Winnie Stubbs

Believe it or not, school holidays is on right now in NSW. And if the thought of keeping the kiddos entertained for the next two weeks sends you into a spiral, we have you covered. Below, you'll find the ultimate round-up of activities and experiences happening in Sydney for kids and families this spring. When is the spring school holidays in NSW?  The spring school holidays for 2025 run from Monday, September 29 to Friday, October 10 –this applies to both the Eastern and Western divisions of NSW. What to do in Sydney in the school holidays? There’s something here for the explorers, the budding scientists, the mini-athletes, the musical prodigies and just about everyone in between. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. Looking for somewhere affordable to eat out with the kids? Check out our guide to the best cheap eats in Sydney. Or visit the best kid-friendly restaurants in Sydney.

​​No one’s accusing Sydney of being cheap, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few budget-friendly hotels to be found in this sparkling diamond of a city. To find the best affordable hotels in Sydney, we’ve done some digging – and have put together this guide based on location, vibe, comfort and, naturally, cost. Our team of writers (including long-time Sydney local Alannah Sue) have tried and tested each stay to make sure the low cost doesn’t mean you’re compromising on quality. Hotel obsessive (Time Out Sydney’s Travel and Hotels Editor Winnie Stubbs) has triple checked the list to make sure it’s up to scratch.   From an off-the-beaten-track four-star secret (Cremorne Point Manor, we’re looking at you) to a fun youth hostel right on the harbour, these are the very best affordable stays in the city.  NB: Be warned, peak season in Sydney has dizzying highs and even the most reasonably priced accommodation can spike over the New Year’s Eve period. So, shop around if you're looking for a place to lay your head over the holidays. Editor's quick picks: Best for sunset views: YHA Sydney HarbourBest for a socially impactful stay: Song Hotel SydneyBest airport accommodation: Moxy Sydney Airport Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED:Can’t stretch to that? Pack your tent and check out the best camping spots near Sydney.Or book a glamping tent at this island campsite

Heading Down Under? You've come to the right place. For almost 60 years, Time Out has been inspiring people to get off the couch and experience the very best of cities worldwide – and now we're here to do the same for Australia. You know the landmarks and the laid-back culture, but there are plenty more incredible things to do in Australia than kissing koalas and yelling ‘g’day mate’. We're a nature lover’s paradise, with highly sought-after food experiences and an impressive cultural heritage to boot. Our team (including Travel & News Editor Melissa Woodley) have sifted through every attraction, experience, event and landmark our nation has to offer and put together the only Aussie bucket list you'll ever need. Whether you want to get amongst art parties in small coastal cities, see fairy penguins scurry across sandy beaches or watch the sunrise over Sydney Harbour from a kayak, there’s so much to explore across this incredible country. Here's our guide to all the best things to do in Australia right now. Editors must do activities in Australia: ⭐️ Best city landmark: BridgeClimb, NSW 🖼️ Best for culture: MONA, TAS 🍷 Best food and drink: Barossa Valley, SA 🌊 Best outdoor adventure: Whitehaven Beach, QLD 🐿️ Best wildlife encounter: Rottnest Island, WA Jump to list:  Landmarks | Culture | Food & Drink | Outdoors | Wildlife 🇦🇺 The top tourist attractions in Australia🌊 The best beaches in Australia

Whether you’re a visitor planning your very first visit to Singapore, or a Singaporean mapping out a special occasion in the city, choosing a hotel in Singapore is an important (and sometimes overwhelming) task. With so many spectacular stays to choose between – from the world-famous Raffles to new boutique stays like 21 Carpenter – it can be challenging to decide which is best for you. To help you determine which hotel to book for your next visit or staycation, our team of local editors (including Time Out Singapore Editor Cheryl Sekkappan, Regional Content Director for Time Out APAC Nicole-Marie Ng and local writer Dewi Nurjuwita) have tried and tested the city’s top-ranking hotels to determine which are worth your time.The list has been overseen by Winnie Stubbs, Travel and Hotels Editor APAC and self-confessed hotel obsessive. Each hotel has been chosen based on amenities, design and proximity to the city’s highlights – with many hotels on the list within walking distance of the best restaurants and bars in Singapore.Read on for our guide to the very best hotels in Singapore right now. RECOMMENDED: The best Singapore attractions to visitThe best rooftop bars in SingaporeAirport hotels in SingaporeThe best luxury hotels in Singapore At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. While we might not stay in every hotel featured below, we've based our list on to

Whether you’re a visitor mapping out your first trip to the Emerald City, or a Sydneysider planning a special-occasion staycation, finding the right hotel in Sydney is an important, sometimes overwhelming task. If you’re looking to book a stay that’s extra indulgent – willing to splash the cash on a high-end experience – choosing the right spot is even more important. Luckily for you, we’ve got a team of hotel aficionados who are committed to trying and testing the very best luxury stays in the city, and deciding which ones are worth your hard-earned dosh (it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it). Our expert team includes connoisseur of fine things Time Out Sydney Editor Avril Treasure and Sydney-based travel whizz Melissa Woodley (Time Out Australia’s News and Travel Editor). Each hotel has been checked for its luxe credentials by Time Out Sydney's Travel and Hotels Editor, Winnie Stubbs. From a celeb-approved harbourside palace (Park Hyatt Sydney) to a stunning beachside stay with a rooftop magnesium pool (Manly Pacific), these are the best luxury hotels in Sydney for a super-special stay. Editor's quick picks: Best for beach lovers: Manly Pacific  Best for harbour views: Park Hyatt Sydney  Best for indulgent spa breaks: Capella Sydney Best dog-friendly luxury stay: Pier One   Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED:Want more options? Here's our full

As a city known for its healthy way of life, Sydney is unsurprisingly home to dozens of spas and skincare salons offering facial treatments to keep the signature sun-kissed glow alive even through the winter months. And while we can’t list them all, we can shine a light on a few wellness sanctuaries offering fantastic skincare rituals to help you feel like your glowiest self, all year round. Read on for our (by no means exhaustive) round-up of Sydney’s best facials. Want head-to-toe treatment outside of the city? These are the best day spas in the Blue Mountains. 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.

