Vivid Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Views of the Sydney Opera House from the Overseas Passanger Terminal during Vivid Sydney.
Make the most of your King’s Birthday long weekend –Friday, 6 June to Monday, 9 June – by joining in Vivid Sydney celebrations. From the free Light Walk across five connecting zones to culinary journeys and joyous concerts, there are plenty of free and unmissable events to enjoy over these four dazzling nights.
Be spoilt for choice on Friday night
It’s up to you how you kick off your long weekend. You can simply marvel at the spectacular installations dotted along the Light Walk, or join an event hosted in one of the festival’s five zones – Circular Quay and The Rocks; Barangaroo; Martin Place and the CBD; Darling Harbour; and The Goods Line and Inner City.
Draw energy from an evening of bright, breezy pop at Stella Jang + Ivoris, one of the free Tumbalong Nights series of concerts in Darling Harbour’s Tumbalong Park. Here you’ll enjoy the sounds of South Korean singer-songwriter Jang Seong-eun (better known by her stage name Stella Jang) and Melbourne’s Ivoris as you sway as one to genre-bending pop rhythms.
If your idea of a memorable evening is dining taken to another level, you have your choice of two tempting Vivid Sydney food events on Friday night. Savour a three-course Vietnamese-inspired menu by renowned chef Luke Nguyen in the atmospheric, mist-draped Botanic House in the Royal Botanic Garden, where you’ll be invited to write your dreams on a red ribbon and tie it to an interactive wishing tree as part of Dream Mist at Botanic House.
On your way back from the Royal Botanic Garden, be sure to explore the captivating installations in Martin Place, where the city centre sparkles once again as part of Vivid Sydney for the first time in seven years. Don't miss the Chasing Dreams Tunnel, an immersive passageway with programmable fairy lights that respond dynamically to your movements, inspired by the personal experiences and dreams of renowned Bundjalung artist Dr. Bronwyn Bancroft. Equally enchanting is BioDream, a mesmerizing psychedelic dreamscape that explores the boundary between consciousness and dreams, revealing the fleeting nature of existence.
If you haven’t been lucky enough to score a ticket to one of the Vivid Sydney Dinners with Nigella Lawson in the Martin Place Metro station’s Muru Giligu tunnel, you can still enjoy complimentary daily screenings of acclaimed short films from Australia and overseas, as well as previews of movies on the Sydney Film Festival 2025 program at SFFTV: Sydney Film Festival in Martin Place between 6.30pm and 7.30pm.
You can also explore the power of dreams at The Lucid Dream Collective by world-renowned Moment Factory, making their Vivid Sydney debut in Martin Place. Step into an AI photobooth where your portrait undergoes a dreamlike transformation of your choosing. Your dream vision can then join the collective projection, a mesmerising mosaic of light, textures, and faces representing our shared unconscious or be shared on social media. This interactive installation invites you to consider: where do our dreams go when we sleep?
Or glide into the night at the new retro roller-skating rink, Neon Dreams, at Pier Street underpass in Darling Harbour. Skate to vinyl-only beats and dig into Shannon Martinez’s ultimate plant-based menu of classic American diner staples. Juicy burgers, crunchy fries, creamy mac & cheese and jelly donuts – all served alongside the Trolley'd bar, an innovative zero-waste cocktails and retro milkshakes featuring native Australian botanicals.
Vivid Sydney Food 2025 Credit: Destination NSW
Savour a three-course Vietnamese-inspired menu by renowned chef Luke Nguyen in the atmospheric, mist-draped Botanic House in the Royal Botanic Garden, where you’ll be invited to write your dreams on a red ribbon and tie it to an interactive wishing tree as part of Dream Mist at Botanic House.
Vivid Sydney Food 2025 Credit: Destination NSW
Savour a three-course Vietnamese-inspired menu by renowned chef Luke Nguyen in the atmospheric, mist-draped Botanic House in the Royal Botanic Garden, where you’ll be invited to write your dreams on a red ribbon and tie it to an interactive wishing tree as part of Dream Mist at Botanic House.
