Around New Year, Austria is the place to be. And when it comes to celebrating New Year’s Eve in style, no other city beats Vienna. It has long been a Philharmonic tradition on the first day of the new year to present a program consisting of the lively – and at the same time nostalgic – music from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss family and its contemporaries.

The concert not only delights the audience in the Musikverein in Vienna, but also enjoys great popularity worldwide, since it is broadcast on the PBS network. On both evenings, the State Opera and the Volksoper give gala performances of Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus”.

An elegant way to celebrate the new year is at the New Year’s Eve Ball, held annually at the Imperial Palace. Vienna’s entire inner city is one big celebration. The Sylvesterpfad “new year’s path” starts at 2 pm on December 31 and ends at 2 am on January 1.

Enjoy concerts on the streets of Vienna. Dance to the ever-present sound of the waltz and experience the fireworks.  All throughout Austria fireworks will light up the sky. Innsbruck, for example, has brass band parades and evening fanfares in the Old Town. At the stroke of midnight all church bells ring in the New Year. In major cities people dance in the streets into the New Year to the tunes of the famous Blue Danube Waltz.