Max your summer in Sydney

You know it's December when streets and suburbs across Sydney turn sparkly. But sometimes, it’s worth heading out of the city. For instance, just over two hours' north of Sydney you’ll find the Hunter Valley Gardens with its Christmas Lights Spectacular – the biggest Christmas lights display in the Southern hemisphere. Now in its 18th iteration, the Christmas Lights Spectacular is on from now to January 26, 2026 (note: it's closed on Christmas Day) – and is brighter than ever. It's got more than 4.5 million lights sparkling across eight acres, transforming the Gardens into a Christmas wonderland. There are illuminated pathways, immersive installations, festive food stalls and endless photo opportunities – including a towering 3-metre mistletoe (perfect for romantic moments, we say).  What's new in 2025? How about HO HO Harvest where you can wander through the Italian Grotto Garden for the first time; a playful Aussie Christmas cricket display with Santa and the elves playing a match; a Christmas tree farm with a new 6-metre Christmas tree centrepiece; and Santaville, where you can meet Santa and his helpers. Long-time favourites like Candyland, 12 Days of Christmas and family rides like the Spinning Teacups and Ferris Wheel are back. As for food, they'll have wood-fired pizza, tasty burgers and dumplings as well as sweet treats like donuts, churros and gelato on offer.  Christmas Lights Spectacular is on from 5.30pm till 10.30pm every day, except Christmas (with last...

Sydneysiders don’t need many excuses to roll out a picnic rug, pop a bottle of pét-nat and spend a balmy evening under the stars – but this summer, Moonlight Cinema is making an especially solid case. Australia’s most well-established outdoor movie night is officially turning 30, and to celebrate, it’s handing the programming reins over to the people. Yep: for the first time ever, you get to help shape the season’s line-up. Since its debut back in 1995 – opening with a now-iconic screening of Pulp Fiction – Moonlight Cinema has become a staple of the Sydney summer. More than five million people have sprawled across the lawns since then: first dates, proposals, celeb sightings, and countless delighted doggos who’ve come to expect their own bean bag and biscuit as standard. This year, the beloved Belvedere Amphitheatre in Centennial Parklands will once again transform into one of the Harbour City’s most picturesque open-air theatres, with films running throughout the summer from Friday, November 21, 2025 to Sunday April 5, 2026. And while the November–December program is already on sale, the real thrill lies in The People’s Program – a nationwide vote to decide which nostalgic favourites will hit the big screen from January through March. Voting is now open, with film choices including Shrek, Dirty Dancing, The Castle, Jurassic Park and more. Everyone who casts a vote gets 30 per cent off General Admission to People’s Program screenings – plus a shot at winning a Double...

If you've ever wondered what would happen if a kid's drawing of their wildest dream utopia suddenly came off the page and into real life, you're in luck, because that's pretty much what's happening right now beneath the Art Gallery of NSW.  Artist and professional disruptor Mike Hewson has taken over the weird subterranean world of The Tank with his one-of-a-kind new exhibition, Mike Hewson: The Key's Under the Mat, where for the first time ever, all the main lights in the normally pitch-dark Tank will be switched on, revealing a weird wonderland of interactive art pieces and play equipment that have to be seen to be believed. We're talking: A steam room with stained glass windows that you can actually sit in, a functioning sauna with bespoke church pews, five actual operating public barbeques that you can cook on, rushing water to play in (seriously, bring your swimmers), a working laundry,  and a free-to-use recording studio, plus a whole plethora of bright and delightful surprises that are all about getting community together, to do cool stuff, for free. Basically, break your imagination and delete all adult expectations. This is unlike anything we've ever seen.  Kids who aren't afraid of some risk are also one of Hewson's big targets with this show (although parents, rest easy, the floor is specially made out of recycled soft rubber that's rated for use in public playgrounds), with the space also home to a wild children's playground. Intrepid kidlets can test their...

The Art Gallery of New South Wales’ newest exhibition – Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890-1940 – spotlights 50 trailblazing females who were among some of the first to draw attention to the fact that women can make some pretty bloody great art too.  The speedy rate of industrialisation in the 19th century meant a major shift in European society. Artists used it as a chance to reject traditional themes like religion, and instead focused on fresh ways to portray individuals (in a time where it felt like machines were going to rule the world). Meanwhile, women used it as their ticket to pull a seat up at the table. The focus of the exhibition is specifically on our very own Australian and New Zealander artists who made the journey to Europe to immerse themselves in the modernist movement. Gallery-goers can peruse works from historic names like Nora Heysen, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith, and also witness the work of some lesser-known but equally important creatives like CL Allport, Justine Kong Sing and Stella Marks. Featuring celebrated and rediscovered paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture and ceramics, the exhibition includes work by celebrated artists such as Nora Heysen, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith, alongside lesser-known but equally compelling figures such as CL Allport, Justine Kong Sing and Stella Marks. Dangerously Modern’s run in Sydney spans all the way to mid-February so a hot (art) girl summer awaits. You...

