Vagabond Cruise Halloween Boat Party on Sydney HarbourCredit: Destination NSW
Get out your Halloween costume and join the ghouliest Halloween party boat on Sydney Harbour this year.
Get your pulse racing in The Rocks
Feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention as you celebrate Halloween in The Rocks, said to be Sydney’s most haunted neighbourhood. The first area in the city to be settled by Europeans, this hilly harbourside precinct has witnessed countless historic events, including plenty of macabre incidents. So it’s no surprise it transforms into a seriously spooky destination over the Halloween weekend with the annual Ghost in The Rocks festival.
Lap up the gruesome glamour of the festival as you dare to enter haunted houses like the Abandoned Hospital, the Slaughter House, the Ghost Room and the Vampire Den. Let your imagination run free as you compete for the title of the best-dressed ghoul at the Ghost Parade. Shuffle your feet to dance tunes at the post-apocalyptic Zombie Silent DJ Party. Look for clues in a hidden pop-up bar during the Murder Mystery Party, and snap up festive crafts and treats as the sun sets before exploring a haunted maze at the Two-Faced Halloween Market.
While entry to the Ghost in The Rocks festival is free, some events like the Zombie Silent DJ Party are ticketed – check the events page on the official The Rocks website for details.
Can’t make it to the silent disco? You can still party like it’s the undead apocalypse during the annual Sydney Zombie Walk through the city centre, which is held on 1 November in 2025. The Sydney Zombie Walk brings together participants of all ages in a fun, family friendly event, encouraging them to dress up in creative, zombie-inspired costumes as they take to the streets of Sydney in support of several important charities. This year, they are supporting Kids with Cancer Foundation and the Redfern Aboriginal Dance Group.
Slip on a skeleton onesie or dress up in your grisly best and join one of The Rocks Ghost Tours’ Halloween Ghost Tours for an evening that will be seared in your memory. Follow your expert guide through The Rocks’ cobblestone streets and shadowy laneways to hear nerve-tingling tales of the paranormal over two happily haunted hours.
The historic pubs of The Rocks have seen more than their fair share of unexplained phenomena, as you’ll discover on a Halloween-night Haunted Sydney Pub Tour & Cellar Visit with Lantern Ghost Tours. Pull your cape tight against the otherworldly chill as you descend into the haunted cellar of the 1845 Hero of Waterloo hotel, where sandstone cells once held kidnapped sailors and where the melancholy spirit of a former publican’s wife returns time and again. Or join Lantern’s Ghost Tour around The Rocks as your guide recounts tales of ghosts seeking revenge, mass burial pits and brutality by the harbour.
Ghost in The Rocks Credit: Destination NSW
Prepare for The Rocks to be overtaken by ghostly encounters, pulse-pounding entertainment, family-friendly fun, spooky eats, fine wines, and after-dark thrills.
Ghost in The Rocks Credit: Destination NSW
Prepare for The Rocks to be overtaken by ghostly encounters, pulse-pounding entertainment, family-friendly fun, spooky eats, fine wines, and after-dark thrills.
Set sail on a haunted harbour
While The Rocks may be the most haunted part of Sydney, there are many more spooky places to explore across the city and around Sydney Harbour.
Have a fright-fully good time cruising the harbour on Vagabond Cruises’ Halloween Boat Party, competing for best-costume prizes and dancing in a crowd of zombies, ghosts and vampires as your vessel carves through inky-black waters.
Or board a ferry headed to Manly and savour the unsettling atmosphere of Quarantine Station, a former migrant quarantine station in Sydney Harbour National Park that’s now a hotel and heritage site.
Sense the presence of restless spirits as you check into Quarantine Station’s Heritage Suite or a Terraces room in the old doctors’ and nurses’ quarters. Freshen up – or change into your costume – for a memorable Halloween Tour of this atmospheric retreat, complete with a best-dressed contest.
Bringing the kids? Quarantine Station hosts family-friendly events including a Little Ghostbusters Halloween Event for kids aged 8 to 17, a Spookyween treasure hunt, and an age-appropriate Family Spooks ghost tour for kids as young as seven years old. You can also spread the scares across Halloween weekend – or across the year – by joining one of Quarantine Station’s regularly scheduled Ghostly Encounters tours.
