New Year’s Eve
Posted on October 19, 2010 by Brian under Things to Do, Travel.
The wife and I have been trying to decide what to do for New Year’s Eve. We toyed with the idea of going to Austin, Texas. We have looked into returning to Couples Tower Isle in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I think we have finally decided to go to Vegas, specifically the new Aria Hotel and Casino in City Center. I told her that if I’m going to go to Vegas for New Year’s then I wanted to go to the newest, most up-to-date place in Vegas.
Vegas is known for its New Year’s Eve parties. I read somewhere that Vegas is host to over 300,000 people from all over the world during this time. They close down the Strip and open it up to foot traffic only. Then there is one of the largest fireworks shows on the West Coast.
Below are the details from all of the locations that we looked at. I even included a few links so that you can look at the places we’re considering.
Austin, Texas (12/29/2010 – 1/1/2011)
This is rated as one of the top 10 places to party on New Year’s Eve. Flying to Austin is out of the question. There are too many stupid flights and it is crazy expensive. It’s actually more expensive than flying to Vegas. Although, we can drive there and save a lot of money.
Austin has what they call “First Night.” It consumes a large portion of downtown Austin and is a large party with artist of all kinds. The event is capped of by one of the largest fireworks festivities in the state.
If we were to spend New Year’s in Austin, I’d want to stay at the historic Driskill Hotel.
Las Vegas, Nevada (12/29/2010 – 1/1/2011)
This is the place to be. Las Vegas offers a large variety of things to do. Personally, I think that City Center would be the ideal place to stay. It is the newest place on the Strip. It is located in the middle of everything and is designed so that you don’t need to leave unless you absolutely want to.
None of the hotels in Vegas are promoting their parties until November 1st, but I have a feeling that since they are the new kids on the block they’re going to party it up like none other.Aria is the place that I would want to go. Check out their web site above or pictures and info.
Ocho Rios, Jamaica (12/26/2010 – 1/1/2011)
Since this is the off season for Jamaica I could not find anything on festivities for New Year’s. On the up side, all of your food and drink are taken care of since this is an all-inclusive resort. Also, they just remolded this resort and added a new building. On the down side, for two people it will cost a little over $5,000 for the week for our room and airfare.
Personally, I still think that Vegas is the place to go. It is rated the #1 place to be on New Year’s Eve with New York being the second. It will probably cost us around $3,000 total for our hotel accommodations, airfare, food and entertainment; but it would be a hell of a way to end the year or start the new one (depending on how you look at it).
There are less expensive hotels on the Strip, but I think that Aria would be the coolest since it’s the newest. I called to see if there was any information on New Year’s events and they said that they would not release any of that information until after Halloween. Halloween is a major event for them (as with everyone else in Vegas), almost as big as New Year’s Eve.
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