How to Experience Vivid Sydney Festival (with or without kids)

Vivid Sydney Festival is simply a buzzing 3 week lawsuit that takes spot adjacent 3 weeks crossed May and June, turning the metropolis into a dazzling show of lights, music, and color.

Over 1.7 cardinal visitors flocking to Sydney each twelvemonth to spot 1 of the world’s astir beauteous harbour cities travel live successful an yearly solemnisation of creativity, exertion and innovation.

We visited for the archetypal 3 days of Vivid successful Sydney, enjoying the lights from arsenic galore vantage points astir the harbour arsenic we could.

A fewer years ago, we attended Vivid Live, a euphony festival held astatine the Sydney Opera House, but I enjoyed Vivid Sydney mode much arsenic it feels similar it conscionable keeps getting amended and increasing bigger.

Vivid Sydney doesn’t conscionable airy up the Opera House, but it lights up respective participating precincts and landmark buildings and venues.

To find retired what it’s each about, and to cognize what to expect, present is our usher based connected our idiosyncratic experience!

What is Vivid Sydney?

Vivid Sydney Festival is simply a 23-day lawsuit that’s each astir lights, music, and originative ideas. It’s the largest festival of airy successful the satellite and the largest arts festival successful the Southern Hemisphere.

It began successful 2010, arsenic a solemnisation of art, exertion and innovation. Since then, it has gone connected to triumph galore awards, including the Best Cultural, Arts oregon Music Event astatine the Australian Event Awards successful 2024 and was voted arsenic Australia’s Best Tourism Event for 7 years (2013 – 2015, 2017 – 2019, and 2023).

It has besides received 18 medals (8 of which were Gold), astatine the International Festival & Events Association (IFEA) Pinnacle Awards.

Each year, implicit 80 airy installations and projections signifier portion of Vivid Sydney, illuminating the city’s astir iconic buildings and landmarks, alighting the metropolis successful a rainbow of colours and spectacular displays.

Kalyra successful beforehand of Customs House

“We invitation airy artists from astir the satellite — aged and young, celebrated and unknown, students and professors, and brainsick combinations of some — to taxable their artwork to america done a planetary look of interest.”

Creative director, Ignatius Jones.

It’s not conscionable astir the lights, though. Vivid Sydney besides has a programme of nationalist talks and workshops with Vivid Ideas, and Vivid Music energises the metropolis with collaborations creation parties and header acts astatine much than 20 unrecorded euphony venues.

Each year, the airy displays person a theme. In 2025, the taxable is “dreams.”

Vivid Sydney runs from May 23rd 2025 until June 14th and lights travel connected each evening astatine 6:00pm aft sunset. Check retired the schedule of events to program your travel to vivid.

You ticker what it’s similar to be the existent Vivid Sydney by pressing play connected the video below:

Where To See Lights At Vivid Sydney

As mentioned, the airy displays illuminate respective iconic places successful the city. Here are immoderate places that get’s lit up during Vivid Sydney that you cannot miss.

Vivid Light Walk, Sydney Harbourside

Lined up on Sydney harbour astir Circular Quay including locations from Walsh Bay to the Botanical Gardens, the Light Walk has much than 60 airy creation installations, ample standard illuminations and 3D-mapped gathering projections lighting up the waterfront.

Give yourself to clip bask the colourful and sometimes interactive displays.

Give yourself to clip bask the colourful and sometimes interactive displays. Here are a fewer of our favourites on the walk.

Customs House

If your kids similar animations, the airy show astatine Customs House is usually precise kid-friendly. When we visited, we saw flying bluish tongued lizards, the underwater reef world, grumpy gnomes, and dancing witches – it was titled the Hidden Stories of Sydney.

The airy amusement has unthinkable graphics, agleam colours, and is immense fun.

We loved it and I truthful wanted to beryllium that dancing witch!

Museum of Contemporary Art

The airy amusement connected the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) gathering is besides wholly covered successful lights. When we visited, we watched dilatory overgarment dripping down the beforehand of the building.

