Your budget is going to be hugely stretched over one of the most popular travel periods in the yeear, so your best bet is to just look on Hostelworld and see if you can even get anything for that amount of money before you start planning properly.

There will be very little to do in most cities over 24-27th, but a city like Prague will have people milling around.

I wish you good luck and success, but only €30/day? In Europe?? During the peak season Christmas/New Year??? I'm afraid that just from daily consumption for food and drink, local transport and whatever else you have in mind, you will need at least €50 per day during this time. Hotels and hostels are a factor of 3 at normal prices - I don't think you can get anything for less than €60 per night. Still, good luck!

You might find cheap places in Krakow, but Poland is still pretty strictly catholic during major festivals, so everything (even grocery stores) will be closed on 24-25th. You can go to the church in the evening on 24th or early morning on 25th though and have a walk around the city, enjoy decorations in main square. 28th is Sunday, so supermarkets will be closed again. You can get cheap hot meal in bar mleczny on 29-31st though. Are you planning to visit one or two museums during your trip? Not sure about NYE party for free though.

Hungary (my home and I dislike it) is pretty good in winter. Good fireworks, tolerable weather and cheap.

I don't know about 30 euros a day but in Romania some things stay open during the holidays. For example, in Brasov there will be some open restaurants, shops and the Christmas market and you can combine visiting the town with hiking in the mountains. That's what I usually do. It's definitely not dead at all. I made the mistake of spending Christmas in western Europe a few times and I'd say here in Romania it's less dead, especially in these tourist-y towns

London

Great spread ng breakfast = Grand Hyatt.

I believe there's usually a big celebration in BGC as well.

Hello! Just an update, I booked okada for my family stay :) just a tip! Try checking the website first before booking! Also requesting for a bayview room

Okada

Looking also! 🔎

Following this!

Bruges is not fun on NYE because it's mostly 16yo's being loud in the streets and bars. I haven't done NYE in Brussels yet, but certain areas might be dangerous... Ghent is a better option. Lots of bars, lots of people, better crowd.

From what I can see on the telly every year, you want to stay far away from Brussels on 31 December 

I'm from Brussels. People here will say it's dangerous but it's not. It's a vibrant city except on NYE. The Christmas market closes before midnight and many bars are closed due to higher costs on NYE (employees are paid more, DJ, bouncer). The clubs ask ridiculous entree prices for shit parties because they know there isn't anything else to do in the centre. Fireworks are at Heizel so none in the centre, but people will light off firecrackers that sounds like we're back in 1943. Last year I heard of tourists who ended up spending NYE in their hotel rooms out of lack of anything to do. We don't party in the streets as they do in other cities or countries, the city and the police won't allow big "unorganized" public gatherings

Honestly neither 😭 go to ghent or antwerp for nye.

Choose one and go to Ghent.

(This comes from a Walloon.)

I went to Vienna over new year a few years back. Spent midnight at an event at one of the Christmas markets, we even had a bit of snow. Lots of drink stalls and food stalls though they could have done with more loos!

Paris during winter holidays is really nice, and they have have a great fireworks for NYE.

Vienna is quite lively for NYE!

Glasgow was wild.

I've only been to Edinburgh for Hogmanay. It is a blast! There are plenty of events from the 30th - 1st and the buzz is great. Of course, as you know, the weather can definitely be arctic. The year I went, the fireworks were cancelled due to high winds.

My deck in the hills of west Austin. My neighbors are insane.

Rio de Janeiro

The comfort of my own home, watching it on TV.

Sydney

Gold Coast–Tweed Heads, because you can actually do it twice.

So basically in Australia most of our states have daylight savings during the summer. One state that does is NSW and one state that doesn’t in Queensland (but in winter they have the same time zone). They border each other.

You may have heard of the Gold Coast in Queensland as it’s a touristy spot. But just south of that is its smaller twin city called Tweed Heads in NSW.

You can celebrate New Year’s Eve in Tweed Heads then you have an hour to go north of the border to the Gold Coast and celebrate it again. They do fireworks in both cities.

Also they have nice beaches and it’s summer in January here.

I was in Madeira for New Years Eve solo and it was a great time, they hold a big street party and fireworks display in the capitol, Funchal. Very safe, the street party is for everyone including kids and grandmas and old British tourists. Basically everything stayed open and the best part was the balmy weather!

I have also spent NYE in Seville and Munich and definitely don't recommend either of those. Especially Germany where everything is closed. I was in Prague a while back and it was fun, everyone was out on the streets partying, but quite rowdy, so depending on the vibe you want it could be really fun or too much.

Bucket list for me is new years eve in Edinburgh to attend the Hogmanay Festival. Maybe this year!

Just want to chime in: don’t come celebrate nye in the Netherlands. The dutch celebrate at home with friends and family and then go out after 01:00 (or have a house party). I always see a lot of tourists in my city (utrecht) expecting something fun but everything is closed on the 31st after 17:00 and on the 1st everyone is hiding in their house. 😂

i did nye in barcelona this year! went alone but came out of it with several new friends. saw the fireworks at plaça espanya with a new friend from my hostel, met another friend out and stayed out until 5am, then went to la sagrada familia on new year’s day! best experience ever. 🥰

i have found that flights on christmas day are generally less expensive overall when traveling during the holidays. i guess there could be a concern about what’s available on the other end of the flight (trains/taxis from the airport) but i think in any major capital you’d be covered.

Abisko

Edinburgh is known for it's New years celebrations (or Hogmanay). You need to book your accommodation well in advance though.

I did Lagos in the Algarve for last new year. Was actually a really good vibe. Seeing it in with Palm trees as the fireworks went off was kinda cool

If you want something different and cozy, try Hallstatt in Austria. It's like something out of a postcard, especially in winter.

A few years ago, I spent an epic New Year's Eve in Prague. We first did dinner at one of the river boats with fireworks at Charles's Bridge, and then we went clubbing.