City of Edinburgh Council and Underbelly have announced details of Edinburgh Hogmanay 2018.

The three-day festival, celebrating it’s 25th anniversary, will open on 30 December this year with the traditional torchlight procession, which will tour through the city around Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament before culminating in Holyrood Park.

The Edinburgh Street Party is the only celebration to continue through the night, in a six-hour-long street party, with carnival themes and ‘midnight’ fireworks at 6pm, allowing families to see the New Year in with young children.

We are humbled and thrilled to be delivering a new programme for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay in 2018,” said Charlie Wood, director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. “Edinburgh can claim to be the home of New Year festivals and we will work hard to ensure that the programme delivers something fresh and exciting every year to keep residents, UK visitors and international tourists flocking to this world famous Festival City through the winter months.

“From the new culmination of the Torchlight Procession with Scotland’s young people’s chosen word being created in blazing torches to the extended midnight fireworks, the new Bairns Afore for families, the re-booted Street Party carnival and the almost month long project Message from the Skies illuminating the city’s dark January nights, we are confident that Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2018 will offer lots of ways for people to enjoy this ‘must do’ globally famous event.” 

The midnight firework display will be launched from Edinburgh Castle.

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s director of events, commented: “One of the annual highlights of Edinburgh’s event calendar and one which enhances Scotland’s reputation as the perfect stage for events, this year’s Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations will herald the start of Scotland’s 2018 Year of Young People and showcase a variety of brand new elements designed to appeal to a range of audiences.”

“We are delighted to be supporting Underbelly with their exciting and ambitious plans for Edinburgh’s 25th Hogmanay celebrations. There are many places in the world to spend New Year, but few can match the uniquely authentic cultural experience which Scotland offers to thousands of visitors and locals alike each year,” Bush said.