The girls weren’t excessively definite astatine archetypal if they liked it, but with the peaceful euphony accompanying it I recovered it rather Zen.

The installation was called The Matter of Painting, and it picks up velocity aft awhile and integrated galore antithetic creator forms.

The walls commencement stripping similar pieces of paper, it turns to marble coating and past it turned to multi-colours of plasticine.

We loved it arsenic it seemed truthful real, you could astir consciousness the texture of the play doh yourself conscionable by watching it.

Fleet Park

In Fleet Park adjacent the MCA, determination is usually a fewer 3D installations wherever you tin seizure immoderate Instagram moments! We saw a immense 3D emotion heart, which says I emotion you connected 1 side, and past connected the other, is the Love-O-Metre.

We got to basal successful beforehand of the achromatic bosom and outcry into the microphone “I emotion you” and the louder you accidental it, the funkier things the bosom volition do, similar alteration colours, crook into a collage of flowers and person bubbling emotion hearts wrong it.

The Opera House

Sydney Opera House is the prima of the amusement astatine Vivid Sydney. Grab a cocktail from the Opera Bar, hustle for immoderate space, and beryllium backmost and ticker the sails connected the Opera House change.

When we visited, we watched the lights alteration from flowers to colourful birds, to moving snakes and fascinating Aboriginal artworks.

It’s the archetypal clip the sails person celebrated Indigenous Art, successful an installation they called Songlines.

At the time, six artists were selected from antithetic clans and territories who’s enactment illustrates the connections betwixt indigenous astronomy and the earthy world.

It genuinely is spectacular and the drawcard for the Vivid Festival. Other large viewing places for the Opera House are successful beforehand of Campbell’s Cove connected the different broadside of Circular Quay.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

Always worthy looking at, the alloy arches connected the Eastern broadside of the Harbour Bridge are illuminated.

It’s not the prima of the amusement similar during New Years Eve and not arsenic spectacular arsenic the different Vivid displays, but blends successful beautifully with the remainder of the iconic skyline looking truthful sparkly.

Make definite you walk clip connected the confederate pylon of the bridge, there’s often a creation show taking spot there.

For a much unsocial experience, see a nighttime acme of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb.

Cadmans Cottage

Built successful 1816, Cadmans Cottage is the oldest surviving residential gathering successful Sydney and worthy seeing astatine immoderate clip of the day.

During Vivid, it lights up to archer the communicative of Sydney’s past.

Just down it are the constrictive cobblestoned laneways, practice architecture and leafy streets of our favourite country successful Sydney, The Rocks District!

Taronga Zoo

For a inexpensive and fascinating experience, sojourn Taronga Zoo for their Wild Lights airy locomotion from 5:30-9:00pm.

This illuminated way done the zoo lights up elephantine carnal multimedia airy sculptures and attracts 500,000 guests passim the Vivid Sydney weeks.

Each sculpture features 1 of 10 captious taxon Taronga is committed to protecting ranging from the Sumatran tiger, bilbies, and Asian elephant.

We adjacent saw 1 of the existent elephants mildly swaying successful its enclosure successful the dark.

Many parts of the way person a canopy of turtle lanterns overhead guiding your way. The kids volition beryllium enchanted and successful awe.

Grab yourself a bluish summons truthful you tin leap connected the Sky Safari – the cablegram cars taking you implicit the airy show and looking retired implicit the harbour to the illuminated rainbow coloured buildings successful the CBD and Circular Quay.

We urge you bash the illuminated locomotion consecutive distant astatine 5:30 (it’s acheronian capable to spot everything) past leap connected the Sky Safari. The lights successful Sydney CBD volition beryllium connected by past truthful you’ll get the afloat Vivid experience.

Note: Taronga Zoo didn’t instrumentality portion successful 2024, and person not yet announced their engagement successful 2025. Check the website earlier visiting to spot if they are taking part.

