New Years Eve bars - do we need tickets?

Hi.

Me and my girlfriend will be in New York 30th Dec until 4th Jan. We%26#39;re staying at Le Parker Meridien near Central Park.

I was wondering whether anyone could help us out on plans for New Years Eve. Is it essential for us to book tickets for a bar/club, or will some bars be ticketless? Ideally we%26#39;d just go to a few bars early on and then Central Park for the fireworks.

Has anyone stayed at Le Parker Meridien before? Does it have a nice bar inside? I assume we wouldn%26#39;t require a ticket to use the hotel bar if we were staying there.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Chris

New Years Eve bars - do we need tickets?

Many bars and restaurants have special meals and parties on New Years Eve that you have to book in advance though it%26#39;s a bit early now. There are some bars that do not have anything special or you can pay a cover when you arrive. I would start by e-mailing your hotel and ask them what they are doing.

New Years Eve bars - do we need tickets?

If you want to go somewhere special you will probably need to make a reservation. A lot of restaurants and bars will offer special deals that require advance booking or will charge a high cover charge and offer an open bar (beer, wine, well drinks). But if you%26#39;re not looking for any place in particular you should certainly be able to find an open bar that you can just walk in to.

You should note that the entire area around Times Square starts to shut down in the late afternoon and fills up with people waiting to watch the ball drop. You won%26#39;t be able to walk anywhere around there and the police will barricade many of the side streets, so you will need to visit some other part of town.