TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - Dec 7, 2016) - This New Year's Eve, Cheapflights has a suggestion: Why not ring in 2017 with sand between your toes? From Rio to Dubai, epic beach parties with massive fireworks displays designed to make the most of a big sky and a mirror-like ocean await, giving you the chance to get a jump start on any ambitions for more travel and adventure in the New Year. Photographers, beach-aholics and the young at heart will all love the open space and freewheeling fun of these beachside parties.

To celebrate the New Year in spectacular style, the travel experts at Cheapflights.ca, the champions of simple travel search, have compiled a list of New Year's Eve parties around the globe, in New Year's Eve with a splash: 10 top beach parties for ringing in 2017. Way more than your basic ball drop, these celebrations are extravaganzas of light, sound and local traditions that draw crowds from near and far.

Here are five oceanside parties where you can ring in the New Year like no place else:

• Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, U.S.A. - The skies above Waikiki Beach on Oahu are illuminated with streaks of colour during the annual New Year's Eve fireworks celebration. The countdown to 2017 begins with a fireworks salute each minute starting at 11:55 p.m. from a barge just off Waikiki Beach. At the stroke of midnight, a barrage of 1,800 fireworks in fanciful shapes like palm trees, rings, strobes, sparkling fans, colourful falling leaves, brocades and willows launch into the night sky during the 10-minute presentation. The spectacle culminates with the playing of "Auld Lang Syne."
  
  
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates - In a city of superlatives that in 2014 broke a record for the largest and longest fireworks display in the world, Dubai hosts one of the most spectacular fireworks displays to be found on New Year's Eve. The most exclusive vantage point to view the fireworks is from the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab, the world's only seven-star hotel, perched on Jumeirah Beach. The hotel offers a variety of ways to ring in the New Year, including a Champagne reception in the world's tallest atrium, dinner in one of five restaurants, midnight fireworks and an after-party.
  
  
• Nassau, Bahamas - Do as the locals do and follow junkanoos, lively parades with costumed characters, floats and street performers, that ultimately lead to beach parties. Join the residents of Crooked Island and Long Cay for a potluck family day with a grill out, games and fun on Dec. 31. Many hotels, including the Stella Maris Resort Club and Atlantis Bahamas host lavish New Year's Eve parties with buffets, live music and fireworks. The revelry continues on New Year's Day and Jan. 2 with more junkanoos. The Abaco Islands host one of the most popular parades on New Year's Day, running through the historic streets of New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay. Nassau ushers in the New Year with an elaborate junkanoo along Bay Street on Jan. 2.
  
  
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Ushering in the New Year on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro is an experience akin to Carnival. Known as Réveillon, New Year's Eve celebrations in Brazil begin with placing offerings of flowers and candles in the ocean to lemanjá, the Afro-Brazilian sea goddess of fertility. After dark, revellers dance to live music at stages that populate a nearly three-mile stretch of beach. The festivities culminate with a dramatic 20-minute fireworks display.
  
  
• Bayfront Park and South Beach, Miami, Florida, U.S.A. - With temperatures on New Year's averaging around 24 degrees Celsius, Miami, Florida, is a magical place to ring in the New Year. Whether revellers choose to countdown at Bayfront Park, a 32-acre park in downtown Miami that overlooks Biscayne Bay, or on South Beach in ultra-trendy Miami Beach, each celebration offers free music and fireworks. Pitbull's New Year's Revolution 2016 is a free, four-and-a-half hour concert featuring the entertainer. For a separate entry fee, concertgoers can fuel up for midnight fireworks at the Worldwide Food and Wine Festival. At midnight, a giant neon orange drops from the nearby InterContinental Hotel. Club goers can join hotel parties hosted at South Beach hotels or hit the beach for live music, people watching and midnight fireworks at Lummus Park and Ocean Drive.
  
  

There is something timeless about experiencing a party on a beach; add in New Year's Eve fireworks, music and dancing, and you have all the ingredients of an unforgettable night. To round out the offerings, there is Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan, Thailand, Old Year's Night in Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands, the beach bar and dance scene in Goa, India and the celebrations on White Beach in Boracay, Philippines, so party-goers in every corner of the globe have options. Discover the entire list of New Year's beach bashes in Cheapflights.ca's New Year's Eve with a splash: 10 top beach parties for ringing in 2017 at www.cheapflights.ca/news/new-years-eve-beach-parties.

About Cheapflights.ca, part of the Momondo Group
Founded in 1996, Cheapflights is a leading global flight comparison and deals publishing platform dedicated to taking the complexity out of finding the best value flights through the application of innovative, intuitive technologies: Smart search. Made simple. It is now a market leader in the UK, US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand generating more than C$4 billion in global downstream revenue for its partners as it expands into numerous other territories. More than 120 million users visit its websites and apps each year, receiving more than two billion search results a month from across 900,000 routes. The 10 million strong opt-in subscribers to the Cheapflights newsletter receive the best deals from more than 120 travel businesses -- for whom it has driven more than C$80 million in revenue this year. Together, the Cheapflights platforms generate enough bookings for its partners to fill a Boeing 747 every five minutes.

In 2011, Cheapflights became part of the privately owned online travel search and inspiration network, Momondo Group.

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