Neon Dreams Vivid Sydney Darling Harbour. Credit: Destination NSW
Or glide into the night at the new retro roller-skating rink, Neon Dreams, at Pier Street underpass in Darling Harbour. Skate to vinyl-only beats and dig into Shannon Martinez’s ultimate plant-based menu of classic American diner staples. Juicy burgers, crunchy fries, creamy mac & cheese and jelly donuts – all served alongside the Trolley'd bar, an innovative zero-waste cocktails and retro milkshakes featuring native Australian botanicals.
Neon Dreams Vivid Sydney Darling Harbour. Credit: Destination NSW
Or glide into the night at the new retro roller-skating rink, Neon Dreams, at Pier Street underpass in Darling Harbour. Skate to vinyl-only beats and dig into Shannon Martinez’s ultimate plant-based menu of classic American diner staples. Juicy burgers, crunchy fries, creamy mac & cheese and jelly donuts – all served alongside the Trolley'd bar, an innovative zero-waste cocktails and retro milkshakes featuring native Australian botanicals.
Feel your spirit soar on Saturday
Sydney plays hosts to three joyous music events on Saturday night of the long weekend. Venture into a mini festival-within-a-festival at Sound Escape at City Recital Hall, an 18+ day-into-night party. There will be an electrifying lineup of the hottest bands, DJs and musicians, immersive visuals and unexpected moments that challenge you to reframe your reality.
And while the party goes on inside, outside Angel Place itself will be bathed in light for the free Sound Walk experience for the night, made possible by the NSW Government’s Open Streets Program, led by Transport for NSW.
Sense the bass moving through your body and an electric energy filling the air as a line-up of all-female First Nations artists take to the Metro Theatre stage for My Sis: Celebrating 10 years of Bad Apples Music. Curated by Yorta Yorta rapper, author and actor Adam Briggs’s ground-breaking record label, the celebration features the infectious hip hop and R&B of artists such as Western Sydney’s Barkaa and southwest Sydney’s Riah.
The free Tumbalong Nights concerts continue with Mumbai-based singer, Zaeden, brings his innovative pop and electronic dance music to Darling Harbour. After the performance, wander to Cockle Bay to witness Space to Dream, Samsung Electronics Australia's large-scale installation where three iridescent floating waterfalls transform into dynamic canvases of light and motion. Or make your own symphony of light and sound as you rise and descend on the seesaws of Curiosity by Amigo & Amigo, one of the Light Walk installations at Tumbalong Park.
A short stroll from the Tumbalong Nights stage, Vivid Fire Kitchen transforms The Goods Line elevated walkway into a mesmerizing open-air food market. From aromatic chili-infused dishes to wood-fired delicacies, this culinary Fire & Spice-themed hotspot offers global flavours. Be inspired by some of the world’s best pitmasters, chefs and barbecue legends as you enjoy live demonstrations of cooking with fire.
Then gather around the primal glow of Fireplaces, where giant fire pits, mesmerising flame sculptures, dramatic fire throwers, and radiant fire barrels create a captivating atmosphere of warmth and wonder.
Vivid Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
The Fire Kitchen at The Goods Line during Vivid. It's back and blazing brighter than ever. Vivid Fire Kitchen returns, igniting its new home at The Goods Line with flame-seared street food from around the globe. Come and enjoy the universal language of BBQ, the best NSW produce and the diversity of Sydney's food scene as we gather round the fire once again.
Vivid Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
The Fire Kitchen at The Goods Line during Vivid. It's back and blazing brighter than ever. Vivid Fire Kitchen returns, igniting its new home at The Goods Line with flame-seared street food from around the globe. Come and enjoy the universal language of BBQ, the best NSW produce and the diversity of Sydney's food scene as we gather round the fire once again.
Vivid Sydney Light Credit: Destination NSW
Curiosity by Amigo & Amigo, one of the Light Walk installations at Tumbalong Park.
