Image 1: The Yumbo Centrum at night
Over the years it has gotten its own type of style, as you might not expect a shopping centrum to be filled with more LGBT+ bars than stores. I am not one complaining at all as someone who enjoys the nightlife and am the LGBT+ community. It is a vibrant local community filled with restaurants, gay bars and clubs and most shops are catered to what LGBT+ might buy.
Image 2: The large square in the middle
The Centrum has been around for a few decades as it opened up in the early 1980s. It is a different type of mall where it is everything is into the wall, terraces and there is a big open space in the centre. It seemed when they built the mall it was supposed to be a lot more than just a place to spend money on clothing and accessories. This is very visible as Maspalomas summer (around 5 - 15 May) and winter Pride (7 – 13 November) take place in the mall every year. These are only a few of them, they are host Fetish week and Bear Carnival – both happening in October. Unfortunately, as of 2021 they you’ll have to pay for tickets which they have never done until this year which can cost you about €10-
€20 per day. You are still able to see the show from the surrounding venues though.
Image 3: The set up for Maspalomas winter and summer pride.
A few places have their own identities as Barenhole has more bears, which is a subgroup in the LGBT+ community; Ricky’s, Sparkles, Funny Boys and Terry’s shows has a sit-down and watch a drag show type of style; places like Fiction and Madi Gras do well with 2-4-1 on a limited selection. For cocktails, you have places like Eden’s, Silhouette and Spartacus where a fun game to play is cocktail roulette. When you want to go clubbing and have fun there is Coco Loco which is actually what the name says, and you have places like Mykonos and Matrix that offer modern pop music, but it can be a bit more limited on spaces. Even though I mentioned a lot of places already, that there is so much to see and eat. Most, if not all don’t f these bars offer dinners though, it is a minority that offers snacks. Alcohol here is around €4-5 for a pint of their local beer and ranging around €9-12 for a double spirit and mixer/or cocktail.
Image 4: Fiction bar.
Image 5: Sparkles bar before the drag show where they usually have karaoke.
Image 6: A new venue that opened up called Karaoke Kelly’s which has lots of singing throughout the night.
Image 7: Eden’s bar and this chair set up is how most of the ground floor venues look like.
When it comes to shops it is very similar from place to place but with a few alterations per each. It is worth checking out them as you’ll find different items in each shop, but the stalls outside will have the same generic items you can find around the shops.
But then again you have a few restaurants which I will link to a few of my favourites here:
Image 8: https://goo.gl/maps/jAirBV5o6vN4Zj1B9 Great place which offers classy meals and is perfect for a date night.
Image 9: https://goo.gl/maps/rcFeUWta8BFACywSA If you love curry this is a great place to visit as it serves authentic food, depending on where you sit, you can even catch a Bollywood movie.
Unfortunately, I do not have an image for this but it is amazing Mexican food with great and cheap tequila shots: https://goo.gl/maps/eCGywqN5X7aebJa28
Image 10: https://goo.gl/maps/8AaGgcByMt6uta2e6 It is not a new place but it has recently moved, it is so busy you’ll ne
It is a mix of different cuisines so if you are here for a week or two you could go to a new place every day and still have a few more left for the next holiday. Most menus will be in Belgian, Norwegian, English, German, Italian, Spanish even will have German music, Norwegian news and cater to a specific country.
The Yumbo Centrum is very focused on their LGBT+ consumers but it is still inclusive and therefore you should still make your way to the pubs. It is always a good time there whether you watch a show, enjoy a nice cocktail or a meal. It still has lots of restaurants that speak a variety of languages. They are also handicap accessible as there are 4 elevators located to help people get up and down the three-story building. It is good for a day out and even better for a night out.
Have you ever been?
What is your experience. If so - where do you love going out, what are some fond memories.
