As New Year’s Eve draws closer, the pressure is increasing on how to best ring in the new year. We’ve asked some of the Yabangee team how they plan to get festive for the occasion.
Sean Fallon: I would recommend hosting a house party. You don’t have to worry about taxis, braving the cold, or being felt up by strangers in bar queues. Also you can dictate the music, the booze is cheaper and if you get tired you can sneak off for a quick power nap. The downside is that the new year begins with an epic house cleaning. The trick there is to make your friends drunkenly declare that their new year’s resolution is to help out their friends more, that way you can call them at noon on January first and ask them to come help you clean the sick out of your kitchen sink.
Brenden McNulty: If you’re like me, New Year’s Eve is one of the most exciting nights of the year. The quest for the right party becomes a brainstorm of ideas. Some are appropriately outrageous and others are respectfully boring. In the end, you always have a good time. If you’re looking for an appropriately outrageous party this year, you should check out The Old Factory party in Beykoz hosted by OTP Istanbul. They promise 7 hours of music and private boat transportation from Kadiköy, Kabataş and Bebek. Tickets start at 130TL for students and include unlimited drinks. Happy 2014. You can find more information here.
Valeriia Amitina: New Year’s Eve in Istanbul for me is all about spending time with friends and watching the amazing fireworks from the Bosphorus shore. Last year we were in Kadikoy. This year I’ve decided to cross continents and spend New Year’s Eve in either Ortakoy, Bebek, or Emirgan; I love all these places, so it will be hard to choose. The Bosphorus adds a certain magic to the New Year celebration.
Melis Kanik: Alongside all the parties and the pandemonium, many locals also celebrate New Year’s Eve the way that Christmas or Thanksgiving is celebrated in the Western world: ie, a large family dinner. That’s the thing that I usually opt for as well, there have only been a couple of NYE’s where I didn’t. I don’t like to even think about getting into all that traffic to get some place. That said, however, I live smack in the middle of the Nisantasi area, which, alongside Taksim, is the other designated celebration area of the city. So, just after midnight, I will be heading out to check out the vibe of the area with family and some friends.
Emma Harper: Where to spend New Year’s Eve? I am a huge fan of hunkering down in one place to drink and dance the night away. I used to stick to bars in Beyoglu – I had one particularly memorable New Year’s Eve at Balkon in Asmalimescit. But this year I will be occupying a meyhane in Besiktas with a big group of friends. The meyhane experience is almost perfectly tailored to New Year’s Eve; there’s booze, food, music and dancing. Besiktas has a whole host of meyhanes around the fish market that are busy even on the deadest of nights. I would recommend going for the fixed menu with limited or unlimited alcohol. We all have that friend who never pays the full amount or always happens to leave early. The fixed menu solves that problem and lets everyone enjoy the evening without having to worry about a barely legible bill being presented at the end of the night. But most of all, the meyhane provides a vibrant and hospitable atmosphere, so much so that it feels like you are welcoming in the New Year with a whole restaurant full of friends.
Isadora Bilancino: Taksim is packed! Avoid it! There is a small party at Barba Bar behind Demiroren for the ones who are not looking for a big thing. They didn’t say anything about the programme of the night. Asian side: In small meyhane in Kadikoy usually there is live music.
Tas Anjarwalla: Take a walk along the water in Eminonu or past Bebek where all the fishermen are parked, or comb the interwebs, and see if you can find someone with a small, cozy covered boat. Gather a group of 20-30 friends and pitch in to rent out the vessel for a 4-hr jaunt on the Bosphorus to catch the fireworks. Usually these kinds of things are BYOB and BYO-usb with premade playlist.
Tyra Deckard: Last year, I was on a boat on the Bosphorus, drinking wine and watching the fireworks. It was great! Afterwards, I went with a group of people into Taksim for dancing. I ended the night in Taksim Square, going from taxi to taxi, begging for someone to take me back home. The square was filled with taxis, but they were all either “not working” or just refused to go to my neighborhood. I finally got a driver to agree to go to Kurtuluş, but when we got there, he charged me 50TL, for a ride that is usually under 10 liras. This year, I intend to avoid that stress by having a small party at home. All that really matters is that I’m with friends and enjoying myself when the clock strikes twelve.
Liam Murray: Tea. Bed. Also, though, a really cool singer is doing something, somewhere. here is his song. If you’ve sat in a barber’s for more than ten minutes you’ll have heard it.
Tarik Yassien: My Istanbul NYE ritual usually involves calling people frantically the day before, trying to suss out some all-night event to attend that isn’t already sold out. This inevitably gets you wrangled up in a random house party of someone you barely know. If you’re really lucky, you might wind up on someone’s roof with a bottle of champagne in hand while watching fireworks on the Istanbul skyline. The disorganization of everything matches perfectly with how the end of year has been going in terms of productivity, thus offering the perfect incentive to improve yourself going into the new year.
Final Thoughts: Moving bars late at night can be especially difficult on New Year’s Eve. If you want to go to a larger party, book in advance. Try to get to places early. Most importantly, be safe and have an excellent time!
