Without a shadow of a doubt the best city in Europe to celebrate New Year’s Eve is Vienna. We picked Vienna as none of us had been before and we liked the sound of it. We were totally blown away by New Years Eve.

It’s a brilliant programme for the whole family with some 300 artists and a festive fireworks display….
The Vienna New Year’s Trail is a very special highlight of the Viennese calendar.  On the night of 31st December, Vienna transforms into a vast festival stage. You can expect over 750,000 visitors who boisterously but peacefully welcome the New Year.

It’s called Silvesterpfad or St Sylvester’s and for overseas visitors is one of the main reasons to Vienna at New Year. The Trail starts at the town hall, the Rathaus and there are over 10 stages on the trail with rock bands, disco tribute bands, classical music, classical dancing, you name it. Each stage has a timetable of events and rotates across various styles of music so everyone gets a taste of what they like as you walk or dance from one stage to the next. It’s a brilliant concept and has to be one of Europe’s best kept secrets.

The entertainment kicks off around 7 or 8pm and continues on past midnight. It culminates with a countdown to the fireworks near St Stephan’s Cathedral in the centre of town. The atmosphere is out of this world with loads of stalls where you can get food and drink. It’s a like a vast Christmas market set in an outdoor music festival and it all happens New Years Eve. In spite of the vast crowds, it’s very safe, there’s no trouble, no rowdiness, and there are loads of families with children and young and older people.

Check out these links to some more information on the New Years celebrations.

Then on New Year’s Day, from 11am you have the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic and the hearty hangover breakfast at the City Hall. You can’t even buy tickets for this event; it’s a well controlled raffle, giving everyone an equal chance to get to this once in a life time event.

There is so much to do in Vienna; I can’t recommend it highly enough. Yes it’s pricier than some other European cities but it exudes style and elegance and to be honest is no more expensive than Dublin.

The coffee shops are stunning not only in terms of the architecture but they buzz with atmosphere and it’s a great way to chill and unwind on a city break. I’ll do another piece on the city itself and all there is to see as there is just too much to include in this New Years Eve piece.

For the best prices in city breaks go to ClickandGo.com. We personally selected the hotels in Vienna based on their central location, trip advisor ratings and value for money, you can chose from 3, 4 & 5 star hotels, we’ve done the hard work and narrowed the selection based on our strict selection criteria. We know when you book a city break you want to be in the city!!

Aer Lingus fly to Vienna, 5 days per week, every day except Tuesday and Saturday. At ClickandGo.com we offer sun holidays and city breaks with Aer Lingus flights at the exact same price as on aerlingus.com

Any comments or questions, feel free to contact us.

— Paul!