Monterey New Years Eve 2024

First Night Monterey, top hotels, restaurants, parties & fireworks for NYE 2023-2024

Monterey, sitting in a prominent position right at the northern end of the famous Big Sur in California is another very popular new year's eve destination, with the signature event being First Night Monterey, a popular community and arts based celebration that lasts throughout the day on new year's eve, running right through until midnight.

If you're spending the festive season in this beautiful part of the world then there are also a range of sights and activities to help keep you occupied, including of course driving the Big Sur section of the Pacific Coast Highway (be sure to check conditions before adding this to your itinerary, they keep losing sections of it to landslides!), Monterey Bay, the Pinnacles National Park and the Old Fisherman's Wharf.

First Night Monterey

First Night Monterey is the big party in town, taking over the street of the historic downtown area from 3pm in the afternoon on 31 December and continuing right through the day and evening to midnight.

Highlights of the First Night celebrations include:

- Opening ceremony at 3pm

- Interactive art stations

- Twilight Procession at 5.30pm

- Live music performances at various downtown venues throughout the evening

- The Grand Finale gets underway from 11.15pm.

Full details and buttons here.

First Night Buttons

You need a button for admission to the various events. The buttons go on sale from November and it's cheaper to buy them sooner rather than later as early bird prices apply.

You can buy your buttons via the official event website, which also has a full up to date schedule of all of the First Night activities: First Night Monterey

Studio 54 New Years Eve at Portola Hotel & Spa

With live music, lots of dancing, a buffet dinner, open bar and of course, a champagne toast at midnight along with a balloon drop. Book Now

NYE Restaurants

Away from the big main event there are many top restaurants in Monterey to accommodate your new year's eve dining requirements, with most offering special menus for the occasion.

Top recommended places to try include Schooners Coastal Kitchen & Bar at the Monterey Plaza Hotel, Rosine's Restaurant, C restaurant + bar and The Sardine Factory.

New Years Eve Hotels

As well as those already mentioned, you will find several hotels in the Monterey area offering special new years eve packages, where accomodation and entertainment are often combined to make for a more attractive deal.

To check availability and make reservations at all the top hotels in the area, you can find the best Monterey new years hotels here.

NYE Live Stream

There are several live webcams in the area, although we haven't been able to find one where the main new year parties are it's still nice to check out the local scenery:

Monterey webcams

Latest NYE News

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