Oxford Street Fair, Sydney WorldPride 2023, SydneyCredit: Destination NSW
Couple explores the Oxford Street Fair, a part of Sydney World Pride, a 17-day celebration of queer Australian people and culture, with more than 300 events across the city â including Sydney's famous Mardi Gras Parade.
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Mardi Gras 2025: Where to Stay and Play in Sydney
Oxford Street Fair, Sydney WorldPride 2023, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
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Sydney CBD
Eat and drink
Sydney’s CBD isn’t just the glamourous home to many award-winning fine-dining options, it’s also a hub for caffeine, cocktails and casual bites. Try A.P Place (bold and innovative), Humble (classic) or Wholegreen (gluten-free) for baked goods, while Skittle Lane, Diggy Doo’s and Gumption are classy caffeine stops. Midden by Mark Olive is the place to go to try native produce by a celebrity chef. A bougie night out starts with drinks at rooftop bars Aster or Jackson’s on George. Then continue onto luxury Mediterranean bistro Palazzo Salato, the plush pink furnishings and playful menu of Penelope’s or Euro-inspired bar-bistros Clam Bar and Bar Morris. Level up with internationally applauded fine diners Quay or Oncore by Clare Smyth.
Stay
W Sydney boasts harbour views, several places to dine and a rooftop bar with an Instagrammable infinity pool overlooking Darling Harbour. Set in a heritage-listed building, high-end luxury hotel Capella provides lush furnishings, a curated collection of art and a truly remarkable wellness space. The Ace Hotel brings the style of the local art scene to rooms appointed with record players and minibars stacked with local products. Settle in with sleek business stylings at minimalist Little National Hotel, Kimpton Margot Sydney with its rooftop bar and Bottomless Drag Brunch, or the grander, heritage-listed and recently refurbished Sofitel Wentworth, Sydney’s original five-star hotel.
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The CBD is the glitzy heart of Sydney’s theatre, dance and arts scene, and is one of the city’s nightlife hubs. See a mesmerising performance by world-renowned First Nations dance company Bangarra and catch everything from popstars to local theatre at the Sydney Opera House. Dance to live music at the century-old Marble Bar or to the beats of a touring international DJ at Civic Underground. The Sydney International Art Series brings the world’s most outstanding art exclusively to Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Art Gallery of New South Wales. Scaling the 134-metre-high Sydney Harbour Bridge summit is a bucket-list ticket while in town.
Harper Rooftop Bar Credit: Dexter Kim
Perched high above the CBD on Level 7 of Kimpton Margot Sydney, Harper Rooftop Bar is a sprawling retreat designed by FiveFootDesign.
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Harper Rooftop Bar Credit: Dexter Kim
Perched high above the CBD on Level 7 of Kimpton Margot Sydney, Harper Rooftop Bar is a sprawling retreat designed by FiveFootDesign.
Darlinghurst and surrounds
Eat and drink
Potts Point’s sibling cafes Piña and Room 10 demonstrate exactly why the suburb is a dining hub: they’re two of Sydney’s best. If you’re staying local for the evening, Vermuteria serves vermouth and Spanish-esque plates, aperitivo bar Piccolo Bar dishes up Italian snacks alongside amaro and Caravin provides an intimate Parisian-style dinner. In neighbouring Darlinghurst, down a beer and a Chinese snack at The Taphouse; or match a cocktail to the colours of the sunset on the rooftop of historic gay club The Columbian. You’ll also find the original outpost of Sydney icon Gelato Messina, art community hangout Cafe Freda’s, and Buffalo Dining Club (highlight: pasta finished off in a giant Pecorino wheel) for dinner. In Surry Hills, Armorica (Parisian brasserie) and Nour (innovative, glammed-up Middle Eastern) are also options.
Stay
Oxford House on Oxford Street is a stylish, relaxing oasis with a glistening pool and rooms outfitted with eclectic artwork, Grown Alchemist bathroom products and Double Rainbouu robes. Down the road in Surry Hills is the Sydney Design Awards gold medal-winning Paramount House Hotel. Within the 80-year-old building you can also catch a classic film at the Art Deco Golden Age Cinema, get a shaken iced coffee and textural salad at Paramount Coffee Project, have a rooftop pastry at A.P House or sip natural wines at Poly.
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Darlinghurst is the heart of Sydney’s LGBTQIA+ community, and Oxford Street is where most Mardi Gras revellers will find themselves at midnight. Stonewall and Universal are key pitstops for pop hits and heaving dance floors. A few doors down is Palms on Oxford, a dive bar attracting diverse crowds with disco, ‘80s hits and ‘90s pop. Live music venue Oxford Art Factory supports up-and-coming and experimental artists, and next door’s Cliff Dive is a tiki-themed, R&B and EDM bar-club. Goro’s in Surry Hills is the spot for karaoke and Japanese snacks. During the day, shop Australian labels in Paddington or, if you’d prefer to explore the area with a guide, wander through Qtopia (the largest museum and cultural centre for queer history and culture in the world, or join The Fabulous Wonder Mama on a walking tour of Oxford Street.
