The 10 best UK New Year’s Eve breaks for couples in 2024

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New Year’s Eve comes with that little bit of added pressure. “The most important night of the year” can raise expectations that are hard to satisfy. Even more so if you’re in a relationship.

There are many tailor-made New Year’s Eve breaks for couples across the UK, but you need to book fast. Leave it too late and the good ones will be snapped up.

The best New Year’s Eve breaks for couples

Once you know you want to go, the question turns to what to do? Full-on romance or a big blowout party night? Spa and pamper or active and outdoorsy? Whatever your pleasure, there’s somewhere to sate it on this island of ours. To help make the magic happen, here’s my pick of New Year’s Eve breaks for couples across the UK.

  1. The Pigs, Southern England
  2. The Scarlet, Cornwall
  3. L’Oscar, London
  4. Thyme, Gloucestershire
  5. Claridge’s, London
  6. The Crazy Bears, England
  7. Carden Park Hotel, Cheshire
  8. Fingal, Edinburgh
  9. Harlosh, Isle of Skye
  10. Ukiyo, Coverack, Cornwall

The Pigs, Southern England

A couple in their white bathrobes enjoying their drinks in large white mugs as they sit on a sofa facing each other.
toonsbymoonlight

Best for: luxurious eccentricity

The Pig Hotel brand has reshaped the concept of traditional luxury British hotels over the last few years. Gone is the stuffy decor and stiff-lipped service of old. In its place, unique takes on the quirkier aspects of British culture wrapped up in gorgeous surroundings and superb service

The Pig’s litter has grown to 10 hotels across southern England, with more opening nationwide. Each is unique but New Year’s Eve will be a great party whichever you stay at. Expect a huge, homely meal inspired by the kitchen garden, fantastic wines and lots of good cheer. New Year’s Day will bring country walks

The Pig at Harlyn Bay is my favourite bolthole in the whole country but gets booked up fast. Otherwise, the original New Forest Pig is particularly magical and its 25-mile menu restaurant a thing of culinary wonder.

The Scarlet, Cornwall

Indoor spa at Scarlet Hotel Bedruthan, Cornwall, UK
© Scarlet Hotel

Best for: adult-only romance

Not far from Newquay in Mawgan Porth, The Scarlet is an adults-only haven of relaxation and romance. High on rugged cliffs, set away from the outside world, it makes the absolute most of its amazing location.

And never more so than on New Year’s Eve. For three nights, The Scarlet hosts a romantic retreat for loved-up couples to ring in 2025. Clifftop cauldron hot tubs overlooking the Atlantic. Candle-lit copper baths and romantic beach walks.

An ‘indoor-outdoor’ spa offering Ayurvedic treatments. Long intimate dinners with plenty of fizz. And on the night itself, a spectacular fireworks display that lights up the Cornish coast.

L’Oscar, London

Interior sitting rooom decked in luxurious purple velvet with library in the background
© Gregoire Gardette/ L’OSCAR LONDON

Best for: pure unadulterated decadence

If you’re coming to the capital, there’s no shortage of unbelievable places to stay. But for something a little more titillating than your average five-star stay, look to L’Oscar.

A former Baptist Church, L’Oscar has shaken off its ecclesiastical roots to become something altogether different. A riot of purples, patterns and textures, checking in feels like entering a lothario’s boudoir

Located right by Covent Garden with Theatreland on your doorstep, you have endless options for a New Year to remember. Take in a show, dine at the country’s best restaurants, watch the famous fireworks on the South Bank. Or bypass it all, lock the door, pop the champagne and indulge in the sensory assault of your surroundings. 

Thyme, Gloucestershire

Happy gay couple lying in bed.

Best for: an eco spa break

Thyme is just lovely, as is its story and connection to the rolling greens of Gloucestershire. It calls itself the village within a village (it even has its own pub). A family-run, farm-to-fork, historical and ecological retreat and the perfect place to wash away the year gone past.

Book a room in one of its restored houses or cottages and get back to nature at Meadow Spa. Forget hi-tech wellness, this is restorative and natural. Treatments that invigorate the senses, purge impurities and re-energise for the year ahead. It’s also ridiculously romantic.

Thyme puts on a New Year’s Eve package that includes a surprisingly riotous late-night party at its Ox Barn. A five-course meal, live music and DJ playing late into the night. So you’ll definitely be needing those spa treatments on New Year’s Day.

Claridge’s, London

A black car parked outside a hotel with glass façade with a variety of world flags hanging on the balcony.

Best for: a huge blowout

If you really, really want to push the boat out, there’s nowhere more romantic and impressive to spend New Year’s Eve than Claridge’s. One of London’s most loved and long-lived hotels, stay here to live a night of fame and glamour. It’s quite the way to ring in the New Year.

Once you’ve checked into your sumptuous Art Deco surroundings and picked your jaw up off the floor, prepare to feast. Start with intimate cocktails in the sultry Fumoir cocktail bar. Then join the New Year celebrations in the Foyer and Reading Room. Caviar, foie gras, lobster, all washed down with a classic cuvée brut – the menu hasn’t changed much in a century. But as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke…

The Crazy Bears, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire

A person wearing a crimson feathered headdress with crystals set in a flowery pattern smiles widely.

