Mad Bear Beach Torremolinos 2026 turns the Costa del Sol into the bear capital of the late Spanish summer, running from 7 to 18 August. For twelve days the gay quarter of Torremolinos fills with bears, chubbies, otters, chasers and admirers from across Europe, drawn by a programme that moves from midday pool sessions to late beach parties and on to the clubs of La Nogalera until sunrise. The festival straddles the 15 August public holiday, which traditionally pushes attendance to its peak.
The event is run by Mad Bear, the Spanish organisation born from the Madrid bear scene that now stages editions in Torremolinos, Valencia and Maspalomas. The Torremolinos Beach festival was already in its eighteenth edition in 2024, when organisers counted around nine thousand participants, which makes it one of the largest bear gatherings of the European calendar. It is a touring brand with deep roots rather than a one-off promoter’s party.
The daytime rhythm is what regulars build their trip around, and most of it happens at one address and one beach.
The Hotel Ritual on Calle Brasil, one of Spain’s best-known gay hotels, is the festival hub: pool parties run there from around noon to 7pm, packs are collected there, and a rooftop turns into the Sunset Naked Pool Party in the evening. The flagship pool day hosts the Mr Mad Bear contest, the most watched election of the week.
In the afternoon the crowd moves to the Eden Beach Club on Playa del Bajondillo for beach parties running roughly 5pm to 10pm, some with free entry. A Costa del Sol boat party sails from Puerto Benalmadena with swim stops in the open sea, a fixture of every edition.
After midnight the festival takes over the main gay clubs of the La Nogalera quarter, Aqua Club, Bunkker and Centuryon among them, from around 1am until close. Themed nights announced under the Mad Bear banner include Mad.Bear XL, Maschio Peloso and a Furball edition, with fetish nights at the Bunkker. The event has a long record of hosting guest parties from international bear clubs, from Furball New York to Posh Beirut.
The festival runs 7 to 18 August 2026, based around the Hotel Ritual at Calle Brasil 2. Access works through packs, a Gold Pack covering the run of club nights and beach parties and a shorter Silver Pack, with pool parties and the boat party sold separately; confirm the 2026 prices on the official site, since the programme was still being updated in July. Torremolinos sits about fifteen minutes from Malaga airport, which makes it one of the easiest festivals in Spain to reach. The town has been a gay holiday capital since the 1960s, and its compact quarter, La Nogalera, packs bars, saunas and clubs into a few pedestrian streets, which is exactly why the festival can run pool, beach and club all within a short walk.
The Hotel Ritual and the gay-friendly hotels around La Nogalera fill early, so book as soon as your dates are fixed. Staying in the quarter means walking home from the clubs rather than counting on a taxi at 5am in mid-August.
A beach town built for exactly this crowd, twelve days across the August bank holiday, a pool, a beach and a cluster of clubs all within walking distance: the appeal is obvious. If you are mapping out a Spanish summer, it pairs naturally with a few days on the gay beaches of Europe, and Torremolinos has some of the best-known on the mainland right on its doorstep. Add the reliable Costa del Sol summer, the boat party out of Puerto Benalmadena and a crowd of several thousand bears from across Europe, and the twelve days go quickly.
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