The best things to do in Sydney this August

Spend a leisurely Sunday morning in France without the jet lag at these fabulous French markets in Sydney’s north. Le Marché is the only fortnightly French market in the whole of Australia, popping up every second and fourth Sunday of each month at Laurelbank Cottage in Willoughby. Here, you can say bonjour to more than 45 talented Frenchies selling everything from raclette and rillettes to choux buns and Champagne.   Start your morning in Le Marché’s culinary corner, which channels the vibes of a mini French supermarket. Fill your reusable baskets with farm-fresh eggs, truffles, saucisson, duck confit and of course, all the French cheeses your heart desires. Thirsty? Take a detour to sample fine French wines and locally brewed gin, or skip straight to the Champagne bar for a bubbly start to your day.  Experience the lively spirit of a French village market by chatting with Le Marché’s passionate line-up of artisans selling striped Breton t-shirts, colourful berets, linen tablecloths, straw baskets and more. Take a leisurely browse through the stalls, and when it's time to refuel, hit up the hot food stalls serving everything from buttery escargots and boeuf bourguignon to raclette and truffle-infused rotisserie chicken. Seal the deal on your market rendezvous with a flaky croissant, creamy eclair or delicate choux bun. Bring a taste of the markets home too by buying a freshly baked baguette or colourful box of bite-sized macarons.  RECOMMENDED: Hungry for more? Look at our

It’s imperative that you do not eat before you visit the Carriageworks Farmers Markets. You’ll want to save maximum belly space for your personal version of The Bachelorette where you decide who gets your dollars and what delicious produce gets to come home with you. Maybe you like something soupy and savoury first thing? In that case head to Bar Pho for a traditional Vietnamese start to the day. On the veggie train? Hit up Keppos St Kitchen for a falafel breakfast, or head to Food Farm for a classic bacon and egg roll.Once the hounds of your hunger have been quieted it’s time to prepare for your next meal, or seven. Stock up on artisan cheese from Leaning Oak, smoked salmon from Brilliant Foods and Sydney’s favourite sourdough from AP Bakery and brunch is sorted. You can spend a whole lot of money if you want to here, but equally you could just grab a kombucha on tap from Herbs of Life and find a chair for some of the best dog-watching in the city.   Hungry for more? Look at our list of the best markets in Sydney – produce or otherwise. 

Discover the hidden marvels of marine life and the remarkable woman who paved the way to better understanding marine conservation at Valerie Taylor: An Underwater Life. This free homegrown exhibition is more than just a tribute to one of the world’s most celebrated underwater storytellers, shark researchers and conservationists. It’s a call to action for all environmental enthusiasts and future changemakers to protect our beautiful oceans, their animals and their habitats from further threat. Dive straight into 60 years worth of stories as told through objects and ephemera donated by Valerie and her husband Ron Taylor, including cameras and underwater housings, Valerie’s iconic blue fins and dive suits, and the stainless-steel chainmail suit she wore to get up close and personal with sharks. You can also admire Hollywood movie posters from the past fifty years, including Jaws and The Island of Dr Moreau, plus more than 500 images from the Maritime Museum’s collection of animals, people and places now under threat.   Valerie Taylor: An Underwater Life is one of the headline exhibitions in the Maritime Museum’s summer program and will run until August 31, 2024. Be sure to catch the other special exhibitions while you’re there including Ocean Photographer of the Year. For more information on the exhibition head here. 

