Squirt.org member phil9325, our certified travelling slut, is our regular kink festival goer. He has taken us to Folsom in San Francisco and Pig Week in gay Fort Lauderdale. This time, he made it to Antwerp, Belgium, to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Darklands, and his second time at the hot and horny event, an event full of fetish and cum.
Hello, my fellow travelling sluts of the world, and welcome back to another accelerating journal on the debauchery that was Darklands 2025, one of Europe’s biggest gay fetish festivals.
Since the festival runs for four days, this will be a two-parter to be able to cover every cummy detail of this event.
Lube up your hole, strap your harness, tie up those boots, and get your whip because you are about to enter a land where kink and fetish are celebrated and enjoyed by everyone. Your hole and cock will need weeks to recover after the four days of celebration and mischief.
What is Darklands?
Darklands is one of gay Europe’s biggest fetish festivals that happens at the end of February every year in Antwerp, Belgium. The festival provides a space to explore your kinks with like-minded individuals in a safe and sane environment.
Darklands is all about celebrating the diversity of fetish culture. It encourages people to embrace their sexual identity and explore fetishes in a safe, respectful way. The event brings together a mix of groups in the LGBTQ community, organizations, and clubs from different corners of the gay fetish community, including leather, rubber and latex fetish, army, puppies, and more.
Darklands is a place to let loose and discover how kinky you can get, and it does welcome everyone to its event but don’t get it twisted; if you go, you will notice that a lot of the programming is targeted toward gay men, despite having an inclusive attitude.
When Does Darklands Take Place
This year, in 2025, the festival started on February 27 and ran until March 2. However, the main events and day programs take place on the weekend. The festival takes place at the Waagnatie venue, making it easy to get familiar with the location and venue within the first few hours.
When should I start planning my trip to Darklands?
Darklands releases the information for its festival at the end of the summer, as it expects over 10,000 attendees for the whole week of events. Luckily, you have me as your guide on how to navigate the booking process.
First, you must decide whether to go and, if so, for how long. The main events happen on Friday and Saturday, but parties run from Thursday until Sunday.
I attended the full festival this year, and I can tell you that it is worth it if you have a hungry hole that needs lots of attention. Also, if you are making it to Europe, stay as long as possible, given from the United States or North America, you’ll be on at least a 7-hour flight if you fly out from a gay hookup hub like New York, for example.
Once you determine when you want to go, you can purchase your access pass. There are various options, including day passes, daytime passes (if you don’t want to go to the parties), party passes, and full-access passes.
For a full access pass (which I recommend if you will be there for the whole thing), you have two options: the Alpha Pass – which gives you some exclusive access to private areas, and the Madness Pass (the most popular option) which allows you to access the whole festival.
Alpha Passes are very limited and sell fast, and they are not worth the price. I recommend you get the Madness Pass and enjoy yourself—$130 Euros will give you access to the whole event.
The next thing you need to book is a locker. If you are going alone, I recommend you just get the complete festival pass for a small locker; it will fit everything you want to take off so you can walk around the venue feeling your kinky self. You can leave your stuff like lube there for the whole festival so you don’t have to carry it everywhere, especially if you’re not wearing much and don’t have many pockets!
What Hotels and Accommodations Should I Consider for Darklands?
Antwerp has many accommodation options, but you must book early to secure a good deal. The venue is a bit out of the downtown area, so you will have to walk, take transit, or take a taxi to the venue no matter where you decide to stay. Antwerp is a big city (and beautiful to walk around), so choosing a good location is key.
Darklands also offers “sponsor” hotels around the train station/downtown area so you can find the one that best suits your budget.
Sponsor hotels offer a shuttle bus for the Friday and Saturday parties to save you a few Uber Euros. The buses, however, tend to be unreliable and infrequent, so I don’t see the value of booking through Darklands (as they charge you a bit more) versus just booking something on my own.
Another thing to note is that you may have to take the train or bus to get to Antwerp. The best option (if you are flying into Europe) is to arrive in Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam and take the EuroStar to Antwerp.
Once there, how do you get access to the Darklands festival?
Once you have chosen when you will arrive and where you will stay, you will first need to “check in” at the venue to get your wristband, which will give you access to your chosen tier of areas.
This year they offered two different kinds of wristbands, a normal non-removable one and a gay fisting one that you can take on and off (you can imagine which one I got).
Please note that you can only get one wristband, and if you lose it, you cannot get another one besides getting a whole new ticket for the event, so safeguard that with your life.
Once you have registered, strip to your gear (you must wear some sort of gear, be shirtless or naked to gain access – this is where lockets come in handy) and explore the entrance. You will find a bar, social area, and food truck here. You could say this is the more PG area, but you will still see a lot of dicks.
Should I carry cash or a credit card when walking around the gay fetish Darklands festival?
One thing Darklands does is that you cannot use cash or cards to get food or drinks. This year, they implemented a digital wallet on each wristband, so you just have to scan a QR code and load Euros.
Make sure you do this at the beginning because you don’t want to waste precious penis time later while at the party. Also, it is part of the law in Belgium to charge for cups so be ready to pay for each cup you use for drinks – one way to save some money is always to bring your cup back.
What will I see after I get my access pass to Darklands?
Once you have passed the registration area, you will go through a large hallway with the “Welcome to Darklands” sign leading to the main party and market area.
You will find the different stages, markets, play areas, and more here. I recommend exploring during the first day before the party begins so you get familiar with where to go later. It is a massive venue, and there are different areas to explore. It can be scary and overwhelming initially, but it will become familiar after the first night.
