Photo Credit: @hgomezherrero

Bear Carnival Releases 2024 Programme, Ticketing Info, and Exclusive Photos From Last Year!

9th February 2024 BWM Staff

Anticipation for Bear Carnival 2024: The Sportsmen Edition is reaching a fever pitch!! Read on for details surrounding this year’s event, exclusive photos from last year’s festivities and a link to buy your tickets before they sell out!

Bear Carnival is the biggest bear event in Europe. The entire event takes place over a glorious 15 days on the beautiful subtropical island of Gran Canaria. Guests are invited to stay for as little or as much of the event as they want to not only enjoy the beautiful European bears that flock to the carnival in droves; but also to luxuriate in the gorgeous weather which will feature copious amounts of sunshine and temperatures between 20-25°C (68-77°F). What better way to chase away the winter blues?!

Things kick off with the pre-Carnival from March 6-8 which will feature the Bear Wellness Experience. The Bear Wellness Experience is a three day program designed to promote self-love and male bonding through a series of exercises and workshops that target specific physical and emotional blocks exhibited by bears. The goal of it is to help open people up by reducing self-consciousness within a group of likeminded men who are all attending the carnival. The experience is held at Aya House, a secluded, modern, men-only mountain retreat just 10 minutes from Maspalomas. It is a unique and wonderful way to kick things off and highly recommended. For more information click here.

The main part of Bear Carnival kicks off on March 9th and goes on through the 17th. Over 60 events are planned for attendees, its the true definition of having something for everyone. There will be pool parties, beach parties, cruising parties, spa nights, happy hours, brunches, workshops, dances and so much more. Key events will include the Wet & Hairy pool/foam party, DILF at Club Kiki, the Disco Boat Trip and of course the contest to name Mr. Bear Gran Canaria 2024. Check out the massive Programme of Events here.

The event will wrap up with the Post-Carnival from March 18 to 20 and will feature a much more laid back schedule of events for those staying behind a few days longer.

Tickets just went on sale earlier this week and already many events are sold out or well on their way to being sold out. It is highly advised that you buy your tickets as soon as possible. Get your tickets HERE.

And while we wait for the fun to begin our good friends over at Bear Carnival shared some additional, never before seen photos from last year’s event taken by . Héctor Gómez Herrero. Have a look at those, and then check out our full photo recap of last year’s festivities below.

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This year’s Bear Carnival, which took place from March 18-26, was a massive success, and we have the pics to prove it!

Held each year in March, Bear Carnival takes place just after the world-famous Canarian Carnival in Maspalomas, Europe’s largest beach resort town, in Gran Canaria, Spain. Well beyond the usual bar crawl driving many queer events, Bear Carnival’s program was comprised of nearly 60 events, and included Europe’s biggest bear pool parties, excursions to explore the surrounding subtropical paradise, fine dining experiences, luxury spa evenings, cabaret shows, one-day boat trips, dating parties for singles… and the standard smoking hot parties at the legendary men-only clubs in Maspalomas.

The festivities are organized like a carnival, with a new theme selected each year. 2023’s theme was “the Circus”. It was a virtual sea of bearded beauties of all ages dressed as carnival strongmen shaking their *ahem* assets in the open-air discos and on the party boats sailing beneath the spectacular cliffs of the island.

With such a massive program of events there was truly something for everyone, but this year’s carnival featured a bunch of brand-new events such as the Bear Wellness Experience which took place two days before the official event in a private mountain retreat and provided attendees with an opportunity for self-love, male bonding and workshop experiences geared towards health and relaxation. In addition to that, additional events for singles were added with a dedicated reception and a round of speed dating, a ‘Content Creators Hub’ pool party/ filming set was put up, there was a massive a foam party to the delight of everyone, a sexy singlet/lycra night, and additional excursions to the spas. Woof!

All of these new events were held in conjunction with Bear Carnival’s signature offerings such as their annual waterpark excursion, cheese & wine tastings, scenic tours, neon beards party, bear tantra & yoga workshops, naked bear cruises, and, of course, the Mr. Bear Gran Canaria Competition which was won this year by Ruairí Davies.

Most of the events took place in and around the Yumbo Centre in the Maspalomas resort, and many parties were free to attend with the exception of the biggest and most popular events which required a ticketed entrance.

We rounded up some photos from this year’s event. Check them out below!