5 Vegan-Friendly Cities to Celebrate New Year’s
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New Year’s Eve doesn’t happen all at once. Midnight takes about 26 hours to travel the planet, from the Pacific islands that greet the new year first to the empty atolls that see it last.
Living in northern Thailand, I’m seven hours ahead of England, where I’m from, so Big Ben’s midnight reaches me at 7 a.m. on New Year’s Day. That’s either the best or the worst time to watch fireworks, depending on how your night went.
This post chases midnight west through five stops, in the order the clocks reach them: Sydney, Bangkok, Athens, London and Edinburgh, then Mexico City.
Each one throws a countdown worth flying for, and each one feeds vegans well enough to turn New Year’s into a full trip.
1. Sydney
Sydney gets the new year before almost anyone else, and it celebrates twice. Fireworks pour off the Sydney Harbour Bridge at 9 p.m. for the families, then again at midnight for everyone still standing, on a warm summer night with the Opera House lit up beside them.
Watching it takes more planning than you’d expect. The city lists 48 official vantage points around the harbor, in three kinds:
- Free: first come, first served, and the best ones fill hours before dark
- Ticketed (free): a handful of prime spots, such as the Opera House forecourt, release free tickets in advance
- Ticketed (paid): islands, parks, and party venues that let you show up later
Each site sets its own alcohol rules, from completely dry to BYO, so check the listing for yours before you pack a bag.
Getting a good spot changes dinner, too: most harbor spots mean claiming a patch of grass by early afternoon, so New Year’s Eve dinner is usually a picnic. If that sounds like a recipe for frostbite, remember that it’s summer Down Under: evenings often stay in the 70s, and the bigger risk is sunburn before dark. Stock up the day before, because the food trucks at each site aren’t guaranteed to cater to vegans. If you’d rather sit down first, Towzen serves fully vegan ramen in the city center, including a truffle ramen in a velvety walnut milk broth worth finishing to the last drop.
January 1 belongs to Newtown. King Street is the city’s densest vegan strip, and long-running Golden Lotus serves some incredible vegan Vietnamese: pho, laksa, and a big bowl of something warm for whatever the night did to you.
The catch is distance. Even from the West Coast, it’s a flight of around 15 hours, so Sydney suits a long trip far better than a long weekend.
When the bridge goes dark at midnight, Bangkok still has four hours to wait.
2. Bangkok
Bangkok does New Year’s two ways, and you get to pick, though after a few of them here, I’ve learned to take a bit of both. The loud way lights up the city: fireworks stretch along the Chao Phraya in front of ICONSIAM, while across town the crowd at CentralWorld counts down in the street outside one of the city’s biggest malls. Both are free, packed, and electric right up to midnight and well beyond.
The quiet way is so calm you could forget what night it is. Thai temples host suat mon kham pi (chanting across the year), seeing the year out with monks, candles, and prayers in place of a countdown clock. It began at Wat Saket on the Golden Mount in 2005, and now big temples like Wat Pho and Wat Arun open their grounds to anyone who wants to start the year the way many Thais do.
Food is the easy part. Thailand’s jay tradition, a Buddhist way of eating that skips meat, dairy, eggs, and even garlic and onions, puts vegan dishes far beyond the vegan restaurants, which is why Thailand treats us vegans so well. Three lines cover most situations:
- “Gin jay”
I eat jay food - “Mai sai nam pla”
No fish sauce, please - “Sawasdee pee mai”
Happy New Year
The last one gets you smiles all night. The first two get you dinner.
If you’re watching from the river, So Vegan on Charoen Krung Road keeps dinner close to the water. Counting down at CentralWorld? Vistro on Sukhumvit Soi 24 is a few train stops away, and its dumplings come with Taiwanese-style chili oil and gyoza sauce you’ll still be mopping up long after the dumplings are gone. For dozens more, our guide to vegan Bangkok has you covered.
Getting home is the hard part. The city closes roads around CentralWorld for the night, so plan your route back on the BTS, the MRT, or the river boats before you leave.
And when January 1 arrives, a public holiday in Thailand, most of Bangkok keeps cooking anyway.
