New Year’s Eve in London 2026: fireworks tickets, free views and what else is on

New Year’s Eve 2026 falls on a Thursday. The fireworks go up at midnight from the London Eye and from barges on the river beside it, twelve to fifteen minutes of them, and the only way to see them properly is with a ticket. Tickets for the six riverside viewing areas go on sale at 12 noon on Friday 23 October, through Ticketmaster only, which the Mayor of London confirmed on its own event page; a second batch follows on a date not yet given. Category A areas are £55 and Category B £40, and anyone with a London postcode pays £20 less, so £35 and £20, plus a booking fee. Expect them to go within days.

The ticketed areas

Six areas along both banks, each with a different angle on the display. The Victoria Embankment area opposite the Eye has the head-on view and goes first. The areas on Westminster Bridge and the south bank are closer to the launch barges and louder. All of them open in the early evening and you are committed once inside: there is no leaving and coming back, and the bars are basic. Take a flask.

Free, and honest about it

Primrose Hill and Parliament Hill give you the whole skyline with the fireworks small in the middle of it, and both are packed by ten. Trafalgar Square fills and is then closed. The bridges outside the ticketed zone are shut. If you want free and close, the honest answer is that it no longer exists; if you want free and good, the hills are the answer and you need to be there early with people you like.

Or skip the river entirely

The best New Year’s Eves in this city happen indoors. The clubs in south and east London run until six and sell in advance. The pubs that do a proper night do it with tickets. The restaurants that do a set menu are worth it if you like the restaurant already, and not otherwise. All of these are listed below as they confirm.

Getting home

Tube, bus and Overground are free from a quarter to midnight until half past four, and the Night Tube runs on its usual lines. Embankment, Charing Cross and Waterloo shut for hours around midnight; walk to a station north of the Strand or east of Blackfriars.

Our rule for this page

The ticket date, the viewing areas and the transport arrangements are confirmed with the organisers each year and updated here the day they are announced.