Casa Dorada Resort & Spa has a history of fun, festive New Year’s Eve parties, with themes that range from circuses to barefoot formals. This year, the beachfront luxury resort is hosting an elegant White Party, with a deluxe buffet at the onsite 12 Tribes Restaurant, and front row seats for the fireworks show over Médano Beach.

On most holidays or special occasions, notable parties and to-dos can be found throughout Los Cabos, from parades and public fiestas in the downtown areas of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, to dinners and dancing at resort based restaurants in the tourist corridor that connects the cape cities.

On New Year’s Eve, however, the best events typically take place in a central location: Playa El Médano in Cabo San Lucas. The beach is best known for its safe swimming and a social scene centered at lively cantinas like Mango Deck, but the sandy two-mile stretch also provides the best seats for an annual fireworks show that rings in the New Year in spectacular fashion.

Thus, it’s no surprise that Playa El Médano takes center stage again this year, with the three most highly anticipated New Year’s Eve bashes all hosted by beachside resorts or restaurants.

Spring Break party mecca Mango Deck also throws some of the city’s best New Year’s Eve bashes. For 2016, the lively bar and restaurant is featuring a Rock Through the Ages theme, with live rock n’ roll performers and a delicious dinner menu.

Casa Dora Resort & Spa New Year’s Eve White Party

Nikki Beach’s annual White Party was one of the social events of the Spring season in Los Cabos, but since Hurricane Odile hastened the local demise of the hip, ME Cabo Resort based hangout, residents and discerning visitors alike have been hard pressed to find suitable occasions to break out their all-white finery. Beachfront luxury lodging Casa Dorada is remedying that situation, adding an elegant white party to a list of themed New Year’s Eve soirées that also includes barefoot formals and carnivalesque costumed affairs. Chef Francisco Aguirre’s deluxe buffet at acclaimed onsite restaurant 12 Tribes–which will include soup, salad, pasta, seafood and charcoal grill stations–may pose some danger to white linen attire, but the hearty fare and abundance of bubbly Champagne, plus live music from bands La Base and La Tribu, should content the crowd until the fireworks start. To find out more about this one-time only event, go to https://www.casadorada.com/es.html.

Rock Through The Ages New Year’s Eve at Mango Deck

Mango Deck is one of the most iconic cantinas in Cabo San Lucas–in terms of name recognition and a reputation for decadent fun, only Cabo Wabo and El Squid Roe come close–and the palapa-topped, party hearty mecca is pulling out all the stops for its New Year’s Eve celebration. The pre-fireworks showpiece is an entertaining and amusing Rock Through the Ages show, with a delicious four-course dinner thrown in for good measure.  Guests will enjoy caprese topped bruschetta, creamy clam chowder, an entrée of prime cut filet mignon, and a sugary meringue-based Pavlova as a meal capper, plus a front row seat for the post-prandial fireworks display. For additional information, call (624) 144-4919.

Breathless, a new adults-only, all-inclusive at the juncture of the Cabo San Lucas Marina and Médano Beach, is ringing in the New Year with high-energy hip hop and house music from guest DJ Charlotte Devaney.

New Year’s Eve 2015 at Breathless Cabo San Lucas Resort & Spa

Breathless Cabo San Lucas has a reputation for putting on great events, which is rather remarkable when you consider they’ve only been open for about a week now. Although the new adults-only, all-inclusive officially opened on December 15, 2015, it has already put its privileged setting–at the juncture of the Marina and Médano Beach–to good use during guest-focused entertainments like mega dance parties,  talent contests and boutique seaside fiestas. As one might imagine, New Year’s Eve at the resort is an occasion that calls for a special gala affair. DJ Charlotte Devaney, a London born hit-maker known for her wit and high-energy house and hip hop beats,  will create the soundtrack for a night of dancing and fireworks (both literally and figuratively). Gourmet dining options and other talented performers will be on hand to help make the evening one to remember, and glow in the dark paint stations will be set up to provide a bit of local color. To learn more, visit www.breathlessresorts.com.

Variously colored underwear is optional at all events (it’s considered good fortune to have on red or green undergarments at midnight, por ejemplo, to ensure success with love or money during the coming year), and anyone interested in participating in the old Spanish tradition of eating a dozen grapes at midnight (for luck during each of the next twelve months) should probably bring their own uvas.

Otherwise, all that is required is reservations.

¡Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!