You’d be hard-pressed to find a Sydneysider who hasn’t watched, let alone played, a game of sport. Whether a Test Match at the SCG, an A-League tournament at Accor Stadium, or an NRL final at your local sports bar, cheering on our top athletes is just part of daily life Down Under. And it looks like Sydney is the best place to rally around your favourite sports team, with a new study crowning Sydney as Australia’s best city for a ‘sportcation’.
Sports travel has exploded in recent years, which Skyscanner’s 2025 Travel Trends report largely credits to the rise of ‘behind-the-scenes’ sports shows like Netflix’s Drive to Survive, Break Point and Full Swing. In 2023, Sydney hosted more than 600,000 football fans for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with thousands more set to take on our city in the inaugural Sydney World Major Marathon this August. On top of that, the report reveals that more than a quarter of Aussies plan to travel either domestically or internationally to see a sporting event in 2025. And honestly, we totally get it. Nothing beats the buzz of watching the action live, joining a Mexican wave, and maybe even having a cheeky tiff with the opposing team.
While Melbourne has long held the unofficial title of Australia’s sporting capital, a new study by Compare The Market has handed the baton to its rival, Sydney – crowning it as the best city for a sportcation. To determine the ranking, the travel insurance site pitted the cities against each other on seven factors, including the number of sports teams, stadiums, bars, camps and parks.
Sydney took home gold as the ultimate city for sports spectators, with the highest number of sports bars and sports camps in all of Australia. We’re sure this might ruffle some feathers among passionate Melburnian sports fans, who proudly took home silver. But hey, we’ll give credit where it’s due – Melbourne’s the only city in the world to host both a tennis Grand Slam tournament and a Formula One World Championship race – both events that Sydneysiders happily travel to watch.
In terms of Aussie sports teams, it’s more of an even playing field. Sydney is of course the NRL capital, with nine teams compared to Melbourne’s one, while the Victorian capital is the undisputed heart of AFL, with ten teams compared to Sydney’s two.
Sydney and Melbourne are the only two cities to have Olympic Games bragging rights in Australia, but Brisbane’s time to shine is coming in 2032. The Queensland capital currently ranks as the third-best city for a sportcation, with many flying to Brissy to attend the NRL Magic Round – the world’s largest festival of rugby league.
Australia’s most recent Commonwealth Games host city, the Gold Coast, ranked fourth, while Adelaide swooped in at fifth. This year, the South Australian capital broke records for Adelaide Airport's busiest week, with approximately 200,000 travellers descending on the city for the AFL Gather Round. Missed out on the action? You can see what other major Aussie sporting events are coming up here.
The 5 best cities in Australia for a sports holiday:
- Sydney
- Melbourne
- Brisbane
- Gold Coast
- Adelaide
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