Vivid Sydney 2023Credit: Destination NSW
Views of harbour lights installations on marine vessels moving across Sydney Harbour during Vivid Sydney 2023.
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Every year Vivid Sydney, the Southern Hemisphere’s leading multi-artform festival, transforms Sydney into a vibrant hub of creativity, innovation and community connection.
Over 23 nights, light installations, music, ideas and food inspire global audiences and encourage cultural exchange across the Harbour City. This year the festival theme of ‘Humanity’ will spark connection, wonder and reflection.
If you haven’t visited Vivid Sydney before (or need a refresher), read on. Discover the best vantage points to see the Light Walk, how to score the best tickets and where to savour the most delicious food and drinks. Find everything you need to know below.
Sydney lights up at 6pm every night
Lights On happens each night at 6pm. This is when the festival’s light installations and projections spring to life across the Vivid Sydney Light Walk from Circular Quay, across the CBD to the Goods Line.
The Vivid Sydney Light Walk
The Vivid Sydney Light Walk is an 8km stretch dotted with all the festival’s Light installations and projections. It runs from Circular Quay, around The Rocks, through Walsh Bay, Barangaroo, Darling Harbour and Tumbalong Park, all the way to The Goods Line.
Be sure to wear some comfortable shoes and make sure you pack your camera – or make space on your phone to capture some stunning shots. Read our photography tips from Australia’s leading landscape photographer Daniel Tran so you can take some pictures that really stand out.
Top tip: take your time to explore the Light Walk over 2-3 nights!
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Couple enjoying the Barerarerungar installation at The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Rocks during Vivid 2023. Artist: Maree Clarke Barerarerungar, meaning ‘Country’ in the Kulin Nation language of Boonwurrung, draws from the artist’s three decades of reclaiming and resurfacing south-east First Nations art and cultural practices. This work evokes Maree Clarke’s necklaces made with river reeds, a symbol of safe travel and friendship.
#feelnewsydney #vividsydney
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Couple enjoying the Barerarerungar installation at The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Rocks during Vivid 2023. Artist: Maree Clarke Barerarerungar, meaning ‘Country’ in the Kulin Nation language of Boonwurrung, draws from the artist’s three decades of reclaiming and resurfacing south-east First Nations art and cultural practices. This work evokes Maree Clarke’s necklaces made with river reeds, a symbol of safe travel and friendship.
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Views of Harbour Lights installations over Sydney Harbour during Vivid Sydney 2023, as seen from Quay West , Sydney.
#feelnewsydney #vividsydney
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Views of Harbour Lights installations over Sydney Harbour during Vivid Sydney 2023, as seen from Quay West , Sydney.
Vivid Sydney is so much more than a light festival
Let music move you
The Vivid Music program offers a diverse range of exclusive concerts, free gigs and a late-night Supper Club. There’s something to get everyone moving.
Vivid Sydney also hosts a whole range of free live music events for all ages and tastes at Tumbalong Nights at the Tumbalong Park Stage at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour. Here, catch a diverse range of acts like Budjerah, Mallrat, grentperez, 3%, Club Broadway and Vivid Kids at Tumbalong. Plus, you can also step into nearby immersive installation Neolithic.
Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House and Vivid Sydney at Carriageworks are a great place to start if you’re looking for global and local music icons. With multiple venues, there is always someone incredible to see, plus you when taking in a Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House show you can also enjoy the stunning projections on the Sydney Opera House sails.
This year, Vivid Sydney takes up residence in a new home for cutting-edge music at the Machine Hall Precinct. This reimagined 100-year-old substation will come alive with the best boundary-pushing music, from around the world and around the corner like Deerhoof, Jen Cohler and Ngulmiya.
Plus, every Thursday and Friday of the festival, Mary’s Underground is transformed into Vivid Sydney Supper Club. A hub of late-night cabaret, curators Rhys Nicholson and Georgia Mooney have a jam-packed program of comedy, music and left-of-field variety nights up their sleeve.
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Vivid Sydney Supper Club at Mary's Underground, Circular Quay for Vivid Music during Vivid Sydney 2023
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Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Vivid Sydney Supper Club at Mary's Underground, Circular Quay for Vivid Music during Vivid Sydney 2023
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Crowds at Tumbalong Nights at Darling Harbour, Vivid Sydney 2023.
#feelnewsydney #vividsydney
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Crowds at Tumbalong Nights at Darling Harbour, Vivid Sydney 2023.
Leave with a fresh perspective
Vivid Sydney’s Ideas program is a forum for inspiration. An opportunity to challenge and reshape how we think about the world and our place in it.
Beyond just talks, we explore this year’s theme of humanity through live performances, walking tours, panel discussions, immersive dance pieces and other thought-provoking experiences. Spark your empathy, intellect and imagination with program highlights like Shifting Perspectives, A THOUSAND WAYS: An Encounter, Golden Age of Humanity, Window Dressing and After The Fact.
Come and change your mind, learn something new and feel more connected to one another.
