New Year's Eve in London for 2026: the Mayor's fireworks tickets, prices, viewing areas and rules, where you can still see the display without a ticket, dinners, parties and river cruises, getting home on the Tube, and the New Year's Day parade.
London's New Year's Eve fireworks are a ticket-only event. The Mayor of London's display centres on the London Eye (last year it was a 12-minute show of fireworks and lights, starting with Big Ben's chimes), and around 100,000 people watch it from six fenced viewing areas along the Thames. If you don't have a ticket, you can't get into any of them, and you won't get near the river between Westminster and Blackfriars either. Tickets for 31 December 2026 aren't on sale yet: City Hall's event page says the release date 'will be announced soon'. Last year the first batch went on sale at midday on Friday 17 October and the final batch at midday on Monday 24 November, both on Ticketmaster, and tickets sold out.
My short version: if you want to be by the river at midnight, sign up for City Hall's ticket alert now and be online the minute the first batch goes on sale. If you miss out, book a dinner, a party or a boat instead, or go up Parliament Hill for a free, distant view. And sort out how you're getting home before you go out, because several central stations close for part of the night.
The Mayor's fireworks at a glance (the 2025/26 rules, the latest City Hall has published):
The six viewing areas. Pick your area by the view and by which side of the river you want to be on afterwards, because you can't move between areas on the night. North of the river, Blue covers Victoria Embankment from Westminster Bridge to the Golden Jubilee footbridge and is the head-on view, straight across at the Eye (gates reached from Victoria, or Charing Cross and Embankment). Red runs on from the Golden Jubilee footbridge to Temple Avenue, a side view further down the river (gates from Holborn, which has no step-free access, or Blackfriars). South of the river, Green is directly behind the London Eye, the closest you can get (gate from Waterloo). White is Westminster Bridge and Pink is Waterloo Bridge, both side views (White's gate from Waterloo, Pink's from Southwark). Orange is the accessible area on the Albert Embankment in front of St Thomas' Hospital, with a partial side view, seating, a hearing loop and accessible toilets nearby; it's about 700 metres from the vehicle drop-off and 2km from Waterloo station.
Which area I'd book: Blue if you can get it, for the straight-on view with Big Ben's chimes; Green if you want to be right under the display and are happy to be south of the river at the end. The Category B areas are £15 cheaper, and Red is a fair trade if you mostly want the atmosphere. Every standard area is standing only, on closed roads, and very crowded, with walks of up to 2km from the station to your gate.
Everything below works without a fireworks ticket. For the rest of your trip, the best things to do in London has the full list; for the weeks around it, some of London's Christmas markets run into early January. You'll get around on the Tube (the subway), and London has no tourist tax yet, though hotel prices jump for the night of the 31st.
Without a ticket: where you can actually see the fireworks
Be realistic about this. The display is built for the people on the embankments and for television, and the riverside for a long way around the Eye is closed to anyone without a ticket. Here's what the official sources said for New Year's Eve 2025. Primrose Hill was closed and locked from 8pm on 30 December until 6am on 1 January, and TfL listed it as shut all day. Greenwich Park closed its gates at about 6pm on the 31st. St James's Park had restricted access from 2pm, and the Royal Parks said there are no official viewing areas for the fireworks in any of its parks. The Westminster, Waterloo and Golden Jubilee bridges closed from 2pm, so you can't stand on those either.
Parliament Hill
That leaves Parliament Hill, on the southern edge of Hampstead Heath, as the best free option. It's 98 metres up, with the whole skyline laid out to the south, from the Palace of Westminster to St Paul's and the Shard. The Eye is about 7km away in a straight line, so you're watching the display small and far off, across the city, without the music. What you get instead is the whole lit-up skyline and a crowd of locals rather than a security cordon.
Who it suits: anyone without a ticket who wants to be outdoors at midnight, and people who'd rather avoid the centre. The trade-off: it's a distant view, it's dark and exposed on the top, and there are no facilities or organised event. Get there by 11pm for a spot on the brow of the hill, and plan your walk back to Gospel Oak or Kentish Town. It's not an official viewing area, and the Heath's byelaws ban letting off fireworks yourself.
On TV: BBC One showed the London fireworks live at midnight last year, inside a New Year's Eve music show. If you're staying in, that's the head-on view without the cold.
Nearest stations: Gospel Oak or Hampstead Heath (Overground), or Belsize Park and Kentish Town (Northern line). Bring a torch for the walk up.
Dinners, parties and river cruises with a view
If you can't get a fireworks ticket, the next-best thing is a table or a boat with a river view. Few venues have published their 2026 packages yet.