Bondi
Eat and drink
Bondi’s award-winning Icebergs Dining Room and Bar matches the surrounding beauty with simple yet sophisticated Italian dining. Along the beach, you’ll meet a more casual Italian eatery Makaveli, French bistro and bar ChouChou, and Promenade Bondi for bistro meals with L.A. vibes.
Stay
Boutique hotel chain QT’s Bondi iteration is a block from beach, laidback but luxurious and has rooms featuring pops of colour and plush robes. Get closer to the waves with the flamingo pink Hotel Ravesis, the only Bondi hotel with beach views.
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Take a surf lesson with Let's Go Surfing and, afterwards, stroll 6km of cliffside pathway past enticing swimming spots on the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk. Change pace with an infrared or traditional sauna and ice bath at Slow House, Bondi’s stylish wellness centre, or join the locals at the Icebergs sauna.
Newtown and surrounds
Eat and drink
Newtown’s King Street is a famous Sydney ‘eat street’. Start at Ante, a sake bar serving bold-flavoured innovations, Comedor is bending the genre of Mexican cuisine, Bella Brutta serves up-market pizza and Cafe Paci is the only Finnish-ish fine diner in Sydney. For a snack, try artisanal gelateria Mapo and a pide in the Turkish hub (Konak or Taste of Turkey are great picks). Drinks-wise, stop in at queer-friendly, drag-show-hosting Newtown Hotel or the cosmically themed martini specialist Bar Planet.
In Enmore, you’ll find Lebanese diner Emma’s Snack Bar, sports bar The Magpie, and the eccentric Jacoby’s, which mixes a tiki theme with natural wines and a rum-heavy menu. There’s also bustling local falafel hot spot Cairo Takeaway, cute Japanese bakery Azuki and classic cafe Soulmate, which serves an excellent cuppa and breakfast sandwich in between the two ‘burbs.
Stay
Straddling the inner west and the CBD, Chippendale’s The Old Clare Hotel is an elegant, welcoming and character-filled boutique hotel (you don’t need to stay to check out its rooftop pool and bar.) Further into the inner west, The Urban in Newtown offers industrial-chic rooms in the centre of everything.
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Made immortal by The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Erskineville’s The Imperial and its Drag ‘N’ Dine shows is an essential Sydney Mardi Gras stop. Up the road is the Enmore Theatre, the longest-running theatre in NSW and champion of iconic Australian acts and international talent alike. The area is also home to a barrage of vintage clothes and homewares stores. If all you want to do is sing Céline Dion songs with other Titanic fans, then book into Titanique at The Grand Electric in Redfern.
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Oxford Street Fair, SydneyCredit: Destination NSW
Couple dancing at the Oxford Street Party, a part of Sydney World Pride, a 17-day celebration of queer Australian people and culture, with more than 300 events across the city including Sydney's famous Mardi Gras Parade.
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Dive Into Sydney's LGBTQIA+ Nightlife
Oxford Street Fair, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
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While Sydney’s LGBTQIA+ nightlife is loud and proud all year round, it’ll be truly buzzing when Mardi Gras 2025 celebrates Australia’s queer communities with fabulous events, parties and concerts from 14 February to 2 March 2025. Shimmy onto a packed dancefloor or gather your tribe in an intimate corner booth — there are plenty of LGBTQIA+ venues to enjoy across the city’s queer-friendly neighbourhoods.
Party all night in Darlinghurst and Surry Hills
Feel right at home at the Darlinghurst end of Oxford Street, Sydney’s LGBTQIA+ heartland and the setting of the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. Ease into the scene with a beer or a cocktail at The Colombian Hotel, a multi-level pub occupying a prime position on the corner of Oxford and Crown streets in Darlinghurst. Count your blessings if you can snag a stool at the venue’s long open window — you can settle in for an epic session of people-watching.
Lose track of time as you dance and dine across the four levels of the iconic Oxford Hotel, a couple of minutes’ walk up Oxford Street from the Colombian. Or step back in time a few doors down from the Oxford Hotel at Palms on Oxford, which draws an inclusive crowd for its classic disco and pop from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and ’00s from Thursday to Sunday. And strike up random conversations with strangers in between drag shows at the busy Stonewall Hotel, across the road from The Oxford Hotel on Oxford Street.
Launch yourself into the local clubbing scene at Oxford Street’s Universal, a dual-level space with dancing downstairs and drag and performances upstairs, and Darlinghurst institution Arq, which has reopened its Arena dancefloor and Vortex performance space, just off Taylor Square on Flinders Street, following extensive renovations. Dance the night away amid confetti cannons, Australian pop royalty and Sydney’s biggest drag acts at POOF DOOF, an all-inclusive party that takes over the top two floors of Kinselas on Taylor Square each Saturday night.
