Today, we sat down with Tom Neuwirth a.k.a. Conchita Wurst, an Austrian singer and drag queen, to learn about his favourite spots across Europe. After winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 as Austria's entrant with the song Rise Like a Phoenix, Neuwirth came to international attention. Since the Eurovision Song Contest, this icon has continued to campaign for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Vienna is my favourite destination in Europe, obviously, and that’s also a reason I have chosen to live here. I am very happy in my city. I also love Amsterdam because it is so much fun; it’s a beautiful city and the people are lovely and very open there too.
Visiting Amsterdam and seeing all the different canals throughout the city is one of my travel highlights. It gives the city such a unique flair, adds calm to traffic, and is a great way to create distance and privacy. If nothing else works, sitting by a canal and staring out to the water while others cycle behind you can be the most relaxing experiences in a city trip that you won’t get anywhere else.
I would count Vienna, Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam amongst the most inclusive destinations in Europe. All for their different reasons, but the bottom-line is that I would feel safe in all of them and there’s a multitude of activities for queer travellers in each of these destinations.
The European Drag scene seems very creative to me, there are so many facets to drag in Europe that I don’t see that much on other continents. And I appreciate the authenticity of European drags – they’re very real in every aspect of their artistry and personality.
I need to travel to New Zealand – I’ve made it to Australia a couple of times but never had the chance to escape Oz to visit New Zealand, not even for a short time. But if I need to name a bucket list destination in Europe, it would be the Lavender fields in the South of France and Grasse.