Hungry for more
Vivid Food offers a smorgasbord of dining options. From high-end dining with a spectacular view at Vivid Residence, to the best of the world’s flame-cooked street food at Fire Kitchen, there’s something for all tastes and budgets. Plus, this year you can dine and make a difference with Plates with Purpose – A Taste of Ukraine and Our Shared Humanity.
This year Sydney Place and Bulletin Place laneways in the CBD will be transformed into a pedestrianised night market for Vivid Sydney. Head to VividPlace Food Trail for the best of the globe, open late.
In addition to the culinary delights the Vivid Food program has to offer, Sydney is packed with incredible bars and restaurants for quick bites or a full degustation. The city gets very busy during Vivid Sydney, so we recommend making a reservation of you’re planning a sit-down dinner.
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Couple enjoying food and drinks at Aster Bar at the InterContinental Sydney during Vivid Sydney 2023
#feelnewsydney #vividsydney
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Couple enjoying food and drinks at Aster Bar at the InterContinental Sydney during Vivid Sydney 2023
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Crowds at Sydney Town Hall for Vivid Ideas during Vivid Sydney 2023
#feelnewsydney #vividsydney
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Crowds at Sydney Town Hall for Vivid Ideas during Vivid Sydney 2023
Getting here and home again
Our advice is: leave the car at home. There is limited parking and several road closures in the CBD, so opt for public transport instead. You can take the train or bus to Wynyard, Town Hall, or Martin Place to be close to the action, or catch a ferry into Circular Quay. It’s a great way to see the lights from the water!
There are also accessibility facilities and services available to Vivid Sydney visitors who need them, such as accessible drop-off and pick-up points, and bookable accessible mini-buses.
Vivid Sydney is for the whole family
Vivid Sydney is for everyone – including the little ones! If you’re visiting with children, we recommend getting here early to beat the crowds, and consider visiting earlier in the week as the Light Walk can get very busy on the weekends.
There are also free ID wristbands available at Vivid Sydney Information Booths, which are helpful should your child get lost. You can also download a printable map of Vivid Sydney to keep to hand so you can find your closest information point or plan a meetings point should your group get split up.
Stay up to date
Make sure you’re the first to know about events, tickets and all things Vivid Sydney by signing up to MyVivid. You can even let us know your preferences, so you hear about the events we think you’ll love.
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Friends explore Dandelion, Vivid Sydney 2023. Make a wish, take a deep breath and come watch Dandelion blow - either from afar or head inside! This 4,000kg steel recreation of the flowerâs wispy petals is a testament to the surprising strength of its namesake, continually moving in a dazzling dance of wind and light.
#feelnewsydney #vividsydney
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Friends explore Dandelion, Vivid Sydney 2023. Make a wish, take a deep breath and come watch Dandelion blow - either from afar or head inside! This 4,000kg steel recreation of the flowerâs wispy petals is a testament to the surprising strength of its namesake, continually moving in a dazzling dance of wind and light.
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Family explores the Swarm light installation at Vivid Sydney 2023. Swarm is inspired by the mathematical precision of flocks of birds flying or schools of fish swimming in unison. Using flickering suspended LED tubes frozen in a spiral formation, this natural phenomenon repeated across our skies and seas is rendered into a thing of abstract beauty.
#feelnewsydney #vividsydney
Vivid Sydney 2023 Credit: Destination NSW
Family explores the Swarm light installation at Vivid Sydney 2023. Swarm is inspired by the mathematical precision of flocks of birds flying or schools of fish swimming in unison. Using flickering suspended LED tubes frozen in a spiral formation, this natural phenomenon repeated across our skies and seas is rendered into a thing of abstract beauty.
More Inspirational Stories
The Fall Guy Credit: Universal & UPI Media
The Fall Guy in Sydney with a spectacular Glebe Island Silo Stunt
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Action-comedy film The Fall Guy explodes onto Australian screens on 24 April, and along with Hollywood superstars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, Sydney also plays a starring role. But the city isn’t just a backdrop to many of the action-packed scenes in the film, it also offers real-life action experiences to get your heart pumping. Here’s our guide to high-octane experiences in Sydney.
On-the-water adrenaline
Just like Ryan Gosling blasting around Sydney Harbour in a high-speed boat chase, you too can feel the wind in your hair, the sea spray on your face and your heart in your mouth on an Oz Jet Boating experience. These bright red, shark-faced jetboats fish-tail, spin and slide under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, past Dawes Point Park (where we meet Jean Claude the kelpie in the film) and the iconic Sydney Opera House, leaving you breathless and somewhat damp. Turn it down a notch with a two-, three- or five-day course from EastSail, with classes on the calm shores of Rushcutters Bay, or go five-star by hiring your very own superyacht from the fleet at Sydney Harbour Luxe Charters – Ghost II was featured in the film.
Get locked in an escape room
A bolted door, a countdown clock and a series of fiendish puzzles – outsmart the bad guys and challenge your friends in one of Sydney’s best escape rooms. Award-winning The Cipher Room, with locations in Newtown and St Peters, offers immersive, expertly designed rooms. Choose from a film noir-style hotel, a mysterious abandoned toy shop or a dystopian French bunker. Entermission Sydney has virtual-reality rooms, with themes like Alice in Wonderland, a pirate ship or space station. While not strictly an escape room, the one-of-a-kind Hijinx Hotel is a fun escape-like challenge set inside a quirky 15-room hotel.
