Below: Fireworks light up the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark, a top spot for seeing in the New Year in style
ten of the best Places to ring in the
Photo by Rasmus B.S. Hansen
New year
Start as you mean to go on, with a celebration to remember in one of these top destinations. Local food, wine and culture await, says Lizzie Frainier
Cuenca Ecuador
Athens Greece
Moscow Russia
Berlin Germany
From up in the hills you can see the city aglow. Effigies of celebrities, cartoons and family members line the streets, and at midnight they’re burnt to send the past year’s grudges and bad luck up in smoke. During the day, browse stalls selling masks and dummies for creating your own. Rest your feet at Casa Alonso and try mote pillo (spicy scrambled eggs), and later join the many parties and sip on agua loca (coconut juice, lime and cane liquor) while watching the fireworks. Locals swear the midnight run around the block with your suitcase brings safe travels for the year to come.
Pomegranates in Greek mythology symbolise fertility, luck and prosperity. Come New Year, they are a cause for celebration too. Shortly after the clock chimes, the ‘first footer’ enters the house on their right foot; the second smashes a pomegranate against the door. The more seeds that scatter, the more luck that will come. Athenians then head out to party. Kotzia Square and Syntagma Square have free music concerts, or raise a toast at the Hilton’s Galaxy bar for its panorama of the Acropolis. Gazarte in Gazi does top cocktails, and has a green terrace with some very apt pomegranate trees.
Pack your warmest coat and woolliest hat for -10C Moscow. New Year is a time to exchange gifts, eat at tables piled high with traditional dishes and see huge fireworks displays bathing the sky in colour. Red Square provides an iconic backdrop of the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral. You can also get a good view from Patriarshy Bridge, with plenty of places to wine and dine on nearby Red October island. Eat small plates of sauerkraut, caviar, cheeses, pilchards and dressed herring. At midnight, pop open the champagne and quaff with mandarin oranges, as is tradition.
Work up an appetite by racing up and down Teufelsberg hill in fancy dress, for the annual Berliner Silvesterlauf. Each runner finishes with a pfannkuchen (also known as a Berliner doughnut). As the sun sets, assemble among thousands at the Brandenburg Gate. There’s a huge fireworks display at midnight and a ‘party mile’ that stretches all the way to the Victory Column with live music, dancing, food stalls and beer tents. Beware: people buy stacks of Berliners, adding one filled with mustard. Those who bite in will have a fortunate (and fiery) start to the year.
Where to stay: Hotel Santa Lucía occupies a 19thcentury governor’s house in the old town. Doubles from £55. santaluciahotel.com
Where to stay: Modernist on the outside, cutting-edge inside, New Hotel is steps from Syntagma. Doubles from £105. yeshotels.gr
Where to stay: Open since 1913, Hotel Savoy has classic rooms and renowned service, all near Red Square. Doubles from £135. eng.savoy.ru
Where to stay: Bed down in Charlottenburg. Bleibtreu is a boutique hotel with 60 rooms and sleek interiors. Doubles from £130. bleibtreu.com
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food & travel
Valencia Spain
Copenhagen Denmark
Edinburgh Scotland
Spaniards will see in 2016 as usual by gobbling down a grape for each of the last 12 seconds of the old year. Crowds gather in squares across the land and around dinner tables for the orbingesting ritual. The idea originally came about to use up the grape surplus and has continued ever since. So if you find yourself in Valencia on 31 December, be sure to buy a carton before heading to Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Revel in the electric atmosphere until dawn then breakfast on warm, gooey churros with chocolate. At 2pm, get yourself to the chaotic firecracker display.
In Denmark, finding a heap of smashed crockery outside your house on New Year’s Day is an excellent sight to wake up to. It’s a tradition the night before to throw old, chipped crockery at your friends’ doors. The evening starts off more sedately with a TV broadcast from the queen followed by a meal of codfish, kale and pork. Revellers may gather in the Tivoli Gardens, or hibernate in the warm at home. At 12am, everyone climbs atop their chairs to literally jump into the New Year before cheering, letting off fireworks and eating a marzipan ring cake, called the kransekage.
The Scottish capital has several days of celebrations for Hogmanay, kicking off on 30 December with fireworks and a torchlit procession. The next night there are street parties and open-air concerts, and bagpipes echo across the city. Midnight explodes with 4.5 tonnes of fireworks over Edinburgh Castle. Calton Hill has some outstanding views. Sing along to Auld Lang Syne, but watch out for anyone swinging flaming poles. First-footing is a remnant of the Vikings and visitors should always enter your home with a bottle of whisky in one hand and shortbread in the other.
Where to stay: Right next to the Central Market, Vincci Mercat is the perfect location to explore from. Doubles from £145. en.vinccimearcat.com
Where to stay: Hotel Axel Guldsmeden near the gardens has a spa and Bali-esque bedrooms. Doubles from £152. guldsmedenhotels.com
Where to stay: Go the whole hog(manay) at The Balmoral with a Michelin-starred meal at Hadrian’s. Doubles from £570. roccofortehotels.com
New Orleans USA
Manila Philippines
tallinn estonia
Drawing on their French heritage, restaurants host multi-course réveillon dinners. At midnight, people pack Jackson Square to watch a giant version of the city’s fleur-de-lis drop from an 8m pole. This signals the start of fireworks and music – the Symphony in the Sky, over the Mississippi River. Stroll down Frenchmen Street, stopping off at some of the oldest bars in the US for live jazz and cocktails – toes will be tapping until late at The Spotted Cat Music Club. The next day, everyone recovers with large portions of cabbage, blackeyed peas and cornbread. Where to stay: Family-owned Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter has elegant decor and a famous revolving bar. Doubles from £312. hotelmonteleone.com
Wear a bowtie, a dress, a shirt or a jumpsuit – just make sure it’s covered in polka dots. It’s just one of many superstitions in the lead up to New Year. Round objects are a symbol of prosperity, so expect to find them in abundance. During the day, locals browse markets to select 12 round fruits for the dinner table from oranges to watermelons. Later on, expect a light show like no other and even confetti raining down in some streets. Noise is said to ward off evil spirits, so everyone helps out by hooting horns, revving engines, hitting pots and pans, and setting off bangers. A wonderful chaos. Where to stay: The Peninsula has its own stretched Jeepney to whisk you around town, before returning back to opulent service. Doubles from £212. peninsula.com
The dining table is the epicentre of Estonia’s New Year. Sure, there are firework displays and parties, but the real traditions start at home. Rent an apartment and plan your trip for the whole family: explore St Catherine’s Passage then lose yourself in the Old Town and its Christmas market. Stock up at Bonaparte deli to pile your plates high with pork and sauerkraut, baked potatoes, swedes and black pudding. Legend dictates that the more meals eaten, the more strength you’ll have in the coming year. Though it’s good luck to leave some food out for ancestors and spirits. Where to stay: Town Hall Square Apartments in the Old Town. Pick one with a fireplace for a cosy evening. From £35 a night (minimum two-night stay). apartmentestonia.com
Photos by Sarah Coghill; Chris Watt; Visit Britain
Top to bottom: Brandenburg Gate; warming shot in Denmark; Edinburgh sparkles; a Scottish procession