Christmas & Hogmanay packages, New Year in Scotland
Featured Sites
Shearings» range of Christmas & Hogmanay breaks with luxury coach travel, choice of hotels ... MORE
Haggis Adventures» Xmas and Hogmanay tours, get a real highland Christmas or Hogmanay ... MORE
Contiki Featured Site
Where else but Scotland? Hogmanay in Edinburgh for 18–35 year-olds, various short breaks of different lengths. Join one of the world's biggest New Year parties – comes with live music, rides, a Winter Wonderland (including ice-skating rink), Trip Manager, city coach trip, B&B hostel ... What's stopping you?
| Hogmanay | Christmas/New Year | Scotland |
Haggis Adventures Featured Site
based: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Christmas and Hogmanay tours in Scotland. Celebrate a Highland Christmas or your choice of Hogmanay – from just the Edinburgh city celebrations (Edinburgh's Hogmanay Street Party is well known as one of the world's greatest New Year celebrations!) to extended breaks to also take in the best of the Scottish Highlands at New Year.
| Hogmanay | Christmas/New Year | Scotland |
Macdonald Aviemore Resort
located: Highlands, Scotland, UK
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Get a true Highland welcome in Aviemore, in the centre of the Cairngorm National Park, on special Christmas breaks and Hogmanay packages, packed with extras to make the festive stay just right! There are Couples and Family Hogmanay and Christmas Breaks, as well as Santa breaks and special January escapes.
| Hogmanay | Christmas/New Year | Scotland |
Rufflets Country House Hotel
based: Fife, Scotland, UK
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A 4-star country house hotel just 1 mile from St Andrews, offering a variety of short breaks, including weekends, romantic and Valentine, Christmas and birdwatching breaks and golf packages. Rufflets has been in the same family ownership since 1952, and offers a relaxing atmosphere to get away from it all.
| weekends/short breaks | Christmas/New Year | valentines | romantic | golf | bird watching | Scotland |
Shearings Featured Site
based: UK
A choice of Christmas and Hogmanay breaks on which you can enjoy luxury coach travel, a choice of hotels with great food and true Scottish entertainment and hospitality. Destinations right across Scotland including: Fort William, Braemar, Portpatrick, Rothesay, Strathpeffer, Loch Lomond, Pitlochry and Oban.
| Hogmanay | Christmas/New Year | Scotland |
Taychreggan Hotel
located: Kilchrennan, Argyll, Scotland, UK
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Three-day Hogmanay house party, with 5-course dinners each night, bed and breakfast and afternoon teas. Dance with the local ceilidh band and top the night off with a piper, fireworks and traditional stovies.
| Hogmanay | Scotland |
Topdeck Travel
based: UK
Epic trips for people 18–30; Hogmanay in Edinburgh, with a choice of an Edinburgh west end hotel, or a city centre hostel to ring the New Year in genuine Scottish style.
| Hogmanay | Scotland |
The traditional Scottish Hogmanay is believed to have developed from celebrations to mark arrival of the Winter Solstice. In a country where, due to the protestant reformation, Christmas was not celebrated and was more or less banned for as much as 400 years, the New Year or Hogmanay became the greater reason to party.
Traditions and customs: visitors attending a Hogmanay celebration might like to know about some of the traditions and customs that have grown up around the event. Those below tend to be followed right across the country, but you'll also come across many local customs too, with different areas often having their own Hogmanay rituals.
Before the midnight bells strike on the 31st December it is traditional to clean the house and take out the ashes; there is also a requirement to clear all debts – all intended to ensure a clean slate for the New Year.
Right after midnight it's traditional to sing Burns' Auld Lang Syne – but, if you really want to get it right, arms should not to be linked until the last verse.
First footing is another tradition visitors should know about. To bring good luck, the first foot to cross the threshold after midnight should be that of a dark-haired male, who should bring with him symbolic gifts of salt, coal, shortbread, black bun (a traditional rich fruit cake) or a wee dram of whisky.
Visitors to Scotland should remember that, in Scotland, the 2nd of January is also a national holiday.
CATEGORY DEFINITION FOR TOUR OPERATORS WISHING TO BE LISTED:
The travel-quest Christmas, New Year and Hogmanay in Scotland section is for Scottish hotels and for travel companies offering dedicated Christmas and Hogmanay packages, or specialist activity breaks with a Christmas or Hogmanay theme within Scotland. If you offer such breaks outside of Scotland please use our main Christmas breaks / New Year holidays section.
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