3. Athens
Midnight in Athens comes with the Acropolis floodlit on the hill above the crowd. The city’s free countdown fills Syntagma Square, across from the Parliament building, with live music, a drone show, and fireworks over the old town.
Those fireworks are quieter than you might expect, and that’s deliberate. The City of Athens switched to low-noise fireworks at Syntagma for New Year’s 2025, with animal welfare as one of the reasons. The neighborhoods around it still make plenty of their own noise, but the main show is easier on the city’s dogs and cats, and on anyone who flinches at a bang.
Greek luck rituals happen closer to home, and three are worth knowing:
A pomegranate hangs by many front doors, ready to be smashed on the doorstep, sometimes at midnight and often after church on New Year’s Day. The more seeds scatter, the luckier the year ahead.
The vasilopita, a New Year’s cake with a coin baked inside, gets sliced at midnight or on January 1, and whoever finds the coin takes the luck. Most recipes call for eggs and butter, though vegan versions made with olive oil and orange juice are common enough to ask a vegan bakery about.
The first foot through the door matters, too. Podariko holds that the year’s first visitor sets the household’s fortune, so families sometimes choose carefully who crosses the threshold first.
Of the three, only the vasilopita needs a vegan check.
Everyday Greek cooking is on your side, too. Orthodox fasting days have given the cuisine a deep bench of dishes made without meat, dairy, or eggs, from gigantes (giant beans baked in tomato sauce) to fasolada (white bean soup). Look for nistisimo (fasting-friendly) on menus, then double-check, because some fasting dishes still include octopus or shrimp.
For dinner before the countdown, Avocado, a long-running vegetarian and vegan favorite on Nikis Street, sits a few minutes’ walk from Syntagma. Vegan Beat is close by for vegan gyros, and our Greece guides cover the rest of the city.
Plan the night around transit. Athens’ buses, metro, and trams stop earlier than usual on New Year’s Eve, so a hotel within walking distance of Syntagma saves a long, cold walk home.
Two hours after Athens, it’s London’s turn.
4. London and Edinburgh
I’ve rung in more new years in London than anywhere else, and the fireworks have never been the point. Big Ben chimes midnight, the London Eye lights up, and most of the country watches it on TV.
You can watch in person, but only with a ticket for the riverside viewing areas, and from what I hear, it’s pricey, crowded, and more waiting than celebrating.
The real London New Year’s happens in the pub. Picture a room so packed you can barely lift your glass, strangers singing along to songs nobody knows all the words to, and the whole bar counting down together, then hugging people they met an hour ago. It’s English celebrating at its best, and I say that with more than a little pride.
Line your stomach first. London has more vegan restaurants than almost anywhere on earth, but every time I’m back, I end up making the same five stops:
Plants of Roselyn: This fully vegan Thai spot sits on Tooley Street, steps from London Bridge station, and it’s a fair test of my standards, given where I live.
Unity Diner: This non-profit vegan diner in Spitalfields was co-founded by activist Earthling Ed, and its profits go to an animal sanctuary. The tofish and chips are the move.
Jam Delish: This family-run vegan Caribbean restaurant in Angel serves jerk “chicken” wings with rice and peas, Caribbean fried “chicken” with Jamaican gravy, and plenty more.
Temple of Seitan: London’s first vegan fried “chicken” shop now has branches across the city, and it’s still my pick when only junk food will do.
Giuseppe’s Tiramisu: I followed Giuseppe Federici on Instagram for years before he finally opened his vegan tiramisu shop at Boxpark Shoreditch. It was worth the wait.
Small kitchens like these often close for a day or two over New Year’s, so check their holiday hours before you plan around them.
New Year’s Day is London’s secret weapon. It’s the first day of Veganuary, the month-long vegan pledge that began in the UK, and plenty of restaurants launch their vegan set menus that very day. Then there’s the free New Year’s Day Parade, which runs from Piccadilly to Parliament Square in the early afternoon. Book a table first with our London vegan brunch guide, and check the Tube times, because services run on a reduced schedule.
If the English throw a good party, the Scots throw a better one, and for longer. Hogmanay, Scotland’s New Year, runs for four days, from a torchlight procession on December 29 to a ticketed street party beneath Edinburgh Castle on December 31. At midnight, all of Princes Street sings “Auld Lang Syne.”
