Sydney Opera House

Overview:

“The build­ing that changed a nation” – the icon of Sydney’s Har­bour, the famous Syd­ney Har­bour Opera House is not only an archi­tec­tur­al won­der – with it’s mag­i­cal white tiled exte­ri­or designed to look like sails in the wind –  but is also a world class per­for­mance cen­tre play­ing host to thou­sands of the best artists on the plan­et every year – which com­bined with its cen­tral role in Aus­tralian His­to­ry, it play­ing host to Australia’s famous New Year’s eve fire­work show and being the spot for one of the most scenic and mag­i­cal sun­ris­es and sun­sets on the plan­et makes it a tru­ly unique and incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

Sit­ting on a penin­su­la and pro­trud­ing out of the Har­bour bay, the Opera House was designed by the bril­liant Dan­ish archi­tect Jørn Utzon – and after com­ing in some $95 mil­lion over bud­get and almost a decade late after it was hoped to be com­plet­ed, the beau­ti­ful build­ing was com­plet­ed in 1959 – with it’s famous roof wavy sail shaped exte­ri­or – that is made up of more than a mil­lion white tiles — com­ple­ment­ing the Har­bour Below and mak­ing it the archi­tec­tur­al icon that we know it as today.  

Inside, the Opera House is as equal­ly stun­ning, with the gold­en halls and exquis­ite design of the the many stu­dios, con­cert halls and back­stage area’s being dis­cov­er­able on a tour – which gives explor­ers the chance to real­ly peak behind the cur­tain and see how this incred­i­ble build­ing is able to host thou­sands of operas, pantomime’s, rock con­certs and com­e­dy shows all year round fur­ther adding to it’s incred­i­ble cul­tur­al and artis­tic val­ue.  

But the real Jew­el of the Opera house is the incred­i­ble and stun­ning views it affords when lit up by the beau­ti­ful Aus­tralian sun­rise or sun­set – where the reflec­tive tiles tran­scend into bright colours of Orange and Red across the back­ground of the Kalei­do­scop­ic Syd­ney Sky. With this incred­i­ble phe­nom­e­non being best seen atop the oth­er icon of Syd­ney Har­bour the Famous Bridge climb at sun­rise and in the Roy­al Botan­ic Gar­dens at sun­set – with both views being absolute­ly awe-inspir­ing and allow­ing you to see this incred­i­ble archi­tec­tur­al feat in all its glo­ry.  

These breath-tak­ing views com­bined with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to catch world class acts with­in its tem­ple like inte­ri­or and the archi­tec­tur­al design of this stun­ning icon – which leads the way in human inspi­ra­tion under­lines how spe­cial this incred­i­ble build­ing is to the peo­ple of Aus­tralia and helps to fur­ther cement the Syd­ney Har­bour Opera Hous­es place as a beau­ti­ful won­der of the world.  

Where:

Sit­ting at the heart of Sydney’s Famous Har­bour in Aus­tralia, the Opera House is hard to miss with it’s icon­ic and archi­tec­tur­al beau­ty being the focal point of both fes­ti­vals and cel­e­bra­tions. For those using Google Maps – you can find the opera House on the Ben­ne­long Point just round the cor­ner from the Cir­cu­lar Quay metro stop.   

Getting there:

Sit­ting in the heart of Syd­ney Har­bour, the Opera House is incred­i­bly acces­si­bly once you’ve reached Syd­ney. For get­ting to Syd­ney itself you have a range of options: 

By plane: Undoubt­ed­ly the eas­i­est method to reach Syd­ney, the city is served by fre­quent flights from over 30 dif­fer­net air­lines across 10 dif­fer­net air­ports – giv­ing you a range of options to get into the city. The best and busiest is the Syd­ney Kings­ford Smith Inter­na­tion­al Air­port and upon arrival you can eas­i­ly jump on a metro to get to the opera House.  

For those fly­ing in Inter­na­tion­al­ly we’d real­ly rec­om­mend get­ting in by flight – and it’s also a good route, giv­en the size of Aus­tralia, for those fly­ing in from oth­er Aus­tralian Cities, with it being an afford­able and direct route into Syd­ney and allow­ing you to begin your explo­ration.  

