In honor of Pride Month, check out these top LGBTQ+ travel destinations

Pride Month kicks off Saturday, June 1 and it’s a great time to highlight travel that is LGBTQ+ friendly.

Brand g Vacations, an LGBTQ+ operator of luxury cruises and land tours for 12 years, focuses on planning trips and cruises for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. The operator has from 1,800 to 2,000 unique guests per year, many ranging in their 50s and up. Trips start at about $5,000 per person on up.

Jeff Gunvaldson, one of the owners of the company, said there are many great destinations with packages that the LGBTQ+ can look forward to — from the actual excursions and meeting new friends to feeling secure in their travel groups.

“We have a generation that kind of grew up in a community where you met a gay bars and that needed that safety and security within the community. Now that we are more accepted and freer to be ourselves throughout the world and with gay marriage in a lot of countries there is less a need for that security but I think there are still some places in the world that are not the most gay-friendly, safe to go there but maybe there is still anti-LGBTQ+ legislature in the books still and so people are looking for that comfort and safety of group travel,” he said. “And if we offer them something in those destinations, I think a lot of people would choose to do that in the comfort of an LGBT group.”

Gunvaldson said on their trips, guests are often traveling together from place to place and dining together at the restaurants on their itinerary. Company representatives are always traveling with the group to make sure the trips go as planned.

“We try to create a nice intimate environment for our guests where they really get a chance to know one another while they’re traveling rather than the 5,000 to 6,000 passenger vessels that are out there now where you could meet someone day one and not see them again the entire trip,” Gunvaldson said.

River cruises will include LGBTQ+ or LGBTQ+ friendly entertainers so that it’s an experienced catered to their audience.

Gunvaldson was happy to share the top destinations the company and its guests frequent in cruises and land.

• Vietnam and Cambodia has been one of his favorite places to visit. Both countries can be visited in one trip with visits to bustling cities of Hanoi and Saigon (now called Ho Chi Minh City). There is a river cruise that goes down the Mekong River that stops through tiny villages and gives you a deep dive into the culture.

• Japan has been popular, and that’s a destination that I think, while very advanced in many ways, also difficult to travel on your own because there’s a language barrier and a cultural barrier.

• Peru we do every year or twice a year. What’s nice about that is that you get a good mix of what the country has to offer from the big city of Lima to iconic Machu Picchu to the sites around Cusco but we also do the Caribbean Amazon that is a central remote destination. You’re out there seeing the flora and fauna and it’s a great chance for our guests to bond on a small shipping experience.

• The Prague and Danube River Cruise is one that is sure to get people hooked on river cruises. The ship charter adventure begins in Prague, one of Europe’s most beautiful and best-preserved cities, then on to Danube, one Europe’s most fabled rivers, the Danube. The journey continues through various cities, including Vienna and culminating in the vibrant Hungarian city of Budapest.

• India is a challenging destination to travel on your own. It’s a big crazy, dirty, colorful, wonderful, culturally diverse country that is a place people are hesitant to go to because of the perceptions about it. You do see extreme poverty but you also see that people are truly wonderful and hospitable and warm and friendly. An upcoming trip will cruise the Lower Ganges River with visits to Bandel, Kalna, Murshidabad, Chandernagore, and the stunning new temple complex at Mayapur.

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María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @EPTMaria on Twitter; eptmariacg on TikTok.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Brand g Vacations names top destinations for LGBTQ+ trips