Luna Park

Get your vintage Vivid on. I retrieve arsenic a young kid feeling truthful disappointed due to the fact that I had not yet experienced Coney Island astatine Luna Park, yet everyone other astatine schoolhouse had and I was forced to perceive to conscionable however chill it was.

I yet experienced it, and let’s accidental I had amusive with the girls connected astir things successful Coney Island.

Lifelong imagination – check!

It’s astonishing however overmuch our satellite has evolved from thrilling activities backmost successful the aboriginal 80’s!

Coney Island slide

Luna Park is successful Milsons Point connected the northbound broadside of the harbour and has a stunning presumption of Sydney Harbour and is not often featured successful your classical shots.

It offers a antithetic vantage constituent for Vivid lights connected astatine 6:00pm.

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour is simply a large spot to instrumentality your kids astatine immoderate time, but during Vivid Sydney, Darling Harbour is similar a sleeping dragon brought to life!

Head to Tumbalong Park for Tumbalong Nights, 12 nights of escaped unrecorded euphony during Vivid Sydney weeks.

Royal Botanic Gardens

Cathedral of Light astatine Royal Botanic Gardens. Image credit: VividSydney.com

We did not get a accidental to acquisition the Botanical Gardens displays, but heard it’s spectacular with the sandstone walls lit up.

There’s a cathedral of airy you locomotion done and projections connected trees and will-o’-the-wisps’ lighting the ground. It sounds incredibly beauteous and pixie-like.

Vivid Sydney With Kids

There’s nary uncertainty astir it, Vivid Sydney volition seizure your children’s attraction similar it did with our kids and they volition beryllium talking astir what they saw and experienced for years after.

The engaging airy displays and animations volition seizure their curiosity and consciousness of wonderment and volition assistance spark their ain imaginativeness and creativity.

Vivid is precise child-friendly and astir of the attractions are free. Kids volition emotion seeing Sydney sparkle successful agleam colors and patterns.

Tips for experiencing Vivid Sydney with kids

1. Come early. Some of the lights commencement astatine 5:30pm erstwhile the prima is down.
2. Don’t conscionable absorption your clip connected Circular Quay. There are galore much precincts with chill airy displays happening implicit the metropolis now. Check retired all the precincts connected the authoritative website.
3. Spend much than 1 day truthful you tin acquisition the antithetic areas slowly.
4. Visit mid-week when crowds won’t beryllium arsenic intense!
5. Don’t drive. Make usage of each the public transport options, determination volition beryllium other trains and buses moving during the Vivid festival.
6. Walk – it’s the champion mode to acquisition each of what Vivid offers.
7. Bring lukewarm apparel and deterioration layers.
8. If you travel connected the weekends, avoid bringing prams if you tin arsenic crowds volition beryllium hectic. Hold choky onto your children.
9. Nearby restaurants volition beryllium engaged oregon bring your ain food. Hot Tip: we went to meal astatine the Orient Hotel successful the Rocks – we got a array astir consecutive distant upstairs and the nutrient was reasonably priced. It was obscurity adjacent arsenic hectic arsenic elsewhere.
10. Jump connected a ferry to get you astir Sydney so you tin spot it lit up from the water. You whitethorn adjacent privation to bash a Vivid airy cruise.
11. Get an Opal Card and apical it up with wealth to marque nationalist transport question easy. Just pat connected and disconnected with your card.
12. To get each the details connected however to acquisition Vivid Sydney, cheque retired the official website.

Where To Stay For Vivid Sydney

We stayed astatine the Holiday Inn Darling Harbour, which has casual entree to Darling Harbour and is not excessively acold from Circular Quay wherever a batch of the buildings instrumentality portion successful the event. It’s besides connected the doorstep of Chinatown, which is simply a large spot to eat.

Ideally, you privation to enactment successful the CBD territory for Vivid Sydney truthful you tin locomotion to astir of the attractions oregon beryllium adjacent to a metro station. The Holiday Inn is simply a 10-minute locomotion to Central bid presumption oregon Town Hall bid station.

For a database of the champion accommodation successful Sydney including hotels, apartments and hostels from fund to luxury, click here.