54 fun things to do indoors in Sydney

A beautiful new bathhouse has opened in an old industrial warehouse in Surry Hills – and I can think of no better place to pass the time when it’s raining (or really even when it’s not). Each session at Sense of Self includes two hours, where you can hop between magical warm communal baths, mineral pools, saunas and have a scrub in a traditional Turkish hammam. You can hire a robe and towel, scrubs are extra and my personal favourite was the one with ginseng, bamboo, shea butter and goji extract – AKA ‘Hailey Bieber scrub’.

There is a lot to get excited about on the streets of Sydney at the moment. The calibre of restaurants making their grand debuts is nothing short of awe-inspiring. While there are myriad restaurants to choose from in our fair city, we've picked our brains and put together a short-list of the ones we think should be top of your hit list.

Visit the Opera House – but not as you’ve seen it before. Go behind the scenes and uncover the glamorous life of the performers that grace the famous stage. Tours run from 7am.

Overlooking the Domain parklands and established in 1871, the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) is the state's leading museum of art, as well as one of Australia's foremost cultural institutions. The gallery incorporates two expansive buildings – the original sandstone structure to the south, and the sleek new modern building to the north. Visited by more than one million people every year, it holds significant collections of Australian, European and Asian art, and regularly hosts blockbuster exhibitions featuring famous artists. AGNSW is the home of popular exhibitions like Australia's favourite portrait prize, The Archibald Prize, and also hosts parties and festivals throughout the year, including experimental music fest Volume.

Keen to bury the hatchet? Head to this warehouse in Marrickville to perfect your throw. Whether your style is two hands over the head or a one-armed power hurl, you’ll release a lot of stress with every axe that sticks to the board.

The RSL of the '80s is having a comeback at the Sydney brewery's digs in Marrickville. Not only will you be able to knock back a few frothies but you can also enjoy a retro feed at the in-house Chinese takeaway, complete with Lazy Susans and deep-fried Vienetta. 

Discover the MCA’s collection with free guided tours running daily or explore the museum’s temporary exhibitions. Hungry? Head upstairs to Canvas for a gorgeous lunch overlooking Sydney Harbour.

Get closer to sharks, without entering the ocean. You can swim with sharks (who vary in size from 2.5 to 3.2 metres) and other marine life without a cage at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. The question remains: are you brave enough?

It’s all about the ‘look mum, look dad’ here, as the indoor skydiving takes place behind glass in the middle of the venue, which makes being a spectator a popular pastime. They also have a camera taking pictures throughout your ‘dive’ so you can purchase your most impressive pose – complete with g-force cheeks. Even with a hairnet and helmet it’s hair raising stuff. Top tip: take a comb or hairbrush for afterwards.

If you've always wanted to have a crack at painting, but you’ve never had the courage to sign up for a class, now is the time to take the plunge with Cork & Chroma. This Surry Hills studio runs daily beginners’ painting sessions, fuelled by a healthy serve of wine. 

Head to the Art Gallery of NSW on Wednesday for night-time exhibition access and a program of free music, screenings, and talks by experts, artists and celebs.

You’ve no doubt heard of smash rooms, splash rooms and escape rooms. Well, now Sydneysiders are the first people in the world to get up close and personal with ‘challenge rooms’. Plucked from the madcap minds of the team at Funlab, Hijinx Hotel pairs silly good times with a competitive edge. And it also has a fantastically 'grammable cocktail menu to boot.

Located on the site of Sydney’s original Government House, this museum offers a mix of permanent exhibits, nostalgic memorabilia and changing exhibitions that explore the city’s history from settlement through to now.

Who needs alfresco activities when you have every conceivable luxury at your fingertips? Check in to one of these five-star hotels in the city, and live the high life for a night or two.

Hypochondriacs and WebMD enthusiasts, this one’s for you. For a stunning confrontation with your own mortality, pay a visit to this specialist museum housed within the University of New South Wales. In its possession are 2,000 specimens of human disease, obtained from the organs and tissue of autopsied patients who’ve generously given their bodies to science.

This little pocket of Alexandria is the perfect place to hide out on a rainy day. You’ve got indoor warehouses for climbing, boozing and bouldering, like Sky Zone, Rocks Brewery and 9 Degrees – plus an arcade of retro games, bowling and laser tag inside Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq.

The grand old dame of libraries is the oldest in the country – stepping inside you can almost feel the weight of all the words that have been read between its walls. The studious, and those seeking respite from the bustle of the outside world, can ensconce themselves in the high-domed, light-filled Mitchell Reading Room.

This state-of-the-art, four-floor temple to post-millennial Chinese art hosts Judith Neilson’s epic collection, a shop and a tea house that serves dumplings.

