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Wendy Whitley's Secret Garden
Photograph: Robert Polmear

The best things to do in Sydney for free

Entertain yourself in and around Sydney without spending a cent

Maya Skidmore
Alice Ellis
Written by
Maya Skidmore
&
Alice Ellis
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Sydney can be a pretty exxy place to live, but if you keep your bargain hunting eyes open, you’ll find heaps of free and cheap things to do on any day of the year. Some of the best things in life really are free. Here's where you can find them in Sydney.

Stay thrifty with one of these 25 fun (and delicious) things to do in Sydney for under $25.

Looking for cheap places to eat? Here's our pick of the best cheap eats in Sydney.

Free things to do every day of the year

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Wander the city's laneways
  • Things to do
  • Walks and tours

We know our friends in the south have the claim when it comes to laneway culture, but if you know where to look, Sydney can give Melbourne a run for its money.

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Free things to do today

  • Things to do
  • price 0 of 4
  • Mosman
If you’ve ever wanted to get seriously close to a Sumatran tiger (without there being a terrible ethical or safety problem in the way), now is your chance. Tiger Trek is an experience that's free (included in the cost of your Taronga Zoo tickets). Attendees are invited to get into a flight simulator that takes them (very quickly) from Mosman to the Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra. Upon landing, you travel through an Indonesian-inspired village, meandering down a path past village shops and through a rainforest that looks uncannily like you’re in Indonesia. At the end, you'll get the chance to meet the three Sumatran tigers who were born at Taronga Zoo in 2019, as well as their beautiful mother, father, uncle and grandmother.  With only 350 Sumatran Tigers left in the wild, these tigers are incredibly important. Sumatran tigers are critically endangered, but as seen through Tiger Trek, all is not lost. Deforestation in Indonesian rainforests has decreased by 75 per cent since the folks over at the zoo began monitoring it in 1990. There has been a steady increase in the consumption of sustainable palm oil worldwide, with shoppers far more aware of the devastation caused by unsustainable palm oil harvesting than ever before. It's easy to feel helpless when it comes to this stuff, which is why one of the coolest parts of Tiger Trek is Choice Mart – this end room of the trek has been built to look like a supermarket check-out, complete with interactive touch screens that show

Eat like a baller on a budget

  • Restaurants

Dining out on a dime is one of this city's great thrills. Here are our picks for Sydney's best eats on a budget. We've tasted everything from banh mi to tonkotsu ramen, biang biang noodles and vegan burgers without breaking the bank. 

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