Fantastic New Year’s Eve destinations

Barcelona, Spain

Certain traditions are what makes the New Year’s Eve gathering of thousands of people at Barcelona’s Plaza Cataluña special, Sorensen said. When midnight hits, revelers eat 12 grapes — one for each chime of the clock — for good luck. They sing and toast the new year with cava, the region’s answer to champagne.

Afterward, people will walk along Las Ramblas, a walking street that goes from the plaza and past some of the city’s most famous landmarks to the Mediterranean Sea.

“You can walk down the length, and on both sides will be bars where people will continue the night [partying],” Sorensen said.

Hanoi, Vietnam

If New Year’s Eve seems too close for new plans, you still have time for Vietnam’s new year, or Tet, which falls on February 14, 2010. This one will be extra special for Hanoi, which in 2010 is turning 1,000 years old, Reid said.

Legend has it that Hanoi was founded when a giant turtle gave a sword to a king to fend off an invading army, according to Reid. A massive turtle currently resides in a lake in central Hanoi, and some locals believe it is the legendary reptile. Reid suspects that lake is going to be a place to be for Hanoi’s official birthday celebrations.

Officials have been restoring a citadel where kings once lived, so visitors can tour it for the celebrations. Add Tet — a 14-day celebration in which Vietnamese visit relatives and exchange food, flowers and cards — to the equation, and you have a very festive city, Reid said.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay festival, which runs from December 29 through January 2, is “one of Europe’s most distinctive celebrations” of the new year, Sorensen said.

A December 29 torchlight procession kicks off the festival, which climaxes with a December 31 street party at Edinburgh’s City Centre. For about $16, revelers get access to three stages of music and entertainment. As January 1 begins, fireworks explode over Edinburgh Castle.

One Scottish tradition to watch, Sorensen said, is “first-footing,” or being the first to cross a home’s threshold in the new year. People bring gifts of shortbread and other things to others’ homes, and the visitors can be given whiskey in turn. Though it’s a tradition more focused on locals, people visiting Scotland may be able to come along if they’ve met residents ahead of time, Sorensen said.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The city’s Reveillon celebration on Copacabana beach New Year’s Eve is part secular, part spiritual. Observers of the Candomble religion, which has its roots in Africa, and even those with no ties to the religion dress in white and prepare offerings to a goddess of the sea, Reid said.

Flowers, perfumes and candles, some put on little boats, are prepared. People make a New Year’s wish, and the offerings are sent into the water. “If the tide takes it [out to sea], the wish is supposed to come true,” Reid said.

About 3 million people go the the beach each New Year’s Eve, which is summertime for the Southern Hemisphere. Fireworks light up the sky at midnight.

“Lots of parties are going up and down the beach. … Some hotels will have special parties you’d pay admission to. The whole scene of Copacabana is fully charged up,” Reid said.