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New Year’s Eve 2020: 5 sites to visit to attend virtual celebrations

By Courtney Mroch

EDINBURGH, UNITED KINGDOM - DECEMBER 31: New Year revellers enjoy the firework display above Edinburgh Castle on January 1, 2010 in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is expected that around eighty thousand people will attend the festivities in Scotland's capital. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
EDINBURGH, UNITED KINGDOM - DECEMBER 31: New Year revellers enjoy the firework display above Edinburgh Castle on January 1, 2010 in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is expected that around eighty thousand people will attend the festivities in Scotland's capital. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) /
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Here are five cities with virtual New Year’s Eve 2020 celebrations

If you don’t have any New Year’s Eve 2020 plans, have you considered virtual travel? Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, you can ring in the New Year by NYE party-hopping from city to city via the Internet.

Here are five cities hosting online New Year’s Eve events this year.

1. Dubai

Burj Khalifa is not only Dubai’s tallest skyscraper but the tallest building in the world. It’s normally the centerpiece of Dubai’s New Year’s Eve fireworks show and this year won’t be any different.

However, one thing will be. On New Year’s Eve 2020, 50,000 people will be able to ring in the New Year from the building via Zoom, in a partnership with the building’s developer, Emaar. Advanced registration on Zoom is required.

2. Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay New Year’s Eve event is usually a multi-day affair that draws thousands of revelers. COVID-19 has canceled in-person festivities but organizers have still found a way to host the event online.

Hogmanay20 involves a three-night online event that will bring to life “Fare Well,” a poem by Jackie Kay, that recalls 2020’s events and looks forward to 2021. Each night at 7 pm (Scotland time) they’ll share something new, like the Torchlight Moment with colored flares, set aflame on the Esplanade at Edinburgh Castle that honors Scotland’s NHS and essential workers, or the Fare Well Part 1 that consists of 150 lighted drones soaring above the Scottish Highlands “to deliver the UK’s largest swarm drone show” while narrators read part of the “Fare Well” poem.

All events can be enjoyed on Edinburgh’s Hogmanay website.

Vegas
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 29: Guests arrive at the courtyard entrance of the “Absinthe” show at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip on October 29, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. After being shut down in March because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and leaving most people in the industry without work, entertainment is beginning to return to Las Vegas as production shows implement increased safety protocols to comply with current government COVID-19 guidelines. Spiegelworld, the producer of “Absinthe,” put several precautions and procedures in place to reopen, including changing the layout of the seating in their spiegeltent venue, installing an air purification system and decreasing the guest capacity. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

3. Las Vegas

Party town Las Vegas is always a popular New Year’s Eve destination, but this year the Strip and Fremont Street both opted to cancel their fireworks shows, which combined always draws hundreds of thousands of party-goers.

However, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will use its website, Facebook page and YouTube channel to countdown for an “Only Vegas” virtual Kiss 2020 Goodbye celebration complete with a DJ and “epic sights” that will culminate in blowing up a 2020 sign online at midnight.

The Plaza Hotel in downtown Las Vegas will also still do its fireworks, which can be enjoyed in-person, but their website also indicates they’ll live-stream it as well.

So you have a couple of options if you want to want to ring in the New Year Vegas-style.

4. Nashville

Nashville isn’t hosting its normal huge outdoor Music City Midnight New Year’s Eve event with the Music Note Drop like it normally does either. Instead, it’ll be a televised and online show to “rock out 2020.”

Visit Music City‘s New Year’s Eve page details how to watch the Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville show, which will feature indie-rock band Moon Taxi as well as The Shindellas.

5. New York City

Times Square is one of the most iconic places to ring in the New Year, and while it won’t be open to the public this year, it’s still going to host the Ball Drop. In addition to televised and webcast live performances from Andra Day, Gloria Gaynor, Anitta, Pitbull, the USO Show Troupe and The Waffle Crew, the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration plans to honor the “Heroes of 2020.” Jonathan Bennett will host.

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