
- You want the party inside the hotel: Casa Oliver or CCBC in Palm Springs, New Orleans House in Key West, R3 on the Russian River in summer.
- Traveling with women friends or a mixed group: Provincetown, Alexander's in Key West, the Russian River, Rainbow Mountain or the Dunes.
- You want a beach as well as a pool: Fort Lauderdale, Key West or Provincetown. Palm Springs is desert, and the Russian River is a river. For the world's best stretches of sand, see the best gay beaches in the world.
- Winter sun: Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale or Key West. Provincetown, Guerneville, the Poconos and Michigan are summer trips.
Three questions to send before you pay: Is it men-only? Where exactly is clothing optional, and does that include day-pass guests? What is the minimum age? A small guesthouse answers those in one email.
Gay resorts in the USA compared
| Resort | City | Men-only? | Clothing optional? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santiago Resort | Palm Springs, CA | Yes | Swimsuit optional | Quiet couples, lunch included |
| INNdulge | Palm Springs, CA (Warm Sands) | Yes | Yes | Going alone, meeting people |
| CCBC Resort Hotel | Cathedral City, CA | Yes | Yes | Parties and events |
| Worthington Resorts | Fort Lauderdale, FL (beach) | Yes | Yes | The beach, going alone |
| Pineapple Point | Fort Lauderdale, FL (Victoria Park) | Yes | Pool areas | Romance, gardens |
| The Cabanas Guesthouse & Spa | Wilton Manors, FL | Yes | Yes | Wilton Drive, the spa |
| Island House | Key West, FL | Compound yes | Yes | Pool parties, a social week |
| New Orleans House | Key West, FL | No, all welcome | Yes, garden and pool | Sleeping above the bar |
| Alexander's Guesthouse | Key West, FL | No, mixed | Not advertised | Mixed groups, Old Town |
| The Brass Key Guesthouse | Provincetown, MA | No, mixed | Not advertised | A polished summer stay |
| Boatslip Resort & Beach Club | Provincetown, MA | No, mixed | Not advertised | Tea Dance on your doorstep |
| R3 Hotel | Guerneville, CA | No, mixed | Not advertised | Summer events, Lazy Bear Week |
| The Woods | Guerneville, CA | No, mixed | Not advertised | Cabins, groups of friends |
| Rainbow Mountain Resort | East Stroudsburg, PA | No, mixed | Not advertised | A Northeast drive-to weekend |
| The Dunes Resort | Douglas, MI | No, mixed | Not advertised | A Midwest summer weekend |
A pool weekend, or a week with a group
A US gay resort is a pool-and-relax trip, and a good one. You lie by the pool, you go out in town, and who else is staying that week is luck. For a couple or a group of friends, that is exactly right.
What we run is a different kind of trip, and it is fairer to say so than to pretend it competes with Palm Springs. A Visiting Wrld retreat is six to nine days abroad, in Costa Rica, Mexico, Bali or Thailand, in a villa with a group of gay men who all applied for the same week. Mornings are coached training at the gym. Afternoons are the destination, including a private yacht day with snorkeling. Evenings are dinner together. Most of the men arrive solo, so nobody spends the first day working out who to talk to.
If you are weighing the two, our comparison of gay resorts vs gay retreats goes through the trade-offs, gay fitness retreats has the destinations, and our solo travel guide is for the man who is not sure about going alone. For more ideas, see gay vacations, or gay resorts in Mexico for Puerto Vallarta's gay hotels.
Sources: each resort's own website, The Palm Springs Guys on men-only resorts (updated December 2025), Nomadic Boys on Palm Springs and Key West (both updated June 2026), The Globetrotter Guys on Wilton Manors (updated July 2026), Out x Out on Provincetown hotels (updated July 2026), GayCities on the Crown & Anchor, The Press Democrat on R3 (April 2026), Gay Desert Guide on the Canyon Club closure, and the Key West Chamber on the Equator closure, all read on September 14, 2026.
