1.646.560.3205 andrew@oscarwildetours.com

LGBTQ+ History and Art Tours

Winner of Best Tour Operator in Best of GayCities 2025

“Oscar Wilde Tours is an idea that is long overdue, and I can’t imagine anyone better to launch it than Professor Andrew Lear. His erudition as a scholar–as well as his considerable wit and charm–make him the perfect travel guide to gay history.”

Stephen Fry
Tired of straightwashing?

Come let famous gay historian and master guide Professor Andrew Lear show you around the beauty spots of Europe and Asia while revealing their long-hidden LGBTQ+ history! Walk the same streets where poets, artists, emperors, and rebels loved boldly—often in secret. Discover the coded symbols, forbidden romances, and erased stories that shaped our world. Travel with a community that celebrates truth, beauty, and the power of queer history brought fully into the light.

Gay Pride is more and more important in the world today—and Oscar Wilde Tours lets you explore it more deeply than ever! As heirs to a tradition that is central to civilization, LGBT people can truly take pride in their forebears, who count among their number such greats as Sappho and Socrates, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky and Virginia Woolf, the genius dancer Nijinsky, the literary revolutionary Thomas Mann, and of course, the sublime Oscar Wilde himself.

Their contributions show that same-sex love has been at the heart of many of the world’s great cultural flowerings. From ancient Greece and Rome, to Meiji Japan and Ottoman Istanbul; from Renaissance Florence to fin de siècle London; from Paris of the Lost Generation to Weimar Berlin, Oscar Wilde Tours takes you to places where these moments are still palpable. We show you the art, we tell you the stories, and we connect you to the great heritage of which you are the heirs.

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Take $200 Off

Save $200 on our unforgettable journeys with Oscar Wilde Tours — where LGBTQ+ art history comes alive across Asia and Europe.

Book early and travel boldly—these tours are filling fast.
Culture, community, and a little decadence… at a smart price.

Testimonial

What people say about us
  • I can whole-heartedly recommend Oscar Wilde Tours
    I’ve never had interest to travel with a tour group before. But the idea of seeing a country with a carefully curated itinerary that would highlight LGBT history and art by Andrew Lear was too attractive an idea not to try. And I’m so glad I did! My trip to Greece was really wonderful. It provided an exceptional overview of the country and its history and art. Andrew was a delightful and charming host and filled with such incredible knowledge. I also enjoyed traveling with a like-minded group of men and found their company to be an unexpected highlight of the trip. I look forward to my next trip with Oscar Wilde Tours.

    Steven N.
    Tour Guest
  • The Glory That Is Greece!
    My husband and I participated in this tour (October 2025) and it was the trip of a lifetime! I had very high expectations and this tour exceeded them completely. The program included in-depth tours of Athens and its antiquities (highlighted of course by the Acropolis and the magnificent Parthenon, and the Acropolis and Archaeological museums), day trips to Mycenae and Delphi, with a knowledgeable local guide providing the history and stories of the ancient world, supplemented by Professor Lear’s discussion of the gay history and significance of the sites and the people. The five days in mainland Greece were followed by two days each on the islands of Santorini and Mykonos, again with excellent local guides and Professor Lear’s commentary All of the hotels were exceptional, particularly the Herodion which sits at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens with impressive views of the Parthenon from the rooftop bar. Above all, we had a great group of people on the tour, the 12 of us had wonderful camaraderie and this enhanced the tour significantly. We also opted to continue the tour to Istanbul, one of the world’s great cities, for an additional four days. There we experienced the magnificent Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, and an extensive exploration of local food. This was the best vacation that we have ever taken–and we have now booked the England tour for May!

    Matthew Tufts
    Tour Guest
  • A Truly Immersive Experience of Japan
    I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically recommend the Gay History tour of Japan arranged and conducted by Andrew Lear. More than just visiting local sites, Andrew Lear’s tour provided a truly immersive experience of Japan and its culture. The tour was well planned from the start in coinciding with Osaka Gay Pride, where we had the opportunity to join in the festivities and march in the parade. All of our local tour guides were most helpful and generous in providing background to the places we were visiting.

    In addition, we enjoyed a lecture and slide show on the history of male-male love in Japan given by a professional historian and expert in Japanese studies. After attending a kabuki theater performance, a former kabuki actor spoke to us about his career and the kabuki art form over an evening meal.

    John Regis Hollick
    Tour Guest
  • If You Want to Know Who We Are
    We are gentlemen of Japan … or rather, we were, for 10 days in October/November 2024. Oscar Wilde Tours Gay Japan was a spectacular success!

    With superb accommodations, amazing food, and well-chosen entertainments, the trip was comfortable, delicious, and fun. We enjoyed dinner, music and games with geishas in Kyoto; attended Kabuki in Tokyo, and met with a former Kabuki actor; and participated in a traditional Zen tea ceremony with a most charming teacher and guide.

    The tour didn’t stint on history and culture, either! Among many highlights were: touring Osaka Castle; at Koyasan, walking in the rain to a Buddhist temple, through a cemetery shadowed by ancient cedars; feeding the sacred deer and viewing the giant Buddha (Daibatsu) in Nara; visiting the Bamboo forest and Golden Pavilion in Kyoto; and, perhaps the most unusual, being blessed by a Shinto priest at the penis shrine in Nagoya!

    Hugh Gabrielson
    Tour Guest

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