Reykjavik on New Year's Eve is one of the world's great urban fireworks experiences — notable because the fireworks are entirely citizen-led. Icelanders spend the equivalent of millions of euros on personal fireworks purchased from petrol stations and hardware stores, and at midnight the entire city ignites simultaneously from every rooftop, garden, and street corner. The sky over the harbour fills with competing fireworks from thousands of locations at once — no central display, no choreography, just the entire population launching rockets in every direction. It's chaos. It's spectacular.
Hallgrímskirkja church hill is the best vantage point. The bonfire celebrations earlier in the evening at community gathering spots are a warm-up worth attending. Dress for extreme cold.