By Car: For those with a fear of fly­ing, that it’s also pos­si­ble to dri­ve into Syd­ney from across Aus­tralia – although you’re in for a long dri­ve and some dri­ving con­di­tions. For those trav­el­ling in from Bris­bane or Mel­bourne along the East Coast of Aus­tralia you can expect a full day dri­ving before you arrive in the city – with the time stretch­ing to two days if going direct from Ade­laide.  

How­ev­er dri­ving into Syd­ney takes you along one of the best dri­ving routes in the world when trav­el­ling from any of the major cities   — in par­tic­u­lar Ade­laide or Mel­bourne as you jour­ney across the beau­ti­ful 12 apos­tles road and the pacif­ic high­way – tak­ing you along some of the best beach­es and beau­ty spots on the plan­et. So for those with a camper van or who love a good road trip – dri­ving into Syd­ney by car from across the beau­ti­ful coun­try of Aus­tralia is a true joy – just be pre­pared for a long road trip.  

By bus – Final­ly for those on a bud­get or tak­ing on the clas­sic back­pack­ing route along the east coast of Aus­tralia – you’ll have plen­ty of Bus com­pa­nies that can fer­ry you from around Aus­tralia to the beau­ti­ful city of Syd­ney – with the Grey­hound bus com­pa­ny being the most reli­able and famous route favoured by back­pack­ers.  

Although it may be a bit of a long jour­ney and you may find things get­ting a bit squished – as well as being at the mer­cy of your bus dri­ver as to when you stop – approach­ing Syd­ney by bus is a tra­di­tion­al, afford­able – and often has­sle free way to get to Syd­ney and you can expect to be dropped off right in the city cen­tre as well mak­ing it incred­i­bly easy to get to the Opera House once you arrive in Syd­ney.  

Getting to Sydney Opera House:

Once you’ve arrived in beau­ti­ful Syd­ney, you’ve also got a range of options to get to the won­der of the opera house and Syd­ney Har­bour.  

For those dri­ving into Syd­ney, you can sim­ply car­ry-on dri­ving and head to the Syd­ney Opera House Car Park just next to the opera House. It’s found on Mac­quar­ie Street – although we’d advise park­ing slight­ly out of the area of the opera house as you can expect park­ing to increase the clos­er you get to the opera House.  

For those arriv­ing by Bus or by plane – the eas­i­est way to get to the opera House is by using Sydney’s incred­i­ble Metro Sys­tem and aim­ing for the Cir­cu­lar Quay sta­tion which is eas­i­ly reached on the metro lines T2, T3 or T8  which should cost you no more that AU $3 one way – and from there it’s a few min­utes’ walk into the Har­bour Area and up to the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the Syd­ney Har­bour Opera House.   

Best time to Visit: 

Aus­tralia, Syd­ney and the Opera House are love­ly to vis­it all year round – although you can expect cool­er tem­per­a­tures and the occa­sion­al Rain Show­er in the Aus­tralian Win­ter (April – June) and high heat in the Sum­mer (Novem­ber – March).  

Our best advice for the best time to vis­it would be to time it with the act and per­for­mance that you wish to see at the Opera House if pos­si­ble – or time it with a trip to see the incred­i­ble New Years Eve Dis­play and Fire­works if that takes your fan­cy — with the Opera House being one of the best places on the plan­et to ring in the New Year.  

For those that do vis­it, the best time to vis­it cen­tres on the way you sched­ule your day – being sure to climb the Syd­ney Har­bour Bridge at sun­rise – for incred­i­ble views of the Opera House and the Har­bour as the sun ris­es behind it, then mak­ing sure you leave enough time dur­ing the day to vis­it the inte­ri­or and exte­ri­or of the Opera House, before mak­ing sure you’re at a good spot to wit­ness the incred­i­ble sun­set descend over the Har­bour – for a tru­ly mag­i­cal day.  