Take a breather at The Beresford, arguably Sydney’s most upscale queer haunt that’s only a few minutes’ walk away from Taylor Square on leafy Bourke Street in Surry Hills. Refresh with a drink in the leafy courtyard during the popular Sunday afternoon DJ sessions, perhaps lingering to head upstairs to dance later in the evening.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2023, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Celebrating the colourful collision of creativity and culture across our communities, the world renowned Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade unites hundreds of thousands of revellers for the biggest night on the LGBTQIA+ calendar.
#feelnewsydney
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2023, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Celebrating the colourful collision of creativity and culture across our communities, the world renowned Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade unites hundreds of thousands of revellers for the biggest night on the LGBTQIA+ calendar.
Universal Sydney, Darlinghurst Credit: Destination NSW
Artist performing for Fireball Fridays at Universal Sydney, Darlinghurst.
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Universal Sydney, Darlinghurst Credit: Destination NSW
Artist performing for Fireball Fridays at Universal Sydney, Darlinghurst.
Fire your imagination in Newtown and surrounds
Spread your wings and explore Sydney’s inner west, a ring of suburbs close to the city centre that are home to many of the city’s bohemian and LGBTQIA+ residents. Feel your senses come alive as you make your way down colourful King Street in Newtown and adjoining Enmore Road in Enmore, encountering small bars, cafés and venues that welcome queer and non-queer patrons in equal measure. Restore your energy levels with a refreshing drink at safe spaces for rainbow communities like Newtown Hotel, The Bank Hotel and the Marlborough Hotel, or ‘the Marly’, which hosts regular queer events.
Join a raucous basement party at the inner west’s quintessential LGBTQIA+ venue, The Imperial, a few minutes’ walk away from Newtown in Erskineville, catch a drag show over dinner at The Impy’s Priscillas restaurant, or head upstairs for pizza with a side dish of dirty Italian disco at Carlotta’s Rooftop bar.
Catch experimental theatre, a sweaty rave or a blistering punk gig at The Red Rattler, a queer-run non-profit venue established to amplify the voices of Sydney’s non-conforming artists and performers in Marrickville, a 10-minute drive from Newtown.
The Imperial Erskineville Credit: Destination NSW
Drag artists getting ready for Drag n' Dine at The Imperial Erskineville in Sydney's inner west.
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The Imperial Erskineville Credit: Destination NSW
Drag artists getting ready for Drag n' Dine at The Imperial Erskineville in Sydney's inner west.
Bank Hotel, Newtown Credit: James Horan; Destination NSW
Bank Hotel on King Street in Newtown
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Bank Hotel, Newtown Credit: James Horan; Destination NSW
Bank Hotel on King Street in Newtown
Connect with locals at events and parties
Celebrate inclusiveness at the biggest event on the LGBTQIA+ calendar, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, though you’ll also find plenty happening outside the regular Mardi Gras festival period in February and March.
Leather up and head along to an Extra Dirty dance party at a variety of venues across the city. Find like-minded lesbians at the sophisticated Lemons With A Twist get-togethers on the first Friday of the month at the Burdekin Hotel in Darlinghurst. And dip into the city’s bear culture at Bear Essentials, Harbour City Bears’ massive disco held each year during the Mardi Gras festival, or join the gay social group at inclusive gatherings each Friday night at the Oxford Hotel in Darlinghurst and on Sunday afternoons at the Town Hall Hotel in Newtown.
Connect with the Queer As Fvck crew, which hosts gigs by local independent rock bands along with DJs and drag artists, if you prefer guitars to glitter balls. Or lean more alternative with the House of Mince’s regular Club Mince events, which often feature edgy international DJs and rappers.
And look for the next pop-up event by Heaps Gay, which seeks out under-utilised indoor and outdoor spaces for 12-hour fiestas. Heaps Gay events are so friendly and inclusive that they’ve become popular with non-LGBTQIA+ patrons too.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2023, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Celebrating the colourful collision of creativity and culture across our communities, the world renowned Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade unites hundreds of thousands of revellers for the biggest night on the LGBTQIA+ calendar.
#feelnewsydney
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2023, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Celebrating the colourful collision of creativity and culture across our communities, the world renowned Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade unites hundreds of thousands of revellers for the biggest night on the LGBTQIA+ calendar.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2023, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Celebrating the colourful collision of creativity and culture across our communities, the world renowned Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade unites hundreds of thousands of revellers for the biggest night on the LGBTQIA+ calendar.
#feelnewsydney
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2023, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Celebrating the colourful collision of creativity and culture across our communities, the world renowned Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade unites hundreds of thousands of revellers for the biggest night on the LGBTQIA+ calendar.