Venue
Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, Manhattan, New York, NY, United States
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Times Square New Year's Eve Ball Drop guide
Counting down beneath One Times Square.
In short
The Ball Drop on Thursday 31 December 2026 suits people who want to be in the crowd for New York's most famous countdown. Expect long hours standing in packed streets before the ball descends and confetti falls at midnight. The Times Square Alliance and the NYPD confirm closure times each December, so check them before you go.
On the last night of the year, a crystal ball on the roof of One Times Square is lowered down its pole in the final minute before midnight, while the crowd packed into the streets below counts aloud. When it lands, confetti pours from the surrounding rooftops and New York begins the new year.
It began more than a century ago as a publicity idea for a newspaper and grew into the country's shared clock. Television made it national: Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve has carried the moment from the square since 1971, and much of the country counts down with it.
Being there in person is a different thing from watching it at home. It means hours shoulder to shoulder with strangers, live music between the neon facades, and a burst of noise at midnight that you feel through the pavement.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Where: New York, United States
Venue: One Times Square
Held: Every year
Type of event: Party Events, Live Events, Cultural Events
Currency: US dollar ($ USD)
Time zone: Eastern Time, UTC−5; UTC−4 from March to November
Language: English; Spanish widely spoken
Map
Close to the venue
- Times Square Attraction · 190 m
- Empire State Building Attraction · 890 m
- The High Line Attraction · 1.8 km
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art Attraction · 3.2 km
- The Plaza Hotel · 1.4 km
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Items refused at police checkpoints
Every bag is searched on the way in. Backpacks and large bags are refused outright, along with umbrellas, lawn or folding chairs, picnic blankets, big coolers, drones and weapons. Alcohol is confiscated as well: drinking in public is illegal in New York City, and officers enforce it on the night. Carry what fits in your coat pockets or a small bag, and expect the line at the checkpoint to move slowly.
No toilets or food vendors in the viewing pens
There are no portable toilets in Times Square during the celebration and no licensed food or drink vendors. Restaurants nearby may be open, but stepping out of your viewing area to eat means you cannot get back to your spot. Have a proper meal before you go in, carry snacks and water, and go easy on coffee and alcohol beforehand, since both dehydrate you. Sidewalks and emergency lanes are off limits, so stay inside the pen you are directed to.
Warm, waterproof layers for a long wait
Temperatures can drop below freezing and you will barely move for hours. Wear several layers, a warm hat and an outer shell that keeps out wind and sheds rain. Since umbrellas are banned, a light plastic poncho is the obvious stand-in. Thick socks and comfortable, broken-in boots matter more than anything you want to be photographed in. Hand warmers tucked inside gloves help a great deal during the long wait after dark.
Phone alerts and accessible viewing areas
Text NEWYEARSEVE to 692692 to join NYC Notify, and sign up at TSqFlash.org for the Times Square Alliance's own alerts, so closures and safety updates reach you on the day. The designated disability viewing area tends to reach capacity; questions go to info@timessquarenyc.org. For anyone watching remotely, the Alliance runs a stream with open captions and ASL interpretation.
What happens on the day
- 04:00
Seventh Avenue closes
Traffic is cut beside the square.
- About 11:00
Broadway and Seventh close
Both are shut across a long run of Midtown.
- 15:00
Pens open
Anyone who leaves later for food gives up their place.
- About 16:00
Flanking avenues close
Police close them to cars and people; crossings only at designated streets.
- Just before 18:00
The ball goes up
Hoisted to the top of its pole; musicians take turns on the Countdown Stage through the night.
- 23:59
The ball drops
- Midnight
Confetti
About 100 volunteers on eight rooftops release at least 3,000 pounds of confetti.
Arriving early to get into a viewing pen
Standing in the street costs nothing. There are no tickets for the outdoor celebration, and space in the viewing pens goes to whoever turns up first. The real price is time. Pens officially open at 3pm, people start drifting in earlier in the afternoon, and anyone who wanders off later for food gives up their place. Treat the evening as a long shift on your feet and build the rest of the day around it.
The history of the Times Square ball drop
The ball exists because of a ban. Adolph Ochs, owner of The New York Times, celebrated his paper's new tower with fireworks from 1904. When the city stopped fireworks over crowds, the paper's chief electrician proposed copying the time ball that topped the Western Union Telegraph Building. Its first descent welcomed 1908. That ball was iron and wood, 5 feet wide, and glowed with 100 incandescent bulbs.
Only two years have gone without it. In 1942 and 1943 wartime blackouts darkened the square and the ball stayed put. The newspaper moved out of the tower in 1913 yet kept organising the drop, and the building it left behind is the one still called One Times Square, a narrow wedge between Broadway and Seventh Avenue.
