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Vivid Sydney Competition is a buzzing three week occasion that takes place subsequent three weeks throughout Could and June, turning town into a stunning show of lights, music, and colour.
Over 1.7 million guests flocking to Sydney annually to see one of many world’s most stunning harbour cities come alive in an annual celebration of creativity, expertise and innovation.
We visited for the primary three days of Vivid in Sydney, having fun with the lights from as many vantage factors across the harbour as we might.
A number of years in the past, we attended Vivid Dwell, a music pageant held on the Sydney Opera Home, however I loved Vivid Sydney far more because it feels prefer it simply retains getting higher and rising greater.
Vivid Sydney doesn’t simply mild up the Opera Home, but it surely lights up a number of taking part precincts and landmark buildings and venues.
To seek out out what it’s all about, and to know what to anticipate, right here is our information based mostly on our private expertise!
What’s Vivid Sydney?
Vivid Sydney Competition is a 23-day occasion that’s all about lights, music, and inventive concepts. It’s the most important pageant of sunshine on the planet and the most important arts pageant within the Southern Hemisphere.
It started in 2010, as a celebration of artwork, expertise and innovation. Since then, it has gone on to win quite a few awards, together with the Greatest Cultural, Arts or Music Occasion on the Australian Occasion Awards in 2024 and was voted as Australia’s Greatest Tourism Occasion for seven years (2013 – 2015, 2017 – 2019, and 2023).
It has additionally obtained 18 medals (8 of which have been Gold), on the Worldwide Competition & Occasions Affiliation (IFEA) Pinnacle Awards.
Every year, over 80 mild installations and projections type a part of Vivid Sydney, illuminating town’s most iconic buildings and landmarks, alighting town in a rainbow of colors and spectacular shows.
“We invite mild artists from world wide — young and old, well-known and unknown, college students and professors, and loopy mixtures of each — to submit their art work to us by way of a worldwide expression of curiosity.”
Inventive director, Ignatius Jones.
It’s not simply in regards to the lights, although. Vivid Sydney additionally has a program of public talks and workshops with Vivid Concepts, and Vivid Music energises town with collaborations dance events and headline acts at greater than 20 reside music venues.
Every year, the sunshine shows have a theme. In 2025, the theme is “goals.”
Vivid Sydney runs from Could twenty third 2025 till June 14th and lights come on each night at 6:00pm after sundown. Take a look at the schedule of occasions to plan your journey to vivid.
You watch what it’s prefer to attend the true Vivid Sydney by urgent play on the video beneath:
The place To See Lights At Vivid Sydney
As talked about, the sunshine shows illuminate a number of iconic locations within the metropolis. Listed below are some locations that get’s lit up throughout Vivid Sydney that you simply can’t miss.
Observe: the photographs on this information have been taken in 2016, and annually the installations change. What you see might be completely different from what you see on this information.
Vivid Gentle Stroll, Sydney Harbourside
Lined up alongside Sydney harbour round Round Quay together with areas from Walsh Bay to the Botanical Gardens, the Gentle Stroll has greater than 60 mild artwork installations, massive scale illuminations and 3D-mapped constructing projections lighting up the waterfront.
Give your self to time benefit from the vibrant and generally interactive shows.
Give your self to time benefit from the vibrant and generally interactive shows. Listed below are just a few of our favourites alongside the stroll.
Customs Home
In case your youngsters like animations, the sunshine show at Customs Home is often very kid-friendly. Once we visited, we noticed flying blue tongued lizards, the underwater reef world, grumpy gnomes, and dancing witches – it was titled the Hidden Tales of Sydney.
The sunshine present has unbelievable graphics, brilliant colors, and is immense enjoyable.
We liked it and I so needed to be that dancing witch!
Museum of Up to date Artwork
The sunshine present on the Museum of Up to date Artwork (MCA) constructing can be utterly coated in lights. Once we visited, we watched sluggish paint dripping down the entrance of the constructing.
The women weren’t too certain at first in the event that they favored it, however with the peaceable music accompanying it I discovered it fairly Zen.
The set up was referred to as The Matter of Portray, and it picks up pace after awhile and built-in many various creative varieties.
The partitions begin stripping like items of paper, it turns to marble portray after which it turned to multi-colours of plasticine.
We liked it because it appeared so actual, you can nearly really feel the feel of the play doh your self simply by watching it.
Fleet Park
In Fleet Park close to the MCA, there may be often just a few 3D installations the place you’ll be able to seize some Instagram moments! We noticed an enormous 3D love coronary heart, which says I really like you on one aspect, after which on the opposite, is the Love-O-Metre.
We obtained to face in entrance of the white coronary heart and shout into the microphone “I really like you” and the louder you say it, the funkier issues the center will do, like change colors, flip right into a collage of flowers and have effervescent love hearts inside it.
The Opera Home
Sydney Opera Home is the star of the present at Vivid Sydney. Seize a cocktail from the Opera Bar, hustle for some house, and sit again and watch the sails on the Opera Home change.
Once we visited, we watched the lights change from flowers to vibrant birds, to transferring snakes and interesting Aboriginal artworks.
It’s the primary time the sails have celebrated Indigenous Artwork, in an set up they referred to as Songlines.
On the time, six artists have been chosen from completely different clans and territories who’s work illustrates the connections between indigenous astronomy and the pure world.
It really is spectacular and the drawcard for the Vivid Competition. Different nice viewing locations for the Opera Home are in entrance of Campbell’s Cove on the opposite aspect of Round Quay.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge
All the time value , the metal arches on the Jap aspect of the Harbour Bridge are illuminated.
It’s not the star of the present like throughout New Years Eve and never as spectacular as the opposite Vivid shows, however blends in fantastically with the remainder of the long-lasting skyline trying so sparkly.