Choosing the best hotel to book in Sydney is a delicate art – whether you’re a visitor experiencing the Emerald City for the very first time or a local on a weekend staycation. With so many options to choose between – from beachside boltholes (like the boutique hotel overlooking Watsons Bay) to a trendy converted brewery with a rooftop pool – it can be tricky to decide which hotel is right for you. At Time Out Sydney, we’ve dedicated a good few years to making that task a little easier – picking out the very best hotels in the city based on location, design creds, facilities and that undefinable something that can take a hotel from good to great. Whether you’re looking for a sky-high tower with uninterrupted views of the Opera House, an intimate escape by the beach, or an old-school luxury palace that will have you feeling like a princess, our team of writers (including Editor-in-Chief Alice Ellis and Sydney Editor Avril Treasure) have tried and tested the best hotels in Sydney. To confirm that they should make the cut, this list has been carefully edited by self-confessed hotel addict Winnie Stubbs, Travel and Hotels Editor APAC for Time Out. Read on for our definitive guide to the best hotels in Sydney. 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: These are the best glamping sites in NSW. These are the best camping sites near Sydney. And these are the best spots for a

Say what you like, but Sydney sure loves to party. We can find our boogie on the roof, in the basement, by the pool, even every once in a while in a suburban bowling club. But if you're looking for somewhere to "go clubbing", we've got that covered. Yep, the Harbour City is still finding her dancing feet again in the wake of lockout laws and lockdowns. But if you’re after some dancefloor reverie, you just need to know where to look. For example, while Kings Cross has undergone a total vibe shift from its grungier past, Kings Cross Hotel still offers a multi-level dancefloor bonanza. Or, a pub crawl along a funky strip like Newtown’s King Street might be more your speed, and you can cap it off by falling down the rabbit hole at the purple-hued, 4am-licence-having Pleasure Club. Otherwise, the student crowd should be happy to know that your typical “clubbing” experience can still be found at venues like Cargo Bar. Nostalgic elder millienials will also be stoked to know that Chinese Laundry is back to peg you up on the line.  If you’re seeking a particular vibe or a niche subculture thing, then it's worth seeking out events run by particular producers and party collectives that can scratch the itch for you – for example, the ultra cool club kids of Angels Only Inc. curate surprisingly-welcoming shindigs and wholesome amateur strip clubs, and Raw Gadigal is one of a handful of spaces for authentic techno rhythms that will see your night melt away. Meanwhile, Sydney’s queer commun

If there's one thing that Australia does right, it's really beautiful beaches – and a lot of them, to be precise. With a whopping 12,000 fringing our island continent, it would take you a wild 32 years to see them all – if you tackled one beach per day. Assuming that your 32-year plan doesn't singularly involve beach hopping around Australia (although we can of course dream), we've put together a list of the best beaches in Australia that you should visit this year – or at least once in your life. Each beach on this list has been selected for its remarkable beauty, prime swimming conditions (read: you won't see anywhere with saltwater crocs on this list), and proximity to other incredible activities, so your adventure doesn't end with just one dip. Take the breathtaking Bay of Fires, crowned Tourism Australia's best beach for 2025; the picturesque Whitehaven Beach, recently named the world's best; or the blindingly white Hyams Beach, our Travel & News Editor Melissa Woodley's personal favourite. Now, all that’s left is for you to discover the best beaches in Australia for yourself. 🌊 The best nudist beaches in Australia🏄 Australia's top surf beaches🌈 The best places to visit in Australia

We might be a little biased, but in our humble opinion, Sydney's got it all. Can you think of many other cities in the world that rival its natural beauty, rich heritage and history that dates back thousands of years, and its creative, culinary and cultural offerings by world-class pros? In fact, there's so much to see, do, sip and ponder here, you could be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed. Worry not, dear reader – we're making it simple for you. Our team sifted through every good time the Big Smoke has to offer and put together a Sydney bucket list for the ages. The activities we've chosen will give you a super varied experience of the city – everything from the tourist attractions that are actually worth your time to secret swimming spots that locals know and love.Whether you're a new arrival or a born-and-bred local, this 2025 Time Out Sydney round-up of the city's must-do activities will help you experience Sydney from every angle. After all those great activities you're bound to be thirsty. We suggest you head to one of the best pubs in Sydney right now, or save your cash at one of the best happy hours in the city. Need somewhere to stay? Check in to one of Sydney's best hotels. 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.

