At the change of year, the whole of Vienna is given over to partying and dancing. The New Year’s Eve Trail in the Old City is the highlight. A great ambience can be enjoyed as much at a gala dinner or festive ball as it can at a concert, the opera, in a hip club or a sophisticated bar.

Superb exhibitions and a dazzling array of events, concerts, operas, operettas and the hit musicals "Bodyguard" and "I am from Austria" promise a New Year's Eve program brimming with excitement throughout the day and night.

On December 31, Vienna's old city center transforms into a giant party zone: From 2 p.m. in the afternoon to 2 a.m. the following morning, top entertainment is guaranteed by the New Year's Eve Trail in the city center, at City Hall Square and in the Prater. Along the New Year's Eve Trail, dozens of gastronomes serve you punch and culinary treats. Numerous areas provided entertainment with show programs, waltzes, operetta, rock, pop, DJ lines and hit music. The classical area on Graben is a popular fixture. Vienna's dance schools offer crash waltz dancing courses here during the afternoon and transform Graben into an idyllic open-air ballroom. A large firework display will be held on City Hall Square and in the Prater at midnight.

A unique New Year's atmosphere can also be enjoyed on a boat trip along the Danube, at the New Year’s Eve Ball at the Hofburg Vienna (Imperial Palace) and at New Year galas held in City Hall and the city's leading hotels. The "Majestic Imperator", a a luxurious imperial, invites everyone to go on an exclusive ride into the new year, while "Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss is performed in time-honored tradition at the Vienna State Opera and also broadcast live on the outdoor screen.

New Year's Day in Vienna will be greeted in classic fashion with a morning "hangover cure" brunch - featuring a live broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert on a big screen - in front of City Hall (from 10 a.m.)

Details for New Year's Eve Trail  www.wien-event.at