Iconic Berlin New Year's party to move to Hamburg

The ZDF New Year’s party at Brandenburger Tor is set to move to Hamburg in 2025. Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) has said the capital can no longer afford to host the event.

ZDF New Year's party moves to Hamburg

German public broadcaster ZDF has announced that it will no longer host its New Year’s party at Brandenburger Tor in Berlin. Starting this year, the event will be held in the Überseequartier in Hamburg, with a “view of the Elbe, a unique floating stage and many surprises”.

The "Willkommen 2026" show will be hosted by presenters Andrea Kiewel and Johannes B. Kerner and will be broadcast from 8.15pm on New Year’s Eve. More information about the programme will be announced in the coming weeks.

“Hamburg is Germany’s gateway to the world and a city of encounters,” Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) told ZDF, “We are excited for the ZDF New Year’s show to be broadcast from the Hansestadt on the Elbe for the first time.”

Wegner won’t fund Brandenburger Tor New Year’s party

Brandenburger Tor has long been a go-to spot for ringing in the bells in the German capital, and since the New Year 2010/2011, ZDF moderators have also hosted the televised celebration from the gate.

Back in August, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner announced that the iconic Brandenburger Tor New Year’s celebration, Germany’s biggest street party to welcome Silvester, would no longer receive funding from the local government.

“I am of the opinion that such events shouldn’t be organised at the expense of the taxpayer,” Wegner told the dpa, “At least not at times when the budget is restrictive.” The Senate did not reveal precisely how much it costs to host the party, but according to the company that organises the event, Berlin feiert Silvester (BfS) GmbH, costs reach between 500.000 and 1 million euros.

Wegner said that the city is currently discussing how the New Year will be celebrated at Brandenburger Tor this year and in the future, adding that a firework display is a possibility.