One of the most special nights of my life was a Hogmanay in Edinburgh during my university years, spent with a few friends and a crowd of people I’d never met. It was possibly the warmest New Year’s I’ve ever had, full of held hands, loud singing, and goodwill from total strangers, which is quite the achievement in the middle of a Scottish winter.
Scotland has its own version of the Greek first-visitor rule, too. First-footing sends someone over the threshold just after midnight, traditionally carrying coal and shortbread. The coal is vegan. The shortbread usually isn’t.
Edinburgh also happens to be one of the UK’s best cities for vegans, and three spots are always on my list. NovaPizza Vegan Kitchen in Stockbridge has been making pizza since 2015 and went fully vegan in 2020. Soul Vegan serves Malaysian comfort food, and Non Viet Vegan brings Vietnamese cooking to the Meadows.
For the morning after, Holy Cow near the bus station does a full vegan Scottish breakfast, and Hendersons, the city’s longest-running vegetarian name, now cooks fully vegan in Bruntsfield.
The catch on both sides of the border is the weather: cold, dark, and often wet. Edinburgh’s outdoor events have been called off for high winds before, so bring a coat you’d trust in a gale.
5. Mexico City
Mexico City counts down last on our route, and it saves some of the best rituals for the end:
- Twelve grapes: one for each chime at midnight, with a wish for every month of the year
- A lap around the block: with an empty suitcase in hand, for a year full of travel
- Lucky underwear: red if you’re hoping for love, yellow if you’re hoping for money
The grapes are about as vegan as a tradition gets. The suitcase walk might be the most Veggies Abroad custom on this list.
For the big public party, head to Paseo de la Reforma. Last year, the city’s free celebration turned the boulevard by the Angel of Independence into an open-air dance floor that drew more than 250,000 people. This year’s program usually lands in December, so check the details before you plan around it.
The vegan scene is the reason Mexico City made this list. It broke into HappyCow’s top ten for the first time in its 2025 ranking, and Roma Norte and Condesa are packed with fully vegan kitchens. Por Siempre Vegana Taquería in Roma Norte serves vegan tacos al pastor from a street stand and a sit-down branch nearby, while Los Loosers, also in Roma Norte, builds its “no” fish tacos from mushrooms. Our Mexico guides have plenty more.
Timing is the tricky part. December 31 is a family night in Mexico, spent around the table at home, so some smaller restaurants close early or take the night off. Check opening hours for the 31st and January 1 before you build the night around one place, and pack layers: the city sits at about 7,350 feet, so December nights get cold.
Best of all for American travelers, it’s only a few hours from home, so you can be back at your desk by January 2. Whether that’s a perk is up to you.
How to Book a Vegan New Year’s Abroad
Wherever you count down, four things will make or break the night:
Book dinner when you book the flight. On December 31, many restaurants swap their regular menu for one set menu, and small vegan kitchens fill early. Reserve as soon as your dates are fixed, and mention that you’re vegan when you do.
Check the bubbly. Some wines and sparkling wines are clarified with animal products such as gelatin, egg whites, casein, or isinglass (made from fish), and none of it shows up on the label. Barnivore lets you look up a bottle before the toast.
Plan January 1 the night before. Public transport runs reduced schedules in many cities, and plenty of kitchens take the morning off. Pick your breakfast spot in advance, and keep a snack in your room in case the day starts late.
Sleep close to the countdown. Road closures and packed trains turn a short trip into a long one after midnight. A hotel within walking distance costs more, but you’ll be in bed while everyone else is still waiting for a ride.
Get those right, and the only hard decision left is the city.
Which Midnight Is Yours?
That depends on what you want from midnight. For the spectacle, Sydney’s harbor fireworks are hard to beat, and they come with a summer night. For ritual, Athens and Edinburgh wrap the countdown in centuries-old customs, and Bangkok lets you choose between a riverside party and a temple. For a pub full of strangers singing, it’s London, and for the easiest trip from the US, Mexico City wins on flight time and tacos alike.
Whichever you choose, the food will look after itself. The work is in the booking, and now you know how that goes.
Worst case, you’ve got 26 hours of midnights to get it right.
