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Vivid Sydney Festival is a buzzing three week event that takes place next three weeks across May and June, turning the city into a dazzling display of lights, music, and color.
Over 1.7 million visitors flocking to Sydney each year to see one of the world’s most beautiful harbour cities come alive in an annual celebration of creativity, technology and innovation.
We visited for the first three days of Vivid in Sydney, enjoying the lights from as many vantage points around the harbour as we could.
A few years ago, we attended Vivid Live, a music festival held at the Sydney Opera House, but I enjoyed Vivid Sydney way more as it feels like it just keeps getting better and growing bigger.
Vivid Sydney doesn’t just light up the Opera House, but it lights up several participating precincts and landmark buildings and venues.
To find out what it’s all about, and to know what to expect, here is our guide based on our personal experience!
What is Vivid Sydney?
Vivid Sydney Festival is a 23-day event that’s all about lights, music, and creative ideas. It’s the largest festival of light in the world and the largest arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere.
It began in 2010, as a celebration of art, technology and innovation. Since then, it has gone on to win numerous awards, including the Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event at the Australian Event Awards in 2024 and was voted as Australia’s Best Tourism Event for seven years (2013 – 2015, 2017 – 2019, and 2023).
It has also received 18 medals (8 of which were Gold), at the International Festival & Events Association (IFEA) Pinnacle Awards.
Each year, over 80 light installations and projections form part of Vivid Sydney, illuminating the city’s most iconic buildings and landmarks, alighting the city in a rainbow of colours and spectacular displays.
“We invite light artists from around the world — old and young, famous and unknown, students and professors, and crazy combinations of both — to submit their artwork to us through a global expression of interest.”
Creative director, Ignatius Jones.
It’s not just about the lights, though. Vivid Sydney also has a program of public talks and workshops with Vivid Ideas, and Vivid Music energises the city with collaborations dance parties and headline acts at more than 20 live music venues.
Each year, the light displays have a theme. In 2025, the theme is “dreams.”
Vivid Sydney runs from May 23rd 2025 until June 14th and lights come on every evening at 6:00pm after sunset. Check out the schedule of events to plan your trip to vivid.
You watch what it’s like to attend the real Vivid Sydney by pressing play on the video below:
Where To See Lights At Vivid Sydney
As mentioned, the light displays illuminate several iconic places in the city. Here are some places that get’s lit up during Vivid Sydney that you cannot miss.
Note: the images in this guide were taken in 2016, and each year the installations change. What you see will be different from what you see in this guide.
Vivid Light Walk, Sydney Harbourside
Lined up along Sydney harbour around Circular Quay including locations from Walsh Bay to the Botanical Gardens, the Light Walk has more than 60 light art installations, large scale illuminations and 3D-mapped building projections lighting up the waterfront.
Give yourself to time enjoy the colourful and sometimes interactive displays.
Give yourself to time enjoy the colourful and sometimes interactive displays. Here are a few of our favourites along the walk.
Customs House
If your kids like animations, the light display at Customs House is usually very kid-friendly. When we visited, we saw flying blue tongued lizards, the underwater reef world, grumpy gnomes, and dancing witches – it was titled the Hidden Stories of Sydney.
The light show has incredible graphics, bright colours, and is immense fun.
We loved it and I so wanted to be that dancing witch!
Museum of Contemporary Art
The light show on the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) building is also completely covered in lights. When we visited, we watched slow paint dripping down the front of the building.
The girls weren’t too sure at first if they liked it, but with the peaceful music accompanying it I found it quite Zen.
The installation was called The Matter of Painting, and it picks up speed after awhile and integrated many different artistic forms.
The walls start stripping like pieces of paper, it turns to marble painting and then it turned to multi-colours of plasticine.
We loved it as it seemed so real, you could almost feel the texture of the play doh yourself just by watching it.
Fleet Park
In Fleet Park near the MCA, there is usually a few 3D installations where you can capture some Instagram moments! We saw a huge 3D love heart, which says I love you on one side, and then on the other, is the Love-O-Metre.
We got to stand in front of the white heart and shout into the microphone “I love you” and the louder you say it, the funkier things the heart will do, like change colours, turn into a collage of flowers and have bubbling love hearts within it.
The Opera House
Sydney Opera House is the star of the show at Vivid Sydney. Grab a cocktail from the Opera Bar, hustle for some space, and sit back and watch the sails on the Opera House change.
When we visited, we watched the lights change from flowers to colourful birds, to moving snakes and fascinating Aboriginal artworks.
It’s the first time the sails have celebrated Indigenous Art, in an installation they called Songlines.
At the time, six artists were selected from different clans and territories who’s work illustrates the connections between indigenous astronomy and the natural world.
It truly is spectacular and the drawcard for the Vivid Festival. Other great viewing places for the Opera House are in front of Campbell’s Cove on the other side of Circular Quay.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge
Always worth looking at, the steel arches on the Eastern side of the Harbour Bridge are illuminated.
It’s not the star of the show like during New Years Eve and not as spectacular as the other Vivid displays, but blends in beautifully with the rest of the iconic skyline looking so sparkly.