City Cruises' New Year's Eve Gala Dinner
City Cruises already has its December 2026 sailing on sale, and it's the cruise I'd book for a big-occasion night. It sails on City Cruises' flagship boat, The Diamond, from Tower Millennium Pier: boarding at 8pm, sailing from 8.30pm to 1am, from £629 a head. That covers a glass of champagne on arrival and at midnight, canapés, a four-course dinner, a bottle of wine per person, and a live band. It's adults only, with semi-formal dress (a jacket or cocktail dress).
Read the small print before you pay: City Cruises promises 'scenic River Thames fireworks views', not a fixed mooring opposite the Eye, and because the display is run by a third party, there's no refund if it's cancelled or postponed. Who it suits: couples and groups celebrating something. The trade-off: it's expensive, and you're on the boat until 1am. Other operators have run cheaper fireworks sailings from Westminster Pier. Thames River Sightseeing charged £172 for its 2025 cruise and promised a mooring near Big Ben and the Eye, but it sold out and its 2026 sailing hasn't been announced.
Hotel and restaurant nights. The hotels right on the river sell New Year's packages with the view built in. Park Plaza Westminster Bridge has announced its 2026 package: dinner at Brasserie Joël, then the fireworks from the hotel's Presidential Balcony, for hotel guests only and with 50 places. It's one of the hotels in the South Bank and Waterloo hotels guide. Radio Rooftop, on top of the ME London on the Strand, has sold New Year's Eve tables on its river-facing terrace in past years; nothing is bookable for 2026 yet. For a sit-down dinner without the view, book early; the best restaurants in London is where I'd start.
Nearest Tube: Tower Hill (District and Circle lines); Tower Gateway on the DLR is just as close.
There's no free travel. TfL charged normal fares on New Year's Eve 2025. Tap in with a contactless card as usual.
The Tube runs all night. For 2025/26 TfL ran all-night services on the Tube (a reduced Saturday timetable), the Elizabeth line, the DLR and parts of the Overground, plus Saturday night buses. The Waterloo & City line stopped at 2.40am, and some Overground lines had no overnight service. TfL publishes the 2026 plan in December.
Stations near the river close for part of the night. TfL's planned closures last year: Charing Cross Tube from 6pm, Covent Garden exit-only from 7pm, Leicester Square exit-only from 8pm and closed from 11.30pm, Westminster from 9.30pm, Pimlico from 10pm, Embankment and Temple from 11pm, Blackfriars, Lambeth North and Piccadilly Circus from 11.30pm, and Russell Square exit-only from 11.30pm. They reopen when it's safe to do so. My advice: walk away from the river to a bigger station such as Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus, Victoria or London Bridge rather than queue at the nearest one.
The bridges close too. Westminster and Waterloo bridges and the Golden Jubilee footbridges closed from 2pm, Lambeth Bridge from 6pm, Blackfriars and the Millennium Bridge from 7pm, and Southwark Bridge from 10pm. City Hall's advice is to choose the side of the river you want to end up on before you set off; if you need to cross afterwards, take the Tube.
Taxis cost more. Black cabs added £4 to every journey from 8pm on 31 December until 6am on 2 January last year. If you're staying within a few stops of the centre, the Tube is the better bet.
The London Parade, formerly the London New Year's Day Parade, starts at 1pm on Friday 1 January 2027 and runs until about 4.30pm. It's free to watch from the pavement. The 2.2-mile route starts on Piccadilly near Green Park station, heads past the Ritz towards Piccadilly Circus, down Regent Street St James's, left along Pall Mall past Trafalgar Square, then down Whitehall past Horse Guards and Downing Street to finish in Parliament Square.
It's a big, loud, cheerful procession: more than 8,500 performers, over 20 marching bands from the USA, cheerleaders, stunt riders, samba dancers and entries from the London boroughs, and the organisers expect more than 600,000 people along the route. About 3,000 Grandstand, VIP and Fun Zone places are sold on Ticketmaster; the grandstands open at noon, and there's an accessible viewing area whose ticket holders need to be seated by 12.30pm.
Where I'd stand: Piccadilly near Green Park, where the organisers said last year that the crowds are lighter and the performers fresh; or Whitehall and Parliament Square for the finish, with Big Ben behind it. Aim to arrive by noon. Some roads closed for the fireworks stay closed for the parade.
Book the room first. Hotel prices jump for the night of 31 December, so book early. North of the river puts you near the Blue and Red areas and the West End; south of the river suits the Green, White and Orange areas. Where to stay in London covers the areas.
Dress for standing still. You'll be outside for two to four hours in a viewing area with no seating, so wear layers, waterproof shoes and a hat. Remember the bag rule: no backpacks or suitcases.
Fill the days around it. Museums and big sights keep holiday hours, the rinks and some Christmas markets run into January, and the best things to do in London has the full list.
Check for 2026 details in October. The fireworks facts above are from City Hall's 2025/26 event; this year's prices, dates and rules arrive with the ticket release. Save your New Year's plan into a day-by-day itinerary with Tourli, the app that turns travel guides into actionable plans.
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