Top 8 Reasons to Visit Sydney during the Cool May Winter

Top 8 Reasons to Visit Sydney during the Cool May Winter

Join Sydney as the city comes alive in a whirlwind of light, sound and colour!

GET READY! Named Australia’s Best Tourism Event for three consecutive years, the Vivid Sydney Festival is back and bigger than ever!

If you happen to be in Sydney from 27 May to 18 June 2016, this is the BEST time to visit the iconic Australian city.

Watch the city transform in a flurry of dazzling light mosaics and installations coupled with intriguing art sculptures. Join the city as she celebrates the largest festival of its kind in an electric three-part celebration of light, music and ideas!

vivid sydney

Vivid Sydney is full of crazy exciting things to do! Don’t know where to begin? Here are 8 things to do to get you started.

1. Take Animal Selfies at the Taronga Zoo Light-Up

Image credit: Vivid Sydney

Calling all animal lovers! This year, Taronga Zoo is joining in the fun with an illuminating light-up of its own. Gaze at ten huge animal multimedia light sculptures, each representing one of ten critically endangered species that Taronga Zoo has pledged to protect. The animal lanterns come in the shape of majestic Asian elephants to the striking Corroboree Frog. Remember to charge your cameras, we guarantee you’re going to be taking lots and lots of pictures! Say cheese!

2. Enjoy a Scenic Cruise along the Sydney Harbour

Image credit: Chris Ruggles

To appreciate Vivid Sydney in all its splendour, one of the must to dos would be to embark on a Captain Cook Vivid Sydney Dinner Cruise. Dine on a sumptuous Australian set dinner and enjoy unobstructed vantage views of the light exhibitions whilst cruising leisurely along the Sydney Harbour – sounds like an absolutely perfect evening to me!

Also read: 5 Vantage Points with the Most Picturesque Views of Sydney

3. Enjoy Ground-breaking Musical Performances with Vivid Music/LIVE

Image credit: Vivid Sydney

For the young and energetic, dance the night away at Vivid Music or Vivid LIVE, programs of cutting-edge music that are bound to show anybody a rocking good time. Choose from a wide range of eclectic live performances, soothing serenades and inspiring artistic collaborations – no matter which you choose, your earworm will most definitely be pleased!

If dancing isn’t quite your thing, catch local and international acts performing at the Sydney Opera House, to other large venues and small bars. From lively and eclectic performances, to ground-breaking musical collaborations, you’re bound to find one or two acts you love.

4. Scale New Heights with the Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb

Sydney Harbour BridgeClimbImage credit: DNSW

BridgeClimb Sydney is one adventure you definitely have to tick off your Sydney #bucketlist. Standing a proud 134 metres above Sydney Harbour, the summit of the bridge promises you spectacular, breathtaking views . Combine the desire for adventure with a dash of courage, and you get a delightful mix of stunning panoramic views, a rush of adrenaline, and the experience of a lifetime! Tip: We recommend doing the BridgeClimb at night, as you don flashing light vests and enjoy music on illuminated dance floor. Watch Sydney transform before your eyes from the summit.

Also read: All You Need to Know About the Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb

5. Sydney Opera House Tour

Sydney Opera House TourImage credit: DNSW

The Sydney Opera House is very much the symbolic icon of Sydney, and rightly so! The Sydney Opera House is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is an architectural masterpiece that stands proudly unrivalled and majestic. Its design is modelled after the sails of ships, and hosts more than 1,600 concerts, operas, ballets and dramas every year.

Embark on an exclusive Sydney Opera House tour, and view the beauty from vantage points otherwise hidden to the general public. Learn about its background from an experienced guide, and be a part of history as you stroll through the hallowed halls that took a whopping 14 years to build. The Opera House is exceedingly spectacular in the day, and even more so at night. Come May, explore the many interactive Vivid Sydney installations in the vicinity and watch the larger than life projections on the sails of the Sydney Opera House. Need we say more?

6. Marvel at the Dazzling Cathedral of Light

cathedral of lightsImage credit: Vivid Sydney

Imagine a quiet buzzing in the air and a glorious twinkling of lights overhead – the lights sparkle and shine, and you feel as if  you’ve stepped into the Milky Way. Be dazzled by the Cathedral of Light, where you get the chance to stroll through a 70-metre long and 8-metre high tunnel of LED light globes. It’s romantic; it’s spectacular; it’s pure magic! The Cathedral of Light can be found at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. To commemorate its 200th birthday, the gardens will come alive with a myriad of 3D mapped projections and interactive installations. There’s no better time to visit!

7. Vivid Light Festival Photography Tour

Image credit: Nicki Mannix

A picture speaks a thousand words, and how better to remember your Vivid Sydney experience than with a series of photographs? Take on a Click Walk Learn Photography Tour for a comprehensive tour of Vivid Sydney’s dazzling exhibits. A guide will patiently walk you through the understandings of aperture, shutter speed and so on, and even look at your cameras before the tour so as to best advise you on how to take the best night shots. Sign up, snap away, and be the envy of all your Instagram followers!

8. Feast your eyes (and stomach) at the Laser-Dragon Water-Theatre

Laser-Dragon Water TheatreImage credit: Vivid Sydney

Are you ready to watch the show of a lifetime? Here at Vivid Sydney, the shows are bigger and better – with the Laser-Dragon Water-Theatre, you just gotta go big or go home. Feast your eyes on a multimedia water extravaganza, complete with four video-projected water-screens, forty 20-metre high vertical fountains, sixteen 25-metre high moving fountains, twenty-two – twenty-two! – 15-metre high flame jets, and a whopping ten lasers. Hold onto your seats as you watch ferocious dragons come to life right before your eyes! Darling Harbour is chock full of delectable seafood joints and bustling bars, so knock yourself out before or after the show – have a blast!

Also read: 12 Adventure Activities You Must Conquer in Sydney

So there you have it, 8 reasons why visiting Sydney during Vivid Sydney is the absolute best time to visit and explore the city. To experience the festival and more, why not check out Dynasty Travel’s 7D5N Best of Vivid Sydney package? The package includes a Captain Cook Vivid Sydney Dinner Cruise, as well as other sightseeing, a Sydney Fish Market Cooking Class, as well as two day-trips to Hunter Valley and Port Stephens.

Enjoy your vivid adventure down under!


This post is sponsored by dnsw-logo

About Author

E-lyn Tham
E-lyn Tham

Having a strong conviction that getting lost is just another adventure in itself, E-lyn takes particular delight in wandering stranger lands, inhibitions and fears thrown asunder. There’s so much left in the world to see, and there’s nothing she would like better than to spend her days dreaming whimsical, thinking adventure, and laughing curious.

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