When city life feels a little too full-on, it’s natural to crave a moment in nature. To drink a glass of wine from a bath beneath the stars and wake up to the sound of birdsong. The tiny home movement is responding to that need, with architecturally beautiful tiny homes and cabins popping up all across the state – waiting to welcome you for a weekend (or weekday) reset. From six-person cabins on the outskirts of the city to cosy retreats for two hidden in the mountains, we’ve rounded up the most beautiful tiny homes and cabins close (and close-ish) to Sydney. Most are home to alfresco hot tubs or baths, and many are pet-friendly, so you can bring your doggo to frolic with you in the fields.  Want more? Check out our list of the best winter getaways you can take from Sydney. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, event listings and travel inspo, straight to your inbox.

Melbourne is home to its fair share of super-luxe hotels, but there are also hidden gems in every corner of the city where you can rest your head for less than $200 a night. From super central sky-high towers like Oaks on Collins to charming stays on the fringe of the city like The Plough Hotel, Melbourne's budget hotels prove that you don't have to drop 500 bucks a night to enjoy a good night's sleep within striking distance of Melbourne’s best bits. To help you find your best affordable stay, our team of local editors have tried and tested Melbourne’s most well-located low-cost hotels, and Time Out Travel and Hotels Editor Winnie Stubbs has checked the list over to make sure it delivers.For an even more affordable night in the city, share a room with friends (and try to book at least a few weeks in advance). Another top tip from Time Out Melbourne’s team of local editors? Don't be afraid to trade space for location – you're only sleeping, after all. Read on for our guide to the best budget hotels in Melbourne.  Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED:  These are the best places to go camping near Melbourne And these are our favourite glamping sites in Victoria Time Out makes a small commission from the affiliate links included in this article. These links have no influence on our editorial content, but they do help us to bring you more recommendations every week. For more information,

Sundays in Sydney tend to follow a similar (pretty delightful) path: slow breakfasts, market strolls, hot chippies by the ocean and a few schooners in the sun. But if you’re looking to shake up the tried and true routine, the always-on-point Ace Hotel is stepping in with the perfect addition to the mix. For six Sundays this spring and summer, the trendy-as-hell Surry Hills venue is partnering with some of the country’s coolest chefs for a series of afternoon pizza parties. Powered by Gozney (the at-home pizza oven empire), Ace Hotel’s Sunday Arvo event series will see popular chefs (including Ellie Bouhadana, AKA Ellie’s Table) take over the kitchen at Good Chemistry. With live DJs soundtracking each event, the doors open onto the buzzy Foy Lane (home to some pretty iconic laneway parties) and carb-forward menus designed to be eaten standing up, these are set to become Sydney's go-to weekend wrap parties. If you’re looking for a super low-key Sunday, look elsewhere.  Kicking off on Sunday October 5 (yep, the first day of daylight savings), Ace Hotel’s own Izzy Whelan-Little is reuniting with Luke Powell (Bella Brutta, L.P’s Quality Meats) for the first time since the latter closed his beloved Chippendale smokehouse. The pair will be serving up two specials for the occasion – a pepperoni, ricotta and honey number and a classic potato-and-rosemary – available by the slice or by the whole pie. From there, the lineup will keep on delivering: Pizza Oltra’s Drew Huxton joins on Nov

Barangaroo’s beloved Marrinawi Cove might be closed for renovations, but there’s another reason to head down to Barangaroo Reserve this springtime. For the very first time, the foreshore park will transform into a free outdoor cinema, and the program – curated by Winda Film Festival – is an incredible celebration of First Nations storytelling. Running every Thursday from October 2 through November 20, the eight-week season will bring together emerging Indigenous filmmakers from Australia and beyond, with movies spanning everything from psychological horror to uplifting adventures. You’ll catch homegrown features like The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson (a fiery reimagining of survival in the Snowies), Sweet As (the groundbreaking WA feature helmed by Nyul Nyul/Yawuru director Jub Clerc), and Jon Bell’s hotly anticipated chiller The Moogai. The program also dips into the international circuit with BATI, Sweet Summer Pow Wow and Koka. In true storyteller fashion, directors themselves will be on hand to introduce their works – expect to see Leah Purcell, Andrew Ponton, Darrell Dennis and Kath Akyhata-Brown among others on site at the screenings.  Walumil Lawn, fittingly known in the local Dhurung language as Yellamundie Ngurang (“Storyteller Place”), will set the stage. And thanks to support from Placemaking NSW, the event series is completely free. All you need to do is head down to the water, and roll out a picnic rug under the stars. There’ll be food and drinks to b

Need a new profile pic? We’ve got you. One of the world’s biggest immersive experiences has landed in the Harbour City – serving up a fun, surreal backdrop for your Instagram grid glow-up . Bubble Planet: An Immersive Experience is open now at Paddington Pavilion, Sydney Olympic Park, offering Sydneysiders a transporting, ultra-Instagrammable experience. Already experienced by more than two million visitors around the world, with sell-out runs in Milan, Los Angeles, London and Brussels, Bubble Planet is a fantastical world of optical illusions, cutting-edge virtual reality experiences, giant bubbles, and next-level immersive projections. Visitors to the Sydney site can expect to embark on a dreamlike journey through more than 10 otherworldly rooms, home to giant bubble domes, LED underwater-style wonderlands, selfie hubs and VR dreamscapes.  Almost 10,000 tickets were sold ahead of the official opening, so we expect this one will be another sell-out run for the people who brought the incredible immersive Van Gogh experience to Sydney back in 2020. Session at this bizarre immersive world run for between 60-90 minutes, and the experience is suitable for people of all ages – with kids under four welcomed in for free. Keen? You can learn more and snap up tickets over here.  Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, things to do and travel inspo, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED: Want more activity inspo? Here’s what’s on in Sydney this we

