Summer, samba, beach partying: New Year's Eve on Rio's Copacabana

Dec 30, 2011, 12:06 GMT

Rio de Janeiro - Brazil's biggest New Year's Eve party is to take place on Rio de Janeiro's legendary Copacabana Beach: some 2 million people are expected there late Saturday, to greet 2012 with fireworks and hot samba rhythms in the South American summer.

Thousands of fireworks are to be let off from 11 pontoons floating in the Atlantic off Rio de Janeiro.

This year the show, which is to last 16 minutes, will have 'sustainability' as its motto, as the city gets ready to host the Rio+20 UN Earth Summit in June.

Brazil's largest city and economic powerhouse, Sao Paulo, is set to host New Year's celebrations on the Avenida Paulista, also with an expected attendance of 2 million. Giant screens have been set up on a long party stretch for people to follow the countdown to the start of 2012.

Hours earlier, the city will see the start of the traditional Saint Silvester street race in its 87th edition. Some 25,000 people are expected to run in the event this year.

Rio and Sao Paulo welcome the new year at 0200 GMT, but Brazilians get to celebrate as many as three times because the world's fifth-largest country stretches across three time zones.

The south and south-eastern regions start off the party at 0200 GMT, with the north-eastern and central western regions following an hour later and the north closing celebrations an hour after that.