Who doesn't love the new year? I mean, don’t we all have our own weird reasons for it?
The 'fresh start' idea, the 'new year, new me' crowd, 'another reason to have a drink' people, and even the sense that a new year means a clean slate. Personally, I feel a little sad because it's a date that makes me a year older. But that doesn't make it any less a day worth celebrating though, does it?
Speaking of celebration, have you wondered how the rest of the world celebrates the new year? Past the fireworks and the countdown we all default to, some places take New Year's celebrations very seriously, and none of them are as out of reach as they sound.
So after going back and forth with our guides, I’ve picked a handful of genuinely practical destinations to build a holiday around if you're planning something for the end of the year. Some are right next door, some a good deal further out, but all are worth timing a trip around. Here's a rundown of some of the best places to visit for new year, whatever the distance you're up for…
The Marquee Six: The Big Ones To Fly For
Here are 6 places that we’ve picked to go for new years if you want the celebration itself to be the reason you booked the trip.
Sunshine Coast, Australia gets to it before almost anyone else on this list, purely by geography. Being one of the first inhabited coastlines on Earth to cross into the new year gives its midnight fireworks a strange advantage: everyone else is still watching the old year run out. The council runs four separate displays across Coolum, Caloundra, and Mooloolaba, with the main show at Mooloolaba drawing around 30,000 people to the esplanade for an 8:30pm show and a second one at midnight, all of it alcohol-free and startlingly family-friendly for what is, technically, one of Australia's biggest annual parties!
If you’d rather trade winter layers for warm evenings, waterfront fireworks and a midnight celebration under the southern summer sky, our Australia tour packages let you experience one of the most memorable things to do for New Year outside India.
Oslo, Norway gave up fireworks in 2022, and now runs a laser light show off the roof of City Hall instead, a quite unusual move for a capital city on the one night everyone else in the world sets things on fire, and one of the more offbeat best new years eve vacations for anyone tired of the standard firework script. Still, locals still let off their own fireworks from balconies and gardens once the ban briefly lifts between 6pm and 2am, so the sky over Oslo ends up patchworked with small private shows instead of one big civic one, best watched from Akershus Fortress or the sloped roof of the Opera House.
If your perfect New Year involves snow underfoot, Arctic skies and perhaps a glimpse of the Northern Lights, explore our Norway tour packages and head north for a celebration unlike the usual city countdown.
Amsterdam, Netherlands turns into a city-wide fireworks free-for-all, since the Dutch are legally allowed to set off their own fireworks between certain hours, on top of official displays at Museumplein, Nieuwmarkt, and Oosterdok. The other half of the tradition is ‘edible’: oliebollen, deep-fried dough balls dusted in sugar, sold from carts on nearly every corner through December, eaten by the thousand before anyone's even reached the countdown, making it easily one of the more delicious things to do for new years anywhere in Europe.
Stockholm, Sweden does something no other city on this list does; it reads a poem. Every year since 1897, a well-known Swedish actor recites Tennyson's "Ring Out, Wild Bells" from the Skansen open-air museum just before midnight, a tradition that's been broadcast live on national television since 1977 and has somehow never gotten old for the country watching it.
Berlin, Germany's Brandenburg Gate party used to be one of the largest New Year's gatherings on the planet, pulling in up to a million people at its peak in the years after reunification, and it's still routinely ranked among the best new year destinations in Europe. It's shrunk considerably since, this year's event caps out at around 20,000 ticketed guests, but the fireworks over the Gate at midnight remain one of the more cinematic ways to close out a year in Europe.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil does the most fiery one of all of this. Around two to three million people pack Copacabana Beach dressed entirely in white, a tradition that started with Candomblé worshippers honoring Iemanjá, the sea goddess, decades before it became a citywide custom. And at midnight, 24 tons of fireworks fire from barges anchored just offshore for close to sixteen minutes straight, while thousands wade into the Atlantic to jump seven waves for good luck, making Rio, by most counts, one of the best places to go for new years anywhere in the world.
Want to stay longer in one city, add a few days by the beach or build the trip entirely around your New Year plans? Explore our tailor-made tours and make the journey fit you, rather than the other way around.
Closer, Cheaper, Just as Fun
If flying to Rio or Berlin isn't in the budget or the itinerary this year, here’s a list of best places to go abroad for new year that are a few hours from India rather than a full day, and several of them double as some of the cheap countries to go for new year celebration without giving up the spectacle…
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia puts its entire countdown on the Petronas Twin Towers, with a synchronized light-and-music show building up to fireworks over KLCC Park. It’s one of the more reliably photogenic places to visit for new year outside India, and it's cheap enough to fly into so that the whole trip can cost less than a single hotel night in most of Europe.
Malaysia gives you plenty of ways to ease into the New Year. Explore our Malaysia tour packages and start the year somewhere a little more tropical.
Bangkok, Thailand runs its countdown out of CentralWorld, a plaza the city has half-jokingly nicknamed the Times Square of Asia. A 180-degree fireworks display and a screen the size of a small building pull in crowds estimated in the hundreds of thousands, one of the cheaper countries to go for your new year celebration if budget matters more than proximity to a beach.
Tokyo, Japan splits its New Year's Eve in two. Shibuya Crossing turns into a shoulder-to-shoulder street party as midnight nears, while a few kilometers away, temples across the city perform Joya no Kane, ringing a bell 108 times, once for every worldly desire in Buddhist teaching, ending exactly at the stroke of midnight. It's one of the more unusual things to do for new years anywhere on this list: pretty loud on one side of town, completely silent on the other.
Marina Bay, Singapore floats 20,000 illuminated wishing spheres on the water before the main event; a thirty-minute fireworks show choreographed to its own musical score, visible from the Helix Bridge, the Marina Bay Sands SkyPark, or just the open plaza by the Bay. There’s no ticket required for most of it, and for a single-night trip, it's one of the most reasonable best new years eve vacations within reach of India.
If you’re thinking of turning your festive break into a proper end-of-year holiday, why stop at New Year? Read our guide to the best places to visit for Christmas around the world and find destinations where you can celebrate both.
So, Where To?
Between fireworks over a fjord, a poem in a Swedish open-air museum, two million people in white on a beach, and a bell rung 108 times in near-silence, there's no single answer to what the best new year destinations actually look like, only which midnight you're chasing this time.
If flights and budgets are tight, the closer, cheaper options hold their own against anywhere further out and cover plenty of things to do for New Year. If you'd rather go big, all the places are well known as one of the best places to go abroad for new year, and are worth the extra mile.
Not sure where to spend your New Year, or how to make the most of the days around it? Connect with our destination guides and we’ll help you put together a holiday that gets the celebrations right without cramming too much into the itinerary.
