New Year's Eve in Stockholm 2019

Let us take a little break from Christmas and concentrate on New Year's Eve. It is just around the corner! If you are visiting the city during this holiday, then I hope you have started figuring out your New Year's Eve plans because some restaurants are starting to fill up already. This is not an evening when you want to "wing it" when it comes to dining & dancing! Here are some things you should be aware of when making your plans.

• Restaurants- Quite a few restaurants are closed on the 31st. The ones that are open generally serve a traditional multiple course menu called nyårssupé and nothing else. It can be anywhere between 3 and 9 courses and cost anywhere between 500 and 1200 SEK, depending on the restaurant. This means that going out for a simple dinner or quick bite will probably be problematic unless you are looking at pubs or fast food establishments. These nyårssupé dinners are popular and the restaurants tend to fill up, so don't leave it to the last minute! Most of these restaurants have two seatings during the evening... an early (5-8:30pm) and a late (8:30pm-11:30pm). There are actually a select few restaurants that serve a regular menu and it seems that there are more of these every year. If you are staying at the Hotel Rival, contact us as soon as possible for help in making arrangements! Every year we have guests that stop by around the Concierge desk at 7pm on New Year's Eve looking for help in making restaurant reservations and are surprised that almost every restaurant is fully booked. Don't make the same mistake! Our Bistro is open and we will be serving our popular seafood smorgasbord with two seatings. Currently you can only book it as a hotel poackage, but it may open to other guests mid December if we still have tables free. If you will be staying at the hotel and wish to dine in the Bistro, you need to book this in advance as we have limited seating! Click here if you wish to book the hotel package with dinner. 
• Nightclubs- Here it is important to plan ahead as well. Tickets to the parties at the nightclubs can be pre-purchased in advance. If you don't pre-purchase a ticket, you can end up standing in long lines in subzero temperatures! Here are some of the larger nightclub parties this year as well as a few restaurants: Stureplansgruppen (an umbrella group that runs several nightclubs), Café Opera and Södra Teatern. These are the more posh nightclub venues... there are, of course, many smaller parties going on at different venues.
• Taxis- These are notoriously hard to catch on New Year's Eve... especially after 11pm. This is because of the huge demand. Most taxi companies don't accept prebookings because they don't want their cars tied up waiting for people who don't show up. There is also the option of Uber here in Stockholm. You don't have to worry about being stranded though... the subways will be running all night long. If nighttime subways aren't your thing, just make sure that you are within walking distance of your hotel. Stockholm isn't that big so this isn't that hard to accomplish. And remember... be careful when catching taxis in Sweden!
• Fireworks- Locals will be setting off their own fireworks throughout the city, especially at midnight in the parks & squares. The official fireworks will be shot off above the harbor (eastern side of Gamla Stan). The best places to see the fireworks are along the waterfront, by the City Hall, on Fjällgatan or Monteliusvägen. Some places will be quite crowded but you will still be able to see the fireworks! These afrementioned places are all within a 5-20 minute walk from the Hotel Rival. 
• Skansen- Once again, this is the center of Swedish holiday tradition. This is the countdown spectacle that is televised and shown around all of Sweden on TV... kind of like the Swedish version of the ball dropping at Times Square. There will be music and speeches and, of course, the official countdown. Skansen is also a great place to see the official fireworks! To be honest, I'm not sure how much someone who doesn't speak Swedish will get out of the event as most of the program is in Swedish... but it is an option. The program starts at 11:10pm and ends at 00:10am. Be aware that it is outdoors (see below)! 
• Weather- Remember that it is winter in Sweden. Temperatures can vary between 5 and -10 degrees Celsius (41 and 14 degrees Fahrenheit) around this time. There might be snow or not. Dress accordingly when you are out. You can always keep your eye on the weather site a couple of days ahead of your arrival to get a better idea of what the weather will be like. 

The Hotel Rival- our Bistro, as I mentioned, is open. If you have dinner plans somewhere else, stop by before or after for a drink. The bars will be open until 2am. There will be a DJ playing and the square in front of the hotel is a popular place for the locals to light their fireworks. I am sure the DJ will play this song at some point during the evening...