There was once a time when every boozer and RSL in the land had a trusty darts board. But that humble pub pasttime has just gone digital, in the fanciest way. Sydney's very first augmented reality darts bar, by the good folks at FunLabs, has just landed in Kings Cross, taking the chucking around of sharp things to brave new frontiers. 

While there's bowling, arcade games and pool tables to show off your skills at Kingpin, it's the laser tag field that really gets our hearts pumping with childlike wonderment. Hiding from our enemy is not how we roll at Time Out, so our strategy for laser skirmish is to enter the unknown and shoot for the opposition’s base – after all, that’s how you’ll score the most points per hit.

This 56-seat Art Deco cinema is a world away from the sticky popcorn covered seats of the multiplex cinemas. Get away from the crowds for an afternoon screening of the latest releases, classic picks or an indie film that isn’t showing anywhere else.

Time Out tip: Make a weekend of it by booking a room upstairs at Paramount House Hotel.

Nature's Energy's beautiful bath houses have to be the best bang for buck when it comes to sweating it out and scrubbing up in Sydney. There are three Nature’s Energy centres in Sydney (Balmain, Newtown and Glebe), each home to hot and cold plunges, saunas, scrubs and expert therapists on hand to help you along with your self-care journey.

A cold breeze is brewing and Elsa is calling. There's a surprising amount of icy fun to be found in Sydney, so you can practice your ice-skating twirls, double axels and graceful tumbles. Click through for our guide to permanent ice-skating rinks as well as temporary pop-ups in Sydney and nearby.

For a super-relaxed pottery-making experience, Clay Sydney is a great chilled-out option. Its most popular sessions are its Wine and Cheese classes, where you can enjoy a drink and a nibble as you learn the basics of ceramics.

We’ve been growing up on May Gibbs books for more than a century now, meaning there’s plenty of happy nostalgia for young and old alike on a visit to the beloved author-illustrator’s home overlooking Neutral Bay. Hark back to when you were a wee gumnut yourself by reliving the adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie featured on the watercolours, postcards and prints scattered throughout the mini-museum.

Is bigger really better? The good folks at Funlab certainly think so. At their entertainment hub in Alexandria, you'll find the nation’s largest indoor mini-golf arena, featuring 27 pun-tastic novelty putt-putt holes spread across three crazy courses. Set in a warehouse with a soaring 14-metre ceiling height, game designers have really been able to think big, delivering some showstopping holes that really need to be seen to be believed – including a 10-metre tall poop emoji (no really), a gigantic recreation of the board game Mousetrap, and a huge TV game show set, just to name a few.

The free karaoke rooms at Goros often fill out on Friday and Saturday nights, but while you’re waiting there’s plenty of arcade games (and drinks and snacks) to keep you busy.

There are three pages of tea on offer at this QVB classic. That’s a whopping 35 teas including their ‘splendid Earl Grey’ blend and a stand-your-spoon-up-in-it assam bari. Sit up nice and straight on your little velour chair and pick at dainties off the three-tier tray – this is old-school afternoon tea in its purest form.

You and your co-players have just one hour to locate the secrets that Agent 'M' has hidden somewhere in the room. To find them, you're going to have to look for clues, follow a bunch of hints and crack a bunch of codes. OooOOOoOoooh.

Closed to the public since 2024, the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills reopened this year. It offers an unfiltered look into the life and works of Brett Whiteley (1939-1992), one of Australia’s most influential artists. Located in Whiteley’s final home and studio in Surry Hills, it's been managed as a museum by the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1995. Get all the details here.

There are a number of indoor go karting tracks around Sydney. This one near Campbelltown is spread over an acre, and it has a fleet of European Sodi go-karts that you can race around the shot-blasted concrete track – great for tyre grip.

World-class acoustics and a diverse all-year program of classical, choral, baroque, chamber and contemporary music make this a great place to take time out and contemplate the bigger things in life – or just tune out with a stunning soundtrack.

When it’s too cold and wet to enjoy Campbelltown's Japanese garden, go inside for the gallery’s exhibitions, or sign up for a ceramics and embroidery workshop.

Whether you want to learn how to fondue (that’s ballet talk for bending, sinking or melting on one leg), high kick or get low, Sydney Dance Company is your one-stop shop for dance classes. There’s absolute beginner right through to advanced.

The narrow entrance to Strike King Street Wharf is somewhat akin to the bowling lanes that are the star of the venue, but there’s a lot more on offer here than pins and spares. There are also five schmick karaoke rooms, three escape rooms and a bright new Japanese pop-art aesthetic.

For a city whose history has always been entwined with its harbour, the sea and water travel, it comes as no surprise that this museum is one of the finest when it comes to maritime treasures. Enter the world of underwater warfare at the National Maritime Museum. Explore the last of the big gun destroyers, board a submarine and learn the difference between port and starboard.

