Where's the New Year's party? It's everywhere, across restaurants & resorts

The restaurants know they’ll be packed. As do the bars. Himalayan retreats and getaways, too, are all booked. This New Year’s Eve, India is raring to party – and how.

The party scene started with the FIFA World Cup; it continued into Christmas; and is expected to reach a crescendo on New Year’s Eve.

At Monkey Bar, a lounge bar in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, a disco and dazzle night is planned for patrons, complete with funky music, glittering cocktails, and delicious plates.

At Kampai, a Japanese restaurant in Aerocity New Delhi, a Kyoto brunch, inspired by the winter regions of Japan, with live Robata (Japanese barbeque grill), live dimsum counter, a teppanyaki grill, live sushi counter awaits guests.

Exciting events are lined up in Mumbai, too, including a New Year bash at Imagica adventure park. The Lalit hotel has also readied itself with five different venue zones to host the Grand New Year Festival 2023.

At Masque, a fine-dining restaurant in Mumbai, chef Varun Totlani is readying a signature 10-course menu for New Year’s Eve. “It is inspired by seasonality, regional Indian cuisines, and using exclusively home-grown produce for those looking to ring in the New Year with an inimitable meal and stellar cocktails,” he says, adding that Masque’s recent membership of Relais & Châteaux, a global association of luxury hotels and restaurants, has strengthened its vision and generated more excitement for the New Year.

In the party capital of India, Goa, singers Badshah and Mika Singh will perform at Las Olas, a club on Baga beach.

Bengaluru is hosting the 11th edition of its iconic ‘Las Vegas 2023’, this time in a luxury avatar at Taj Yeshwantpur. The city’s tech hub, Whitefield, is also expected to be full of revelry on the eve of the New Year.

The party spirit is evident in the traffic that ticketing platform Paytm Insider is witnessing. “We’ve seen a continuous interest from millions of users on the platform this month and expect it to double over the weekend,” says Samidh Bhattacharyya, head of marketing at the platform. “The jump in traffic is well over 2x from pre-Covid 2019 as well as the last year.”

There is also a visible uptick in organiser interest. “With over 800-plus NYE events listed on the platform currently and close to 1,000 events for the weekend, there’s a range of parties, getaways, premium and pocket-friendly experiences to choose from,” says Bhattacharyya. “Last year, owing to the restrictions across major cities, smaller ones like Goa saw an increased demand. That’s not the case this time. We can see inventory growing across cities pan-India and there’s positive interest from users across 12 plus cities.”

Typically, December is a busy month for the hospitality sector, given the holiday season. More so, this time round after two years of Covid blues. 

Ananda in the Himalayas, which is nestled in the foothills near Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, has seen an overwhelming number of guests opting for its wellness programmes. The Christmas-New Year period has been no different, says Mahesh Natarajan, chief operating officer of the destination spa.

“The majority of our clients are choosing to usher in the New Year by focusing on their health and well-being,” he says, adding, “We are also seeing an increase in international clients.”

According to Natarajan, the biggest change from pre-pandemic years has been a conscious choice by people to move “away from the noise”. That said, the luxury spa has an evening of festivity planned on December 31 where its gourmet chefs will rustle up a multicourse winter meal and there will be a live music performance by a quintet.

A red carpet and dry-ice welcome awaits guests at Raffles Udaipur. The getaway destination is readying for the year-end festivities with live band, Manganiar folk music, and a DJ, along with traditional West Asian dance performance, and a handcrafted cocktail, the Udaipur Sling.

A spokesperson of luxury chain ITC Hotels says bookings have increased across its properties for New Year celebrations. “ITC properties within cities as well as near hills and beaches are witnessing high interest from travellers opting for quick getaways.” Properties in Goa, Gurugram, Jaipur, Chail, Pahalgam, Shimla, Amritsar and Mussoorie have been on top of the demand list, the spokesperson adds.

In keeping with the festive spirit, ITC Hotels has curated elements of an aristocratic ambience coupled with gastronomic offerings and celebratory events for December 31. Curated staycation packages have also been on offer.

The Covid surge in China has, however, cast a small shadow on the heightened party mood that FIFA had triggered – but in no way has it dampened it.