Suspended in a bubble of stillness between the Southern Highlands and the Shoalhaven coastline, Kangaroo Valley is as charming as its name suggests. The town itself is a small cluster of heritage-listed buildings on the banks of the Kangaroo River, and the best way to see it is from the water. Operating out of a charming old building just off the town’s main road, Kangaroo Valley Adventure Company (KVAC) is the area’s leading adventure company – offering everything from kayaking tours to guided mountain biking expeditions, self-guided, multi-day canoeing missions and magical hikes through hidden caves. We booked an early morning kayak, and I can’t imagine a more inspiring way to start your day in the area. Under the guidance of the super-friendly, super-knowledgable Billy Hayes (the main player in the family-run business), we paddled under the Hampden Bridge (the oldest suspension bridge in Australia) and down river for two hours, soundtracked by lyre birds and kookaburras, with king fishers dancing on the banks and lizards sunbathing on the rocks beside the rapids.After a hearty pub lunch at The Friendly Inn, Billy led us on an incredible cave walk – through a spectacular sandstone cave system hidden deep within the bush. “Me and dad discovered this one day about 15 years ago,” he told us as we lowered ourselves down into the surreal subterranean chamber. Billy’s dad (Mike Hayes) founded KVAC way back in 1998, and adventure seekers from around the world have trusted the Haye

If you’ve been eating your cereal from old inherited bowls since your last share house, it might be time for a ceramics upgrade. Luckily for you, the Sydney Ceramics Market is returning to Carriageworks soon for its bumper fourth edition. Running from Saturday, October 18 until Sunday, October 19, this year’s event is bigger than ever, showcasing works by more than 130 ceramicists and makers from across NSW and ACT.The 2025 lineup includes 30 emerging Sydney-based artists, alongside other celebrated makers including Milly Dent, Trade The Mark, Simon Reece, Studio Elke and Sooty Ceramics.In addition to this year’s lineup of talented makers, you can catch wheel-throwing demos by the good people at Clay Sydney, meet local engineers Homespun and pick-up specialist ceramic tools by Meet Ceramics.This special event comes amidst a ceramics renaissance of sorts – the centuries-old technique of creating bespoke pieces using high heat has had somewhat of a boom over the past decade, with creatives, hobbyists and Tiktok wizards taking the art to fun new places.For a $8 entry fee (kids under 13 are free) you’ll have access to the work of more than 130 artists and makers who will be showing (and selling) their clay creations. Your kitchen table is about to get a whole lot more aesthetically pleasing – cheers to that. The 2025 edition of Sydney Ceramics Market is popping up at Carriageworks, Eveleigh, from 10am - 5pm on Saturday, October 18 and from 10am - 4pm on Sunday, October 19. You ca

Summer is approaching, and in excellent news for dance music enthusiasts, Sydney’s cultural calendar is about to get a whole lot sweatier. Renowned music curators Finely Tuned (the team behind Lost Paradise and Lost Sundays) have just unveiled a brand-new event series, and it’s on track to bring a whole heap of fun to the Harbour City this summer.  Enter The Works: six warehouse-scale events taking over Carriageworks across summer 2025/26, bringing some of the planet’s biggest electronic music acts to one of Sydney’s most progressive creative spaces. Benefitting from the influx of international DJs hitting Aussie shores for Lost Paradise and other summer festivals (including Victoria’s Beyond The Valley), the lineup is top-tier. Over four weeks, more than 20 local and international acts will roll through, with headliners spanning festival heavyweights, underground heroes and fun, forward-thinking taste-makers who are just starting to make their name. The beloved British electronic duo Underworld will launch the series on December 29, bringing their genre-defining live show to the industrial inner city setting (and yes, you can expect 'Born Slippy'). They’ll be joined by Ross From Friends’ new club-pop project Bubble Love, plus homegrown favourites Roza Terenzi and Reenie. From there, the energy won’t let up. I Hate Models will unleash raw, frenetic chaos on Carriageworks on January 2, flanked by techno maximalist VTSS and rising Scottish DJ Sim0ne. The following night, German

Stepping into the cavernous, Gatsby-coded lobby of Kimpton Margot Sydney, you’ll find it hard to believe that this hotel has only been open since 2022. Thick, scagliola pillars stretch up to the glass-panelled ceiling, velvet booths curve around polished marble tables, and Art Deco-style light fixtures arc their brass stems into the space like luminous prehistoric plants. This doesn’t feel like a new inner-city stay, and there’s a comfy soulfulness in that – it’s a hotel that honours the centuries-old approach to hospitality and reminds you why it’s sometimes a good idea to forgo the Airbnb in favour of a space that makes you feel like a princess. What is Kimpton Margot Sydney like? The vibe of the hotel is old-school grandeur with a playful, epicurean twist. Housed within a heritage-listed building (once the head office for Sydney Water) in the centre of the CBD, it makes a solid base for travellers visiting Sydney for the first time – steps away from most of the city’s best theatres and an easy stroll to Hyde Park. In so many ways, the Kimpton Margot has all of the features you’d expect from a five-star city hotel: luxe rooms, excellent dining options and high-spec facilities. And with 172 rooms, it’s a relatively large hotel – but there’s an intimate atmosphere here and a sense that decisions have been made to maximise fun. Despite its international brand affiliation (Kimpton is a sub-brand of IHG Hotels), there’s a boutique energy that – along with the rooftop pool and ba

