In most cases, people simply visit a single Shinto shrine just once at around midnight, but a type of ninen mairi also exists in which the person visits the shrine once on New Year's Eve and returns home temporarily, then visits the shrine again once New Year's Day dawns.
単純に深夜零時頃一回一箇所の神社にお参りする場合が多いが、除夜に一度参拝して一旦家に帰り、元旦になって再び参拝するという形式をとることも有る。