Best for: a party to remember

The name says it all, really. Outlandish and over the top yet somehow still elegant. The Crazy Bear hotels close to Oxford and London are destinations in their own right. And for New Year’s Eve events, they’re all about the party.

The Crazy Bear Stadhampton is famed for its Cabaret nights complete with champagne reception and Bacchanalian banquets. Kick the day off in style with a flight over the rolling Oxfordhsire countryside in Crazy Bear’s own hot air balloon. Head back for a Thai massage before donning your glad rags for the party ahead.

The Crazy Bear Beaconsfield is no less renowned for its Red Carpet affairs. Burlesque performers, live music and dancing until the early hours are the norm. Book a suite with a roll-top copper bathtub for a recovery soak the following morning. It may be the best money you spend all year.

Carden Park Hotel, Cheshire

Couple walking outside the Spa at Carden Park Hotel Cheshire, UK
© Carden Park Hotel – Cheshire’s Country Estate

Best for: a classic spa break

Carden Park’s thousand-acre estate is a wonderful place to bring in the New Year refreshed and revitalised. Spend the last day of the year discovering its enormous grounds. Take aim at some archery, tour on a segway and stroll its sculpture gardens as the sun sets.

The jewel in Carden’s crown is its world-class spa, also set mostly in its gardens. Heated relaxation pods and hot-tubs, a thermal vitality pool and crackling fire pits. Get mani-pedi-facials and fizzy libations in the Bollinger Beauty Bar to look your best for the new year celebrations.

Carden Park’s party includes a gala dinner with “haggis, neeps, tatties and a nip o’ whisky”. Live music, fireworks over the lake and a traditional piper to play in the new year.

Fingal, Edinburgh

Fingal Hotel exterior
@ The Royal Yacht Britannia and Fingal Hotel

Best for: something unique

Edinburgh is always a special city to celebrate New Year’s Eve, or as it’s called in Scotland, hogmanay. A stay on board Fingal will make it one to remember. 

Moored on the lively waterfront in Leith, Fingal was first built to supply Scotland’s most isolated lighthouses. Today it’s been reimagined as a floating five-star palace of maritime luxury. Cosy cabins connected by wood-panelled hallways, a lavish copper-ceiling restaurant and palatial ballroom. It really is something – old world and unbelievably elegant.

Fingal takes Hogmanay seriously. Its two-night stay is heavy on the eating and champagne but also includes something extra special. Ring in midnight onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, chNew Year’s Eve breaks for couplesampagne in hand, piper piping and the spectacular city fireworks exploding overhead. They even put on a spectacular quayside performance of the Beating of the Retreat, just as they did during Royal Service.

Top tip: Request a starboard cabin when booking – they have more interesting views. Or splash out on the Skerryvore Suite complete with its own sweeping private deck.

Log cabin, Harlosh, Isle of Skye

two wooden cabins next to a big lake and mountains in the background
Provided by Booking.com

Best for: getting away from absolutely everything

There is of course a great argument for escaping the mania of New Year celebrations altogether. For unadulterated romance stripped down to its barest, seclusion is your best bet. Few things meet that definition more than a log cabin on the remote Scottish Isle of Skye.

Skye is indescribably beautiful during winter. Wild and raw, its coastline teems with aquatic and birdlife – seals roam shorelines, shearwaters carve the skies. And although winter days are short, the night skies sparkle with stars unblemished by low light. Light a fire, wrap a blanket around you and feel the oxytocin levels rise.

Among the most lovely are the Harlosh Log Cabins, simple but stunning wood cabins with shoreline views where you can “see the seals from your bed at low tide”. For something utterly unique, stretch your budget to the incredible minimalist, modernist black h – the log cabin of the future.

Ukiyo, Coverack, Cornwall

Mid adult woman relaxing in a hot tub with her friends.

Best for: the perfect coastal cottage retreat

This renovated cottage perched on the cliffs of the Lizard Peninsula is an ode to design from around the world. Japanese-inspired, the owners have brought California, Scandinavia and the Med to Cornwall and created a chic and charming eco retreat. Most of its furnishings are locally made.

The design of Ukiyo exploits its location to the maximum. Huge framed windows in the sitting room and bedroom bring the coast into sharp focus. The latter has a freestanding ash-clad bath in front so you can drink in the views from the tub. Or opt for the hot tub in the garden and dry yourself by the firepit – not a bad way to see out 2024.

The tiny fishing village of Coverack has a charm all its own. Grab fish and chips at the nearby Lifeboat House restaurant and take the ten-minute walk to the always unusual Terence Coventry Sculpture Garden.

New Year’s Eve breaks for couples around the world

There are wonderful New Year getaways for couples from the top to the bottom of the UK. And if you’re willing to travel a little further, around the world too.

Escape the cold at these winter sun destinations and see where is hot in December. Hop on a short flight for a budget-friendly New Year in Europe. Thinking of popping the big question? here are the world’s most romantic places to propose. Good luck (and congratulations)!

If you can’t decide, try out KAYAK Explore and let the map guide you to a New Year to remember.

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