Make sure you spend time on the southern pylon of the bridge, there’s often a dance performance taking place there.
For a more unique experience, consider a nighttime summit of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb.
Cadmans Cottage
Built in 1816, Cadmans Cottage is the oldest surviving residential building in Sydney and worth seeing at any time of the day.
During Vivid, it lights up to tell the story of Sydney’s past.
Just behind it are the narrow cobblestoned laneways, heritage architecture and leafy streets of our favourite area in Sydney, The Rocks District!
Taronga Zoo
For a cheap and fascinating experience, visit Taronga Zoo for their Wild Lights light walk from 5:30-9:00pm.
This illuminated trail through the zoo lights up giant animal multimedia light sculptures and attracts 500,000 guests throughout the Vivid Sydney weeks.
Each sculpture features one of ten critical species Taronga is committed to protecting ranging from the Sumatran tiger, bilbies, and Asian elephant.
We even saw one of the real elephants gently swaying in its enclosure in the dark.
Many parts of the trail have a canopy of turtle lanterns overhead guiding your way. The kids will be enchanted and in awe.
Grab yourself a blue ticket so you can jump on the Sky Safari – the cable cars taking you over the light display and looking out over the harbour to the illuminated rainbow coloured buildings in the CBD and Circular Quay.
We recommend you do the illuminated walk straight away at 5:30 (it’s dark enough to see everything) then jump on the Sky Safari. The lights in Sydney CBD will be on by then so you’ll get the full Vivid experience.
Note: Taronga Zoo didn’t take part in 2024, and have not yet announced their involvement in 2025. Check the website before visiting to see if they are taking part.
Luna Park
Get your vintage Vivid on. I remember as a young child feeling so disappointed because I had not yet experienced Coney Island at Luna Park, yet everyone else at school had and I was forced to listen to just how cool it was.
I finally experienced it, and let’s say I had fun with the girls on most things in Coney Island.
Lifelong dream – check!
It’s amazing how much our world has evolved from thrilling activities back in the early 80’s!
Luna Park is in Milsons Point on the north side of the harbour and has a stunning view of Sydney Harbour and is not often featured in your classic shots.
It offers a different vantage point for Vivid lights on at 6:00pm.
Hot Tip: Jump on the Ferris Wheel at Luna Park after lights on so you can see more of it. You’ll get a great view of the colourful boats cruising up and down the harbour from here as well.
Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a great place to take your kids at any time, but during Vivid Sydney, Darling Harbour is like a sleeping dragon brought to life!
Head to Tumbalong Park for Tumbalong Nights, 12 nights of free live music during Vivid Sydney weeks.
Royal Botanic Gardens
We did not get a chance to experience the Botanical Gardens displays, but heard it’s spectacular with the sandstone walls lit up.
There’s a cathedral of light you walk through and projections on trees and will-o’-the-wisps’ lighting the ground. It sounds incredibly beautiful and pixie-like.
Vivid Sydney With Kids
There’s no doubt about it, Vivid Sydney will capture your children’s attention like it did with our kids and they will be talking about what they saw and experienced for years after.
The engaging light displays and animations will capture their curiosity and sense of wonder and will help spark their own imagination and creativity.
Vivid is very child-friendly and most of the attractions are free. Kids will love seeing Sydney sparkle in bright colors and patterns.
Tips for experiencing Vivid Sydney with kids
- Come early. Some of the lights start at 5:30pm when the sun is down.
- Don’t just focus your time on Circular Quay. There are many more precincts with cool light displays happening over the city now. Check out all the precincts on the official website.
- Spend more than one day so you can experience the different areas slowly.
- Visit mid-week when crowds won’t be as intense!
- Don’t drive. Make use of all the public transport options, there will be extra trains and buses running during the Vivid festival.
- Walk – it’s the best way to experience all of what Vivid offers.
- Bring warm clothes and wear layers.
- If you come on the weekends, avoid bringing prams if you can as crowds will be hectic. Hold tight onto your children.
- Nearby restaurants will be busy or bring your own food. Hot Tip: we went to dinner at the Orient Hotel in the Rocks – we got a table almost straight away upstairs and the food was reasonably priced. It was nowhere near as hectic as elsewhere.
- Jump on a ferry to get you around Sydney so you can see it lit up from the water. You may even want to do a Vivid light cruise.
- Get an Opal Card and top it up with money to make public transport travel easy. Just tap on and off with your card.
- To get all the details on how to experience Vivid Sydney, check out the official website.
Where To Stay For Vivid Sydney
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Darling Harbour, which has easy access to Darling Harbour and is not too far from Circular Quay where a lot of the buildings take part in the event. It’s also on the doorstep of Chinatown, which is a great place to eat.
Ideally, you want to stay in the CBD district for Vivid Sydney so you can walk to most of the attractions or be near to a metro station. The Holiday Inn is a 10-minute walk to Central train station or Town Hall train station.
For a list of the best accommodation in Sydney including hotels, apartments and hostels from budget to luxury, click here.
Are you planning on attending Vivid Sydney? What are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments!
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