Be sure you spend time on the southern pylon of the bridge, there’s usually a dance efficiency going down there.
For a extra distinctive expertise, contemplate a nighttime summit of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb.
Cadmans Cottage
Inbuilt 1816, Cadmans Cottage is the oldest surviving residential constructing in Sydney and price seeing at any time of the day.
Throughout Vivid, it lights as much as inform the story of Sydney’s previous.
Simply behind it are the slim cobblestoned laneways, heritage structure and leafy streets of our favorite space in Sydney, The Rocks District!
Taronga Zoo
For an inexpensive and interesting expertise, go to Taronga Zoo for his or her Wild Lights mild stroll from 5:30-9:00pm.
This illuminated path by way of the zoo lights up big animal multimedia mild sculptures and attracts 500,000 visitors all through the Vivid Sydney weeks.
Every sculpture options one among ten important species Taronga is dedicated to defending starting from the Sumatran tiger, bilbies, and Asian elephant.
We even noticed one of many actual elephants gently swaying in its enclosure at the hours of darkness.
Many components of the path have a cover of turtle lanterns overhead guiding your method. The youngsters might be enchanted and in awe.
Seize your self a blue ticket so you’ll be able to leap on the Sky Safari – the cable automobiles taking you over the sunshine show and searching over the harbour to the illuminated rainbow colored buildings within the CBD and Round Quay.
We suggest you do the illuminated stroll right away at 5:30 (it’s darkish sufficient to see every little thing) then leap on the Sky Safari. The lights in Sydney CBD might be on by then so that you’ll get the total Vivid expertise.
Observe: Taronga Zoo didn’t participate in 2024, and haven’t but introduced their involvement in 2025. Verify the web site earlier than visiting to see if they’re collaborating.
Luna Park
Get your classic Vivid on. I bear in mind as a younger baby feeling so upset as a result of I had not but skilled Coney Island at Luna Park, but everybody else at college had and I used to be pressured to hear to simply how cool it was.
I lastly skilled it, and let’s say I had enjoyable with the women on most issues in Coney Island.
Lifelong dream – test!
It’s superb how a lot our world has developed from thrilling actions again within the early 80’s!
Luna Park is in Milsons Level on the north aspect of the harbour and has a shocking view of Sydney Harbour and isn’t usually featured in your basic photographs.
It gives a unique vantage level for Vivid lights on at 6:00pm.
Sizzling Tip: Bounce on the Ferris Wheel at Luna Park after lights on so you’ll be able to see extra of it. You’ll get a fantastic view of the colorful boats cruising up and down the harbour from right here as nicely.
Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a good place to take your youngsters at any time, however throughout Vivid Sydney, Darling Harbour is sort of a sleeping dragon delivered to life!
Head to Tumbalong Park for Tumbalong Nights, 12 nights of free reside music throughout Vivid Sydney weeks.
Royal Botanic Gardens
We didn’t get an opportunity to expertise the Botanical Gardens shows, however heard it’s spectacular with the sandstone partitions lit up.
There’s a cathedral of sunshine you stroll by way of and projections on timber and will-o’-the-wisps’ lighting the bottom. It sounds extremely stunning and pixie-like.
Vivid Sydney With Youngsters
There’s little question about it, Vivid Sydney will seize your youngsters’s consideration prefer it did with our children and they are going to be speaking about what they noticed and skilled for years after.
The partaking mild shows and animations will seize their curiosity and sense of marvel and can assist spark their very own creativeness and creativity.
Vivid could be very child-friendly and a lot of the points of interest are free. Youngsters will love seeing Sydney sparkle in brilliant colours and patterns.
Ideas for experiencing Vivid Sydney with youngsters
- Come early. A few of the lights begin at 5:30pm when the solar is down.
- Don’t simply focus your time on Round Quay. There are various extra precincts with cool mild shows taking place over town now. Take a look at all of the precincts on the official web site.
- Spend a couple of day so you’ll be able to expertise the completely different areas slowly.
- Go to mid-week when crowds received’t be as intense!
- Don’t drive. Make use of all of the public transport choices, there might be further trains and buses operating through the Vivid pageant.
- Stroll – it’s one of the simplest ways to expertise all of what Vivid gives.
- Convey heat garments and put on layers.
- If you happen to come on the weekends, keep away from bringing prams for those who can as crowds might be hectic. Maintain tight onto your youngsters.
- Close by eating places might be busy or convey your personal meals. Sizzling Tip: we went to dinner on the Orient Resort within the Rocks – we obtained a desk nearly right away upstairs and the meals was moderately priced. It was nowhere close to as hectic as elsewhere.
- Bounce on a ferry to get you round Sydney so you’ll be able to see it lit up from the water. Chances are you’ll even need to do a Vivid mild cruise.
- Get an Opal Card and high it up with cash to make public transport journey straightforward. Simply faucet on and off along with your card.
- To get all the main points on how you can expertise Vivid Sydney, take a look at the official web site.
The place To Keep For Vivid Sydney
We stayed on the Vacation Inn Darling Harbour, which has easy accessibility to Darling Harbour and isn’t too removed from Round Quay the place a variety of the buildings participate within the occasion. It’s additionally on the doorstep of Chinatown, which is a good place to eat.
Ideally, you need to keep within the CBD district for Vivid Sydney so you’ll be able to stroll to a lot of the points of interest or be close to to a metro station. The Vacation Inn is a 10-minute stroll to Central prepare station or City Corridor prepare station.
For a listing of the most effective lodging in Sydney together with inns, residences and hostels from finances to luxurious, click on right here.
Are you planning on attending Vivid Sydney? What are you most trying ahead to? Tell us within the feedback!
