Edinburgh is gearing up for three days of Hogmanay celebrations including the Street Party on Princes Street which is expected to attract up to 80,000 revellers on Saturday night.

Mark Ronson, Friendly Fires and The Vaccines all feature on the line up for the Street Party.

The City of Edinburgh Council have announced that there will be free busses within Edinburgh for all out enjoying the Hogmanay festivities on the 31st and Citylink will operate busses from Edinburgh to Glasgow, Stirling, Perth and Dundee in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Many nightclubs in the city will also be open until 5am on Sunday morning.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay will also be streamed live online for free for the first time.

Organisers hope that people from around the world will register for one of the 20,000 limited spaces and tune in to watch the live one-hour programme.

Pete Irvine, Creative Director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, said, ”This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Edinburgh’s Hogmanay – the biggest and best New Year’s Party in the world.

If you can’t make it to Edinburgh this year, log on and join 80,000 friends as we party the night away – and make your plans to come next year.”

The New Year celebrations will continue on the Sunday 1 January with the ‘Loony Dook’ in which hundreds of people in fancy dress will take the plunge into the Firth of Forth at South Queensferry at 11am.

(Lloyd Smith)

Some of the events organised to celebrate the beginning of 2012 have already sold out.

There are no tickets left for the ‘Concert in the Gardens’ which will feature performances from Primal Scream and Bombay Bicycle Club in Princes Street gardens or for the ‘Candlelit Concert in St Giles’ Cathedral’, both taking place on Saturday evening.

There are still tickets available for the Street Party.

In previous years, high winds and stormy weather have forced the last minute cancellation some of the Hogmanay events but although this year’s weather looks wet, no severe weather is expected.