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Stars for your Valentine
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The best Valentine’s Day events in Sydney

Find love all over the emerald city and beyond

Written by
Time Out editors
,
Alannah Maher
&
Maya Skidmore
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The day of expensive flowers, bad chocolates and high expectations is upon us. However you may feel about Valentine's Day (Hollywood-esque love, deep hate, cold apathy) know that there are plenty of ways you can authentically celebrate love in Sydney right now – whether that's the love you have for your date, a mate, or your own fine self.

Nobody needs to be left out this year. 

From singles to coupled-up sweethearts, there’s something romantic and fabulous for everyone to do in Sydney on February 14 (which falls on a Tuesday this year), as well as in the lead-up to and fall-out after the big day. Read on to find out all the best dates, best dinners, best first-date bars, and all-round dreamiest things to do on Febuary 14 in Sydney this year. 

At the end of it all Sydney, we think you’ll find that love, actually is, all around.

Things to do on (and around) Valentine's Day

  • Things to do

For the young folk, the poor folk and the folk who just like to run free, love in this economy can be tricky. To all you lovers out there whose weekly budget doesn't stretch to chartering a seaplane (or even just one exotic cocktail at any CBD bar), we hear you and we see you. That’s why we have put together an ultimate list of the coolest cheap and totally free dates available to lovers in Sydney. Each of these options is guaranteed to set you back either nothing or next to nothing. So grab your current cutie, leave your hundred-dolla bills at home and hit the road. Free love, folks, is where it's at. 

  • Film
  • Outdoor cinema

There are advantages to heading to an alfresco cinema – chief among them, you have more room to spread out comfortably on a blanket, and more freedom to chat (or canoodle, or talk smack about Hollywood’s problematic depictions of romance) than the shushing you may encounter at a traditional indoor picture house. Sydney has some rather beautiful outdoor cinema locations, and they’re screening Valentine’s-appropriate movies on February 14. 

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  • Restaurants
  • Restaurants

If you (or your cutie) don't do dairy (or even if you do and you just enjoy an aesthetic cakey masterpiece) you should consider tapping into Miss Sina'sValentine’s Day offering this year. On the day, they'll deliver gigantic donuts covered in flowers, an assortment of high-tea goods, limited-edition donut flavours, huge heart-shaped cookies, a massively plump frosted buttercream cake, and a giant floral cinnamon scroll that will most probably blow your and your lover's socks off. 

 

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  • Restaurants
  • Modern Asian

Whether you buy into the Valentine's Day hubub or not, getting dolled up and going out for a nice meal is pretty much a universal pleasure, especially when restaurants go all out on the special occasion bells and whistles. We've rounded up the restaurants going the extra mile on February 14 this year, so if you're looking to impress or simply down for an epic feed, here's where to head

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  • Restaurants
  • Bars

While the most important part of a romantic date night is, of course, the company you keep, a candlelit dinner and a cosy spot to play footsies certainly add a little something to the vibe of the night. The great news is, Sydney is absolutely awash with intimate eateries and sexy cocktail bars to set the mood just right.

 

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  • Art
  • Galleries

Finding the weather tricky to plan around? Whether it's sweltering outside or drizzling relentlessly, Sydney's art galleries are climate-controlled creative coves where you can wander around, feel cultured, and get a dialogue going around the fabulous discoveries you make. Just check our guide to the coolest exhibitions on the go this month. 

 

 

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  • Things to do
  • Classes and workshops

Perfect technique or pure talent isn’t high on the agenda in this wave of art classes colouring the city streets right now. The relaxed painting sessions encourage patrons to fight artistic self-doubt with liquid courage, so nervous artists can have a less inhibited crack at painting.

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  • Things to do
  • Classes and workshops

If Patrick Swayze's turn in the timeless 1990 movie Ghost taught us anything, it's that pottery is the ultimate romantic medium. The lubrication of a glass of wine (or your favourite tipple) to ease your creative flow doesn't hurt either. Grab a mate or a date and get down to Clay Sydney's Enmore studio for one of their beginner-friendly, BYO-bevvie, clay-building classes.

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  • Things to do

Ring-a-ding-ding! If you and your single mates have been feeling a little rusty in the chatting-up department, this cute Sunday sesh in one of Sydney’s pretty beer gardens might be just what the (love) doctor ordered. In a work-around of the strict table-sitting rules that are part of going out nowadays, the Golden Sheaf has found an inventive way to put mingling back on the table, quite literally. The Double Bay pub is taking note from '70's swingers bars of yore and has installed old-fashioned telephones on the tables.

  • Travel

We’ve rounded up some of the best tiny house escapes across New South Wales that you can knock over in a weekend getaway from Sydney. Most are perfect for a romantic escape for two adults or are the ideal retreat for solo travelers looking for the ultimate me-time. Others have a little more room so you can vaycay with friends, the kids and even the dog. 

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  • Things to do
  • Food and drink

Picture this: the sun is setting over Sydney Harbour, the city lights up, and you’re taking in the views from a cruise ship as Champagne is poured and seafood platters arrive. Or maybe you’d rather take in those million-dollar harbour views over a leisurely long lunch? Whether you’re impressing a date or blowing off steam with friends, Captain Cook Cruises has options for celebrating on the water, with packages ranging from $139 to $265 per person. 

Need something to wrap up?

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