Up Helly Aa Vikings during the Torchlight Procession, Edinburgh
Scotland's Hogmanay celebrations guarantee a warm welcome and more new friends than you ever knew you had, all in a frenzy of goodwill! At midnight, sing along with Auld Lang Syne. For an unforgettable Hogmanay break, it's got to be Scotland.
Hogmanay in Edinburgh
When it comes to Hogmanay, Edinburgh certainly knows how to put on a show, whether it's the famous Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party, toe-tapping ceilidhs or live musical performances in Princes Street Gardens.
Book your tickets for the events that take your fancy, including the Concert in the Gardens - you'll be in for a festive few days to celebrate Edinburgh's New Year in style!
Stonehaven is a charming village which lies on the north east coast
Stonehaven Fireballs
In Stonehaven they really turn up the heat at New Year! One of many winter fire festivals unique to Scotland, the Stonehaven Fireballs parade in Aberdeenshire is a powerful spectacle to behold. It's a free Hogmanay event which has been celebrated for over 100 years and it always attracts a large crowd.
Traditionally, it was a cleansing ritual to burn off any bad spirits left from the old year so that the New Year can begin clean and purified. Watch in awe as the piper leads the procession marching down the street just before midnight as they swing balls of fire above their head in the ultimate test of skill for Stonehaven Hogmanay.
Biggar Bonfire
An enormous pile of wood gradually starts to stack up in Biggar town centre in the final weeks of the year in preparation for the town's own New Year celebration. Lit at 9.30pm on New Year's Eve, Biggar Bonfire sees the welcoming of a New Year by the South Lanarkshire townsfolk in a warm, fiery glow.
Drams in Dufftown
Dufftown in Speyside is known as the 'malt whisky capital of the world'. While most of its New Year celebrations are much the same as you would find in small towns and villages up and down the country, it has its own special twist. After the annual Hogmanay ceilidh at a local hotel, the community gathers in The Square where drams of whisky and pieces of shortbread are shared out to see in the bells, courtesy of the local Glenfiddich distillery and Walkers biscuit factory. Slainte!
Burghead's Burning of the Clavie
The residents of Burghead in Moray don't celebrate their New Year on 31 December. Instead, they ignore the Gregorian calendar introduced in the 1750s and continue to celebrate 'old Hogmanay' on 11 January instead. They parade the clavie - a wooden barrel filled with wooden staves - through the town before setting it alight on a nearby hill, leaving it to smoulder well into the next day. The origins of the Burning of the Clavie are subject to debate, but as it takes place later than the official New Year's Eve, it's the perfect excuse to celebrate twice!