There’s something beautiful about visiting a dining room that’s carved out a place in its neighbourhood, businesses that have spent years honing the craft of keeping locals fed and happy. Three Blue Ducks Rosebery – a sustainability-focused, farm-to-table style restaurant housed in a cavernous converted warehouse – is a case in point. The Three Blue Ducks brand was born in the coastal suburb of Bronte back in 2010, inspired by the ethos that food should be “honest, thoughtful and shared.” With that as a guiding principle, “the Ducks” quickly made a name for themselves in the area – famed for their healthy, tasty-as-hell menus and fun, community-focused energy. Six years later, they opened the doors at their Rosebery site – a rustic, ambitiously sized space serving up the same produce-driven seasonal menus and lively, laid-back, distinctly Australian attitude. (repeated: “energy”) NB: the Bronte outpost closed in 2021, and they now have venues in Byron, Bellingen, Nimbo, Melbourne and recently took over the kitchen at the Northern Rivers institution Hotel Brunswick. With the brand now 15 years old, and the Rosebery site approaching its decade mark, it’s worth noting how admirably the Ducks have held onto their crown as one of Sydney’s most beloved farm-to-table eateries. When I visit on a Wednesday in early spring, the huge dining room is buzzing – with families and couples gathering around distressed wooden tables with glasses of local wine and steaks cooked to perfection (ca

Theatre fans, take note. Sydney Theatre Company – Sydney’s largest and most prominent theatre producer – has just dropped the details for its 2026 season. The beautifully varied 2026 season will comprise 13 productions, with more than 80 beloved and emerging performers set to take to the stage throughout the year. Following Kip Williams' departure from the company, the 2026 season will be the first curated by new Artistic Director Mitchell Butel, who joined STC in late 2025. Reflecting on what theatre-goers can expect in 2026, Butel described the 2026 program as a "season of dream teams: celebrating the diversity of Australian storytelling. Highlights from STC’s 2026 season will include three world premieres of brand-new Australian works, the Australian Premiere of the most awarded Broadway play of 2025, the Sydney premiere of a new Australian musical and a handful of other Australian and international plays. If you’re keen to see something new, get in line for the season’s key world premieres: Whispering Jack: The John Farnham Musical (from award-winning writer and director Jack Yabsley), Bennelong in London (by Jane Harrison, the brilliant playwright behind The Visitors and Stolen) and Strong is the New Pretty by Olivier Award-winning playwright Suzie Miller. Bennelong in London will be showing from July 24 until August 16 2026, Strong is the New Pretty will be playing from October 26 until December 5 2026, and Whispering Jack: The John Farnham Musical will be showing from

Calling all arts enthusiasts. Sydney Contemporary, the largest and most diverse art fair in the country, is on right now at Carriageworks – and it's brilliant. Back for its ninth iteration, the incredible art fest has popped up at Sydney’s multidisciplinary arts hub, from Thursday, September 11 until Sunday, September 14 2025. There’s a full four-day program of installations, performances, talks and panels, plus – naturally – a whole lot of stunning art ready to be claimed. As the largest fair to date, this year’s event will also feature a brand new ‘Photo Sydney’ sector, a whole program dedicated to aspiring young artists (appropriately titled ‘Kid Contemporary') and works by more than 500 artists.  First things first: art. As always, Sydney Contemporary will bring together some of Australia and New Zealand’s best galleries, with gallerists and individual artists putting forward a curation of works that speak to the festival’s bold, creative spirit. This year’s booth highlights will include a surreal, grocery store-inspired solo exhibition by New Zealand based installation artist Mike Hewson (presented by Michael Lett), a kooky, thought-provoking installation by Shen Shaomin (featuring 2,000 mechanical carps, with canned carps available for purchase) and the first solo Sydney exhibition of acclaimed Melbourne-based artist Julia Ciccarone. Other top picks on the gallery front include Neon Parc, Ames Yavuz, EG Projects and Sydney’s own Olsen Gallery. The debut of ‘Photo Sydney

Horror fans and fright fanatics, this one's for you. After a super successful debut year, which attracted 115,000 Sydneysiders and visitors to The Rocks, the historic precinct's immersive Halloween fest is back – this time with an upgraded program and spooky-as-hell parties running well into the night. Here's everything you need to know about Ghost Festival 2.0.Back in June of 2024, something spooky cropped up in The Rocks, with visitors spotting what appeared to be a ghost looming in the windows above Sydney’s oldest pub. After a lot of speculation, the “ghost” was later revealed to be a cheeky teaser for a huge Halloween festival, which first popped up in The Rocks last spring. Now, the organisers behind Ghost Festival have confirmed that the huge precinct-wide spook fest will be returning for a second year.Kicking off on October 30, Ghost Festival 2025 will take over The Rocks for four terrifying nights – transforming the entire historic precinct into a spine-chilling phantom’s playground for four days of haunted feasts, spooky storytelling and supernatural experiences. Though the event will play into fantastical Halloween tropes – with “zombies” roaming the streets and tentacles protruding from buildings – it will also lean on the eerie history of The Rocks, with interactive experiences taking inspiration from the precinct’s history. During the daytime, The Rocks will play host to an immersive Halloween market – with stallholders slinging spooky goods and food trucks kee

