Africa
Bush camps in Botswana or Namibia can be hired by groups for around ú15,000 from Sunvil Holidays.
The camps sleep 16 people, and the deal includes full-board accommodation, safari guide, all activities and bar drinks. Flights are not included in the package price.
Abercrombie and Kent is offering dawn balloon safaris over Kenya’s Masai Mara and five-course gourmet dinners in the country’s savannah as tailor-made options for the millennium.
Asia
For the ultimate in luxury, jump on board the Eastern and Oriental Express for its Millennium Journey from Bangkok to Singapore on December 29-January 4.
Passengers will celebrate New Year’s Eve in the ancient Thai city of Sukhothai.
Singapore will host the World’s Longest Street Party (October 30 1999-February 11 2000), with three months of festivals to cover the Gregorian, Lunar and Chinese New Years.
Australia
On New Year’s Eve, Sydney harbour hosts what may well be one of the world’s biggest firework displays and rock concerts organised by Spectak, the company which is helping arrange the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Those in the know may still be able to secure a ticket to a masked ball in the Opera House.
Austria
Vienna will pull out all the stops with its New Year’s Trail, a one-mile street party in the city centre, with waltzing lanes and free waltz lessons as well as live music.
Alternatively, romantics can slope off to the mountains to a traditional ski resort with First Choice offering 10-night packages from ú835 per person.
Brazil
The Brazilians know how to party and travellers who find themselves in Rio de Janeiro when the clocks strike midnight on December 31 will not be disappointed.
More than 2m revellers are expected to turn up at the famous Copacabana Beach for a colossal party where a carnival and live music are planned.
South American Experience is offering a seven-night New Year deal for ú2,000, including accommodation, transfers and excursions to Sugar Loaf and Corcovado Mountains.
Canada
Vancouver is set to be Canada’s millennium party capital, with an all-night party, fireworks and laser-light show. Acountdown clock and time capsule are currently touring the city to drum up support for the events.
Jazz buffs should head for Montreal’s Millennium Jazz Party, where big names will be performing both indoors and out in the downtown area.
Caribbean
The famous Sandy Lane Hotel on Barbados has a reputation for holding the best New Year’s Eve party on the island.
This year’s will be bigger and more sumptuous than ever as – if all goes according to plan – it will coincide with the hotel’s reopening following a complete refurbishment.
Prices will be confirmed in March but as a guideline, the 1998 rates ranged from around ú500 to ú1,400 a night.
Fiji
The South Pacific is where the sun comes up first on January 1 2000.
Fiji’s largest island, Vitu Levu, is the place to be – with a dusk ’til dawn festival centred around the Coral Coast.
There will also be concerts in the cities of Suva and Nadi, and satellite links with the rest of the world as other nations start to party.
France
France can possibly lay claim to the most bizarre millennium celebrations – at midnight, the Eiffel Tower will give birth to a giant egg after a son et lumiäre show of truly millennial proportions.
The egg will then hatch to reveal a bank of TV screens showing other celebrations across the world.
The Place Charles de Gaulle will be transformed into a massive clock face, its second hand being a powerful laser light that will sweep the city from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
Germany
The city of Berlin will greet the New Year with street parties, live bands and DJs performing from stages around the Brandenburg Gate.
Germany specialist Moswin is featuring New Year breaks to the city, as well as packages to Hamburg, and Munich. Packages will include return flights and hotel accommodation. Theatre visits and cabaret are also included in the deal. Prices will be released later this month.
India
Celebrate the millennium Hindu-style with Abercrombie and Kent’s Rajasthan Celebration tour.
The 12-night trip leaves the UK on December 24, and visits the region’s castles and forts. The highlight of the trip is a party at Osian in the Thar desert. Guests can opt for black tie or traditional dress. The trip costs ú4,090 per person.
Israel
Branding itself as the official destination for the millennium, the country’s Biblical sites of Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth are hosting major celebrations over Christmas and New Year. Longwood Holidays is offering a nine-day Holy Land Pilgrim Tour and four-night packages to Jerusalem. Prices yet to be confirmed.
