Italian Holidays
New Year tours to winter Italy differ little from ordinary ones. No additional events are planned. So the festive mood remains entirely in your hands. If you prefer bustling Naples to all cities, then on New Year's Eve you have every chance to see the longest and biggest fireworks display in Italy. Or take Rome, the "Eternal City" - walking tours and sightseeing excursions, expensive restaurants, hearty pasta with rich sauce in small cafes and interesting shopping. Shortly before midnight, you can join many people who want to celebrate the New Year in the city center, on Piazza del Popolo - noisy, crowded, fun, and seemingly nothing special, but for some reason very joyful.
In the rest period, it will be interesting to see neighboring cities, for example, Florence. Go to the Uffizi Gallery, entrance costs €70, this is an excursion for the whole day. If you don't want to go anywhere - stay in Rome and immerse yourself in the charm of the magnificent city, be sure to see the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel (?20) and the luxurious Borghese Gallery (?18).
A completely New Year's travel option is to go on a unique sightseeing tour "Legends and Castles of Alpine Italy" on the eve of the New Year, which takes place from December 28 to January 2. During this time you can visit the castles of the Aosta Valley, Milan, Venice, Verona. The highlight will be celebrating the New Year itself in Verona - the city of Romeo and Juliet.
"Hot" Iceland
A trip to winter Iceland can become one of the most memorable in your life. This very beautiful country leaves such a vivid imprint on memory that no photographs can convey. Besides impressive super-jeep excursions across glaciers, seeing geysers spewing boiling water, and tasting the freshest seafood, winter Iceland can also offer a surprisingly hot nightlife.
New Year's celebrations in Reykjavik cover the entire city center, where clubs are literally a stone's throw from each other. Flowing from one venue to another, you can easily meet some touring celebrity: several years ago Reykjavik was recognized as the "hottest" club capital of Europe, so giving concerts here is very fashionable. As a happy ending to a stormy New Year's celebration, we recommend visiting the open thermal complex "Blue Lagoon": in the evening, sitting up to your neck in hot water, you can watch the northern lights in the sky.
Since everything is imported to Iceland, food and goods, except fish and meat, are very expensive. Be prepared for considerable spending. For example, in local bars, a 0.33-liter can of beer costs $8-9, but there is a big plus - almost everywhere you can pay with credit cards.
Journey to the Edge of the Earth
Antarctica is the land of harsh polar explorers, emperor penguins, and eternal snows. Not everyone will dare to celebrate the New Year here, only a few originals who have not only money but also courage. Therefore, travel agencies form such programs, as they say, "on request".
January for Antarctica is the height of summer, when the temperature outside reaches minus 20 degrees, and the sun shines around the clock.
Those who reach Antarctica will be offered several highly interesting programs to choose from. One of them is a trip to the South Pole. You will see the Amundsen-Scott polar station, the Polar Plateau, and cross the Antarctic Circle. You can get to the pole itself by plane, or you can go under your own power - on skis. Another activity is conquering the highest peaks of Antarctica. The climb requires experience, good physical fitness, and courage, because these mountains are considered among the most difficult to climb, which will take several days. Another entertainment is to look at a colony of penguins living on a glacier.
Well, what about the New Year? The most important thing is to remember it at all, because there are no decorated shop windows or other New Year's paraphernalia here. Moreover, it's polar day here now, and it's completely unclear when evening comes and when morning arrives.
Antarctica is the southernmost continent, discovered by Russian explorer F. Bellingshausen in 1819-1821. Here you can celebrate the New Year 24 times! To do this, you need to gradually walk around the pole during the day and celebrate the holiday every hour.