It’s 6.05am on the first Saturday of spring, and the sun is just pushing up over the ocean – warming the waves and turning the thin line of clouds on the horizon into candyfloss. From our bedroom overlooking the sea, we pull open the doors and carry our quilt and cushions out onto the balcony. We could have stayed there all day, weak morning sunshine like honey on un-sunned skin, the call of kookaburras and the thrum of the ocean the only sounds. We could have, but we would have missed out on the chance to eat plates of perfect Eggs Benedict in the colourful dining room, and to swim in the infinity pool that melts into the ocean, sparkles of light intensified in those first few hours of the morning. If we’d stayed for the whole day, we would have missed the chance to explore the nearby towns, to settle into the spa for a massage and to share a round of cocktails in the pool bar before dinner at the on-site restaurant by one of the world’s most famous seafood chefs. All that’s to say: there’s a lot to do at Bannisters, and none of it will dare to take you out of holiday mode. What is Bannisters by the Sea like? Bannisters by the Sea is like every advert you’ve ever seen for a holiday, and looking back through your camera reel after your stay, you’ll find it hard to believe that you were actually there. Housed in a former motel, the beautifully restored, beach house-style boutique hotel opened in 2002, quickly cementing itself as one of the state’s most lusted-after coastal sta

Melbourne is growing – that’s not breaking news. Back in 2023, it was revealed that Melbourne was on track to overtake the Sydney by 2031. Last year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that Melbourne is currently the fastest growing city in the country, with Melbourne’s population growing by 142,600 people from 2023-2024. So, where are all of these fresh new Melburnians going to live? For around 47,000 of them, we know the answer. The Victorian Government has approved construction of a whole new suburb in the city’s growing outer north – complete with thousands of new homes, eight schools and a whole lot of dedicated green spaces for residents to explore. Melbourne’s new suburb – Beveridge North West – is due to take shape over the next ten years, with Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny approving a plan featuring 15,000 new homes, four town centres, eight schools and 79 hectares worth of parks and reserves (that's 13 times the MCG). Once complete, the suburb will provide homes for more than 47,000 Victorians and support an estimated 3,000 local jobs. Due to come to life over several stages, the Beveridge North West project will begin with the construction of around 2,400 homes, set to be built across 140 hectares. In total, more than 320 hectares of land will be set aside for the project, with future stages set to take shape once the Camerons Lane interchange is complete. According to the Victorian Government, this project is part of a “long-term Greenfield

With 48 countries, spanning magical tropical islands to snow-capped mountains, Asia is one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world. In fact, earlier this year, three Asian cities ranked among the top 10 most-visited cities in the world, and more than 300 million people visit Asia on holiday every year. Each year, the people at Smart Travel Asia release their renowned report on the travel industry in Asia, and the 2025 report has just dropped. We’ll be covering the key findings from the report – first up, these are the top destinations in Asia for 2025. The Best In Travel top destinations in Asia for 2025 1. BangkokA city that hums with energy day and night, Bangkok is where gilded temples brush up against neon-lit night markets, rooftop bars and bowls of spicy noodles that taste like pure joy. With its buzzing cultural scene and excellent hotel landscape, it’s no wonder this Thai city took the top spot for the second year running.  2. Tokyo Tokyo is a sensory feast; from the quiet perfection of its sushi counters to the chaos of Shibuya Crossing, it’s a city that balances the future and tradition like nowhere else. Tokyo also ranked in second place in last year's report. = BaliJumping one place from third place in last year's reprot, Bali ranked joint second with Tokyo. With lush rice terraces, surf-ready beaches and hyper-trendy cafés serving smoothies that look like works of art – Bali’s got a holiday glow that’s hard to shake off. 3. Chiang MaiUp north in the

Update Wednesday, October 1: The Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre issued an Aurora alert on September 30 and, once again, on October 1, confirming a geomagnetic storm is currently in progress. According to the alert, the "Aurora may be observed during local nighttime hours in good observing conditions at high latitudes." Sightings were reported around midnight on September 30 in NSW (Gerroa and Woonona), Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia. Here in NSW, we're lucky enough to have some dazzling natural wonders on our doorstep. But the one that everyone’s been talking about – the magical natural light show known as Aurora Australis – is rarely as visible here in NSW as it is in other Australian states. Over the weekend, a bunch of Aurora Australis sightings were reported in South Australia, Tassie and regional NSW –  here's what we know. Can you see the Aurora Australis from NSW? The Aurora Australis – the light rings that appear in the sky above the South Pole, also known as the Southern Lights – are most commonly sighted during March and September when the Earth’s magnetic field is best orientated to interact with the solar wind. Over the past few days, some Aussies were treated to a late display – with a geomagnetic storm making the lights visible from parts of Tasmania, South Australia and regional NSW.  The huge geomagnetic storm ignited the Southern Lights in such a way that they were visible from some parts of NSW, with sighted reported in the Riverina regi