Monster Skatepark is one of the best-equipped parks in Australia, with an indoor street course as well as outdoor ramps. There are sessions for BMXing, skateboarding, girls only and scooters. If you’re a little rusty, you can hire helmets and pads at the park. 

Learn about Australia’s flora and fauna, meet dinosaurs or better understand Earth’s many minerals. Take a look inside Trailblazers – an exhibition on Australia’s greatest living explorers.

IMAX Sydney closed for a rebuild back in 2016, and after a longggg wait, it finally relaunched in October 2023, better than ever, in the W Sydney building. When we say this is huge news, we mean it. IMAX Sydney’s new movie screen is the third largest in the world, spanning a staggering 693 square metres.

At this spectacular venue, architecture and interior design crash together with visual and performing arts in a dramatic yet harmonious meeting, each enhancing and embracing the other for a totally immersive experience – a ‘total work of art’. But perhaps the best thing about Phoenix is that all of its gigs are free, you just need to enter its ticket ballot to be in with a chance of snagging one. So what are you waiting for?

Let loose and don’t worry about what anyone else is thinking – they can’t see you! Join the weekly No Lights No Lycra dance fitness parties in Bondi, Newtown, Parramatta and Warriewood.

Immerse yourself in a cocoon-like sensory deprivation tank. Filled with lukewarm water and mixed with Epsom salts, the relaxation pods create a weightless environment, which encourages deep relaxation. 

American architect Harry Seidler built this house for his parents, Rose and Max. The original 1950s colour scheme has been restored, and the furnishings are by important post-war designers such as Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. It’s run by Sydney Living Museums, and guided tours are available on request.

Find affordable drinks, unpretentious service and a distinctly lived-in atmosphere that makes these Sydney watering-holes comfortable and like you're right at home. sit side-by-side with suits, punks, hipsters, queer folks, uni students and '90s revivalists. The humble dive bar is the great equalizer – where nobody knows your name and that's just fine.

With wall-to-wall marble, silver-leaf wallpaper and a 'Vitality Pool’ as its gushing, blue heart, the Blainey North-designed Crown Spa is a study in interior décor decadence and OTT luxury. Exiting the lift on the sixth floor of Crown Towers Resort, shades of lilac and shiny, sleek marble abound. And once you've put yourself into the hands of this spa's talented technicians, you'll feel just as spenno as your surroundings.

The epicentre of drag in Sydney, famously featured in the opening scenes of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, is also a great place to sit down for a spot of dinner. Best of all, your meal will come with one of the most fabulous nights of entertainment from some of Sydney's best kings, queens and in-betweens.

Sydney's iconic harbourside theme park is home to some totally transporting indoor activities, including the super immersive Dream Circus. If there's a break in the rain, we'd suggest jumping aboard the Wild Mouse roller coaster. 

The Fullerton is a hotel partly housed in what used to be the Sydney General Post Office (GPO), a heritage building that was built back in 1887. It was regarded as a building that would come to symbolise Sydney in the way the Houses of Parliament in Westminster represent London, and the Eiffel Tower, Paris. You can discover the rich history of the building and the Post Office on the 90-minute GPO Heritage Tour. Their resident guide will take you on a journey through time, sharing the tales and legends of the city’s iconic Grand Dame. 

You’ll get a workout while you learn the best strategies for indoor rock climbing at their St Peters location. Sign up for a fun course if you need to learn the ropes (literally) or buy a pass if you're a seasoned rock climber/ boulderer. Warning: it can get addictive.

Contrary to popular belief, there are still pubs that stage live music in Sydney. Many of them have even lashed back at the encroaching frontline of pokie machines and casinos – the money gobblers that seem to be eating our culture like bloated hungry hippos. While some venues have already had their last rites read to them, there are gigs and live music that still thrive in the smaller watering holes of the Inner West and beyond.

Sydney's highest cocktail lounge can be found on the 83rd floor of Sydney Tower and boasts the most spectacular panoramas of the city (even when it's raining). It's got a stellar cocktail menu and retro decor that Austin Powers would be proud of. Get the details here.

From sticky-floored pubs doubling up as heaving rave caves and slick neon-lit dance floors in nightclubs to small bars that transform into late-night party dens when local DJs hop behind the decks, here's where to get down and boogie in Sydneytown.

Do battle against the undead, travel to far-flung corners of the galaxy, and live your best robot life in the distant future – all without ever leaving their Sydney locations in Alexandria and Parramatta. This next-gen VR arena features cutting-edge tech which allows you to roam freely through virtual worlds, without any pesky wires or annoying tethers getting in the way. Find out more here.

At Retrosweat, you’ll jump and shout, stretch and flex to pop tracks from Prince to the Police. The 1980s never looked so good – leotards and legwarmers optional. They also host private Retrosweat events for birthdays, hens, corporate teams. Find out about their classes here.