Explore:

Sit­ting as a nation­al sym­bol of Aus­tralia, the archi­tec­tur­al feat of the Syd­ney Har­bour Opera House and its mag­nif­i­cent reflec­tive roof — com­posed of the incred­i­ble thou­sands of white tiles that com­bine to form it’s icon­ic sail struc­ture — is not only the icon of the beau­ti­ful Syd­ney Har­bour that glis­tens when viewed from the beau­ti­ful Botan­ic Gar­dens, from the Har­bour itself or from a top the famous ‘coat hang­er’ Har­bour Bridge – but is also home to star stud­ded the­atre, musi­cal acts and per­for­mances through­out the year – with the mighty opera hous­es many halls, recep­tion rooms and stages host­ing world class enter­tain­ment and art year round.  

These per­for­mances – which are found by nav­i­gat­ing through the incred­i­ble maze of cor­ri­dors and hall­ways –com­bined with siz­zling views of the beau­ti­ful Har­bour afford­ed from the many bal­conies with­in the Opera House or topped off with the best of Aus­tralian Cui­sine and Drinks in the Opera Hous­es Restau­rant and Bar means there’s tru­ly some­thing to do for every­one, with the below being our picks to explore the won­der of the world that is the Syd­ney Har­bour Opera House: 

Tour: 

First up and per­haps the most obvi­ous, for those wish­ing the explore the beau­ti­ful Opera House from inside, take in the incred­i­ble views from the bal­conies and under­stand and gaze upon the archi­tec­tur­al feat of the Opera House than a pre-booked tour is the best and eas­i­est option.  

Tak­ing you inside the won­der and giv­ing you a unique chance to explore this incred­i­ble won­der, you can expect a tour to take you round the inside of the palace of the Opera House allow­ing you to mar­vel at it’s stun­ning (and upmar­ket) inte­ri­or, get a peek behind the scenes as per­form­ers and artists warm up and take in some of the venues, orches­tra pits, and halls before you ascend through the many cor­ri­dors and hall­ways as you make your way up to the high­est bal­conies of the won­der for sweep­ing and breath-tak­ing views of the har­bour.   

Oper­at­ing from 9am – 5pm – to ensure that the tours don’t inter­fere with the night time per­for­mances and sched­ules — you’ll have the option of many tours of the inside of the Opera House with our three rec­om­mend­ed being  

Syd­ney Opera House inside Tour: Start­ing at AU $42 this tour takes you round the inside of the Opera House over the course of an hour, and is great for those who want to explore the won­der oper­at­ing on a bud­get and a sched­ule. Begin­ning out­side and tak­ing you under the famous sails and to the bal­conies of the Opera House, you’ll enter inside and be treat­ed to a guid­ed tour through the world class facil­i­ties of the Opera House – includ­ing enter­ing the main halls, the back­stage area and the per­for­mance area of artists — with tours (weath­er allow­ing) cul­mi­nat­ing on one of the many Opera Hous­es many bal­conies for incred­i­ble views of the Har­bour.  

Syd­ney Opera House Back­stage Tour: For those want­ed to tru­ly go back­stage and see the full scope of not only the incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture that makes up the won­der but also how per­for­mances are put togeth­er then the Opera Back­stage Tour is for you. Oper­at­ing ear­ly morn­ing and com­ing in at a per­for­mance fund­ing AU$ 175, the Back­stage Tour will take you along the same route as the inside tour, but give you the chance to see the opera House from a per­form­ers per­spec­tive – includ­ing explor­ing the Orches­tra Pit, tak­ing you into Per­for­mance prac­tice areas and allow­ing you to jump on stage to see the view from an artists per­spec­tive. You will also be treat­ed to an inter­ac­tive his­to­ry of the con­struc­tion of the Opera House and to top every­thing off you can expect to enjoy a deli­cious break­fast in the per­form­ers green room – for a scrump­tious and edu­cat­ing expe­ri­ence around the opera house.  

Syd­ney Opera House & Opera Bar Tour: Comb­ing the best of the inside tour – includ­ing a full tour inside the Opera House and a chance to mar­vel at its stun­ning inte­ri­or and gaze and stand atop the per­for­mance area – the Syd­ney Opera House & Opera Bar Tour (AU $60) com­bines the stun­ning view from the bal­cony with a real treat – a meal in the beau­ti­ful Syd­ney Opera House ref­er­ence when you can snack and toast the beau­ty of Syd­ney Har­bour and Opera House atop one of the best and most scenic restau­rants in the world.  

