Gay Destinations on the Rise
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As a gay resort, Punta del Este has loads of potential but is probably a few years from developing international GLBT cachet. Still, there's a long and beautiful stretch of beach with a popular queer following (Chihuahua), and this town of 10,000 has a couple of gay bars and gay-popular hotels.

San Luis Obispo County, California
The legalization of gay marriage is but one reason scenic San Luis Obispo County is one of California's best gay-friendly vacation secrets. This area with a charmed setting along the Pacific has one of the nation's most exciting winemaking scenes (especially around the town of Paso Robles), and the largest community - San Luis Obispo - is a lively university town with dozens of superb restaurants and a fun, friendly gay scene. At the southern end of this county that's midway along the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco, you'll find a number of gay-friendly resorts between the towns of Avila Beach and Pismo Beach.

Shanghai, China
The so-called "Paris of the East", with a population of more than 13 million and a breathtaking skyline of countless postmodern skyscrapers, Shanghai is rapidly becoming Asia's must-see destination for cutting-edge shopping, fashion, and the arts. Attitudes toward gay people are slowly but surely changing for the better - just in the past decade, the city has seen the opening of several gay bars, along with an extremely popular and attractive gay entertainment-hotel complex. As thousands of ex-pats from all over the world continue to visit and relocate to this exciting, dynamic city, the gay scene will surely explode over the next few years.

Tasmania, Australia
This rugged island state off the southeast coast of the Australian mainland used to have a somewhat conservative reputation, but the tides have turned in recent years. Many gays and lesbians have moved to this laid-back, stunningly beautiful land, known for its natural beauty (don't miss Cradle Mountain or the Freycinet Coast). The island's tourism office produces an extensive guide for GLBT travelers, and you'll find a number of "family"-owned accommodations around this island that's roughly the size of West Virginia and has a population of about a half-million.

Torremolinos, Spain
Spain already has its share of stunning gay vacation areas (Ibiza, Sitges), and in the sunny Andalucian region, yet another has lately begun to emerge: the picturesque beach town of Torremolinos. Numerous hip restaurants and bars have opened, especially in the La Nogalera neighborhood, and the town also has about a dozen resort hotels catering heavily to the GLBT crowd. Spain's fabled Costa del Sol has long had a popular following with northern Europeans, and Torremolinos looks poised to develop into one of the continent's top gay vacation hubs.

Andrew Collins is the author of Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA and as well as numerous other guidebooks.