Ireland lights up for New Year’s Eve, with festivities and celebrations that will show you why the island has a such a big reputation for throwing a good shindig.
Start with Dublin and experience the energetic
New Year’s Festival, which features a countdown concert, an aerial dance group flying high over the Custom House and iconic Dublin buildings lit up in 3D colour as part of the annual Luminosity light projection event.
Afterwards, the party continues well into the night – get your dancing shoes out at the
Brazen Head and the
Mercantile, or take your pick of the venues up and down Dame Street. The next day, you can get started on your resolutions early, with a
5km run in the Phoenix Park with hundreds of others eager to change things up for the new year.
If you want to get out of the city for a more relaxed experience, head to Dingle in County Kerry. The city is great fun any time of the year, but on December 31 it’s particuarly enjoyable with a small parade that moves through the patchwork streets, and fireworks that launch over the bay where famous dolphin Fungie frolics in the waves. For the countdown, the town gathers on the bridge to watch as the timer reaches zero.
Finally, in Belfast New Year’s Eve is a glamorous affair – take your pick from the
Governor’s Ball at Crumlin Road Gaol, where a four-course meal is accompanied by live music and jiving well into the night, or the elegance of
Titanic Belfast, with freshly mixed cocktails, traditional pipers ringing in the new year, and all the glamour of the Titanic’s ballroom surrounding you.