Allow­ing you to explore the incred­i­ble inte­ri­or of the Opera House and learn about its stun­ning archi­tec­tur­al con­struc­tion, as well as stand atop the stages for an artists per­spec­tive tour­ing the inside of this incred­i­ble won­der is a true and awe-inspir­ing priv­i­lege – espe­cial­ly when topped off with stun­ning views of the Har­bour from the bal­cony and is one of our top picks for explor­ing the incred­i­ble Opera House.  

Get­ting up Close 

Along­side a tour, the beau­ti­ful opera House is also viewed on a leisure­ly stroll around the har­bour and up to the perime­ter of the Opera House itself.  

Per­fect­ly free and a must see when explor­ing the Har­bour, you are able to walk all the way up the entrance – and for those who love pho­tos, stop on the famous steps that lead to the entrance of the won­der from where you can grab incred­i­ble pho­tos of your­self pos­ing on the steps with the full sail of the Opera House in shot.  

From the steps and from the whole of the Har­bour you’ll get to take in the stun­ning exte­ri­or of the Opera House includ­ing the mil­lions of white pan­els that make up the sails of the Won­der and mar­vel at it’s beau­ti­ful loca­tion – with a vis­it at sun­rise or sun­set see­ing the beau­ti­ful exte­ri­or light up and giv­ing you the full beau­ty of it’s icon­ic struc­ture lit up in an array of colours for a tru­ly breath-tak­ing view.  

For those who want to appre­ci­ate the Won­der from all angles we’d rec­om­mend also tak­ing a fer­ry trip across the Har­bour – par­tic­u­lar­ly at sun­set from where you’ll get incred­i­ble views of the Opera House from all angles along­side the shore­line of the Har­bour, and the oth­er icons of Syd­ney – includ­ing the spec­tac­u­lar Har­bour bridge.  

But for some­thing more unique – and for incred­i­ble pho­tos, we’d advise putting some time aside at sun­set and vis­it­ing one of two loca­tions. The first is the Opera Bar inside the Opera House itself – from where you can toast the gor­geous sun­set as you look out over the Har­bour and watch the roof tiles above you glow in the sun­set – with the Har­bour shin­ing equal­ly elo­quent amidst the gor­geous sun­set – just be sure to get there at 4:30pm at the lat­est oth­er­wise you’ll find your­self turned away and the bar at full capac­i­ty.  

How­ev­er our real top pick for stun­ning pho­tos on the ground is to head to the Roy­al Botan­ic Gar­dens and to the beau­ty spot of Mrs Mac­quar­ie’s Chair. From here not only are the gar­dens free to enter but you can kick back on the grass of the gar­dens and watch the beau­ti­ful sun­set over the whole of the Har­bour for absolute­ly stun­ning views as the set­ting sun reflects off both the Har­bours water and the tiles of the Opera House mak­ing for incred­i­ble views.  

Eas­i­ly reached on foot from Mar­tin Place sta­tion you’ll need to head to the west side of Mrs Mac­quar­ie’s Chair and from here it’s a case of tak­ing some snacks and kick­ing back as one of the great­est sun­sets on the plan­et lights up the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the Syd­ney Har­bour Opera House.  

Watching a Performance:

Along with it’s incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture and stun­ning icon­ic sta­tus, the Syd­ney opera House still remains a func­tion­ing Opera House and per­for­mance cen­tre – with the won­der host­ing more than 1,750 per­for­mances every year with inter­na­tion­al acts from Bal­let, Opera, The­atre, Dance, Stand-up Com­e­dy, Pan­tomime and Rock Stars head­lin­ing the per­for­mances dai­ly.  

With some­thing for every­one and tick­et prices that range from AU$15 – AU$2000 you have your pick of tak­ing in an act or per­for­mance with­in the halls and expe­ri­enc­ing the incred­i­ble acoustics and acts with­in the incred­i­ble tem­ple of the Opera House.  