Vivid Sydney Light Credit: Destination NSW
Curiosity by Amigo & Amigo, one of the Light Walk installations at Tumbalong Park.
Settle in for screens and stages on Sunday
Luxuriate in the sense of freedom the Sunday of a long weekend brings by losing yourself in a screening or a musical performance.
Sydney Town Hall transforms the Old Sydney Burial Ground, the site of one of the city’s first cemeteries, into an atmospheric venue to screen the 1982 horror classic Poltergeist in Haus of Horror presents Poltergeist. The spookily immersive evening screening directed by Australia’s Queen of Spook, Felice Vale, and executive-produced by Sean Fernance also features live performers, interactive photo booths, DJs and installations.
A few blocks away, iconic Australian musician Warren Ellis, film composer, co-founder of the Dirty Three, and long-time Nick Cave collaborator, takes to the stage of City Recital Hall for An Evening with Warren Ellis. Alongside a short solo set, Ellis will engage in an intimate conversation about music and his animal conservation efforts.
Complementing this special event, Ellis's documentary Ellis Park screens at the State Theatre earlier that day as part of the Sydney Film Festival, offering fans an in-depth look into the artist's creative and humanitarian worlds.
Head back down to Darling Harbour for the free Tumbalong Nights concert Dobet Gnahoré + Immy Owusu, an electric evening of African melodies and beats. Feel your feet stir as Ghanaian-Dutch musician Immy Owusu gets the evening going with his unique “Afrodelik” fusion of Ghanaian highlife dance music, 1970s-era Zambian rock, surf rock, West African rhythms and psychedelia.
Marvel at how the glowing cloud-like structures of the nearby The Cloud Swing installation change colour as people swing below them, before you’re mesmerised by the dynamic stage presence and irresistible modern Afropop grooves of French-based, Ivory Coast-born and Grammy award-winning artist Dobet Gnahoré.
And while Afrobeats engulf Tumbalong Park, US multi-instrumentalist and composer Kamasi Washington – the go-to saxophonist for Kendrick Lamar who’s played on tracks by Childish Gambino, Snoop Dogg and St Vincent, among many others – brings his brilliant blend of jazz, R&B and orchestral influences to Carriageworks.
Carriageworks Vivid Sydney Music 2025 Credit: NRL
Kamasi Washington – the go-to saxophonist for Kendrick Lamar who’s played on tracks by Childish Gambino, Snoop Dogg and St Vincent, among many others – brings his brilliant blend of jazz, R&B and orchestral influences to Carriageworks.
Carriageworks Vivid Sydney Music 2025 Credit: NRL
Kamasi Washington – the go-to saxophonist for Kendrick Lamar who’s played on tracks by Childish Gambino, Snoop Dogg and St Vincent, among many others – brings his brilliant blend of jazz, R&B and orchestral influences to Carriageworks.
Haus of Horror presents Poltergeist for Vivid Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Sydney Town Hall transforms the Old Sydney Burial Ground, the site of one of the city’s first cemeteries, into an atmospheric venue to screen the 1982 horror classic Poltergeist in Haus of Horror presents Poltergeist.
Haus of Horror presents Poltergeist for Vivid Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Sydney Town Hall transforms the Old Sydney Burial Ground, the site of one of the city’s first cemeteries, into an atmospheric venue to screen the 1982 horror classic Poltergeist in Haus of Horror presents Poltergeist.
Move to global beats on Monday
Close out the long weekend with the free Tumbalong Nights concert Gabriele Poso + GabzaK in Darling Harbour. Between Italian percussionist Gabriele Poso’s blend of deep house, Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz-infused funk and Chilean-born, Sydney-based multi-instrumentalist GabzaK’s mix of tribal house, folktronica and Andean beats, you’ll be full of energy as you admire the installations on the Light Walk from Darling Harbour to Barangaroo and beyond.
Enjoy a game of Kickit Team Tennis at Darling Quarter Village Green, where a pulse of light takes the place of a tennis ball to create a visually striking experience, and immerse in the surreal space of light, shape and sound that is Trispheric Garden, by Reelize Studio, at Barangaroo’s Sea Wall Lawn.
