saraallison11

We spent last New Year's Eve and Day in Rome and loved it! Eve was fun, just roaming around the city on foot with thousands of others, stopping to watch different shows, like a ballet performance in one square, a parade with some exotic music, and the merry-makers on the Spanish Steps. But the best thing was New Year's Day! My hubby and I got up for a run and ran to St Peter's, where we got to hear the (now late) Pope speak to the crowd. It was quite an experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

SiobhanP

I have heard good and Bad about edinburgh. You have to get tickets I velieve (can any of the Scots help here?) and it is VERY cold. A friend did it but she was not crazy about the closed area in the city as it got a bit crazy with mobs of people and broken bottles everywhere. Not everyone's scene but I am unsure how wide the enclosed area is.

We live in Dublin and are bored to death of it here at new years so we were thinking Brussels or Paris. Barcelona was suggested by a friend as well.

We were in a pub in Dublin this year and my other half fainted after one drink and I had to bring him home We left and Colin Farrell walked in with his family and took out seats. We got texts all night from our friends about it! Maybe Dublin is not so boring afterall!

BTilke

We had a wonderful time in Paris over a New Year's week-end, but the fireworks weren't much. They are nothing like the extravaganza that went with the 1999/2000 celebrations. And on the New Year's Eve that we were in Paris, there was heavy fog so unless you were right the Eiffel Tower, you saw little. We were on one of the Seine bridges and had a fun time anyway, my husband for some reason kept getting hit on the back by flying champagne corks (not hard, though) so everyone kept offering us glasses of champagne in apology--a fair trade ;-) We also went to see a performance of Die Fledermaus (Chauvre-souris) at the Bastille.

I would love to spend NYE in Paris attending a performance at the Garnier opera house. That would far outdo fireworks in my book.

The Christmas decorations in the Paris department stores and high fashion houses on and around the Ave. Montaigne are very creative and worth seeing but usually not traditional.

sheila

As to where you should stay, what's your style and what's your budget?

janis

"it is VERY cold." Do remember the OP is from the upper midwest USA (Chicago). Edinburgh may seem cold but to someone from Chicago it will almost be balmy. Even w/ last year's storm/snow it still wasn't as cold as it gets around Lake Michigan in the winter.

As for where to stay - I agree w/ Sheila. What is your budget?

24Lisa

We were looking to spend $1500 or less per person for flights/hotels. We mainly want a hotel that is in a good location.

I have been looking in to Edinburgh, and it appears you can purchase tickets for the party on line.


There are too many options. I'm so confused. It seems like Scotland is coming up a little more expensive than some other options.

Any opinions on Spain? (southern)
Maybe thinking about Zurich.

Wow, I'm all over the place...Thanks for all the help so far.

saraallison11

This is just my personal impression, but I can't see Zurich being the place to be for New Year's Eve celebrations. I know you're talking Xmas too, though, and I do think it would be fun to spend Xmas there, with all the shopping on Bahnhofstrasse...but then, I have no idea what they do there on NYE. Maybe it is fab. Sorry, I'm not helping! Good luck!

sheila

I suspect that Scotland WILL be a wee bit more expensive than some other places. But it will also be the best

You could get a lower priced B&B or guest house to keep the price down. And I'm sorry, but to help you on a hotel it's the budget for THAT I need.

24Lisa

About $200 (US) per night maximum for hotel is what were looking to spend.

kleeblatt

I've been to ski resorts or mountain hotels to celebrate New Year's Eve. You'll see fireworks over snow covered valleys. If you like sledding (GB: sledging), you can walk up to a restaurant on the mountain slopes and ski down. Weather permitting: it's great! I've been to Soelden and a hotel above Hospenthal, Switzerland, where they got us with the snowmobiles and we sled down the next day to our cars. Very nice!

sheila

OK. That's pretty generous. I'd suggest you look at somewhere off the main drag to avoid the noise. Somewhere like the Holyrood Hotel, or the Crowne Plaza on the Mile might be good.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Picardy Place last month and it was just fine. It's well located too

zippo

Think twice before coming to Scotland for New Year.The weather is usually miserable (cold, rain, wind etc.)
Hence the traditional Hogmanay is spent indoors with old friends.
The recent street parties are an import from mainland Europe, an attempt to make money out of daft tourists.A recent one was cancelled due to weather.Attempting to spend the night outside in Scotland at that time a year is just plain masochism.The Scots don't do it.

24Lisa

How about south Spain (eg. Seville)?

sheila

Let's just put this in context. Scotland at New Year will be cold. It may be wet. It may not. It may be snowy. It may not.

SOME of the outdoor celebrations, including the fireworks, were cancelled two years ago because of high winds. There are masses of things to do which are not out of doors.

The street parties ARE new; but when we were kids we used to go and gather at places like the Tron in Edinburgh and see the New Year in there. The reality is that the world has changed since my young days when people went round their friends in the middle of the night- communities are more dispersed and you can no longer drink and drive, so the days of all night parties are long over.

Young Scots most certainly do party outside, and just 'cos I'm an old fogie doesn't mean Lisa is too

hanl

"The recent street parties are an import from mainland Europe, an attempt to make money out of daft tourists ... Attempting to spend the night outside in Scotland at that time a year is just plain masochism. The Scots don't do it."

Not true! As Sheila says, people used to celebrate Hogmanay at the Tron in Edinburgh long before the Council decided to turn it all into a moneyspinner. When I was younger that's where everyone would go to hear the bells at midnight.

The Council then decided to try and spread the crowds out somewhat (to stop so many people crowding onto the High Street) by putting more events on around Princes Street and turning it into a "festival".
Which then became a victim of its own success and the area had to be cordoned off and tickets issued, in order to control the number of people on the streets.

Anyway, it's great fun if you like crowds and fireworks and noise.

24Lisa, you could also try and get tickets to an organised Hogmanay dinner/dance where there'll be lots of dancing and more kilts than you can shake a stick at.

For example, http://www.queensferry-hotels.co.uk/...reaks_xmas.asp

There's also the New Year Revels at the Assembly Rooms: http://www.edinburghshogmanay.org/ev...tail.html?id=4

GSteed

Nonesense! Poland will be the place to be. December 31 is 'Sylvester'. Poles celebrate both the Saint's day and the coming of the New Year. First trip...Try Warszawa. Marriott, Hyatt and etc. New, the redone Polonia. Prices are low and the value is immense. Coming from Chicago? Poland's second city. London, Paris and etc. is for tourists. Poland will be for travellers who want a real experience to regale their neighbors with.

24Lisa

Thank you everyone for your advice/suggestions.

We have decided on Venice for New Years then Rome and possibly Tuscany.

Any suggestions for resonable places to stay in Venice. Also, are there any parties/events in which we must purchase tickets in advance?

j7f

24lisa...
and, anyone else w/ the experience...

am headed to venice for new years eve and new years day...

any suggestions for those 2 days? [31st and 1st]

what to do, where to stay, where to eat...

any and all information you have would be worthwhile...

thanks so much!

-j