For those who fan­cy watch­ing the inter­na­tion­al acts or the Opera, be sure to book well in advance and for an extra spe­cial expe­ri­ence be sure to com­bine what­ev­er act you take in with a trip to the Opera Bar or the view­ing bal­conies for a the incred­i­ble view and a per­fect way to cap off your trip wit­ness­ing a per­for­mance in the beau­ti­ful opera House.  

For full lists of the upcom­ing  acts and to pur­chase tick­ets vis­it the offi­cial opera House web­site at: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/ 

Badu Gili Light Show:

Mean­ing ‘Water Light’ in Gadi­gal, the Badu Gili Light show is a fas­ci­nat­ing and edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ence that takes place each night after sun­set at 7, 8 and 9pm and see’s a series of tra­di­tion­al Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander art light up the side of the Opera House as dig­i­tal pro­jec­tions and ani­ma­tions retrace the his­to­ry of Aus­tralia on one of its most famous mon­u­ments.  

A cur­rent­ly per­ma­nent pro­jec­tion, the art works are tru­ly strik­ing rep­re­sent­ing tra­di­tion­al Abo­rig­i­nal val­ues and being bright­ly coloured which helps tell the his­to­ry of not just Australia’s orig­i­nal natives but of the coun­try as a whole, with the pro­jec­tion last­ing for 7 min­utes it’s well worth mak­ing time to take in this incred­i­ble pro­jec­tion to add fur­ther val­ue to your trip to the Opera House.  

The Opera House from Syd­ney Har­bour bridge:

The best – and undoubt­ed­ly the most adven­tur­ous – place to get stun­ning views of the won­der of the Opera House sub­mit­ting the more than 1,200 steps to the top of the 134 meter high icon­ic ‘coat hang­er’ Syd­ney Har­bour Bridge is a thrilling buck­et list expe­ri­ence for tru­ly awe-inspir­ing breath-tak­ing views of the won­der.  

Con­struct­ed between 1923 – 1933 – the Syd­ney Har­bour Bridge stretch­es 1,150m across the Har­bour and is not only a high­light for panoram­ic views, but is also the cen­tre piece of one of the great­est fes­ti­vals on the plan­et – the Syd­ney New Years Eve Cel­e­bra­tions.  

An incred­i­ble feat of design, the Har­bour Bridge is also one of the most acces­si­ble and eas­i­est bridges to climb and will see you sum­mit lad­ders, climb cat­walks and tra­verse rivers up to the sum­mit in groups of 14 over the course of one and a half to three and a half stun­ning hours.  

When to Climb: Best of all though, you have the option of when you want to climb  — with their being day time climbs – to cap­ture the Opera House and the Har­bour in full flow, Sun­rise climbs to watch the beau­ti­ful Aus­tralian Sun light­ing up the Opera House and the Har­bour – and, the sun­set climb for a tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar view and a night climb from where you can see the Opera House light up and come alive with the beau­ti­ful evening.  

From our side we’d real­ly rec­om­mend climb­ing at sun­rise – you’ll find not only that the climb is qui­eter but you’ll get an incred­i­ble view of the Opera House as the beau­ti­ful sun ris­es above the Opera House giv­ing an array of colours in the Ear­ly Aus­tralian Sky and some tru­ly spe­cial and mag­i­cal views.  

Climbing Options:

For climb­ing the bridge, you also have the choice of three options, deep­en­ing on how you wish to climb and how far you wish to go: 

Bridge Climb Sam­pler (AU$ 250) – Giv­ing you a taste of the incred­i­ble Har­bour Bridge, the Bridge Climb Sam­pler takes you half way up the bridge over the course of one and half hours, and see’s you sum­mit lad­ders, riv­ets and pylons to a halfway van­tage point – from where you can get Bird­s­eye views direct­ly of the Opera House and the whole of the Har­bour. 

Bridge Climb Sum­mit Express ($AU 388)  – Tak­ing you to the sum­mit, the Bridge Climb Sum­mit Express is for those who have bun­dles of car­dio and ener­gy and want to squeeze a trip up the Har­bour Bridge along­side a range of activ­i­ties – with the Express route tak­ing you a direct climb right to the top over the course of two and a half hours – see­ing you ascend lad­ders and sum­mit the side of the bridge for the fastest route to the top from where you can enjoy incred­i­ble 360 degree views of the whole of the Har­bour for a true bucked list expe­ri­ence.  

