The time of 500-strong Champagne toasts, table-creaking feasts, whooped ‘SELAMAT TAHUN BARUs’, and DJs cranking their sets from ambient to fever-pitch is almost upon us. Yes, it’s almost New Year’s Eve. While half the planet shivers their salutations into stuttering fireplaces, the island of gods will be running its typical bintang-fueled affair with smudgy sunsets, delirious dancers, and the sort of fireworks that’ll keep even the most reserved of introverts up all night, being firmly the order of the day. To make sure you avoid the occasional clanger, however, check out this roundup of some of swankier digs that’ll leave you wanting to count down to the NYE countdown.
First, there are the obvious haunts. Cocoon, Ku De Ta and Potato Head always pull in the international crowd with their reputation for big name DJs and young, sexy scenesters. Perhaps the pick of the lot this year is Cocoon, however. Just down the road from Double Six, it’s encouraging partygoers to go wild in both the chaotic and the safari-themed senses. Be wary, however, some of these clubs have gained a bit of reputation when it comes to overbooking.
Keeping things manic offshore, Drunken Monkeyz, will be popping endless rounds of bubbly on its boats whilst letting boozers stop for a sobering swim at Serangan between 1-7pm. If you prefer your New Year Eve fun on terra firma, however, Sofitel’s Anggun-accompanied five-course dinner leads up to a massive after party on Nikki Beach. Though even that pales in comparison to the Prohibition Party, where time will be wound back to the 1920s so that palookas, saps, flappers and rag-a-muffins can all party on down in a location that shall remain secret until Alila Moments discloses it.
Thankfully, we do know where W is, and on NYE it’s hosting ELI & FUR, the female DJ duo hailing from London with their debut track ‘You’re So High’. But if all that sounds a tad too much like bule territory, join the ranks of locals amassing at Puputan Badung Square for the annual prayers, parade, carnival, countdown and fireworks. Located by Pasar Badung, families should be aware that it can get super-crowded as everybody converges on the Catur Muka statue.
Meanwhile, if you fancy yourself part of the luxe crowd, set up base with the others at Nusa Dua’s St Regis, where a gala dinner in the Astor ballroom and fireworks on Cloud Nine terrace are the main draws. And if you’re one of Ubud’s motley crowd of new-agers, hipsters, or yoga-heads, you will most likely be making a beeline for either Canggu where Old Man’s is cooking up a treat with Aray Daulay and two local DJs, or set up camp at The Mansion, which, with its poolside DJ, fire-dancers, giant gamelan, piping-hot babi guling and fireworks, is very much Gianyar’s answer to what promises to be a very congested Seminyak.
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