Where to get information about New Years Eve in another country
- You can find a lot of information on a city or towns website. These days many cities, and even small towns have websites. They usually list events, places to stay, places to eat etc. Many times they will have information about something like NYE.
- Countries have websites too! Many countries have a website like visit____” They can oftentimes have information about big events and celebrations in the country as well.
- Blog posts are also helpful in trying to get this type of information. Just make sure you check that they are up to date if you’re looking for a specific type of party or event. Listed in this post are just some great places to be on NYE, I can’t promise that any of these places are still doing the same type of celebrations we attended.
- Ask your hotel, airbnb host, tour guide etc. Oftentimes the local people in the area will have the best ideas for you as far as how you should celebrate. They will also likely have safety and transportation tips that you might not get anywhere else.
- When in doubt just find a great place that you know you want to be and wing it! We did that on quite a few occasions and we always had an excellent experience.
Grenada, Nicaragua (2016)
We celebrated NYE in Grenada in 2015. This was our second international New Years Eve and first time in Central America. It is funny looking back because we were still young and fresh to traveling. We didn’t have any plan, not even a dinner reservation. As you can see photo quality was completely different then as well! The great thing about Grenada, at least at that time, was that this didn’t matter. We had a great dinner sitting out on the street, watched some street performances, and had some drinks. Closer to midnight things started to get a little wild. People started to light off fireworks from absolutely everywhere you could imagine. Fireworks were flying up into the sky from all over, they were also flying down alleyways, streets, and up from crowds. We decided to retreat back to our hotel which had a rooftop to watch the displays from there. We stayed at the Mansion de Chocolate (I think the reason why is in the name). We were able to see fireworks over the whole town and really enjoy the experience without fear of getting knocked out by some fireworks! It was a thrilling experience and part of the reason we are basically never home on New Years Eve now.
Zurich, Switzerland (2017)
This was a special new years experience in a different way. We met up with friends in Zurich which was so much fun. We rented an awesome airbnb and cooked a great dinner (dining out in Switzerland is not really in our budget). We then went out with the whole city to see the fireworks. Zurich puts on a large fireworks display and you can view it over the river which is beautiful. However, it was extremely cloudy/foggy on the night we got. It ended up more like you were looking at glowing and flashing clouds of different colors. We couldn’t actually make out fireworks, but it was still beautiful in a really different way. It was a really jovial experience, everyone was popping champagne bottles, cheering, and singing in the streets and we had a blast.
Switzerland is known for being a pretty expensive country. If you’re looking for some tips on how to travel cheaper here check out my post: 10 Ways to Travel Cheap-Er in Switzerland
Prague, Czech Republic (2015)
New Years Eve in Prague was our first experience in an international NYE celebration! We went to a dinner that was recommended to us and was a very traditional place. We really enjoyed our dinner spot (I don’t remember the name from this long ago) and we headed out to a bar. We had a friend that had studied abroad in Prague and she told us the name of a fun 80’s dance bar to go to. We had a blast dancing the night away and trying absinthe for the first (and last) time. The streets were packed with people, there were fireworks and celebrations, and overall Prague was a great vibe for a new years eve celebration. The Christmas markets in Prague also remained opened through the new year, which isn’t common in a lot of European countries. It was nice to get to enjoy all of the great treats and trinkets the markets had to offer even though we came right after Christmas. We continued to order special cheese from a place in NYC for years after this to make what we called “Prague Grilled Cheese”.
Pho Quoc, Vietnam (2018)
As you are probably gathering by this point, we are not huge partiers. We just love to find great locations that do some nice celebrations for NYE and are a great place to be. Pho Quoc is a very laid back island in Vietnam, it was also a really nice place to celebrate the new year. Vietnam mostly celebrates the lunar new year, so any new year celebration happening here is basically with tourists in mind. This island had a great night market and this is where we started on NYE. The night market was bustling, locals were handing out beers and were very welcoming. We got a lovely seafood dinner and then we headed back to the beach. We made our way to a beach bar to count down to the new year. They didn’t have a spectacular fireworks display in Phu Quoc but they had a really nice beach party and a bonfire towards midnight. We had a great time and enjoyed a different way of experiencing the new year.
Chiang Mai, Thailand (2019)
This was probably my favorite NYE experience we’ve had. First of all, I absolutely LOVED Chiang Mai (more on that in another post). Second of all, they had a lantern festival. I had seen these many times online or in pictures but to experience it was really special. We had so much fun acquiring, lighting, and sending our own lantern up into the sky with a wish. It was beautiful to watch all of the lanterns floating around and going up into the sky. It was a quiet and calm celebration, people were happy and it was an all around great vibe. I would recommend this highly, or to go to Chiang Mai during their actual lantern festival. I imagine that would be an even more amazing experience.
Dominical, Costa Rica (2021)
Yes, we went to Costa Rica during the pandemic. At the time it was open to US travelers without testing requirements, and the US was not yet requiring testing to come home. We spent our holiday outside and spaced out from others. The town was actually not doing anything to celebrate NYE as it was not allowed. We went to an early dinner before curfew and then had a picnic back at our hotel bungalow and celebrated this NYE on our own. However, I am sure in normal circumstances Dominical would be a great place to celebrate. The beaches are beautiful, the surfing is fun, the town is adorable and actually has some amazing food choices even though it is quite small. It is close to many National Parks and hikes, and it was surely one of the best stops we made in Costa Rica.
If Dominical sounds like your kind of place check out my post: A mini guide to Dominical, Costa Rica
Cartagena, Colombia (2020)
This NYE we also spent with a group of friends. We had a great experiencing enjoying the sights and sounds of the town. We had a great airbnb with a rooftop terrace so we spent the night up there sipping drinks and ordering take out. Around midnight we headed out to walk around the city walls and see all of the action. It was another great fireworks display and there were people absolutely everywhere. We were grateful we’d had our terrace to spend time away from the craziness and also so glad it was near everything so we could pop out to see the action. In Cartagena there were also lots of a street parties hosted by restaurants or groups of people that you could pay a fixed rate to spend the night at. They looked like a lot of fun and had we not had our rooftop it looked like a really fun option to try.
Valparasio, Chile (2023)
The NYE that could have been! I had been reading for YEARS that Valparasio hosted the best NYE fireworks in South America. This is specifically, although not entirely why we visited this city on NYE. On the day of the fireworks we found out through our hotel that the cities fireworks had expired and there would be NO fireworks show that night. We were extremely disappointed, as were most of the other tourists and locals. However, we still had an amazing night. I had planned well, and we stayed at a hotel called “Winebox”. The hotel had a wonderful rooftop terrace and hosted a wine tasting followed by a NYE bbq and dancing. We had the most wonderful time. The wine tasting was amazing and we got to taste wines from all over Chile, we made so many new friends with the other guests at the hotel, the food was great, and we ended up staying until after 2 in the morning with a British couple we had just befriended. All in all it was one of our best new years ever, even though the fireworks were just provided by some locals having a good time.
Plan for me dani 