Transform your Vivid Sydney 2025 experience by viewing the world’s most spectacular light displays from all sorts of different angles. Climb to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge or cruise the harbour, devour the glittering views from harbourside bars and restaurants or discover arresting vistas from lesser-known landmarks – here are some of the many ways you can enjoy a new perspective on Sydney’s annual festival of light. 

Ascend to new heights 

Scaling Sydney Harbour Bridge’s iconic arches is a thrill at any time of the year, but the BridgeClimb Sydney experience transmutes into a magical event during Vivid. Join a nightly Vivid Sydney Climb for an exhilarating front-row seat to the mesmerising tapestry of light and colour stretching out below you, with the illuminated sails of the Sydney Opera House and the kaleidoscope of lights enveloping The Rocks and Circular Quay taking the wow factor up a notch or three.  

While you can’t take a camera or a phone with you on your bridge climb, for everyone’s safety, aspiring photographers can learn how to create incredible night images from a lofty Sydney Harbour Bridge perch during a Vivid Sydney Photography Masterclass on each Monday night of the festival. Enjoy exclusive access to the Gun Deck – a World War II-era anti-aircraft gunnery position atop the bridge’s southeast pylon – as your expert tutor from Sydney Photographic Workshops helps you capture the dizzying array of lights spread out below. (You’ll need your own camera with manual settings and tripod for these three-hour workshops.) 

Prefer a more grounded viewpoint while composing your photographs? Lace up your walking shoes, charge up your camera, pack a tripod and meet your professional instructor at Circular Quay for a three-hour Vivid Sydney Night Photography Course, roaming sections of the Light Walk as you learn the tricks to snapping jaw-dropping images of the festival’s colourful installations.  

Seek out free vantage points 

Think outside the square and you’ll be rewarded with unique vistas during Vivid. Follow Sydney’s savviest festival-goers and take the glass-walled lift at the eastern end of the Circular Quay plaza to discover Cahill Walk, a pedestrian walkway that runs alongside the Cahill Expressway and links Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Royal Botanic Garden. From your raised viewing position you’ll be captivated as the facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia comes alive with Indigenous artist Vincent Namatjira’s thought-provoking King Dingo projection to your left, before turning your gaze to the spell-binding seven-minute animation Kiss of Light playing across the Sydney Opera House to your right.  

Alternatively, make your way to North Sydney by ferry or train to see the Opera House, the bridge and Circular Quay lit up from the foreshore park in Lavender Bay – you can even get the lights of Luna Park into the frame for a quintessentially Sydney photograph.  

Make a splash on the harbour 

Immerse in the magic of Vivid on a Moonlight Sea Kayaking Experience around the Darling Harbour waterfront precinct with Sydney Harbour Kayaks. As the Dreaming story of Tunku and Ngaadi plays out on the roof of Australian National Maritime Museum, you’ll board a two-seater kayak at the museum’s marina for a 90-minute guided tour of the inner harbour. You’ll paddle under Pyrmont Bridge and get up close to the trio of luminous waterfalls of the Samsung Space to Dream installation lighting up Cockle Bay, before heading over to the Balmain East ferry terminal for uninterrupted views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge light show.  

On the northern side of Sydney Harbour, Sydney Kayak Experience guides you in single-seater kayaks from a secluded bay in Kirribilli to a prime viewing position almost under the Sydney Harbour Bridge for ring-side seats to the pulsating panorama playing out across the water during the 90-minute City Lights Night Paddle – Vivid. Take in the ever-changing spectacle in front of you before paddling past Kirribilli House, the Sydney home of the Prime Minister, on your way back to your launching point.  

Cruise past the lights 

Surrender to luxury and let the light installations effortlessly glide into view on a Vivid-themed harbour cruise. Feel spoilt for choice of dining and sightseeing voyages with Captain Cook Cruises – options include multiple departures from Darling Harbour and Manly and range from family-friendly dinner cruises catching the drama of the Lights On moment to a six-course degustation Gold Dinner cruise. Savour a buffet dinner with a side dish of exceptional views on a nightly Vivid Festival of Light Sydney Harbour Cruise with Sydney Princess Cruises, or nibble on canapés and sip a welcome drink as you set sail on a chilled-out sunset cruise from Monday to Thursday with Journey Beyond Cruises. 

Warm up your vocal chords for Tribal Warrior’s Vivid Karaoke Cruise, boot-scoot your way onto a Vivid Honkey-Tonk Cruise featuring a live country band, or simply enjoy one of the Aboriginal-owned and operated cultural cruise operator’s sightseeing cruises departing from the iconic Man O’War Steps beside the Sydney Opera House. 

Indulge all of your senses 

From sky-high bar bars offering bird’s eye views to buzzing restaurants offering dress-circle seats, there are plenty of fabulous spots to wine and dine as you enjoy Vivid’s visual feast.  

Gaze up at the artwork illuminating the Sydney Opera House as you make your way to Bennelong, housed beneath the opera house’s smallest sail, to savour a sensational three-course Vivid dinner in the Dress Circle or sip the restaurant’s bespoke Vivid cocktail Dream Theatre in the Bennelong Bar. Be blessed with the same great view of Circular Quay and the harbour bridge at the Sydney Opera House’s casual pan-Asian eatery House Canteen, or toast the spectacle surrounding you from a prime spot at the open-air Opera Bar.  

Across the water, secure a table at Bennelong’s sister restaurant Quay for dining that dazzles as brightly as the panorama on display beyond its windows, or choose from one of the nearby restaurants at the atmospheric Campbell’s Stores waterfront dining precinct.  

Take to the skies and take in the light displays of Circular Quay in a single glance as you sip a hand-crafted signature cocktail at Blu Bar on 36, high above the harbour at Shangri-La Sydney in The Rocks. At the other end of Circular Quay, indulge in a dream-themed tasting journey as Aster, the rooftop bar at InterContinental Sydney, combines culinary surprises and superb views in Dreamscapes at Aster. 

In Darling Harbour, peer down at the floating waterfalls of the Samsung Space to Dream installation as you dine on French-inspired fare at Atelier Bar and Restaurant in Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour or witness the iridescent display from the equally electric Living Room bar at W Sydney mere metres from the water’s edge.