A Very Happy Dutch New Year!

Once a year the peace and calm of Dutch life explodes in a shower of fireworks to mark the end of the Old Year and then follows up with a nice refreshing dip in the North Sea to bring in the New Year…yup, here you will find a very Happy New Year that is uniquely and traditionally Dutch!

Lights and Bangs!

London, Sydney, Paris and many of the other major cities of the world all have stunning fireworks shows that are a New Year’s spectacle. Dutch cities also have their organised fireworks shows, but what is really special here is how the whole country goes firework crazy; spending 70 million euros to create as many bangs and lights as is possible.

Maybe it is that fireworks aren’t allowed to be privately used at any other time of the year (except with a permit) but from 6pm on the 31st December until 2am on the 1st of January all rules are off and the show begins.

For the best experience, get yourself up high where you can watch the sky light up and explode. You’ll already start to hear explosions during the day. At 6pm the show starts to warm up, and by midnight you will have a spectacular show spreading across the horizon in every which way you look.

If this is not enough to keep the pyromaniacs happy, then you’ll also see the beach fires of Scheveningen and Duindorp that compete with one another each year to build the biggest bonfire…this year it got a little bit too big and ended up causing multiple fires in the surrounding areas…so be careful with this one! The fires can be seen all the way from our apartment 6Km away!

If you can’t get an invite to a high up house party then try getting yourself a spot at the Penthouse in the Hague, or in Amsterdam the Hilton Doubletree, W Hotel or the A’Dam Tower are all perfect spots to get that’s bird’s eye view.

Matt’s secret recipe to a great NY party!

Nieuwjaarsduik (New Year’s Dive)

After a heavy night of partying, the best way to clear your head on the 1st of the year is to take a refreshing dip into the north sea! Make sure you get a crazy crowd together (probably the folks you partied with the night before) as peer pressure is one of the best ways to make sure you get up and go through with this.

For us, the best bunch of New Year Dippers are our wonderful neighbours who really know how to party and then have the resolve to get up early next morning for a visit to the sea.

Along with 10,000 other people make your way to the beach of Scheveningen where for just 3 euros you can register for your New Year’s Dive. Sponsored by the Dutch food maker – Unox.

This is one of the best deals in the Netherlands, where you’ll get a party on the beach, filled with all the Dutch carnival songs to get you warmed up, a unique beanie hat to keep your head warm (and a badge of honour for having taken the dip), and a big tin of Matt’s favourite dutch food – erwtensoep (pea soup) to heat yourself up with afterwards.

Try to get yourself to the registration by 10.30 am, as well as swimming gear, some warm clothes and a towel, also make sure you bring some gloves, a bathrobe and some water shoes…as the sand is really cold to stand around on for a long time.

At midday the tape is dropped and everyone rushes into the sea, almost as quickly you’ll finding people running back screaming from the cold, but don’t be daunted and take the plunge as it is one of the most invigorating things you’ll ever do on a New Year’s day.

The water as around 7 degrees C…at first contact a bit of a shock to the system, and to be honest it remained a numbing sensation that had us soon running back to the ‘warmth’ of the beach; but it is certainly enough to clear your head from all of the previous night’s Champagne.

Don’t worry if your legs and toes get numb, the sensation will be back and you’ll feel more alive than ever before…so much so for Lyssa that she was heading back to dive into the water a second time within a minute of getting back onshore!