Counting to midnight in your time zone, as set on this device.
When midnight reaches each time zone
The new year doesn't arrive everywhere at once — it takes 26 hours to sweep round the planet. The last column shows when it arrives in each place, converted to your local time (without JavaScript, it falls back to UTC).
| Place | Offset on 1 Jan | 2027 begins at (your time) |
|---|---|---|
| Kiritimati (Line Islands), Kiribati — the first place on Earth | UTC+14 | Thu 31 Dec, 10:00 UTC |
| Auckland, New Zealand | UTC+13 | Thu 31 Dec, 11:00 UTC |
| Sydney, Australia | UTC+11 | Thu 31 Dec, 13:00 UTC |
| Tokyo, Japan | UTC+9 | Thu 31 Dec, 15:00 UTC |
| Beijing, China | UTC+8 | Thu 31 Dec, 16:00 UTC |
| New Delhi, India | UTC+5:30 | Thu 31 Dec, 18:30 UTC |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates | UTC+4 | Thu 31 Dec, 20:00 UTC |
| Istanbul and Moscow | UTC+3 | Thu 31 Dec, 21:00 UTC |
| EU east: Athens, Helsinki, Bucharest, Sofia, Nicosia, the Baltic capitals | UTC+2 | Thu 31 Dec, 22:00 UTC |
| EU centre: Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, Stockholm | UTC+1 | Thu 31 Dec, 23:00 UTC |
| EU west: Lisbon, Dublin — and London, the Canary Islands, Madeira | UTC+0 | Fri 1 Jan, 00:00 UTC |
| The Azores, Portugal — the last of the EU | UTC−1 | Fri 1 Jan, 01:00 UTC |
| São Paulo, Brazil | UTC−3 | Fri 1 Jan, 03:00 UTC |
| New York and Toronto | UTC−5 | Fri 1 Jan, 05:00 UTC |
| Los Angeles and Vancouver | UTC−8 | Fri 1 Jan, 08:00 UTC |
| Honolulu, Hawaii | UTC−10 | Fri 1 Jan, 10:00 UTC |
| Pago Pago, American Samoa — the last inhabited place | UTC−11 | Fri 1 Jan, 11:00 UTC |
| Baker and Howland Islands (uninhabited) — the very last | UTC−12 | Fri 1 Jan, 12:00 UTC |
Across the European Union's territory in Europe, New Year arrives four times. The eastern member states — Greece, Cyprus, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic states — get there first, an hour before Berlin and Paris. Portugal and Ireland follow an hour after the centre, and Portugal's Azores an hour after that. The Canary Islands are on the same time as Lisbon and London, so the new year reaches Tenerife an hour after Madrid — which is why Spanish broadcasters famously add “una hora menos en Canarias”.
How Europe marks midnight
- Spain: twelve grapes, one on each stroke of the clock at midnight — classically the clock on the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, broadcast live.
- Germany: fireworks at midnight (consumer fireworks may only be sold on the last three working days of the year), and the British sketch Dinner for One, which has run on German television every New Year's Eve for decades and is barely known in Britain.
- Scotland: Hogmanay, and “first-footing” — the first visitor across the threshold after midnight brings the year's luck.
- Denmark: jumping off a chair at the stroke of midnight, to “leap” into the new year.
- Greece: the vasilopita, a cake with a coin baked inside; whoever finds it has luck for the year.
- Italy: lentils on New Year's Eve, for money in the year ahead.
- Netherlands: oliebollen, deep-fried dough balls, sold from stalls all through December.
Public holidays at New Year
1 January is a public holiday everywhere in the ten countries VClock covers; New Year's Eve itself is not a statutory holiday in any of them, though many offices close early. Several also have Epiphany on 6 January, which for Spain and Italy is the real end of the festive season.
| Country | 1 Jan | 6 Jan |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | ✓ | Regional |
| France | ✓ | — |
| Italy | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spain | ✓ | ✓ |
| Poland | ✓ | ✓ |
| Netherlands | ✓ | — |
| Belgium | ✓ | — |
| Portugal | ✓ | — |
| Sweden | ✓ | ✓ |
| Austria | ✓ | ✓ |
Questions
Where does the new year start first?
On Kiritimati in Kiribati’s Line Islands, which is 14 hours ahead of UTC. New Zealand, at UTC+13 in its summer, follows an hour later.
Where is the last place to celebrate New Year?
The last inhabited places are American Samoa and Niue, at UTC−11. The uninhabited Baker and Howland Islands, at UTC−12, are the very last — about 26 hours after Kiritimati.
Does the countdown use my time zone?
Yes. It counts down to midnight on 1 January in the time zone your device is set to, so the same page shows a different countdown in Lisbon than in Athens.
Is New Year’s Eve a public holiday?
Not in any of the ten countries in the table above, though shops and offices often close early. New Year’s Day, 1 January, is a public holiday in all of them.
More countdowns: Christmas · Easter.
Need a countdown to something else — an exam, a launch, a trip? The countdown timer can count down to any date and gives you a link to share. For the full holiday calendars by country, see public holidays in Europe.