New Year’s Eve New York City Times Square Schedule & Best Party Tips

Article updated for 2026 NYE celebration

There is no need to start spreading the news because everybody already knows about it.

And hundreds of thousands want to be a part of it, New York, New York.

It’s New Year’s Eve in New York City, and while other places around the world have huge celebrations – for a list of PubClub.com’s Top NYE Party Places, click here – none is more renowned than the big one in the Big Apple.

New York City is as famous for its New Year’s Eve celebration as it is for the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Yankees. The show at Times Square, with its famous Ball Drop, is the King of the Hill, the Top of the Heap. But New York, which is so big they had to name it twice, has even more to offer on New Year’s Eve, so keep reading for all the party possibilities.

Having fun here is not up to you, New York, but up to you, the individual (or your group). Hotel rooms prices for NYE range from $399-1,150.

– Times Square Ball Drop Events & Timeline –

This is such a big deal, one just does not stroll up to Times Square at 11:30 or so, participate in the countdown, then head to the nearest bar to toast the arrival of the New Year. It starts early with the true party people – the veterans of NYE in Times Square who know best – arriving by late afternoon.

And before the ball is dropped it must first be raised and that, too, is a celebration. Here is a timeline of events and happenings in Times Square for New Year’s Eve 2024-2025.

• 4 p.m. –  The Revelers Arrive

They come by the thousands, all headed to the “bow tie” of Times Square (42nd–47th Streets, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue), which is the focal point for the night. New York’s finest direct people to gather in separate viewing sections; as one section fills up, new arrivals are sent to the next section. As the evening progresses, revelers continue to fill the Times Square neighborhood along Broadway and Seventh Avenue, and as far north as Central Park.

• 6-6:03 p.m. – Lighting and Raising the Times Square Ball

As stated earlier, what comes down must first go up, and at this time the New Eve Ball is lighted and raised to the top of One Times Square.

• 11:59 p.m. – The 60-Second Countdown

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and a special guest (still to be announced for 2011) push the Waterford crystal button that signals the descent of the New Year’s Eve Ball. This starts the highlight of the night – the 60-second countdown to the New Year atop the Countdown Stage at Duffy Square (the center island from Broadway to Seventh Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets).

•  Midnight 

At the stroke of midnight, the lights on the New Year’s Eve Ball are turned off as the numerals “2019” are illuminated high above Times Square.

– NYE PRE-NEW YEAR’S EVENTS –

Several events take place leading up to this big moment, including:

Confetti Wishing Wall. The Confetti Wishing Wall at the Times Square Information Center is located at Broadway between 46th and 47th Streets). Visitors to the Information Center are invited to write their wishes and resolutions for 2014 on pieces of paper, which will be displayed on the wall. For those who cannot make it to Times Square to add their wishes, a virtual wall has been created at TImesSquareNYC.org. At midnight on NYE, the wish papers will become part of the confetti that rains down on the City.

Good Riddance Day. The co-organizers of New Year’s Eve in Times Square (Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment) are inviting the public to say good-bye, once and for all, to those bad memories at the third annual Good Riddance Day. Shredders will be available for use in Duffy Square so everyone can discard their distasteful, embarrassing and downright depressing memories from 2018. The event is noon on Dec. 28, on Broadway between 43rd and 44th streets.

– NYE in NYC Beyond Times Square –

Elsewhere in New York, it’s also a party.

If a New Year’s Eve run around Central Park appeals to you, check out the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run, hosted by New York Road Runners. There will be a DJ and dancing at 10 p.m.,  a costume parade and contest at 11pm, and fireworks and a four-mile race at midnight.

Brooklyn residents and visitors can take part in the borough’s largest New Year’s Eve party at Grand Army Plaza, which will include fireworks and live music. The best viewing locations for the fireworks are within Grand Army Plaza, along West Drive in Prospect Park, and along Prospect Park West between Grand Army Plaza and Ninth Street.

– Tips For Getting Into Bars in NYC On NYE –

The popularity of Times Square brings in a lot of people, which is precisely why many New Yorkers prefer to stay away from it. For them, New Year’s Eve means hitting one of the city’s bars or they buy tickets to private promoter events.

Several – most, in fact – of the bars have special New Year’s Eve parties. And they are expensive. How expensive? Check out the prices for Times Square bars for NYE.

A popular promotion is to charge a flat fee for admission that includes “all you can drink.” While on the surface this seems like a great deal, some places are so crowded it’s very difficult to get to the bar and get one’s money worth of drinks. This is especially true in the super-packed bars around Times Square.

So try and be the first one in line when the place opens and stock up on drinks!

– NYC NYE More Tips & Weather –

Top Tips: Arrive with the early revelers for Times Square..Dress for the weather…Be friendly to all those people crowding into “your space” because personal space is hard to come by in New York City for New Year’s Eve.

Weather: Cold. Potentially freezing cold. Rain is always a possibility. In other words, dress warmly as if you are at a ski resort.