New Year’s Eve in New York: Times Square, Central Park and Our Tips

New Year’s Eve in New York: now there’s a title that sounds glamorous, right? Being in Times Square to watch the famous ball drop was a real dream for us. It’s THE symbol of New Year’s Eve in New York: the ball rises and, at midnight, confetti and fireworks burst into the sky. The euphoria is real, and so are the crowds. That’s the picture I had in my head and what I wanted to experience. It didn’t quite go to plan!

Let’s just say it turned into a real headache! Once our trip was booked and we had a rough plan, the big question was: what to do for New Year’s Eve in New York? Plenty of websites list things to do on 31 December. Here are the options, updated with practical info from the latest editions, followed by our (eventful!) account of the night.

New Year’s Eve in New York at a glance

Where to spend New Year’s Eve in New York?

Central Park

Fireworks are set off at midnight near 72nd Street: you get a great view from Sheep Meadow, Bethesda Terrace or the surrounding paths. It’s also where the New York Road Runners hold their Midnight Run, a 4-mile (6.4 km) race that starts on the stroke of midnight, with a dance party before the start, perfect for anyone who wants to kick off the year on the right foot! The atmosphere is more family-friendly and far less oppressive than in Times Square.

Prospect Park in Brooklyn

In Brooklyn, the Prospect Park Alliance also hosts a free New Year’s Eve celebration: live music from around 10pm, followed by fireworks at midnight. The best viewpoints are around Grand Army Plaza and along Prospect Park West. A lovely option if you’re staying in Brooklyn!

New Year’s Eve cruises

This idea sounded pretty good… if one of us didn’t get seasick^^. New Year’s Eve cruises usually leave between 8pm and 10pm for 3 to 5 hours on the Hudson and the East River, with dinner, an open bar and views of the fireworks over the harbour. Expect to pay from $150 to nearly $900 per person depending on the boat and the package. The only drawback for us: some are back at the pier shortly after midnight! You can also watch the fireworks for free from the banks of the Hudson and the East River.

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Fancy a free view? From this promenade overlooking the East River, you can take in the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty and, often, several fireworks displays over the harbour. Get there early, as the best spots go fast.

A restaurant or a rooftop bar

To celebrate New Year’s Eve in the warm, many restaurants and rooftop bars offer set-menu parties. Away from Times Square, prices stay much more affordable; with a view of the ball, they skyrocket (more on that just below). Either way, book several weeks ahead.

Times Square and the ball drop

The best-known option for spending New Year’s Eve in New York and watching the famous ball drop… and here too, there are several ways to do it.

The first is to wait patiently in the street until the big moment arrives. And most of the time, that wait happens in the cold! The first people arrive around 1pm. What you need to know is that once you’re there, you’re “packed” into “pens” behind security barriers, and you can’t leave them, not even to go to the loo! On top of that, the 3 Bs are banned: bags, backpacks and booze. Needless to say, waiting more than 10 hours in those conditions didn’t exactly make us dream!

We looked for another solution and saw that you could book a table at a venue that then gives you access to one of these “pens” shortly before midnight. These parties now cost from around $450 per person to over $12,000 for two in the fanciest hotels! Yes, you read that right! For us, even the $300 they were asking back then was a bit too much! That budget could pay for so many other things that we were reluctant to spend that much on a single evening…

There’s also a pass that supposedly gives access to several parties and, in theory, leads all the way to the famous ball drop… Online, dozens of accounts say the police let whoever they want move from one “pen” to another, so some unlucky people never reach the ball… In the end, we didn’t book anything from France, telling ourselves we’d see once we got there!

New Year’s Eve in Times Square: how it works

Since our New Year’s Eve, the organisation hasn’t changed much: the celebration is free, there are no tickets, and it’s still first come, first served. The streets around Times Square are closed off from the morning, the access points open around 3pm, the ball is raised to the top of One Times Square at 6pm, then concerts and entertainment follow one another until the countdown at 11:59pm. Around a million people pack into the area!

The best spots are on Broadway between 43rd and 50th Streets, and on Seventh Avenue up to 59th Street. The earlier you arrive, the closer you’ll be to the ball… but the longer the wait, with no way of leaving your pen. As for the weather, it’s often around 0 °C at midnight, and some years it snows: hat, gloves and layers are a must!

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Our New Year’s Eve in New York

On the morning of 31 December, at the hotel, we watch Fox: their crew is already on site, along with a dozen or so people. They mention the 3 Bs and warn that New Yorkers and tourists usually arrive around 1pm… We make the most of the morning to visit Chinatown, and head over at 3pm to get a feel for the place. There are already lots of people, but not that many after all. Only 3 or 4 “pens” are full. So we wander around and think about where to stand that evening. Around 5pm, we find a nice street corner, a little far away, but with a pretty good view. The police don’t let people stop for long at this crossroads, but we figure that at midnight they won’t bother anyone.

