Summertime and Europe, a pairing as essential as cocktails and the beach. Especially with destinations that are heavy on the charm and eager to please: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Germany, and Zurich. Our passport's getting woozy just thinking about it.

Already renowned for their commitment to LGBT equality in politics and policy, these select six are also at the height of the gay tourism game, offering up a choice of urban delights and culture-rich events to entice the traveler well into fall. But don't just take our word for it. We've polled notable gay locals, from a lauded fashion designer to expat chefs, on the hidden picks that make their city so imminently fit for a visit.

So is it cocktails aside the Limmat as the sun sets over the Swiss Alps that's calling your name? Or white-hot gastronomic delights in Copenhagen's cradle of modernist cuisine? The world's gayest museum in East Berlin? A bell-ringing bike ride past windmills and canals in Amsterdam? Fine fashion and even finer Belgium chocolate (but not too much)? Or the midnight sun, and the nude sunbathers that worship it, in downtown Stockholm? We've got the guides to make sure you do it right. But with these six, there's really no way to go wrong.