Circular Quay and the Rocks
It’s all bustle and buzz down at Circular Quay, one of the great crossroads of the city. Ferries, trains, buses and light rail bring people from all over Sydney to work and play. This is Sydney’s dress circle, with the Sydney Opera House, Royal Botanic Garden and Sydney Harbour Bridge framing that iconic harbour view. Around the water’s edge are cafes, restaurants and cocktail bars as well as luxury hotels and the striking Museum of Contemporary Art.
Circular Quay
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
Tucked behind the western edge of Circular Quay you’ll find the maze of cobblestone laneways, century-old terraces and cosy pubs that make up Sydney’s oldest precinct, The Rocks. Think of this as the place where the city of Sydney was born and the soul of that early colony still lives beneath the stones. This is where early settlers put up some of the new colony's first homes and businesses, and you can still find bricks hand-hewn by convicts more than 200 years ago. In among this living history is a thoroughly modern crop of stylish cafes, lively bars, quirky art galleries and chic boutiques.
Circular Quay and The Rocks are always the stars of Vivid Sydney. See the city's most iconic sites, like the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Customs House and the Museum of Contemporary Art illuminated by spectacular light displays. Inside these world-famous venues, Vivid Music and Vivid Ideas will inspire with creativity and innovation. Follow the Light Walk along the waterfront and connect with individual bespoke pieces that tell the story of Vivid Sydney. See the harbour itself become a canvas for the world’s greatest light show.
How to get there: Trains, buses and light rail services from all over the city will take you right into the heart of Circular Quay. You can also catch a ferry from Manly, Taronga Zoo and Luna Park in the north, or along the Parramatta River stopping at Balmain and Barangaroo. The Rocks is just a short and picturesque walk around the waterfront.
Light Events
Our Connected City
Composer: Bailey PicklesOur City Connected brings our city together through light. On every other day of the year, Sydney’s buildings stand on their...
Sea, Sand and Stars
Breathe-taking. Whimsical. Profound. Plunge into Guan Wei’s visionary world at the MCA, as his signature iconography illuminates the night. This is the...
"SYNTHETIC HUM(AI)NITY"
We are standing at a literal, and figurative, crossroads. Looming in front of us is the ASN Clocktower, with its three facades illuminated. Humanity is...
Lighting of the Sails: Echo by Julia Gutman
Commissioned by Sydney Opera House and Destination NSW for Vivid LIVE 2024.Denim, hessian, a stitched and bunched patchwork of scrap material – fabric...
Vivid Light on Sydney Harbour
Vivid Sydney goes to sea, with our ferries and boats lighting up in unison with the city’s skyscrapers and the Sydney Harbour Bridge as they sail across...
Faces of Change
The grey of the Harbour Bridge Pylons explodes into a kaleidoscope of surrealistic, colourful life. Watch as Indigenous artist Tori-Jay’s exaggerated...
Embrace
Embrace is a verb. To hold. To accept. To include or contain. Step inside the circle of this interactive installation and actively embrace the joy of human...
First Light
Kick off Vivid Sydney 2024 with First Light, as we welcome a celebration of First Nations culture and continue Calling Country. Set against the iconic...
Connection
Step into a canopy thick with countless LED ropes and connect to our shared humanity.As individuals, we are connected by countless invisible threads —...
Gumscape with Road and Creatures
The classic Aussie road trip turned on its head. Delve into this wild and surreal world as you journey from the familiar to the micro world of bacterial...
Music Events
MO'JU + ZOË COOMBS MARR + Dave Woodhead | Vivid Sydney Supper Club
Step into MO'JU’s world for a night of music, story and truth-telling. This Naarm/Melbourne-based multidisciplinary artist crafts a powerful, unique...
RHYS NICHOLSON + GEORGIA MOONEY + NIKKI BRITTON | Vivid Sydney Supper Club
An intimate chance to be entertained and to laugh a lot, as you sit back and let some of our best tickle you with their talent. Vivid Sydney Supper Club...
UP-LATE PLAY DATE Feat. TIM MINCHIN | Vivid Sydney Supper Club
Close out the glorious Vivid Sydney Supper Club season with the best adults only kids’ party you’ve ever been to. A chance to indulge your inner child...
BEDTIME STORIES | Vivid Sydney Supper Club
Get tucked into bed with a night of weird and (possibly) nightmare inducing storytelling. Vivid Sydney Supper Club curator/hosts and lifelong miscreants...
DIVAS LIVE | Vivid Sydney Supper Club
Strap on your heels and strap in for a fabulous and fitting tribute to the most iconic divas in music history, hosted by fellow diva worshippers’ comedy...
SPECTACULAR GAME SHOW | Vivid Sydney Supper Club
Professional unprincipled hosts, Rhys Nicholson and Georgia Mooney, invite you to Mary’s Underground for a late night live Game Show (read: unscripted...
Dog Trumpet
Join us for an evening where art meets music in iconic fashion with this free and live Dog Trumpet performance at Customs House forecourt.Watch as this...
TANZER + DON'T THANK ME SPANK ME + MICHAEL HING + BEN LEE | Vivid Sydney Supper Club
Dip your well-dressed toe into a night of disco, fabulous fashion, and left-of-field jokes at the Vivid Sydney Supper Club, featuring the unparalleled...
Food Events
Luke’s Vivid Table at the Pylon Lookout
Enjoy a night celebrating the best of human achievement with an extraordinary meal, in an extraordinary location – the South-East Pylon of the iconic...
Aster Vivid 2024
Ascend to Aster, InterContinental Sydney’s premium rooftop bar, for a 270-degree vista of our harbour and a bespoke Vivid Sydney cocktail and two-course...
