Get in as soon as you can to snare a ticket for the nefarious 80,000-strong street party on December 31.
See edinburghshogmanay.org.
Glasgow
Rival city Glasgow (winterfestglasgow.com) isn’t content to play second fiddle, and has a party that bashes on through the city centre, with the main celebrations in George Square.
This year you can join crowds of Glaswegians enjoying some of Scotland’s hottest acts, including Tommy Reilly, on the Big Stage, as well as lively ceilidh band Bahookie, and then marvel at the impressive fireworks display.
Stirling
In historic Stirling, it’s mostly locals at the fun festivities set in the dramatic Stirling Castle.
The Party at the Castle (stirlinghogmanay.co.uk) sees the ramparts come alive with the stirring sound of the massed bagpipes and drums, as well as home-grown pop songstress Sandi Thom, X Factor stars The MacDonald Brothers, and Stars In Their Eyes winner Freddie Mercury impersonator Gary Mullen, plus fireworks.
Dundee
Back east in Dundee, no official events have yet been announced, but Hogmanay is always a party night in a city dense with bars and clubs.
The action spins around the centre, with revellers sporting their own drinks and buskers providing the musical accompaniment. Aberdeen
Also on the east coast, the Oil Capital of Europe shakes off its posh moneyed front and lets its hair down for the big night.
Aberdeen’s Winter Festival Hogmanay (aberdeencity.gov.uk/hogmanay) culminates with two spectacular fireworks displays – one at the Castlegate and another in Union Terrace Gardens.
The ticketed street party of recent years has been swapped for a series of community-based events as part of an attempt to get back to the Hogmanay spirit of old.
Inverness
The party is set to go off with a serious bang in Inverness, Scotland’s most northerly city.
Hogmanay – Red Hot Highland Fling (invernessfestivals.com) brings the Inverness Winter Festival to a close in Northern Meeting Park Arena with the effervescent Red Hot Chili Pipers, Blazin’ Fiddles and Peatbog Faeries.
These frenetic bands turn traditional Celtic music on its head to create a pumping beat, which will keep Highlanders and visitors lucky enough to be in town partying into 2010.
Elsewhere in Scotland
Even outside the cities the New Year’s Eve party bashes on into 2010, and it is not for nothing that Scotland always needs an extra day of holiday at this time of year.
If you’re in the spirit (having plenty of the local liquid helps), and fancy yourself as a hardy Scottish Hogmanay partygoer, then fling yourself the next morning into the
chilly waters at the Loony Dook in South Queensferry, just outside Edinburgh, or join the madcap locals doing the same in Broughty Ferry on the fringes of Dundee.