Hickson Road Reserve, Dawes Point Credit: Destination NSW
Friends walking along Sydney Harbour in the morning.
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Hickson Road Reserve, Dawes Point Credit: Destination NSW
Friends walking along Sydney Harbour in the morning.
Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Experience the incredible speed of the red shark boats as they blast across Sydney harbour at high speed with Oz Jet Boating.
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Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Experience the incredible speed of the red shark boats as they blast across Sydney harbour at high speed with Oz Jet Boating.
Find your need for speed
It’s not an action movie without a car chase, and while you can’t speed through the CBD streets like Ryan Gosling and Jean Claude, you can still challenge your friends to race via go kart at Hyper Karting Moore Park. At the 410-metre indoor track, the electric cars offer plenty of exhilarating straights and corners, with a high-speed function to help you overtake your mates. True petrol heads should make a pitstop at Luddenham Raceway in southwest Sydney, where the go karts are fuelled and the 600m outdoor pro circuit offers 12 high-speed corners and even nighttime drives. Want to do the real thing? Trackschool has half-day passenger or driving experiences in a Porsche 911 Carrera also at the raceway.
Have an adventure up high
A high-stakes, sky-high chopper scene is an action flick essential; recreate the experience (minus the stress) on a flight with Sydney HeliTours. The 20- or 30-minute tours take in jaw-dropping views of harbour icons like the Sydney Opera House, Taronga Zoo, Bondi Beach and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Or live out your Hollywood star dreams onboard the luxury Sydney Seaplanes. If free-falling from the sky like Ryan Gosling does jumping from a multi-story building is the heart race you crave, get the thrills without the spills at iFly Downunder: fully accessible, all-ages indoor skydiving that will make you feel like a superhero. Or take a day trip to the Blue Mountains for a ride on Scenic World’s 270m-high glass-cased Beyond Skyway for that soaring feeling while safely enclosed in a cable car.
Luddenham Raceway, Luddenham Credit: Destination NSW
Track Day at Luddenham Raceway Motorsport Park, Luddenham.
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Luddenham Raceway, Luddenham Credit: Destination NSW
Track Day at Luddenham Raceway Motorsport Park, Luddenham.
Sydney Seaplanes, Rose Bay Credit: Destination NSW
Couple ready to enjoy a Sydney Seaplanes flight from Rose Bay, Sydney.
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Sydney Seaplanes, Rose Bay Credit: Destination NSW
Couple ready to enjoy a Sydney Seaplanes flight from Rose Bay, Sydney.
Scale walls and cliffs
Action heroes need to be agile and spider-like; flex your skills scaling rock walls at one of Sydney’s top indoor rock-climbing centres. Climb Fit in St Leonards has beginner and high-tech climbs using augmented reality, while Ledge is a smaller centre in Camperdown perfect for beginners, and BlocHaus in Marrickville focuses solely on bouldering. If you prefer to climb surrounded by waterfalls and forests, make the extra leap to the Blue Mountains, and challenge yourself on an abseil or rock-climb under the expert guidance of the Blue Mountains Adventure Company.
Spots to refuel
After all that adventuring, you’re going to need a spot to refuel and cheers to a big day. Make it a meal with a view at Aster Bar on top of the InterContinental Sydney – with uninterrupted views of the harbour. The rooftop bar featured in the film is the Ivy – which is a local favourite for big nights out. Partake in Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s love for spicy margaritas at Centro 86, a new underground tequila bar in the CBD, or taste award-winning cocktails at Dean and Nancy on 22. Finish up with a feast at one of the restaurants located around Jones Bay Wharf (you’ll spot this area in the film as Ryan Gosling hides on his boat from the bad guys) or snack in the late-night dining havens in Chinatown: try Japanese izakaya Nakano Darling, xiao long bao from Nanjing Dumpling or Mamak’s legendary roti.
Rest your head
Even heroes need their beauty sleep. Rest up like an A-lister at the Kimpton Margot, a recently opened CBD hotel with Art Deco touches, and featured in the movie (ask Kevin for the fruit plate). Compact yet comfortable, the Little National Hotel is located in the heart of the city near Wynyard (also a major filming locale for The Fall Guy). And for a boutique hotel suitable for everyone from film stars to stunt crew, stay in the Ace Hotel in Surry Hills, with unique in-room features like guitars, record players and locally made custom robes.
Sydney Adventure Tours, Katoomba Credit: Destination NSW
Sydney Adventure Tours offers private tours to the Blue Mountains. With an experienced tour guide, take a bushwalk through nature and experience the rainforests.
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Sydney Adventure Tours, Katoomba Credit: Destination NSW
Sydney Adventure Tours offers private tours to the Blue Mountains. With an experienced tour guide, take a bushwalk through nature and experience the rainforests.
Little National Hotel, Sydney Credit: Little National Hotel
The rooftop lounge at the Little National, in Wynyard in Sydney.
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Little National Hotel, Sydney Credit: Little National Hotel
The rooftop lounge at the Little National, in Wynyard in Sydney.