Originally Posted by
carlosdca
Hard to answer that question without knowing what you are specifically looking for. Are you looking for a beach party scene? A romantic place for a couple? Nonstop Sex or hookups? City culture and a little bit of party? City culture and heavy partying? Circuit parties in megawarehouses with thousands of men? An exotic destination with an elusive but intriguing grindr/scrufscruff scene? An epic and sensory overload event celebrating all gay?
Since you are in MD why not explore DC or NY?
have you been to Ptown? Fort lauderdale? Fire Island, NY?
Nighttours has a good list of events around the world (party oriented).
https://www.nighttours.com/gaypride/
The over the top experience that I never did was RIO Carnival. Always too expensive. Always too much planning involved.
I agree with carlosdca's suggestions.
I would add that I find the NYC gay nightlife pretty disappointing for a city of that size. Don't forget Canada! Montreal is not that far and has a better nightlife than NYC.
I agree that RIO Carnival can be very expensive, but RIO is always fun, even during their low season. The weather in august is still very good, comparable with Miami winters, and it is low season as far as the hotels go. However the nightlife in Copacabana and Ipanema is not as good as it used to be, especially since they closed Le Boy a year ago.
And of course, there is Europe, with many many awesome gay destinations. Barcelona and Paris are some of my favorites. Check out:
https://www.travelgayeurope.com/