Asia is home to some pretty incredible hotels. In fact, Forbes recently included 18 Singaporean hotels in its Travel Guide Star Awards, and 15 Asian hotels were recognised in the World's 50 Best Hotels list for 2024, with Thailand's Capella Bangkok ranking as the best in the world. And though many of Asia’s best hotels are legacy stalwarts, there are fabulous new hotels opening across Asia all the time. Every year, the travel experts at Smart Travel Asia release their comprehensive report of the travel industry in Asia, and the 2025 edition has just dropped. Wondering which new hotels to add to your bucket list? Read on. These are the best new hotels in Asia for 2025  1. Dusit Thani BangkokOpened in late 2024 in the heart of Bangkok, Dusit Thani blends classic Thai elegance with modern luxury – think lotus-laden interiors and sweeping city views that feel like pure serenity. 2. The Ritz-Carlton, BangkokA towering new addition to the skyline, The Ritz-Carlton, Bangkok (which officially opened on December 4, 2024) delivers sleek sophistication, rooftop cocktails, and impeccable service right in the city’s bustling core. = Raffles Sentosa SingaporeSingapore’s iconic Raffles landed on Sentosa in March of 2025, bringing the brand’s timeless colonial charm to the tropical location: all palm-fringed pools, breezy verandas, and swoon-worthy service. Photograph: Raffles Sentosa Singapore 3. Capella TaipeiCapella Taipei opened in April of 2025 with a whisper of grandeur, nestled in a

Residents of Pyrmont, rejoice – Darling Harbour’s most dazzling tradition is back to light up your backyard every Saturday for the rest of 2025, following a month of futuristic drone shows.Thanks to support from Placemaking NSW, Cockle Bay Wharf, W Sydney, Darling Square, Darling Quarter and New Sydney Waterfront, Darling Harbour has confirmed that Saturday night fireworks are back – relaunching at 8.30pm on Saturday, October 4. From October 11 right through to the end of the year, the weekly pyrotechnics will shift to a 9pm slot – the perfect excuse to linger over dinner and cocktails before the sky goes bang.   Photograph: Supplied | Henry Li RECOMMENDED READ: These are the best rooftop bars in Sydney Expect bursts of colour, fizzing spark trails and lots of excited (or moderately terrified) kids as the displays return to the waterside precinct. The shows are skipping a few dates (November 1, 8 and 15) to make way for another activation, but otherwise you can count on fireworks lighting up the sky above this corner of Sydney every Saturday for the rest of 2025. With more than 150 restaurants and bars orbiting the harbour, there are plenty of options when it comes to finding a place to perch – Zephyr Bar and W Sydney offer some of the most uninterrupted sky-high vantage points. 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: Night owl? These are the best late-night bars a

Heads up, Sydney commuters: from Sunday, October 19, train timetables across the city and beyond are getting a shake-up. The good news? Most of the changes are pretty minor, but they could mean your usual service leaves a little earlier (or later) than you’re used to – so it’s worth double-checking before you rock up to the platform. The tweaks are part of Transport for NSW’s regular review of services, which aims to smooth out journeys and improve reliability across the network. Here’s the breakdown: T1 Western Line: Granville is getting some love, with 185 extra express services each week. That’s thanks to 22 Richmond–North Sydney trains and 15 North Sydney–Richmond trains now stopping at Granville during off-peak. A handful of other weekday services will shift by one or two minutes at stations including Strathfield, Redfern, Parramatta and Blacktown. T8 Airport & South Line: Two Wednesday afternoon services are being nudged forward slightly. The 1.40pm Central to Sydenham train will now get into Sydenham at 1.50pm (five minutes earlier), while the 2.02pm Sydenham to the CBD service will run two to three minutes earlier through stations including Erskineville, St Peters and Redfern. Blue Mountains, Hunter and Central Coast & Newcastle Lines: Expect a few timetable and platform changes across the week. No dramatic changes, but enough to keep you on your toes if you’re a regular passenger. Plus, if you’re a student or planning around HSC exams, it’s worth noting that buses

Summer in Sydney is a wildly busy time, which makes the upcoming launch of Reset, a serene wellness studio in Double Bay, feel particularly timely – just as daylight savings sets in and signals the start of silly season. Conceived less like a public bathhouse and more like an elevated private residence, Reset is all about stillness, ritual and refined design – a sanctuary of stone, salt and cedar that invites Sydneysiders to, well, reset. Treatments and therapies are designed to restore the body and soul from the inside out, and it's all on track to open later this month. At the heart of the space is a commitment to time-honoured therapies, reimagined with a distinctly contemporary touch. When it opens its doors, we can expect to be greeted with traditional cedar saunas, a halotherapy cave built from blocks of Himalayan salt, vitamin C-infused showers, eucalyptus steam rooms and private, beautifully-designed contrast therapy rooms. Render: Supplied | Reset Unlike some of the city’s sprawling bath houses, Reset is deliberately intimate. The centrepiece is The Circuit: a guided communal ritual for just five guests at a time, taking you through sauna, spa, steam and plunge. There are also two private contrast therapy rooms for a more exclusive experience, plus a red-travertine salt cave designed for meditative halotherapy sessions, and a treatment room offering massage, facials, full-body LED light therapy and IV treatments to give your wellness a boost from the inside. RECOM

Sydney’s housing market is a special kind of hell. As the second most expensive housing market in the world, the housing crisis is one of the biggest issues facing Sydneysiders right now, and the NSW Government is directing a heap of energy towards rezoning suburbs, planning new housing projects and offering new fast-track approaches to building new homes. That’s all promising to hear if you’ve got a few years to wait or a plot of land to build on, but when a new build-to-rent project comes along promising hotel-style amenities and interiors with actual personality, Sydneysiders seriously take note. Situate that development in the beating heart of the city’s trendy Inner West, and you’ve got something genuinely game-changing.  Enter Precinct 75 – a landmark development taking over St Peters’ Taubmans Paint Factory site, that’s part lifestyle destination, part housing experiment, and a whole lot more boutique hotel than apartment block. If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve knocked back a schooner at the onsite brewery, caught an exhibition in one of its artist studios or lingered over a coffee in the café. Those elements of the old precinct are still alive and well, and they’re welcoming some notable new neighbours: a collection of design-led rental apartments that flip the idea of rented apartment living on its head. Render: Supplied | COX Architecture Instead of beige, box-style units, the aesthetic embraces bold colour palettes, statement features and