Head to the Vivid Sydney blog to explore free events, find after-work itineraries, curator guides and more inspiration.
Kickit Team Tennis at Darling Quarter Village Green Vivid Sydney Light 2025 Credit: Destination NSW
Step onto the court for a game of tennis like you’ve never experienced before—where the fluorescent yellow ball is replaced by a streak of pulsing light and volleyed back and forth across an orb-studded field.
Kickit Team Tennis at Darling Quarter Village Green Vivid Sydney Light 2025 Credit: Destination NSW
Step onto the court for a game of tennis like you’ve never experienced before—where the fluorescent yellow ball is replaced by a streak of pulsing light and volleyed back and forth across an orb-studded field.
Vivid Sydney Music 2025 Gabriele Poso Tumbalong Park Credit: Destination NSW
Gabriele Poso blends deep house, Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz-infused funk in a set that’s part dancefloor, part spiritual journey.
Vivid Sydney Music 2025 Gabriele Poso Tumbalong Park Credit: Destination NSW
Gabriele Poso blends deep house, Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz-infused funk in a set that’s part dancefloor, part spiritual journey.
More Inspirational Stories
Museum of Contemporary Art AustraliaCredit: Destination NSW
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
Ground-breaking art exhibitions that challenge your thinking. World-class museums that reveal life’s mysteries in all their spectacular glory. Perspective-bending festivals that fire up the imagination, bring us together to dream. And a hitlist of shows that awe and thrill… Whether you’re a true culture vulture or simply looking for a hot new way to enrich your mind on a cool winter’s day, you’ll find the inspiration is on tap across Sydney – this is the cultural capital of the Asia Pacific, after all. Here, just 15 of the Harbour City’s stellar ways to go inside and play, all winter long…
Leave ordinary life behind
Dive into the surreal and spectacular world of Cerith Wyn Evans at the Museum of Contemporary Art (6 June–19 October), where the Welsh artist’s mesmerising light and sound installations create a meditative landscape inspired by Japanese gardens, conceived as an immersive journey through space and time. While you’re there, explore more of what this lauded museum does best: spotlighting bold, boundary-pushing work by living artists from Australia and around the world. With free exhibitions, guided tours, and glittering views from its rooftop café, the MCA offers countless ways to free your imagination, whatever the weather.
Tune into Australia’s heartbeat
Feel your soul stir as 60,000 years of living cultural heritage leaps from the walls of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Yolŋu Power: The Art of Yirrkala (21 June-6 October), where artworks from the 1940s to today chart a timeless story of Country and connection. The powerful visual storytelling continues in the Archibald Prize 2025 exhibition (10 May-17 August), with contemporary portraiture capturing the faces shaping our times. With free entry to most displays and tickets for special exhibitions, let your curiosity lead the way through the gallery’s bright halls, sunlit foyers and charming terraces, and to its lauded onsite restaurant, Crafted by Matt Moran, where culinary artistry is served by the plateful.
See the light & live the Dream
Immerse in Sydney’s imagination as Vivid Sydney returns from 23 May to 14 June 2025, its Dream theme freeing your mind at more than 300 electrifying events across the city. Wander through 8km of technicolour light installations, recharge with new rhythms at Vivid Music’s live concerts and free performances; fire up your tastebuds with Vivid Food’s gourmet popups, and feel your creativity surge as the Vivid Ideas program breaks new ground with talks, workshops and screenings. Wherever you dare to dream, this world-renowned festival’s bold creativity and inclusive spirit make every moment shine.
Belly laugh and sing along at the Capitol
Sydney’s cultural heart beats strong under the footlights – and your pulse will quicken the moment you take your seat in the heritagelisted Capitol Theatre. From 15 July to 26 October, the ninetime Tonywinning musical The Book of Mormon delivers outrageous wit and musical hits that’ll keep you chortling long after the curtain falls. If you can’t wait to dive into Haymarket’s theatre hub, catch Annie, closing 21 June.
