Sydney Opera House Vivid

Experiencing the Vivid Sydney 2017 Festival

After many years of having the Vivid Sydney festival on our bucket list, we finally managed to make it this year. For 23 nights every year, Vivid transform Sydney in a rainbow of colours with light installations and projections from Australian artists and artists coming from across the globe.

Sydney Opera House Vivid
A colourful Sydney Opera House during Vivid

What is Vivid?

Every winter from late May to mid-June, Sydney comes back to life with the Vivid Festival of light, music and ideas. Vivid is the largest festival of its kind and brings over two million visitors to the city every year. It’s a great way to bring tourists back to the city, who is a lot less visited in the winter months.

The city all lit up
The city all lit up
The MCA all lit up.
The Museum of Contemporary Art all lit up.

In 2017, Vivid had over hundred light installations and projections scattered around the city. But it’s not just about the lights. Vivid also had an array of live performances, public ideas programs, conventions and creative industry workshops.

But the light show is what we came for. And it was truly incredible. Seeing one of my favourite cities in the world all lit up and dazzling was a sight to behold.

The highlights of Vivid 2017

Opera House – Lightning of the Sails

The beautiful Sydney Opera House was, of course, the winner of the show!

Sydney Opera House Vivid
Spectacular light installations on the Sydney Opera House
Light show over the Opera House
Light show over the Opera House
Opera House Vivid

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The iconic Harbour Bridge all lit up.
The iconic Harbour Bridge all lit up.

The iconic Harbour Bridge all lit up.

The iconic Harbour Bridge all lit up.

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour's light show
Darling Harbour’s light show

The Rocks

Organic Vibrations over the MCA
Organic Vibrations over the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Organic Vibrations over the MCA
Music box
Music Box
Under My Umbrella
Under My Umbrella

The Royal Botanic Gardens

The birds of Lumo.
The Birds of Lumos.
Royal Botanic Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens
Electric Forest
Electric Forest
Electric Forest
Electric Forest

Martin’s Place

Urban Tree 2.0
Urban Tree 2.0
Waratah
Waratah

Where to stay during Vivid

In my opinion, staying in one of the hotels near the Harbour is the way to go so you can walk to the show without wasting time in public transport. We had a great stay at the Intercontinental which was only a two minutes walk to Circular Quay. It even had a bar on the top floor where you could have a drink with spectacular views over the colourful harbour.

Alternatively, here are the top reviewed places to stay on booking.com which are all close to the action:

Top reviewed:

Best value: Tiger Hostel Sydney – A recently renovated hostel with capsule beds. Fantastic location in the centre of town.

Best location:

If none of those suit you, try using HotelsCombined to search across all of the top accommodation sites. We use it all the time.

Tips for an enjoyable festival

  • If you can, try and visit mid-week. It gets extremely crowded during the weekends especially the June long weekend!
  • Bring a tripod, you will need it for the perfect shot.
  • Bring some warm clothes. Vivid is in winter and it gets cold. (Yes, Australia does get a winter too!).
  • Bring an umbrella too as the festival is on rain or shine.
  • If you think you can see Vivid Sydney in one night, then you are wrong, because no matter how quick you are this is not going to happen. There are so many areas to check out and Circular Quay with the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House is just one of them. One night is not even enough for this area alone! Try to stay for at least two or three nights to make the most of it.

So if you haven’t made it to Vivid yet, you should try and get there next year. The best thing about it, apparently it gets better every year so it’s never too late to go!

More about Vivid

For more information on the Vivid Sydney festival, click here.

Read More

Top 10 Things to Do in Sydney in Winter

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