Asia is home to so many stunning natural wonders, and thanks to the expansion of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme, six of them have just received official protection from the UN. At the 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in Hangzhou, China, more than 2,000 global experts, activists, Indigenous leaders and policy-makers gathered to map out the future of one of the world’s most ambitious conservation projects – and to celebrate a fresh wave of designations that span every corner of the planet. Among them: a cluster of spectacular new additions across Asia that will see some of the region’s most extraordinary ecosystems recognised as UN Biosphere Reserves for the very first time.Since 2018, the programme has expanded by a staggering 142 reserves, bringing more than one million square kilometres of natural areas under protection. Today, there are 785 reserves across 138 countries, covering an area roughly the size of Australia and supporting the 300 million people who live within them. More than just pretty patches of land, biosphere reserves safeguard some of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems – from coral reefs and mangroves to salt marshes and mountain forests. They’re also about people: fostering community-led conservation, creating green jobs, and serving as outdoor classrooms for future generations. Photograph: Pexels | Ayahditra The latest designations spotlight landscapes that are as culturally significant as they are ecologically rich, with seven new ad

When the beloved Café Freda’s closed its doors earlier this year, the people of Taylor Square let out a collective sob. But with a major $200-million development set to bring 2,300 square meters of new retail space and a heap of new creative activations to the western stretch of Oxford Street, the first stretch of the (somewhat controversial) cycleway now open, and other big developments underway up and down the street, the throughline between the city and the Eastern Suburbs is on track for some fresh energy. And starting this spring, Taylor Square will host two new weekly markets designed to lure back foot traffic and inject some buzz into one of Sydney’s most iconic (and recently struggling) strips. RECOMMENDED READ: These are the best markets in Sydney From October 31, you’ll be able to head down on Friday nights (from 5pm until 10pm) for a lively mix of food stalls, retail vendors and a shared licensed area with the Oxford Hotel – meaning you can enjoy a street food-style feed from a market stall and a glass of wine to match, all in the same spot. Then, beginning Saturday, November 8, the focus will shift to fresh produce – with a Saturday morning farmers’ market running from 8am until 2pm every week.   Photograph: Gilbert Walden The new weekly events will be operated by Organic Food Markets – the crew already behind the beloved Marrickville and Kings Cross markets – and mark a deliberate step in the City of Sydney’s long-term push to revive Oxford Street.Once the bea

No weekend plans? We’ve got you. If you’ve ever dreamed of floating above the hills of NSW as the sun rises, now’s the time to make it happen. The Balloon Aloft Hunter Valley Fiesta – an annual event that fills the sky above the Hunter Valley with colourful balloons – is back this weekend (from Friday, October 3 until Monday, October 6). To celebrate its twelfth edition (and Balloon Aloft’s 45th birthday), this year’s event is coming to life with a particularly dreamy theme: Balloons and Bubbles.  Each morning of the coming long weekend, 30 hot air balloons will drift skyward at dawn, carrying passengers over rolling vineyards and mist-shrouded paddocks. The event is already one of the region’s most iconic – but this year, it comes with an extra dose of magic. Passengers will be kitted out with bubble blowers, filling the morning air with a glittering cascade of bubbles. If you ask us, it sounds like a pretty unreal vision: rainbow-coloured balloons set against the golden sunrise, surrounded by a shimmer of bubbles catching the light like Champagne beads. "It’s such a special feeling being on board one of thirty balloons as they float over the valley together at dawn," says organiser Matthew Scaife of Balloon Aloft. "It really is an awe-inspiring experience and a must-do for anyone visiting the Hunter Valley over the October Long Weekend." Photograph: Supplied | Balloon Aloft Once back on the ground, the fiesta will roll straight into a sparkling breakfast at Peterson House

It’s not every day that a development in the CBD stops us in our tracks, but as one of the world’s most sustainably-designed urban multi-use developments, Marina One is no ordinary skyscraper cluster. Dreamed up by Ingenhoven architects and brought to life in collaboration with landscape maestros Gustafson Porter + Bowman, this high-density mega-project has redefined what city living can look like in the tropics. And in the heart of the development, you'll find a magical urban rainforest for a dose of nature in the centre of the city.  At the core of this huge building project – conceptually as well as literally – is the “Green Heart”: a soaring, multi-level garden woven between four spectacular high-rises. Designed to connect city-dwellers with nature, the central garden is a physical reminder of the project’s sustainability credentials. Rising up between steel and glass, 700 trees and 350 plant species soften the geometry of the towers, and shaded walkways buzz with cafés, shops, and food stalls. More than just a pretty oasis, the Green Heart acts as a natural cooling system, its clever geometry channelling breezes to create a microclimate that feels almost miraculous in Singapore’s swelter. The scale of this project is pretty jaw-dropping: Marina One is home to 400,000 square metres of mixed-use space, two office towers boasting 175,000 square metres apiece, and two residential towers housing more than 1,000 apartments and penthouses. That’s homes for 3,000 residents, work