Bridge Climb Sum­mit (AU$ 348) – The tra­di­tion­al and most pop­u­lar climb, the Bridge Climb sum­mit is in our view the best expe­ri­ence for sum­mit­ing the Har­bour bridge and see’s you take a more relaxed approach over the course of three and half hours to the top of the bridge, explor­ing the bridge through its sup­port beams, riv­ets and see’s you climb­ing lad­ders to reach the route to the top from where you can take in incred­i­ble views and bask in the beau­ty and take in sim­ply stun­ning views of Syd­ney Har­bour and the won­der of the world that is the Syd­ney Opera House.  

Fit­ness & Pho­tos: Whilst we’d real­ly rec­om­mend the Bridge Climb sum­mit at sun­rise – for both its stun­ning views and for the fact you get more time on the bridge explor­ing at a more relaxed pace – it’s impor­tant to know what’s required on both the fit­ness front and what cam­era gear you can take with you to grab those all-impor­tant pho­to shots.  

On the fit­ness front – in our view the Syd­ney Har­bour bridge is one of the eas­i­est bridges in the world to climb – it’s well guid­ed, you’ll be attached to safe­ty ropes the whole way up and you are able to choose the pace at which you ascend. You can expect a cou­ple of ascents up lad­ders, but the whole bridge climb should only be around 1,500 steps – equiv­a­lent to a light walk – so as long as you’re in rea­son­ably good con­di­tion and aren’t suf­fer­ing from any seri­ous health issues fit­ness lev­els should not be a fac­tor in stop­ping you climb the bridge – and any phys­i­cal exer­tion to sum­mit is well reward­ed with incred­i­ble views.  

On the Pho­tog­ra­phy front – sad­ly only pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phers are able to take cam­era onto the bridge due to safe­ty rea­sons (you are sum­mit­ing an active bridge) how­ev­er you’ll still be able to get incred­i­ble pho­tos of both your­self on top of the bridge and of the sweep­ing views cour­tesy of your bridge guide  — who will fol­low you up and cap­ture the beau­ty of the Har­bour – so be pre­pared and ready to be pho­tographed on the sum­mit.  

The Climb

For the climb itself, the first thing you need to do is to book a time slot on the offi­cial har­bour Bridge climb site and hav­ing got your spot, you’ll find the entrance to the bridge climb and the main bridge climb office under­neath the bridge itself at the bridge stairs.  

Upon entry you’ll be greet­ed by pho­tos of famous faces who have made the climb and then make your­self into the climbers room, where you can expect a safe­ty brief­ing and a breathal­yser test (it should go with­out say­ing that you shouldn’t be drink­ing before mak­ing the climb) and then you’ll get decked out in the famous Bridge Climb suit ready for the incred­i­ble climb and to make your way up to the sum­mit for the incred­i­ble views of the won­der of the Opera House and the beau­ti­ful Syd­ney Har­bour.  

The climb itself begins with a walk back along the pave­ments and into a tight path­way that slow­ly leads you upwards along a pylon – you can expect to stop every 10 min­utes or so as your guide explains the con­struc­tion of the bridge and paus­es to take ques­tions (not includ­ing are we there yet) – before you come onto a series of lad­ders for which you’ll have to ascend close to your part­ners up onto the Pylons of the Bridge where you can begin a direct ascent onto the sum­mit.  

Hav­ing made your way onto the Pylon the beau­ty of the Har­bour will slow­ly open up before you and you’ll climb over riv­ets and make an almost direct ascent to the sum­mit – stop­ping every few moment to hear about the con­struc­tion of the bridge and hear tales of its con­struc­tion.  

As you climb fur­ther up you’ll find the ascent gets eas­i­er and eas­i­er – with han­dle­bars avail­able to sup­port if required – and as you climb and climb slow­ly you’ll make your­self to the sum­mit and stand atop this incred­i­ble bridge – some 134 metres above the waters below you.  