In excellent news for sauna lovers, what began as a dreamy pop-up has now become a (relatively) permanent feature at Manly’s Quarantine Beach. The 10-person Finnish sauna from Cedar the Salt will be stationed on the shores of Sydney Harbour throughout the winter – offering a very Scandinavian experience from arguably the most stunning sauna location in the city. Sydney's first pop-up seaside Finnish sauna launched as a thirteen day pop-up, but due to huge demand (around 150 sauna-goers per day), it will be staying put until spring. A 45-minute ocean-side sauna experience will set you back $35, and you’ll have easy access to the ocean to cool off between steams. If you’re keen to take over the entire sauna for a celebratory sweat, private sauna sessions are also available, and there's a soundbath experience available for those who went to level up their relaxation. If you want to make the seaside sauna a regular component of your wellness routine, you can nab a pack of three, five or ten sauna sessions.  The sauna is open from sunrise (between 6.30am and 7.15) until sunset (around 4.30pm), seven days a week, with the current closing date currently estimated at "springtime". Keen? You can learn more and book your session over here. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, travel inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox.   RECOMMENDED:  We tried this beautiful affordable bathhouse. These are Sydney’s best spas.These are the best da

The Harbour City does a good line in immersive light experiences, and if you can’t wait until Vivid takes over the city later in May, Luna Park is here to help. The iconic attraction’s newest installation – Sonic Neon – is now open, with tickets on sale until the end of June. Housed in Crystal Palace – a building which dates all the way back to 1935 – Sonic Neon will take visitors on a journey through eight different rooms, with state-of-the-art visuals and a layered soundscape creating a transportive experience. Illuminating more than 150 metres of the historic building, the experience will feature more than 26,000 lights set to a pulsating soundtrack using state-of-the-art technology that’s never been used before in Australia. Tickets to the experience are available now, which you can purchase online or in person. Plus, save money by purchasing bundles like the Lunaverse Superpass, which includes Sonic Neon, Dream Circus and unlimited rides.  The family-friendly rave and experience will run daily from 10am. Tickets for the self-guided Sonic Neon experience (estimated to take around 30 minutes) start at $29 per person. If you’re keen to secure your tickets, you can do so over here.  Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more things to do, travel inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED: Keen for more luminous fun? This immersive experience is coming to the Blue Mountains Lightscape will be taking over the Botanical Gardens

Every Saturday, more than 100 stalls line the grounds of Paddington Uniting Church and the neighbouring public school selling Australian-made fashion, handmade crockery and metal costume jewellery. The market has been operating on the same day since 1973, and the all-weather event is a profitable fundraiser for the church. Many of the stallholders return week on week, like the elderly Japanese couple selling Bonsai trees and the Spanish shoemakers selling espadrilles. It’s predominantly an art, clothing and design market – and alongside the kitsch bric-à-brac and Australiana-print tea towels you’ll find straw hats from local milliners and soft Tunisian-made ‘Turkish’ towels from young Eastern Suburb entrepreneurs. Antique, vinyl and vintage stalls are few and far between, but leather satchels, beach photography prints and patterned baby rompers are two a penny. On a hot day locals gather at the shaded tables and stools by the snack stalls. Turkish women hand roll yufka dough at the gözleme tent and vegetables are blitzed in a blender at the fresh juice stand. Chin’s Laksa stall, proudly MSG and gluten free, is a popular choice – as are the vegan cookies and sourdough scones on offer at the bakery stalls. It has a bohemian flair compared to its Oxford Street location and customers joyfully take up fortune readings, as well as reiki and Japanese massage. It’s an oddball mix, but one that works strangely well in an area known for its designer boutiques and gentrified pubs. Ou

You’ll find massive variety among the 200 stalls that take over Glebe Public School each Saturday morning, but it’s the fashion ones that attract most visitors. There are rows upon rows of eccentric and colourful vintage clothes, alongside hand-crafted jewellery, accessories and new clothing designed by locals. There are vintage stalls scattered all around the market, but the smaller section just off Derby Lane at the back of the school is a goldmine and a slightly quieter place to scour through racks and try things on.  Even if you’re not searching for a new wardrobe, the Markets at Glebe is a great place to grab some lunch and relax on the school lawns where live musicians serenade the crowd. The lane of food stalls – just opposite the lawn – has old market favourites, as well as more high-end offerings. Want to market all day long? Hop, skip and jump over to Rozelle for some more treasures.