One significant thing to note is that if you are a bottom, there are no douching stations, so you have to come VERY prepared. Since the venue is far from the downtown core, returning to your hotel to prep is not an option unless you want to waste precious time.
Another thing, on Thursday and Sunday, the main dancefloor and the “specialty” darkrooms are closed, so take those two days to party, make friends, and suck some cocks around. Leave Friday and Saturday to unleash your kinkiest devil and get your cock worked and hole used.
The first day is your time to find friends, get familiar with the city and the venue, and test the waters as to how kinky you will get. The weekend is for you to get as wild as you can imagine, and Sunday is your last hurrah before heading back with a cummy hole.
A map of the venue – so you can get the idea of how much there is to explore.
I must say that Darklands is a place that celebrates all kinks, yet, the main kinks that I indulge in are leather and fisting, so I will concentrate more on these for all my stories. That is not to say that other kinks were absent; let’s just say I was very “hands-on” in my interest in focusing on the other kinks at the party.
Thursday – The Opening Party “Mayhem”
The opening party of Darklands is called Mayhem, and no, it is not because of Lady Gaga’s album.
The first day only offers two out of the three stages to party since it is not expected that everyone will show up this day. You have two options to party, the House of Riegillio Stage – which has more Top 40 music – and the Mr. S Stage – which has more techno and circuit-style music.
Both areas are great for dancing with sexy daddies, but Mr. S is where you will find the most action. From here, if you don’t feel like dancing (like me) and just want to get dirty, the gay play darkrooms are just on the second floor.
For this stage, you have two options (both equally active). If stairs are not an issue for you, you can go back and forth and see which one has the best cock for your hole and mouth.
Make sure to select a sexy outfit that showcases your best sexual features. In my case, I always need something that showcases my ass so everyone knows what they are getting and where they can put their cocks.
Navigating these two darkrooms is like navigating a maze, which makes it hotter, as some areas are tighter, darker, and seedier. There are also gay sex slings if you want to have your hole used or fisted.
As usual, I headed to the sling area as I walked into the party and found an empty one to start getting my hole used. From the start of the party at 9:00 PM until the end at 3:00 AM, I was here playing non-stop. My hole got loaded, fisted and used by every hung daddy I could find. I put on a show and made every second of the opening party a moment to open my hole for the weekend.
If you like to be watched, the darkroom has a balcony so you can hold onto the railing and get railed (which I also did); this also allows you to see the dancefloor so you can be part of the party while also getting fucked. I am unsure how many cocks and fists I took on this first day, but I can tell you that the quality was 10/10 and you will find the sexiest and horniest men here.
How about the afterparty?
One thing about Darklands is that there is always something happening, whether it is a social, a party, an orgy, or an afterparty.
One of the main spots to keep the party going is the cruising bar Boots. One sentence you will often hear at Darklands is: “See you at Boots.” And no, this has nothing to do with the house-down boots (but it would make it funnier).
Boots is a gay cruising bar between downtown and the Darklands venue. It is open until 9:00 AM so you can always come here after any Darklands party to keep the night (or morning) going.
I recommend going to this place on Thursday or Sunday after Darklands, given that on those days, the parties end early, and people are still horny for more.
I attended both of those days, and the crowd was not disappointed. Once you arrive, you will see a boot hanging from the entrance so you know you found the place. Also, try to come before the Darklands party ends to avoid the long lines.
To enter, you must become a member (free) and then coat-check everything. I recommend going fully naked. This place has five floors for play, each one kinkier than the next one.
The first two floors are just a bar and some small play areas. The third floor has a very dark area and a piss play zone (so this floor smells a bit).
The top floor is filled with sex slings and fuck benches, but it also is the smoking floor, so if you don’t like the smell of cigarettes, I would say avoid this area.
The basement is more like a labyrinth, and not many people play there, so your best bet is the second and third floors. I stayed here a very long time just having drinks, making out with daddies, and having my hole used by different guys. I also took a sling room and had guys take turns fisting me while a crowd watched from outside of the room.
What do I do when I leave Botts after fucking and sucking gay local men?
Before you leave, you must present your membership card to the cashier, and then you will pay for everything you consume and use. You must spend at least $8 (which is how much the coat check costs), so keep that in mind. You will still pay the minimum if you don’t consume anything, so you should get at least one drink.
If Boots is at capacity, don’t worry; you can walk one more block down the street and go to Club Random, which is open 24/7 during Darklands.
This place is like a regular bar with play areas on one floor. It does not get as busy as Boots, but it provides you with a second option if you are still horny for more.
Stay Protected when hooking up abroad with men
Slutty events and trips are fun, but one thing to always remember is to be a responsible slut. Before going to Darklands, ensure you get tested and fill all your PreP and Doxy prescriptions for safe gay bareback sex. You don’t want to be the reason the whole party gets an STI.
Remember that you are putting a lot of random cocks in your mouth and ass, and you don’t want to put others and yourself at risk.
Another thing to keep protected is your ears. Remember to bring earplugs, as you will be hearing very loud music for four days. Unlike other festivals and gay parties, Darklands provides some earplugs, and the music is not as loud. You can actually have a conversation on the dancefloor without having to scream.
This was just the beginning of how Darklands starts and where to begin your visit. I can’t wait to tell you more about Part II and all the mischief I got into for the next three days.
I met a lot of cool people last time I was here, and this year I was lucky enough to attend the festival with them, so stay tuned.
Until the next cummy hole,
Phil XO
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