From the sum­mit you’ve then got time to take in the beau­ty of the har­bour and the opera House below you – with your guide sure to point out the high­lights and snap pho­tos of both your­self on the bridge and the beau­ti­ful scenery – and we’d advise mak­ing sure you make time to take in the moment, it tru­ly is spec­tac­u­lar.  

Hav­ing sum­mit­ed the bridge and snapped your pho­tos, it will be sad­ly time to descend – but you can expect this to be an easy descent of no more than 30 min­utes as you take a direct route down the side of the bridge and reflect on both your incred­i­ble achieve­ment of climb­ing the bridge and the beau­ty of the views that you’ve tak­en in from it’s sum­mit – before con­tin­u­ing in explor­ing the beau­ty of Syd­ney.  

New Years Eve:

Final­ly for those who want to see the Opera House lit up in all its glo­ry – then a vis­it to see the famous New Years Eve cel­e­bra­tion at Syd­ney Har­bour Bay is an absolute must. Cen­tred on the Har­bour bridge – but best viewed from the stairs of the Opera House, the New Years Eve Cel­e­bra­tion let’s you take in two incred­i­ble fire­work dis­plays – one at 9pm that lasts for 15 min­utes and one at mid­night that last for some 20 min­utes – that are both set to a series of sound­tracks from the last year and which light up the opera house and cre­ates a tru­ly mag­i­cal way to see in the New Year at one of the won­ders of the world.  

You can also expect not only the fire­works to reflect over the beau­ti­ful white Tow­ers of the Opera House – but also a series of enter­tain­ment and acts cen­tered around the Opera House – includ­ing incred­i­ble pro­jec­tions along­side the side of the Opera House tru­ly being this incred­i­ble land mark to life.  

For those we do plan on catch­ing the fire­works, be sure to book in advance – and you can expect neigh­bour­ing hotels with bal­conies over­look­ing the opera house or the restau­rants and Patios on the opera House itself to not only rock­et in price but also book up months in advance – with the area around the opera House also fill­ing up with thou­sands of peo­ple to watch the spec­ta­cle so be sure to arrive ear­ly and come with plen­ty of snacks to make sure you get great views of the fire­works – and be pre­pared for long delays when exit­ing.  

But for those who want a tru­ly spe­cial expe­ri­ence at the Opera House and who want to ring in the New Year in style – tak­ing in the New Years fire­work dis­play set against the back­drop of the icon­ic Har­bour Bridge and the majes­tic Syd­ney Har­bour Opera House is a tru­ly once in a life­time expe­ri­ence – and is one of the best and most excit­ing ways to see the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the Syd­ney Har­bour Opera House.  

How long to stay 

We’d advise set­ting aside one full day (or split­ting a vis­it into two days based on the per­for­mances avail­able) – begin­ning with an ear­ly sun­rise ascent atop the Har­bour Bridge for incred­i­ble views of the Opera House light­ing up and glis­ten­ing in the gold­en sun – before head­ing to the Opera House steps and explor­ing the out­side being sure to grab plen­ty of pho­tos of your­self on the steps.  

After this we’d advise book­ing a tour of the inte­ri­or and then hav­ing a late lunch on the bal­cony of the Opera House for incred­i­ble views of the beau­ti­ful Har­bour below you – before tak­ing in more of the stun­ning Har­bour as you stroll round to Mrs Mac­quar­ie’s Chair to take in the incred­i­ble sun­set against the opera House – before wit­ness­ing the Badu Gili Light show if it’s on and then tak­ing in an evening per­for­mance with­in the Opera House – for a tru­ly per­fect day.  

Top Tip:

Along­side mak­ing sure you make time to take on the Har­bour Bridge climb at sun­set and treat your­self to a spec­tac­u­lar per­for­mance inside the Opera house – it’s impor­tant to know that for those who fan­cy tak­ing in an inter­na­tion­al or main­stream per­for­mance or a high-class Opera you’ll need to book well in advance – at least three months – as tick­ets sell fast for a chance to view these incred­i­ble per­for­mances in the stun­ning opera House.  

