We will be in Edinburgh for New Year's Eve 2005.

Should we buy tickets to Princes Street or is that a scam?


Cheers!
Brenda

No, it's not a scam. You should get tickets - and pay extra for enclosure tix if you can . . . .

Brenda51,

Maybe you've seen this already - but just in case...

http://www.edinburghshogmanay.org/

Demand is huge so get in there quick!

Jim

Before I saw your post, I'd just posted information that tickets for the street part go on sale tomorrow - Saturday 1st October.

Whether you should go or not depends on how much you like being outdoors stuck in a huge crowd in probably very cold and possibly rainy weather. Not my scene but evidently popular with many. Do you know yet where you are staying ? The walk home might be a consideration too, when deciding if the street party is worth doing for you.

Thanks for the info!

Caroline - We will be staying at The Thistle.

We don't mind the outdoors or rainy weather.

Can we buy the tickets online and pick them up when we arrive in Edinburgh?

Do you mean the Thistle Hotel or the Thistle Edinburgh? They are different places at opposite ends of the city center (plus there is at least one other Thistle hotel in Edinburgh)

Both are walkable but the Thistle Edinburgh would be a bit closer.

The website has all the info you need about tickets.

The best and possibly only sure way for you to get tickets to the street party would be for you to join the First Foot Club. Before you do, check with your hotel, some of them are able to provide tickets for guests. I'm not sure if they send the passes to the US as I've always had them mailed to my mother in Edinburgh.

While it's not a scam, the street party is VERY crowded. Get there early.

But you might as well try for just getting street passes first, before laying out the extra for the First Foot Club - you can do that later on if necessary. In my experience of buying tickets at the Hub (for the International Festival), you can opt to pick them up instead of having them posted.

Is it the Thistle on Leith Street ? If so it's only 2 minutes' walk from the east end of Princes Street.

Janis, Barbara, and Caroline,

Thanks for the information. We will be staying at The Thistle on Leith Street.

What exactly is the hype about these tickets?

Would we have just as good as a time in a pub?

Or would we have an even better time on the street with the tickets?

Afterall, the fireworks will be seen throughout all of Edinburgh, right?

The fireworks are seen from almost everywhere, but the best view is from Princes Street or North Bridge.

After I posted (always the best time!) I looked at the web site and they have made some changes since we were there in 2003/04. I would hope that the changes mean improvements, but I wouldn't count on it.

Our experience of the street party then was awful. That was the year everything was cancelled at about 11pm because of very bad weather. However, before it was cancelled, we left a concert at the Usher Hall and made our way in gusting, heavy rain to the entry gate at the West End of Princes Street at about 10:30pm. Remember I highly recommended getting there early, 10:30 is not early.

We, my twenty-something son who is 6'3", my 17yr old football player son who is 6', my daughter and myself, got through the gate easily and almost immediately found ourselves at a wall of people. They had huge screens set up at several points and we were still behind the one at the West End. We never did make it to the front of the screen. There were so many people that we literally could not move. After about ten minutes of this, my older son said he thought this was dangerous and we should leave. He was right, but to hear him say it was really scary, because big crowds don't scare him. My sons were able, with great difficulty, to push through the crowd and get us out. We made our way towards George Street thinking we could watch the fireworks from there. The police were still letting people into the Party area.

Just as we got to George Street we noticed some people going away from the area and overheard two girls talking about cancellation. We asked a policeman what was going on and we learned that everything had just been cancelled. Then we had to try to find a cab at the same time as most of the other 150,000 (or more) people who were leaving. We were very lucky and found one and made it to my mother's house just before midnight.

We also went to the street party on 2000/01 and were at the East end of Princes Street where the crowd was much smaller and you could easily get to different bands.

During the two or three days before Hogmanay there are a lot of fun activities which I do recommend. But if we ever went back for Hogmanay I'd have dinner somewhere, or go to a concert, then watch the fireworks.

Stay as close to the city center as you can because you may end up walking home.

Buy your street party passes now - at only £2.50 each you can always decide to flog them to someone later if it doesn't seem like something you'd like to do on the day.

I'll be there!

I was at the Millennium Hogmanay back in 1999/2000. You had to have a wristband to get into the "street party." There were many outside the barracades wanting to buy my wristband.

All in all, I was very disappointed in Hogmanay. It was too cold and damp to have any fun, and everyone was pissed drunk. You had to watch were you walked because the lads would just unzip and take a slash right on your shoes. At one point I thought I was going to be crushed to death by the huge crowd, but the police did a very good job at crowd control.

I would never do Hogmanay again, unless it was INSIDE.

Cheers,
John G.

Ok, thanks everyone for the info.

I don't mind the cold or lads pissing on the street. Actually might be a nice change compared to Arizona (the cold that is).

Glitterball - see you there!


Brenda

Brenda, they have bands and stuff in the gardens, to which only people with a pass can gain access. Also I suppose there's the added exitement of hearing the countdown etc at midnight with lots of other people. I believe it's complusory to kiss everyone within striking distance

Since you're staying so close to Princes Street & you say you won't mind the cold, I'd say go for it. If you find you don't like it you can always leave & go to a pub outside the restricted area, but they'll all be busy anyway.

Best wishes, Caroline

Thanks Caroline! Do you recommend buying the tickets and having them sent via mail?

Or do you know if we can pick them up in Edinburgh?

I have waited ten days for a return email from their website regarding this question and am growing antsy.


Brenda

Hi Brenda. I didn't know about Hogmanay tickets but I knew International Festival ticket booking (from the same ticket office - the Hub) offers the option, when booking online, to have them sent or to pick them up there. However, I've just rung the Hub & Hogmanay tickets have to be posted. But you can book them from the US & have them posted to your home address. If you want to do it by phone the number is +44-131-473-2000. Tickets are still available and are £2.50 each - as opposed to £45 each for "Edinburgh's Hogmanay Festival Membership" (formerly called the First Foot Club) !!

I didn't think to check their opening hours but I'd guess it's 10-5 UK time Mon-Sat.

If you have any trouble with this arrangement, let me know : maybe we could arrange for me to buy them on your behalf.

Caroline-

I started to panic on Sunday night and went ahead and purchased four tickets.

The email sent back from The Hub stated that they would be mailing them to my home address.

The postage to email them here is probably going to cost more than the tickets! But I will keep my fingers crossed and hope they arrive before Christmas.

Thanks for the offer of picking the tickets up for us! You are so generous! This is why we return to Scotland time and time again...the people are the best in the world.

Anything from Arizona that you'd like? Let's see...we have lots of turqoise, sand, sunshine, rattlesnakes, and tequila-flavored lollipops with a worm inside of them.

Hope to see you at the party...


Brenda