Ooh and Aah at Dazzling Fireworks Displays Around the World

New Year’s Eve inn Hanoi. The crowd has been gathering around Hoàn Kiếm Lake since early evening. By the time we arrive, 45 minutes before midnight, all the prime spots have been taken. People with tickets are in position up on the neighborhood’s many rooftop cafés. (Prebooking weeks in advance is essential.) We find a vacant patch of sidewalk and sit. The sense of anticipation is palpable, though for us there’s a difference. This is not the night of Dec. 31; it’s Feb. 10. The occasion we are celebrating is Tết, the Vietnamese New Year (to be celebrated Feb. 17 in 2026).

PHOTO: © DZUNG VU | DREAMSTIME

The date may be different, but one aspect is familiar. On the stroke of midnight, the fireworks begin. The display reflects off the water and the glass frontages of the downtown skyscrapers. As well as the pyrotechnics, formations of drones draw slogans and pictures in the sky. The display lasts 20 minutes. With ears ringing, we depart through a lingering shroud of smoke. No matter how often we experience them, or where, fireworks never disappoint.

Modern fireworks originated in China more than a thousand years ago. The main center for the manufacture of fireworks then, as now, was the city of Liuyang. Worldwide exports of fireworks from the city are worth more than $6 billion each year. While we celebrated Tết in Hanoi, Liuyang put on a typically spectacular display to mark the Chinese New Year.

Shanghai, celebrating National Day of the People’s Republic of China

Unsurprisingly, China remains one of the best places in the world for fireworks displays. The city of Harbin stages an annual ice festival (usually December to late February) with major fireworks shows on Dec. 31 and for the Jan. 5 formal opening. Elsewhere in the country, both Shanghai and Hong Kong make the most of their waterfronts to stage dazzling displays on special occasions.

Fireworks are magnified by proximity to water. One highlight of the annual global coverage of New Year’s Eve is the Sydney Harbour display in Australia. Dozens of boats position themselves for the ideal view of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, the two linchpins of the show. To be aboard one of these vessels doesn’t come cheap, and you must book months in advance, but to see the water around you shimmer with liquid color as the sky ignites above you is a true bucket-list experience.

As New Year’s Eve advances through the time zones, other cities have also become fixtures in the global TV coverage. Singapore, for instance, makes use of the futuristic architecture around Marina Bay during a 30-minute fireworks extravaganza. Dubai never misses an opportunity to show itself off to the world, and New Year’s Eve proves no exception. Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, is the focal point, with several dedicated viewing areas in and around Burj Park. Some are free; some are ticketed. Dubai also stages significant displays to celebrate Eid, the date of which varies from year to year.

PHOTO: © MELINDA NAGY | DREAMSTIME.

Moving into Europe, New Year’s Eve extravaganzas tend to showcase iconic tourist attractions. In Athens the fireworks highlight the Acropolis and the magnificent Parthenon. The heart of the city’s festivities is traditionally Syntagma Square, beside the Greek Parliament.

In Paris the Arc de Triomphe is the centerpiece of the New Year’s Eve display, reserving the Eiffel Tower for the other great annual celebration, Bastille Day on July 14. For connoisseurs, that’s the show to catch, and it can be enjoyed from Champ de Mars or from a dinner cruise on the River Seine.

PHOTO: © PEIWEN QIN | DREAMSTIME

Across the English Channel, big New Year’s Eve displays take place in London (centered on the London Eye beside the River Thames), attracting 100,000 people; and Edinburgh, where the occasion is known as Hogmanay. Sadly, in Edinburgh the Scottish weather sometimes has a say. The event has been canceled due to high winds three times in the past 20 years, most recently in 2024/2025.

Crossing the Atlantic, the famous ball drop in New York’s Times Square is, of course, the star attraction, with the main fireworks display reserved for Central Park. For Independence Day on July 4, the center of gravity switches to the U.S. capital and the spectacular annual display on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., though other cities — notably Philadelphia, Boston (in conjunction with the Boston Pops orchestra), and San Diego all put on memorable shows. San Diego’s 2012 display is best forgotten: A technical glitch led to all of the fireworks exploding within seconds.

In South America the New Year’s Eve display on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach attracts around 2 million people, most dressed in white to symbolize peace and prosperity for the coming year. While Rio undoubtedly boasts one of the best parties of the global New Year’s Eve cycle, for fireworks aficionados, the continent’s premier display bursts over Valparaíso, Chile. Pyrotechnics light up the harbor area for around 30 minutes.

Amazing displays are not just a fixture of the turn of the year or national independence celebrations. Around the world, year-round, there are plenty of other notable occasions marked with fireworks.

In Tokyo on the last Saturday of July, the fireworks themselves are celebrated. The Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival, first held in the 18th century, takes place above the Sumida River in Asakusa District. Rather than being a single display, it’s actually a tournament, with various companies competing to outdo each other over the course of 90 noisy, spectacular minutes, starting at 7 p.m.

In the United Kingdom the big fireworks occasion is Nov. 5, also known as Bonfire Night. The event marks the ill-fated attempt by Guy Fawkes to blow up the House of Lords in 1605. Almost every city, town and village stages its own event, usually featuring the burning of an effigy of Guy Fawkes atop a bonfire, followed by fireworks. Some displays are held the weekend before or after Nov. 5, and others are held on every night in between. For around a week, fireworks echo the length and breadth of Great Britain.

In Spain celebrations are almost year-round. Every locality has its own particular fiestas, marking saints’ days or historical events. The city of Valencia celebrates Saint Joseph each March in an event known as Las Fallas, culminating with La Cremà, the nighttime burning of satirical sculptures in every neighborhood. Inevitably there are fireworks but also a daylight display known as La Mascletà. Held at lunchtime in the plaza outside City Hall every day March 1–19, this ear-splitting show utilizes thousands of firecrackers, rhythmically pummeling the city with the loudest sounds you’ll hear outside a war zone.

When we lived in the Spanish coastal town of Javea, we always looked forward to the fiesta celebrating Saint John, held each June. The highlight was La Nit dels Focs (Night of Fire), which begins with a fire run — people literally jumping through bonfires — and ends with sinister-looking men in protective suits roaming the streets showering passersby with fireworks. It’s terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure.

Fireworks, after all, are made with gunpowder. That substance is responsible for war and destruction. But in keeping with our complex nature as humans, it is also the key ingredient for some of our greatest celebrations.