Fans of expertly curated market events such as the Finders Keepers will be happy to know there is a bi-monthly market offering a comparable experience a stone’s throw from Luna Park. The second Sunday of every month sees the art, design and fashion iteration of Kirribilli’s historic (est 1976) markets, centred on the weather-proof location of the Burton Street Tunnel right under Milsons Point Train station.  You’ll find quirky millinery by Nitascraft, hilarious knitted parrots, octopuses and Barbie outfits by Irene, and cool laser-etched wooden phone cases by Bare-wood. An antiques corner features groovy typewriters from the 1960s and several stalls offer funny and handmade greeting cards. Vintage spoons are refashioned as bracelets, and if you’ve ever hankered after a large photographic portrait of a wombat, you can get it here – the place is a goldmine for non-tacky Sydney souvenirs. On the last Saturday of the month is the general and fashion market, where punters have been known to snap up luxurious, one-of-a-kind finds from labels like Gucci, Zimmermann and Acne, thanks to the well-heeled crowds selling their wares. Arrival by train is recommended as parking is expensive and hard to come by.  There is an excellent food court area where you can get a roast pork roll, quesadillas, churros, gözleme, paella, blynis, dim sum, banh mi or gelato and sit down undercover to eat them while watching a talented teenage girl reinventing ‘Sweet Child ‘o Mine’. Afterwards, head over t

A new wardrobe doesn’t have to mean popping tags on hundreds of dollars worth of swag, especially when you’re shopping at this long-standing secondhand market in Rozelle. The schoolyard of the Rozelle Public School has been a hive of weekend crate digging for more than 20 years, and while some stalls have almost earned long service leave, there are always newcomers keen to swap their good and chattel for some cold hard cash.The market runs on Saturdays from 9am to 3pm, and you can find bargains for less than you’d spend on a coffee – it’s all about the chase. Don’t be afraid to dig down into the tables of tops and skirts, T-shirt piles and racks of leather jackets. And if you don’t need vintage boots, a floral dress or a designer bargain, stroll through stalls selling antiques, cut glass crystal, old suitcases, DVDs, furniture and bric-a-brac. When you’re completely overstimulated head to the top right corner of the market where a handful of food stalls sell Himalayan fare, fresh juices squeezed on demand, gozleme, and dim sum. Because it’s a school there are no soft drinks sold on site, but a watermelon and rockmelon juice should sort out any dusty heads, and if nothing in the second-hand market grabs your attention, you can always grab a plant from the garden stall on your way out.   Want to know about markets in other parts of Sydney? Here's our guide.

Considering that when Luna Park opened in 1935, the only other major attraction in Sydney was the Sydney Cricket Ground, the Art Deco amusement park has long been a significant site for the city – an important destination for escapism, especially considering it opened during the Depression. Although new rides have cropped up over the years, the heritage-listed park has retained a lot of its original features – which is why there’s been much hype since Luna Park announced that it would be opening a brand-new, first-of-its kind, high-tech attraction to appeal to new audiences and reignite Sydney’s love for the park. An immersive experience created right here by a bunch of talented Sydney creatives and technicians.  On December 22, Luna Park swings open the doors to a high-tech ‘Magic Box’ inside Luna Park’s existing 3,000 square metre Big Top building – a venue for the park’s first immersive adventure, ‘Dream Circus’. Time Out got a sneak peek at Dream Circus before opening day, and we have to say, it’s hard to sum up in a few sentences what you’re in for. It’s part-3D movie, where actors take you on an adventure through the circus, to the seaside, underwater and into magical dream-like states. It’s part-musical, except that the action envelops you on three sides of the room, as well as the floor and ceiling. It’s a little like a Van Gogh Alive or Frida Kahlo multi-sensory exhibition, except that rather than images being projected onto flat wall and floor surfaces, the set is b