What you watch today is the seventh ball. Named the Constellation Ball, it made its debut for the countdown into 2026 and replaced the version used since 2008. Its surface is covered in 5,280 circular Waterford Crystal panels of three different sizes, and the lights inside respond to sound, so the ball pulses with the music from the stage below. Midnight still belongs to the crowd, though. Strangers kiss, hug and sing, and the confetti keeps falling long after the numbers on the tower roll over.
Getting there
From JFK
AirTrain to Jamaica, then the LIRR to Penn Station in about 20 to 25 minutes, or the E subway in 50 to 60. A taxi to Manhattan is a flat $70.
From LaGuardia
No rail link; the free Q70 LaGuardia Link bus meets the subway at Jackson Heights and Woodside.
From Newark
NJ Transit rail, about half an hour to Penn Station.
On the night
Avoid the 42nd Street station, whose 42nd Street entrances close around 10am. The 49th Street (N, R, W) and 50th Street (1) stops are bypassed from about noon. Ride to a station a few blocks away, walk up 6th or 8th Avenue and join the pens at 45th, 49th, 52nd or 56th Street.
Going home
Walk several blocks away before looking for a train.
Where to stay during the festival
Once the closures are in place the two central avenues cannot be crossed, so choose a hotel on the side of the square you plan to use: east-side viewers walk in from the avenue one block east, west-side viewers from one block west.
Ticketed parties inside hotels and restaurants overlooking the ball are booked directly with the venue. Beware of resellers' multi-venue "all access" passes, some of which have been counterfeit.
Weather and what to pack
Late December in New York is cold. Central Park averages a daytime high of about 7°C (44°F) and a low around 1°C (34°F) in December, and the hours before midnight are often near or below freezing, with the chance of rain or snow. Standing still for nine hours makes it feel colder.
Worth packing
- Thermal layers, a hat, gloves and warm boots
- Hand warmers
- Snacks and a little water (there are no toilets in the pens)
- A fully charged phone and a portable battery
Car hire in New York
Airport transfer to Times Square New Year's Eve Ball Drop
Met at arrivals at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and driven door to door to One Times Square.
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) → One Times Square
- 29 km · 35 min
Restaurants and food in United States
Places to eat in United States before or after the celebrations.
Joe's Stone Crab
11 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139, United States
Cuisine:SeafoodAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Bar
Alinea
1723 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
Cuisine:ModernistAmerican
- Dine-in
- Counter seating
Franklin Barbecue
900 East 11th Street, Austin, TX 78702, United States
Cuisine:Texas barbecueAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Commander's Palace
1403 Washington Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
Cuisine:CreoleNew Orleans
- Dine-in
Katz's Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002, United States
Cuisine:Jewish deliAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Counter seating
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
No. The outdoor celebration is free and works on a first come, first served basis. You only pay if you choose a private party inside one of the hotels or restaurants overlooking the square, and those are sold by each venue.
Yes. The ball is in view along Broadway between 43rd and 50th Streets and along Seventh Avenue as far north as 59th Street. The sound system is set up at the Bowtie, the point where Broadway and Seventh Avenue cross.
The descent is synchronised to a time signal from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, received by satellite. It begins at 11:59:00pm Eastern Time and comes to rest at exactly midnight.
The current Constellation Ball weighs more than 12,300 pounds and measures 12.5 feet across. The original of 1907 weighed 700 pounds.
Yes. Since November 2025 the public can reach the ball through a new observation deck at One Times Square, part of a renovation that also added a museum. The previous ball, used from 2008, was moved into that museum.
Add it to the Times Square Alliance's Wishing Wall, either in person or online. The wishes become part of the confetti that falls over the crowd at midnight.
Yes. The Times Square Alliance runs a free, commercial-free webcast of about six and a half hours on TimesSquareNYC.org, with performances and the drop itself. Some musical sets are exclusive to particular livestreams.
Ryan Seacrest, who has hosted the ABC show on his own for more than a decade after years alongside Dick Clark. ABC has said the coming broadcast will also stream on Disney+.
Occasionally. On 3 and 4 July 2026 it was lowered eight times, once for midnight in each US time zone, for the US Semiquincentennial. It has also been used for one-off promotions.
Find the nearest police officer first. On New Year's Eve only, the NYPD Times Square sub-station answers on (212) 239-9803 and Times Square Alliance Dispatch on (212) 452-5218.
What's included
The MTA adds service on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, C, D, L, N, Q, R and S lines. Check 511 or mta.info on the day for changes before you travel.
Cancellations & changes
Yes. Panels are swapped for new designs, and the 2026 set takes its themes from the Declaration of Independence. A paid Premium Ball Experience lets guests buy outgoing panels and help fit the next year's crystals.