Travel Free as You Are

Quiiky was founded in 2007 by Alessio and Andrea. The idea want after planning a vacation, when they looked for a travel agency who could help them to find the best/safe destinations and accommodation as a gay couple. There weren’t openly gay friendly travel agencies in Italy, and it was hard to find information online. For this reason they decide to establish Quiiky Travel, the premier Italian tour operator for LGBTQ+ travelers and their allies.

The Story

Alessio and Andrea met each other when they were 18 and 21 years old and now, after about 17 years, they are still a couple that love each other, and are passionate about their business.

In 2010 they founded the Italian Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (AITGL) with San Francisco Travel, Massachusetts CVB, US Airways and TTG Italia (the mainItalian Travel Fair). In the same year Alessio was nominated the Italian IGLTA Ambassador.

In 2012 they launched the first italian LGBTQ+ Travel & Lifestyle Magazine (QMagazine), and started to collaborating with TouristBoards, Hotels and Travel Agencies to help them to reach the LGBTQ+ Market.

In 2017 they launched our inbound tours, Untold History Tours (featured on New York Times, BBC and Huffington Post) featuring tours such as “The Vatican Museum Tour in a Gay Light”.

In 2018 they started the succesful collaboration with the Municipality of Milan, the Italian Tourist Board, and along with the support of the US Consulate in Milan, submitted the winning bid for Milan to host the IGLTA Global Convention.

Why choose us

QUIIKY® is a SONDERS AND BEACH Italy Srl trademark. SONDERS AND BEACH is an international tourism company located in Italy and in the USA and which was founded by a group of young entrepreneurs coming from the hôtellerie.

SONDERS AND BEACH is a member of AITGL (Italian Association of Gay and Lesbian Tourism), of IGLTA (International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, of Assolombarda (Association of tourism companies) and actively supports ECPACT.

QUIIKY® cooperates in a Network of more than 3,000 independent organizations. Here customers feel at ease, receiving a complete advisoring services on major gay and gay-friendly destinations, international events and new trends.

Quiiky Travel is:

We are member of

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iglta-logo
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We support

UNFE-United-Nations-Logo
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ECPAT_logo

Our Team

Alessio Virgili

Chief Executive Officer

Andrea Cosimi

Marketing Manager

Giovanna Ceccherini

Sales Director

Francesca Galli

Content & Community Manager

Cristiana

Travel Guide Tivoli

Andrea

Travel Guide Naples

Corrado

Travel Guide Milan

Gastone

Travel Guide Florence

What Ours Partners Say About Us

FAQ

Gay Holidays for Singles in Italy

Most of Quiiky Italian customers are gay solo travellers. We do consider the segment as a specificity of the gaymarket. Nevertheless, a  gay holiday for singles is not so easy to plan, because being a gay solo traveller means that you do not want to travel alone, most of the times. We understand that when singles, travellers love to stay in groups, look for opportunities to come together… Thi is the reason for gay group tours or gay cruises, during summer, when most of the people have the time and the peace of mind to gather and know new friends. A gay holiday for singles can also be profitable, from an economic point of view, as rooms or cruise cabins are available for sharing. Dedicated gay cruises keep it into great consideration as a lever for their market.

If we think of Italy, Milan and Rome are cities where they can find entertainment, cruising, pubs and bars, even though mainly during summer, when discoes are organized in open spaces or on the beaches.

Depending on the customer’s expectation, we usually organize small groups for declared gay destinations (Gran Canaria, Israel, i.e.), in order to guarantee opportunities of meeting locals and creating new friendships. GayCruises are also another enjoyable gay single travellers’ opportunity, mainly because they feel to be free and accepted amongst pairs. This is the reason why we do not advise ‘mixed’ cruises with straight people as guests on board.

As experts of gay vacations, Quiiky Tours showcases a wide expertise, as a market leader for gay tours. Nevertheless, what is a ‘gay vacation’? What are its distinguishing features?

Firstly, not all gay vacations are the same. It depends on the expectations and on the customer’s life-style. Our experience says that when planning a gay  tour in Italy, for example, culture, food and the iconic ‘dolce vita’ are in demand. Usually, gay districts are also requested but they are not a priority: of course, we always suggest where to go to enjoy some local gay life, mainly in big cities such as Milan or Rome.

An Italian gay vacation can  represent a great discovery: we organize walking tour in major towns, to showcase how much of gay life can be unveiled of the Italian glorious past. From the Vatican Museums, to the Colosseum, from Leonardo da Vinci to Michelangelo, from the Venetian Gay District to Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, Capri….

When organizing gay vacations abroad, we select the safest destinations, being aware that 72 countries in the world are not gay-friendly and adopt a very strict policy to tackle the LGBTQ+ community. We firmly refuse to suggest gay travel experiences where gays are banned or harassed or there is even  only a minimum risk for their safety. Arabic countries, for example, are on our black list, as well as Russia or China. A Gay vacation must guarantee dedicated entertainment, freedom of expression and law tutelage. These are our concerns. And we try to stop people from going to those countries which can represent a true personal risk.

It has been 17 years now, that Quiiky tour operator has been focusing on gay travel tours. Having been founded by Alessio and Andrea when they were youngsters, they have gone a long way, achieving the leadership in organizing gay travel tours both for Italy and abroad.

Nevertheless, Quiiky Tours is not only a tour operator. Organizing gay travelling requires specific competence, not only preferably being a gay couple. The added value of referring to a specialized gay-tour organizer is to be found into confiance and trust, into the commitment of guaranteeing safety and wellbeing in destinations, which are not so easy to find all over the world. Gay travel tours need specific knowledge of the market, being updated on the national local politics and guarantee the safest tour possible. Hospitality, catering and travelling are not always so gay- friendly and they need to be verified country by country. Again, when destination weddings or gay civil unions are involved and the risk of failure is just behind the corner, to rely on a wise and well-prepared gay travel tour operator can make the difference between happy or sad moments.

What we do at Quiiky is listening to our customers and trying to understand their real needs. Sometimes they ask to go on a gay tour to destinations which may be dangerous or at least not safe….sometimes they ask for inspirations and discover amazing places they would not think of.  Anyway, we always transmit passion and belief in what our mission is: try to contribute to make a better world for anyone, by making gay people travel the way they are!

Quiiky organizes group tours and it allows the guests traveling solo to purchase half a stateroom to share with another guest.

It is important that both guests respect one another in order to have a friendly environment during your vacation.

Quiiky provides room matching and it does not take any other factors into account in offering a match and are not able to take requests of any type. Guests participating in the program must be able to travel on their own without assistance and not require any type of service that would be a disruption to the other guest in the stateroom/room.The rooms/ stateroom will be assigned by Quiiky two days before the departure and once assigned cannot be changed, without any type of exception.

Advices:

  • please introduce yourself when you arrive and discuss about your sleep, wake up alarms, bathroom habits, closet space allocation to avoid potential problems later;
  • Always treat each other with respect and kindness as you wish to be treated;
  • Choose to share the room if you are easy going person. If you smoke (usually inhotels you cannot smoke anymore)or snore a lot we advice to setup in single.

Resolving Problems:

 If at any time you feel your rights are not being considered, please attempt to resolve the issue together.

Quiiky is unable to accommodate requests to change roommates or rooms, therefore, it is up to both of you to resolve any conflicts.

If you feel you cannot resolve a problem mutually, please contact the reception staff and they will do their best to intervene on behalf of both parties.