Cost of New Year’s Eve around the world

Find out which city is the most expensive for fancy dinner and fireworks on New Year's Eve.

Fireworks light up the London skyline and Big Ben just after midnight on January 1, 2013. Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

For those celebrating in the UAE tonight, as annoying as the traffic and big crowds can be, spare a thought for revellers in London who will be paying the most to see in the New Year including for the priveledge of watching fireworks.

A study this month from money exchange Travelex shows that tonight including a fancy dinner and taking in a fireworks display costs about £340 (Dh1,940.4) per person in London, the most expensive of the six cities surveyed.

Toronto, which offers a spectacular fireworks display in the centre of the city at Nathan Phillips Square, is almost 20 per cent cheaper.

Paris is the third most expensive at £244.9 a head but like the Canadian city and Abu Dhabi and Dubai also offers a free fireworks display.

It now costs around £10 in London to watch the traditional display on the Thames.

The good news for anyone celebrating in the UAE is that a six-part firework, laser and light show will cover Downtown Dubai, while the LED screens wrapped around the Burj Khalifa will create one of the brightest illuminations ever seen, reported Wam.

It will also feature a wave of cyclonic light effects enveloping the Burj.

And down on Abu Dhabi’s Corniche there will also be a fireworks display at the Volvo Ocean Village. There are no charges to watch either show. In Sharjah, a fireworks display has been planned for along the emirate’s Al Majaz Waterfront.

No charge for the fireworks and a great party atmosphere in Times Square and including a premium meal – New Year’s Eve in the Big Apple comes at less than half the price of London, according to the Travelex study.

Eastern European cities such as Budapest and Prague were also considerably cheaper than London and Paris, Travelex said, at £66.81 and £42.90, respectively.

Q&A

So, it shouldn’t cost anything to watch fireworks in the UAE tonight but which is the display to see?

That depends on if you are in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, the Northern Emirates or elsewhere around the country. Do you feel like being part of a big crowd? If so, then head down to Downtown Dubai on New Year’s Eve where around 1.5 million people are expected to gather to watch the display of breathtaking fireworks.

That’s a big crowd. Will it be worth the crush?

It will be a sight. In the first act of the show, gold and silver strobe lights will illuminate the tower, followed by fireworks launched from buildings across Downtown Dubai, according to organisers Emaar Properties. The second act will dress the world’s tallest tower the Burj Khalifa in colourful rings and volcanic waves, while the third will create a constellation of twinkling golden stars. Be warned though that the authorities have recommended taking public transport to arrive at the venue, with the Roads and Transport Authority planning to extend the operational hours of the Dubai Metro.

Wow, sounds like a record breaker?

It will be large scale but unlikely to be the biggest ever as Dubai set a Guinness World Record for the largest fireworks display on New Year’s Eve last year firing off some 479,651 shells in all.

Top 5 most expensive cities for New Year’s Eve

(within a 6 hour flight of London)

1. London £336.14p

2. Toronto £276.12

3. Paris £244.90

4. New York £118.60

5. Budapest £66.81

source: Travelex

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