Vivid Sydney 2024 [EMBARGOED FOR MARKETING USE] Credit: Destination NSW
EMBARGOED FOR MARKETING USE. .Views of Sydney Harbour during Vivid 2024
Vivid Sydney 2024 [EMBARGOED FOR MARKETING USE] Credit: Destination NSW
EMBARGOED FOR MARKETING USE. .Views of Sydney Harbour during Vivid 2024
Trace the city’s evolution
Linger over centuriesold artefacts and contemporary works at the Museum of Sydney for a dive into the city’s past, present and future in one memorable visit. From 17 April to 2 November, Seeing Sydney, Knowing Country invites you into the colony’s evolution, while its permanent collection features Edge of the Trees and Yura Nura: People & Country, a First Nations reflection on Sydney’s living cultural heritage. Plus, curious minds of all ages can get hands-on with an ever-changing roster of experiences and workshops highlighting the city’s unique character.
Moonwalk into the Sydney Lyric Theatre
Bow down to the King of Pop at the Sydney Lyric Theatre as MJ: The Musical whisks you into Michael Jackson’s world of fearless choreography, highvoltage staging and earworm hits, courtesy of Christopher Wheeldon’s savvy direction and Lynn Nottage’s gripping storytelling. With nightly shows and weekend matinees to choose from until 3 August, here’s your toe-tapping proof that Sydney’s theatre scene sparkles brightest when temperatures drop.
Head indoors for ocean wonders
Get a boost of Vitamin Sea at the Australian National Maritime Museum, where you can climb aboard authentic naval vessels – from a Cold War submarine to a faithful replica of Captain Cook’s HMB Endeavour – delve into artefactpacked indoor galleries, and catch highlights like Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Ultimate Depth. With handson encounters and blockbuster exhibitions lighting up an actionpacked winter calendar, the museum promises a deepsea adventure that brings Australia’s maritime story vividly to life.
Where curiosity’s a super-power
Find power where art, science, technology and design collide in the Powerhouse’s group of museums. Custodian to more than half a million objects of national and international significance, the Powerhouse spans four locations across the city. While The Ultimo museum undergoes heritage revitalisation and the Parramatta branch is under construction, the Powerhouse Castle Hill rolls out the welcome mat rolled all winter long with railway artefacts, illuminating talks, engrossing Mystery Object Challenges, and more. Back on the harbour’s shores, the Sydney Observatory invites you to look up for new perspectives on human connection, astronomy and art.
Make the House your home
Just as Sydney is the Southern Hemisphere’s centre for the arts and creativity, the Sydney Opera House is its pulsating epicentre, with its globally acclaimed performances shining even brighter in winter. Feel your hair stand on end as Bangarra Dance Theatre’s choreography captivates your imagination in Ilume from 4-14 June, spotlighting the transformative power of light through a First Nations lens. Add your own guffaws to the audience’s roars as the Olivier and Tony Award-winning comedy, The Play That Goes Wrong, unleashes its side-splitting chaos from 19 June, and as Roald Dahl’s rip-roaming romp, The Twits, brings the family-friendly belly laughs from 5-19 July. For a classic opera with a quintessentially Sydney twist, don’t miss Carmen as acclaimed director Anne-Louise Sarks lifts the curtain on her bold interpretation of the visceral hit (10 July to 19 September).
Bangarra Dance Theatre, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Bangarra Dance Theatre performance, Sydney. For media use only in Australian markets to promote NSW.
Bangarra Dance Theatre, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Bangarra Dance Theatre performance, Sydney. For media use only in Australian markets to promote NSW.
The Backstage Tour, Sydney Opera House Credit: Destination NSW
Visitors enjoy the Backstage Tour at Sydney Opera House. DESTINATION NSW USAGE ONLY
The Backstage Tour, Sydney Opera House Credit: Destination NSW
Visitors enjoy the Backstage Tour at Sydney Opera House. DESTINATION NSW USAGE ONLY