New Zealand
Gisborne, on the North Island, will hold a huge New Year’s Eve bash. Those with energy left over after partying the night away can run the 26-mile Hamilton marathon starting at 6am on January 1.
Russia
Opera and ballet lovers should make a beeline for St Petersburg for the millennium. Norvista is planning a St Petersburg New Year’s Eve package to include a gourmet dinner, champagne, a traditional ball and a trip to the Russian ballet or opera. Accommodation will be four or five-star.
Steppes East, meanwhile, has a four-night St Petersburg tour for ú1,500. It includes accommodation at the Grand Hotel Europe and a black-tie event at a royal palace.
Scotland
Edinburgh and Glasgow are justly renowned for their Hogmanay celebrations and 2000 will see the biggest party yet. Edinburgh will host a four-day extravaganza involving circus performers, rock concerts, street theatre, a candlelight concert in the cathedral and party in Princes Street which, this year, will be a ticket-only affair. Not to be outdone, Glasgow is expecting to attract 150,000 to its city-centre bash.
Spain
Head for the famous clock in Madrid’s Puerto del Sol to hear it strike midnight, then party on through the night. You have to eat a grape at each stroke of the clock, though. This party is an annual tradition but should be better than ever in ’99. There will also be a street party and fireworks outside Madrid’s city hall for the public.
Swedish Lapland
The Ice Hotel is Sweden’s hippest New Year’s Eve venue. After a special millennium dinner, revellers can hole up in the Absolut bar with a glass or two of vodka or go for a sauna. Guests sleep in heavy-duty sleeping bags on beds chiselled from ice. Scantours will offer a four-day trip including one night at the hotel. Prices are expected to be from ú800.
Switzerland
Romantics or those simply looking for the traditional boozy night should head for one of the ski resorts such as Klosters, Verbier and Zermatt. Neilson has a variety of club hotels and chalets and is organising special events such as a ’60s and ’70s fancy dress Goodbye To All That party on December 30 and a Here’s To The Future party on December 31. Prices start at ú789 for 10 nights in Verbier.
Tonga
The King of Tonga was annoyed to find that Fiji has laid claim to seeing the ‘first dawn’ on January 1 2000, but that has not stopped him organising a month-long festival starting on December 1. Events range from an Inter-Cultural Fishing Week to the Royal 2000 Golf Classics, a music festival, Miss Tonga 2000 and… er, the National Weight Loss Competition. It culminates in a party on December 31.
n Further information from The Millennium Guide by Richard Knight, published by Trailblazer Publications.
US
Revellers crossing the pond to greet the New Year should head for New York’s Times Square which plans to celebrate the arrival of 2000 24 times with giant TVscreens broadcasting parties from other time zones every hour. There will be a huge live show, the highlight of which will be the traditional lowering of a ball covered in 12,000 rhinestones and 144 strobes from Number One Times Square.
Clients booking city-break packages over this period can expect to pay over the odds for a room. Travel 4 is offering a five-night package at the three-star Lucerne Hotel departing December 28 with prices from ú790 excluding flights.
Not to be outdone, New Orleans’ lively French Quarter will host the traditional Jackson Square festivities – including jazz bands, mime artists, jugglers, fireworks and bands, with a lighted ball being dropped from the Jackson Brewery at midnight.
Meanwhile the city’s exclusive Windsor Court Hotel is offering a two-night Time Machine Party package. The price of $2,000 includes traditional dinner and party, a suite, breakfast, limousine service to and from the airport and the chance to bury a time capsule. Deposits must be put down by August 2.
Funway Holidays is offering a provisional package price of ú535 for three nights’ accommodation at the Comfort Inn Downtown and flights with American Airlines. This price could go up however when airline prices are finalised.
Accommodation is expected to start filling up by March for all of the popular US destinations and early booking is advised for city-centre hotels and accommodation in Orlando where Disney World will be a major attraction.
Big parties are also planned at Miami’s South Beach and California’s San Francisco. Hawaii is expected to be another hot spot with hotels filling up fast.
There are bargains to be had over the New Year period for early-bookers to Las Vegas. Travelpack is offering a three-night stay at Circus Circus for ú402 including flights with American Airlines.