In 10 minutes, it’s total chaos!

And then, I don’t know how, we end up in a pen and let ourselves get carried along: why not, let’s give it a go. In 10 minutes, it’s total chaos! People are completely crazy, pushing and running to get a good “spot” even though there are security barriers! We think it’s really badly managed, but above all, we don’t want to be crushed for another 7 hours!!! We start heading back, and then some people, wondering why, start… copying us!! At the same time, a police officer starts pushing back the people behind us too. Barely 20 minutes in, and we can safely say it’s utter nonsense! We finally escape from the pen and head to Central Park.

I’m so disappointed. I’m in New York and I’m not going to see Times Square light up. I can’t think rationally anymore: I clearly don’t want to go back into that mess, but I don’t want to be anywhere else either…

We look up info on the Central Park fireworks: apparently you can see them from anywhere in the park, but it’s only 6pm. On top of that, one of us is starting to feel queasy and wants to go back to the hotel. In the end, all 4 of us go back and wait a bit; it’s so early!

I’m completely gutted, but Mr Voyageurs Gourmands, impatient by nature, suggests going back to the street corner we spotted earlier to see how things have changed. Same situation: the street is still open to traffic (unlike the ones near Times Square). I ask an officer whether that will change, and he tells me no, this street won’t be closed. Great, maybe that’s our solution!

At this crossroads, there’s a rather discreet restaurant with fairly reasonable prices. We figure coming here around 9 or 10pm could work! We head back to the hotel (yes, that’s at least the 8th time today!) and suggest the plan to our friends. They’re in, but want to stop at a pharmacy first.

Once at the restaurant, the waitress tells us we have 30 minutes at the table… Ha ha, good one! We take our time anyway, the food is good… But our poor patient is getting worse: he’s pale and really wants to go back. Once dinner is over, we walk him back to the hotel…

So there are just 3 of us heading to our spot at 11:40pm… And then… disaster strikes…
“Our” street is closed to pedestrians!
Noooooooooooooooo!!
We run like mad, hoping to get through on the other side, which turns out to be closed too, then we find a checkpoint where the police are searching people, quick, quick!!
We get through and keep running and running: oh my, was this street really this far away earlier?!
The countdown echoes through the streets…
7…6…5…4…
And we’re still running. We reach the crossroads just as “1” rings out, people kiss, fireworks and confetti burst over Times Square but also behind us in Central Park! We watch both shows and don’t really know where to look.

The police officers take photos of each other, hug, and take photos of us too! What a warm atmosphere! But the show in the park is barely halfway through when people start leaving… All that time waiting and then not even seeing it all?! How absurd!

Never mind, we make our way towards Times Square to grab some confetti, going against the flow: people have seen what they came to see.

We get close to Times Square and can’t go any further. It’s 12:20am, and nobody’s left except the police guarding the last pens and the street sweepers already hard at work. We find it really sad to wait so long only to not even stay 30 minutes! Sure, food and drink are banned, and the wait was long, but you might as well enjoy the moment, right?

I have to admit our experience left me with a feeling of unfinished business, and I’ve already suggested to Mr Voyageurs Gourmands that we come back with our children one day^^. We really didn’t want to spend that much on one evening, or “waste” half a day of our trip waiting (which, by the way, was lost anyway with all our back-and-forths…), but if we did it again, we’d do things differently…

For those who’d like to give it a try, the only advice I can give you is to really plan your 31 December carefully! Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

If we did it again: our tips for New Year’s Eve in New York

Looking back, here’s what we’d do differently:

• Choose our option before leaving France: the street, a booked party or a park, but definitely not some improvised in-between on the day!
• If the ball drop is your dream, arrive early in the afternoon, very well wrapped up, after one last trip to the loo… and accept that you won’t move until midnight.
• With a bigger budget, book a party with access to the pens, rather than running through the streets at 11:50pm!
• For a more relaxed atmosphere, go for Central Park, Prospect Park or the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
• Keep 31 December light and stay near your chosen spot, to avoid back-and-forths (we did at least 8!).
• Check the official schedule a few days before: times and access points can change from one year to the next.

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Does New Year’s Eve in New York tempt you? Maybe not after my story… And for those who’ve done it, how did it go?

Heading to New York for the holidays? Check out our must-sees for Christmas in New York, plus (in French for now) our complete guide to things to do in New York and our tried-and-tested places to eat.

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