The end of the year is approaching, and like every year at this time, we are desperately looking for original ways to ring in the New Year.

Personally, it has been a long time since I had a New Year’s Eve that left me with a lasting memory. There is so much pressure surrounding this night, which is supposed to be unforgettable, that it is often far from being in the top 10 (or even 20) best parties of your year…

So, I wanted to focus on original, unusual, or just incredible plans to make us dream of a different end-of-year celebration.

Melle Bon Plan’s little dream selection + tips and outing ideas:

A small-group New Year’s Eve with Terres de Charme

For New Year’s Eve, Terres de Charme offers 4 trips in small groups of no more than 20 participants: to Saint Petersburg, the Nile, Jordan, and Northern India.

It’s an opportunity to experience a unique trip in a small group to limit end-of-year price hikes, without sacrificing the charm of the accommodations, the quality of the guides, or the pace of the journey. A promise of an end-of-year celebration filled with charm!

Stays ranging from 5 to 8 days / price between €1790 and €3385 per person

“Opera” end-of-year at the Balthazar Hôtel & Spa (Rennes)

The Balthazar Hôtel & Spa is a new establishment in Rennes. Featuring a Nuxe spa and a restaurant whose menu was curated by Rostang Père & Filles, it offers a stay full of refinement and conviviality to end the year with joy and elegance.

Indeed, it offers the chance to attend the opera bouffe Barbe-Bleue at the Rennes Opera while enjoying its warm and contemporary setting.

“Barbe-Bleue” New Year’s Eve stay at the Balthazar Hôtel & Spa – Rennes
Starting from €130 per night in a classic room, breakfast included
“Barbe-Bleue” opera ticket prices: from €11 to €50 (depending on category)

Barbe-Bleue, Rennes Opera
December 29 (8 PM) / December 31 (8 PM)
January 1 (4 PM): January 3 (6 PM)

Booking.com celebrates New Year’s by giving away a dream trip

Booking.com, the accommodation booking site, invites globe-trotters to share their ideal New Year’s Eve to win a dream trip. The site offers an exceptional accommodation for each of the 24 time zones to celebrate New Year’s in style and is giving away a magnificent all-inclusive trip for two to one of these destinations.

The principle is simple: by visiting booking.com, you discover the site’s selection for New Year’s and can potentially win an all-inclusive trip for two to the destination of your choice, to be taken in 2015.

To participate, simply select your favorite accommodation from the selection and explain why you would love to be at that location for the countdown at 11:59 PM. The winner of the contest will be announced a few days after New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Eve with Acid Arab All Night Long at Monseigneur

For its first New Year’s Eve, Monseigneur is offering a real party to have fun all night long alongside the duo Acid Arab, specialists in big-day festivities.

Stomachs won’t be forgotten either, as the bar will provide a gourmet buffet worthy of the event (free, from 10 PM to midnight).

€25 with buffet + one drink

Monseigneur 94, rue d’Amsterdam, 75009 Paris

December 31, 2014, from 10 PM to 6 AM

New Year’s Eve party at Hard Rock Cafe Paris

The Hard Rock Cafe Paris is offering a New Year’s Eve party themed around celebration and gastronomy with a 1920s “Great Gatsby” theme, a time when jazz reigned supreme on the American East Coast…

Table settings will be themed, but the atmosphere will remain very rock (which makes sense given the venue!).

On the program, you can rediscover and taste typical dishes made in the USA, as well as essential products of French gastronomy.

Any reservation for this special menu gives access to the restaurant’s VIP area, and from 11 PM, a DJ will make the walls of the Hard Rock Cafe Paris vibrate to the sound of pop-rock music until dawn.

Meal: €130 per adult, with €1 donated to the “WhyHunger” association, which fights against poverty and world hunger / children’s menu priced at €25 for children up to 12 years old

DJ Party: €40 entrance fee from 11 PM including one drink of your choice (excluding champagne and cocktails).

Table of Contents

Hard Rock Cafe Paris

14 boulevard Montmartre 75009 / metro: Grands Boulevards

Reservations at 01 53 24 60 00

WTF Party New Year’s Eve

On the program for this party organized by the Violette Sauvage team:

9 PM: a space with wild decor usually reserved for Fashion Week parties, with an underground look to welcome the 350 guests (Place des Victoires, center of Paris, ideal for transport).

A gigantic bar and a gargantuan buffet!!! More than 15 meters long: all your favorite alcoholic and soft drinks at will. Sweets and flavors from all four corners of the globe. From San Daniele Prosciutto to American cupcakes, there will be something for every taste.

10 PM – 11:30 PM: live performance by “Once Upon a night” to warm up.

Midnight – 5 AM: DJ set and some surprises made by the Sauvage Team with an open shisha bar, trashy cinema, and photoshoot all night long.

Access by reservation only

Booking and info: newyear@violettesauvage.fr

New Year’s Eve at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile

The Restaurant La Fayette offers an exceptional dinner with lobster, Pata Negra ham, roasted scallops, or braised venison fillet, followed by a 100% chocolate dessert buffet.

At Bar La Vue, on the 34th floor of the hotel, you overlook Paris and its lights. A beautiful way to ring in the New Year, admiring one of the most beautiful views of the capital, with a DJ on the decks, while enjoying festive treats and Roederer Brut Rosé champagne.

Continuing into January 1st, you can brunch at Restaurant La Fayette to start the year with pleasure, and a macaron workshop is even planned for the occasion!

New Year’s Eve at Restaurant La Fayette €179/person, excluding drinks, €195/person with a half-bottle of Roederer Brut Rosé, 2009 Vintage, €55/child aged 6 to 12

New Year’s Eve at Bar La Vue €290 for 2 people in the front row (limited seating) €210 for 2 people in the second row

New Year’s Brunch at Restaurant La Fayette €60/person, excluding drinks, €32/child aged 6 to 12

Restaurant La Fayette and Bar La Vue / Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile

3, Place du Général Koenig / 75017 Paris

New Year’s Day at Point Ephémère

Spend your New Year’s on the Champs-Elysées

To celebrate the transition to 2015, the City of Paris is organizing a magical and free party for the first time at the foot of one of its most iconic buildings, the Arc-de-Triomphe.

From 11 PM to 1 AM, the Champs-Elysées will become pedestrian-only, and a video show will be projected onto the Arc-de-Triomphe starting at 11:30 PM.

The next day, from 1 PM (on January 1st for those who aren’t following), the Champs-Elysées will be pedestrianized again to host the grand parade organized by the Monde Festif of Marcel Campion. Notably, fifteen marching bands from ten different nationalities, numerous floats, and five renowned circuses will march.

A free playlist for New Year’s Eve with Hitster

Hitster, a music streaming application, is offering its playlist for New Year’s Eve from December 31, 2014, to January 2, 2015.

the site makes a playlist free and specially designed to party until the end of the night. Simply go to Google Play or the App Store, download the Hitster application, starting from December 31, 2014, at 12:01 AM and until January 1, 2015, at 11:59 PM.

Small reminder for Parisians, public transport is free on the night of December 31st throughout the Île-de-France region, all information right here.

Thus, from December 31st at 5 PM until January 1st at 12 PM, trains, subways, RERs, and buses will run all night (10 train and RER lines, 6 subway lines, and numerous bus lines, Noctiliens, and special circuits).

Starting at 2:15 AM in the subway, only lines (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, and 14) and stations appearing on the map below will be open. However, some entrances to these stations will be closed.

At the end of standard service, trains and RERs will run on the branches shown below and serve all stations along their route.