London tops most people’s list of cities they simply have to spend at least one New Year’s Eve in and with good reason – the party down on the Southbank really is amazing. If you are heading here for NYE this year, be sure to get down to the Southbank early to grab the best spot before the raucous crowds arrive.
An unusually cheap night out, you can bring your own booze to the street party as long as it’s in plastic bottles and the tubes are free until 4am ensuring everyone can get home safely. Well, everyone willing to queue for an excruciatingly long time anyway!
Once the party’s over and you’ve managed to grab a few hours sleep at your hotel, no doubt you’ll be eager to get out on your bike for the first ride of 2015 and you certainly won’t be short of places to cycle either.
Two of the most popular places to go for a bike ride in the city if you’ve got kids with you or just fancy something relatively short and sweet, are Hyde Park and Richmond Park. Both are easy to get to from anywhere around the city, especially Hyde Park which is situated within central London. One nice family route for those new to the city would be to cycle from Buckingham Palace up to Hyde Park where you can stop off for a hot chocolate along the edge of the lake.
For a longer ride yet still keeping things touristy, you could cycle from your hotel to Hampton Court Palace fifteen miles outside of Central London. This is a really popular ride and the palace looks absolutely stunning on a sunny winter’s day (which of course New Year’s Day will be).
If you fancy cycling even further (you will probably want to stay off the champagne the night before for this one) why not head down to Brighton for a freezing cold New Year’s Day dip in the sea – we won’t hold it against you if you only manage your toes. It’s 60 miles from Central London to Brighton and so requires a full day to do it comfortably but Brighton is a really pretty coastal city and so makes for a great place to spend the night before catching the train (or cycling) back up to London the following day.
