Live New Year’s Eve Webcams

New Year’s Eve webcams show the places where cities celebrate: central squares, bridges, harbours, beaches and skylines where fireworks go up at midnight. For the rest of the year these cameras show ordinary views; on the last night of the year they become front-row seats.

The fun of watching lies in the time zones. Midnight arrives first in the Pacific and then moves west hour by hour, so with cameras in different time zones it is possible to see the New Year arrive again and again — in Asia, then Europe, then the Americas — in a single evening. Crowds gather hours before the countdown, and the fireworks usually last only a few minutes.

Smoke from the fireworks often drifts across the frame and can hide the finale, especially on still nights. Some events are cancelled or scaled down because of weather or safety concerns, and the camera then shows a quiet night instead. Streams get busy at midnight, so it helps to open a camera a few minutes early.