You can also venture to the Parramatta River side of Sydney Harbour Bridge to join the Halloween celebrations at Cockatoo Island, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed Australian Convict Site. Step off a harbour ferry from Circular Quay or Barangaroo and feel the weight of history on this imposing rocky island, which hosted a convict gaol from 1839 to 1869 before becoming a shipbuilding centre and a reformatory.
Thrill to true stories of convict escapes, shark attacks and more on Cockatoo Island’s Family Friendly After Dark Tour (suitable for kids aged seven and above). Or take an adult-only after-dark tour where the subject matter takes a more sinister twist as you learn of the island’s colourful, often brutal past.
After your spine-chilling tour, catch a late ferry back to the city centre or retreat to your stay on the island – bring family or friends for an atmospheric stay at one of Cockatoo Island’s two Federation-style Heritage Holiday Houses sleeping up to 12 guests, or cosy up at one of the restored apartments with harbour views.
Quarantine Station Ghost Tours in Manly Credit: Destination NSW
Step into the shadows of Manly’s Quarantine Station on a spine-chilling 2.5-hour Ghostly Encounters tour. Uncover the haunting stories of tragedy, untimely deaths and restless spirits that linger from over 150 years of history.
Quarantine Station Ghost Tours in Manly Credit: Destination NSW
Step into the shadows of Manly’s Quarantine Station on a spine-chilling 2.5-hour Ghostly Encounters tour. Uncover the haunting stories of tragedy, untimely deaths and restless spirits that linger from over 150 years of history.
Hunt for ghosts in Western Sydney
Follow the river beyond Cockatoo Island to partake in an evening of paranormal matters in Parramatta, the oldest inland European settlement in Australia. This Western Sydney hub dates back to 1788 and is steeped in the supernatural, as you’ll discover on Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators’ Halloween Ghost Hunt at Old Government House.
Following the lead of an experienced paranormal investigator, you’ll split up into teams and conduct all sorts of experiments in sections of the convict-built Old Government House that are usually off-limits to visitors. You’ll hold vigils with paranormal equipment or simply calm your mind and sense some of the spirits who’ve inhabited this grand country residence – the oldest surviving public building in the country.
Feel free to bring your own paranormal investigation equipment when you explore historic buildings and an old graveyard in Picton, around an hour’s drive southwest of Sydney’s city centre, on Greater Sydney Tours’ Picton Paranormal Experience. Join your psychic guide as you learn of the town’s colonial past and its long history of ghostly encounters on a Halloween to remember – and keep an eye on Greater Sydney Tours’ events page for details of its family-friendly Halloween Scavenger Hunt.
Old Government House, Parramatta Credit: Destination NSW
Site of the heritage-listed Old Government House, Parramatta.
Old Government House, Parramatta Credit: Destination NSW
Site of the heritage-listed Old Government House, Parramatta.
Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Family enjoying a visit to Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour.
Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Family enjoying a visit to Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour.
More Inspirational Stories
Inspired UnemployedCredit: Destination NSW
NSW Icon of Culture Inspired Unemployed
Australian comedy duo Matt Ford and Jack Steele, aka the Inspired Unemployed, love their hometown – beachside Kiama on the New South Wales South Coast – but also love to hang out in Sydney. The former tradies turned Instagram sensations, podcasters and TV stars share three Sydney experiences that’ll have you feeling new in the city, from a stand-up paddleboard yoga session in Manly to a unique picnic date and jet-boat thrills on the harbour.
Picnic with a difference
The first of the pair’s picks of things to do in Sydney that are beyond the everyday is an Amazing Co Mystery Picnic in the Royal Botanic Garden. This unique experience begins with you receiving an empty picnic basket and a series of clues and riddles you’ll need to solve to find gourmet goodies hidden throughout the lush gardens. Uncover the mystery and you’ll be led to a secret location for an unforgettable al fresco lunch of locally sourced produce from boutique providers across regional NSW.
