The best places to spend new years eve

Ah New Years Eve. I think I’ve made my thoughts about the last day of the year rather clear. Or at least my thoughts about celebrating it in my home country. Paradoxically enough, I do have an uncanny amount of love for fireworks. And by that I mean seeing fireworks in a different country. You can read more about why I hate NYE here, but I’m about to introduce you to a couple places that are perfect to end off the year and celebrate the new one. So bye bye Amsterdam (and the Netherlands in general) and hello cool metropolis’.

Rio de Janeiro

Last year I had made the decision to spend NYE in a warm country that would have spectacular fireworks. Those were pretty much the terms I used when I was finding a cool location on Google. And pretty much every site I came across was telling me to go to Rio. And so I did. New Years Eve is kind of a big deal for Brazilians and Copacabana gets packed on the 31st of December with an astounding roughly 3 million people from all over the country and tourists. Everyone is dressed in white to signify starting off the new year with a clean slate. The government takes care of all the firework which are lit on boats spread out in the water. The fireworks show lasts for about half an hour and in the meantime you’ve  got your feet in the sand, champagne in hand, surrounded by dozens of partying people. It’s also a Brazilian tradition to make a wish and throw a white flower into the ocean with the belief that if your flower does not come back, your wish will be granted. Once you’re out of the water and back on the beach, it’s time for a bit of salsa dancing and indulging in as many caiprinha’s as you can.

New York

So the term warm can’t really be linked to New York in the month of December but celebrating New Years Even on Times Square has always been huge. Not according to the real New Yorkers by the way. The thought alone revolts them. But apparently it is extremely spectacular and one of those things you should try to experience at least once in your life. Each year Times Square has their ‘ball drop’ and what happens is that a minute before midnight the ball is dropped from 43 meters high and as soon as it hits the bottom, it is officially 00:00. Accompanied by a ton of fireworks. All in all, it’s very impressive but once it’s done, do yourself a favor and head straight to the Meatpacking District for an appropriate party.

Sydney

Millions of people gather at Sydney’s famous port to watch the city’s immense firework show. The celebration of the new year starts off very early and last the entire day and they even have acrobatic shows taking place in the water. Oh and another bonus point for Sydney cause here too the temperatures will be warm.

London

A few years ago I spent New Years in London with a bunch of my friends. I was pretty much up for anything as long as I would be able to see fireworks since London is known to always have a great show case and that is something I refused to miss out on. Naive teenagers that we were, we headed to the Thames around 23:00 and let me tell you, we definitely did not have the best seat in the house. Together with about a dozen of other people we got caught in the underground subway while the rest of London was outside enjoying the spectacle. So moral of the story, definitely give London a try but, be on time.

Canada

This past year I flew to Toronto with Air Canada and one of the places I got to visit were the Niagara Falls. The Niagara Falls should already be on your bucket list of places to visit and I would advise you to go for New Years. Each year they apparently have a massive light show and thousands of kilos of fireworks are launched and the Falls themselves are lighted up specially for the occasion. Go go go.

Hongkong

A few years back I spent a couple of days in Hong Kong and the thing that really struck me the most was the immense skyline. If you think that New York is the queen of skylines, well Hong Kong is delivering some tough competition. Everything is lit up and they spend millions on fireworks. Victoria Harbour is the core of the evening so you should try to find a place somewhere along the water, or pay (an insane amount) to hang out on a boat or get situated somewhere on a roof top. A ton of ‘ooh’s’ and ‘aah’s’ are guaranteed.