It’s part history, part drama – Belvoir St Theatre is taking Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear back to its roots. Named after one of the play’s original titles, The True History of the Life and Death of King Lear and his Three Daughters, reflects director Eamon Flack’s vision to portray more than the story of a king in power – rather, his succession (and the unravelling of it).  King Lear is on the edge of retirement. His plan is simple: pass the throne on to his three daughters who will each rule an equal portion of the kingdom. That is, until power and ego muddies the waters.  The highly anticipated Colin Friels (Into the Shimmering World) stars as King Lear, Alison Whyte (Death of a Salesman) as the Countess of Gloucester, Peter Carroll (Coriolanus) as Fool and they’re joined by an all-star 14-person ensemble. Watch The True History of the Life and Death of King Lear and his Three Daughters at Belvoir St Theatre from November 15 to January 4. Tickets start from $43 – you can book yours here.

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...

It’s hard to name a more iconic Australian live music venue than the Sydney Opera House. In fact, I dare you. And while the Concert Hall, Utzon Room and other architecturally stunning indoor spaces have their merits, a show on the Opera House forecourt – out in the air, with views across the harbour – is beyond special.Last year, the Sydney Opera House On The Steps series brought some of Australia’s most beloved musicians to the Opera House forecourt, with Crowded House, Troye Sivan, Missy Higgins and Tina Arena performing outside of the country’s most famous building, as well as global acts including Two Door Cinema Club, Declan McKenna and Glass Animals. For anyone lucky enough to attend, the On The Steps shows were a highlight of Sydney summer 2024 – gorgeous amber sunsets and joyful crowds gathered on the Mayan-temple-inspired steps to see their favourite artist perform in front of one of the world’s most beautiful city skylines. Now, the organisers have confirmed that On The Steps is coming back for 2025, with this year’s line-up looking better than ever.The first act confirmed to light up the steps for the 2025 summer season will be the iconic Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand, who will be performing a one-off show on Wednesday, December 3. Franz Ferdinand’s forecourt show will be the first time they’ve performed in Australia since 2018, when they brought their distinct breed of post-punk indie rock on a tour around the country. Next up, the hugely talented British...

As I’m on my way to Sydney's Capitol Theatre for the new Australian production of The Book of Mormon, my friend tells me it’s the very first musical a lot of people see. Created by South Park duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone (with Robert Lopez), the show’s reputation for extremely irreverent jabs at religion draws a non-traditional theatre crowd. What I now realise my friend didn’t mean was, “it’s often the first musical kids see”. When I say the musical is extremely irreverent, I mean it. The humour is crass, verging on grotesque (some things I wouldn’t dare repeat). So it’s probably questionable that I’ve brought along my 13-year-old son with me. That said, he loves it.  Some of the humour is classic teen boy (i.e. a regular exclamation from one of the Ugandan characters that he has “maggots in my scrotum”). Very South Park. My son laughs loudly with the rest of the audience – and when the jokes go too far, he cringes, glancing around with a “should I be laughing at this?” look. Although the shock value is high, it’s nice seeing a Gen Alpha-ite who’s been raised on Youtube and other screen-based entertainment bopping along in his seat to the song and dance of a stage show.    What’s the premise of The Book of Mormon? The Book of Mormon tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries sent to a small village in Uganda. Although the story centres on Mormonism, Parker and Stone have been known to refer to the show as an “atheist’s love letter to religion” – a wink and a jab...

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can spit out venom so lethal that there is no antidote. There are not many works which can produce such poisonous sparring and emotional violence with the same acclaim and excellence as Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner’s work is a gruelling feat of art, which director Sarah Goodes tackles with a fresh ferocity and with all the classical nuance and complexity that comes with Albee’s work. What is the premise of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Martha (Kat Stewart) and George (David Whiteley) are a middle-aged couple who have spent their married life at New Carthage University where George works as an associate professor in the history department. The couple arrive home at two o’clock in the morning after attending a faculty party hosted by Martha’s father, who is also the University’s president. During what seems like a slight marital dispute after the party, Martha informs George that she has invited a younger couple who have recently joined the university to their house. As the argument begins to heat up, Nick (Harvey Zielinski) and Honey (Emily Goddard) arrive at the couple’s place just as Martha is cursing at George, foreshadowing the tumultuous night ahead.  The story uses the two couples’ relationships to explore ideas of truth and illusion. By using the privacy of a vicious domestic argument, the audience, like Nick and Honey, become a witness to a generally...

In 2025, we're all rolling around in the screen-fuelled dystopia of the AI-verse, and things are feeling pretty weird. Strangely convincing videos and eerily-real (yet not quite) photos have taken over the internet, and with it, our collective perception of reality. Whether it's the current US President or your mum, there are few folks on the planet today who aren't grappling with the inane and mysterious powers of artificial intelligence. It is this truth that has launched the MCA's newest exhibition, aptly titled Data Dreams: Art and AI, an immersive and first-of-its-kind art show that will sweep through a series of interconnected gallery spaces in the MCA from November 21, 2025 through to April 27, 2026. Featuring the groundbreaking works of ten otherwordly artists from all around the world, Data Dreams is setting itself up to be a guide for all of us confused, bumbling humans who have suddenly found ourselves thrust into the AI age. Through immersive installations, AI-films and hallucinatory imagery, the exhibition aims to make you really and truly question what it means to exist in the AI era, and what we can expect from the years to come.  You'll be pointed through Big Questions, like how technology influences power, how our algorithims are shaping each of our individual world views, and how to navigate an illusory "reality".  The artists asking you to expand your mind come from all over, and each of them have something very fascinating to say. From palawa artist...