“I’ve been there with my girlfriend before,” says Matt of the Royal Botanic Garden. “I love that kind of place for a date spot.” He’s also a fan of the Domain, the parkland adjoining the botanic gardens and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. “The last time I had goosebumps in Sydney was at [Australian DJ/producer] Dom Dolla’s gig in the Domain last November,” says Matt. “It’s the best spot for a gig. It’s in a park but it’s right in the city with skyscrapers around you.”
Do a hot lap of the harbour
After your picnic in the Royal Botanic Garden, the duo suggests heading over to nearby Circular Quay for a Sydney Harbour cruise with a difference – a bare-knuckle Red Shark Thrill Ride with Oz Jet Boating.
From Circular Quay’s Eastern Pontoon your jet-boat – painted a vivid red with a huge grinning shark’s mouth splashed across its bow – eases past the Sydney Opera House. Then it puts on the afterburners for a head-long sprint past Fort Denison, Rose Bay and Watsons Bay, spinning, sliding and fish-tailing its way back via the northern side of the harbour, and surging under the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Luna Park before returning to Circular Quay.
“I like screaming,” says Matt as he explains the choice of a jet-boat sightseeing tour. “I like to get scared and push myself sometimes.” Jack adds: “I love adrenaline and it’s just a good time!”
Picnic in Royal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquarie's Chair Credit: Destination NSW
Friends enjoy a picnic in Royal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquarie's Chair
Picnic in Royal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquarie's Chair Credit: Destination NSW
Friends enjoy a picnic in Royal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquarie's Chair
Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
The thrilling adventure of a Jetboat Experience with Oz Jet Boating.
Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
The thrilling adventure of a Jetboat Experience with Oz Jet Boating.
Go with the flow in Manly
For a decidedly calmer outing on Sydney Harbour, Jack and Matt recommend a stand-up paddleboard yoga session with Flow mOcean, held on the sheltered waters of the city-facing side of Manly. “My dad does yoga, so it’s in the blood,” explains Jack. “I’m pretty inflexible,” adds Matt, “so I love limbering up the hips.”
Flow mOcean can take you out onto Manly Cove for a private stand-up paddleboard yoga session at any time of the year, with scheduled public sessions held regularly in the warmer months. If you haven’t tried this form of yoga before and you suspect you might end up in the water, you can always try one of Flow mOcean’s kayak yoga classes first – from Manly Cove you’ll kayak to a secluded harbour beach for a relaxing yoga session on the sand.
Say good morning to Sydney
Sydney, according to Jack, is “the most beautiful city in the world”. “I love the beaches and how close they are to the city,” he says. “They’re drop-dead gorgeous. But what I love most about Sydney is probably the morning culture – I love that everyone wakes up at 6am. Everyone’s healthy and the vibe is high.”
For Matt, it’s all about making the most of Sydney’s dining scene while he’s in town. “I like the restaurants,” says Matt, “a little date night here and there, going out with mates. I love the cuisine, all the different types of food you can get. My personal favourite would be Bonditony’s Burger Joint in Bondi.”
“My favourite place in NSW would have to be Kiama, our home,” Jack says. “It’s where the mountains meet the sea for the first time since Sydney – it’s just gorgeous. But then we come to Sydney, and there are endless amounts of things to do that are amazing. We’ve done a lot of travelling, but I’ve never seen another city like it in my life.”
Inspired by this itinerary? Check out all three of Matt and Jack’s curated selections as a Feeling Drop package of Sydney experiences via sydney.com.
Note to editors: Feeling Drops are collections of bookable Sydney experiences curated by NSW Icons of Culture.
Flow MOcean, Manly Credit: Destination NSW
Running through your yoga moves on a paddel board with Flow MOcean, Manly
Flow MOcean, Manly Credit: Destination NSW
Running through your yoga moves on a paddel board with Flow MOcean, Manly
Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel Credit: Destination NSW
Located on the sandy shores of one of Sydney's most renowned harbour beaches, Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel invites those looking for a relaxing getaway.
Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel Credit: Destination NSW
Located on the sandy shores of one of Sydney's most renowned harbour beaches, Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel invites those looking for a relaxing getaway.