For Peo­ple attend­ing per­for­mances it’s also impor­tant to know that a strict dress code is enforced at the Opera House – for those attend­ing the Opera you can expect to see peo­ple decked out in three-piece suits so it’s advis­able to dress well when attend­ing or risk remarks and pos­si­ble rejec­tion when attempt­ing to enter.  

Along­side that be mind­ful that when you do vis­it the Opera House it’s like­ly to be in the Aus­tralian Heat regard­less of when you go – so come pre­pared with a good hat, plen­ty of sun­screen and enough water to make sure you don’t get dehy­drat­ed.  

Final­ly for those com­bin­ing a trip to the incred­i­ble Opera House with the incred­i­ble New Years eve Fire­work per­for­mances and show – be sure to get there ear­ly (mid­day) to make sure you get a good spot on the edge of the riv­er to wit­ness the incred­i­ble fire­works, com­ing pre­pared with plen­ty of food and water to last till the evening – and per­haps most impor­tant­ly be sure to enjoy the show! – it tru­ly is amaz­ing and one of the best ways to see the incred­i­ble won­der of the world of the opera House.  

Cost:

Hav­ing got­ten your­self to Syd­ney and to the Har­bour how much you spend view­ing the Opera House is real­ly up to your­self, your bud­get and how far you wish to explore the incred­i­ble Opera House. 

For those on a bud­get – there is no cost to see the Opera House – take incred­i­ble pho­tos on its steps, view it from the amaz­ing Mrs Mac­quar­ie’s Chair view­point and watch the inspir­ing Badu Gili Light Show or the incred­i­ble New Years Eve Fire­works – so you have the option to lay eyes upon the incred­i­ble won­der com­plete­ly free of charge.  

For those who want breath-tak­ing views and a shot of Adren­a­line then you should take on the Har­bour Bridge climb for one of the great­est Bridge Climbs on the plan­et. You can expect pris­es for the halfway tour on the Bridge Climb Sam­pler to clock in at AU$ 250, with the express route to the sum­mit  cost­ing $AU 388 – and our pick the tra­di­tion­al Bridge Climb Sum­mit to clock in at AU$ 348. 

For those want­i­ng to go fur­ther an real­ly under­stand the cre­ation of the Opera House, it’s stun­ning archi­tec­ture and explore it’s mag­nif­i­cent Inte­ri­or then you’ll want to get your­self on a tour – with the Inside Tour start­ing at $AU 42 and run­ning every half hour between 9am – 5am, you also have our pick of the tours the  Syd­ney Opera House & Opera Bar Tour that clocks in at $AU 60 and which includes all the high­lights of the inside tour but with a trip to the incred­i­ble Opera House restau­rant and Bar – and for those who want to go that step fur­ther and real­ly see behind the cur­tain as to how the mag­ic hap­pens to put on the thou­sands of per­for­mances over the years, you have the Syd­ney Opera House Back­stage Tour which comes in at AU $175 and which fea­tures the chance to watch prac­tices as well as have break­fast in the exclu­sive green room nor­mal­ly reserved for the stars.  

Final­ly, for those who want a ful­ly authen­tic expe­ri­ence at the Opera House and a tru­ly mem­o­rable expe­ri­ence than tak­ing in one of the thou­sand of shows that are put on year­ly is for you – and you will have your pick not only of the kind of show you get to take in – includ­ing world class opera, con­certs, bal­let, pan­tomime or com­e­dy but also find­ing a per­for­mance that is well with­in your bud­get with prices rang­ing from between AU $15 – AU $2000 – giv­ing you a chance to expe­ri­ence a show in either lux­u­ry or on the floor for the com­plete Opera House expe­ri­ence.  

All told a trip to the Opera House can then either be com­plete­ly free or for those who expe­ri­ence all this incred­i­ble won­der has to offer between AU $300 – AU $2500. 

Fun Fact:

Along with being a UNESCO world Her­itage Site, the Opera House is a true feat of Archi­tec­tur­al beau­ty with its icon­ic sails and the more than one mil­lion Tiles that make up reflec­tive roofs being spe­cial­ly designed by the bril­liant mind of Dan­ish archi­tect Jørn Utzon – although his ini­tial designs were a lit­tle opti­mistic with the con­struc­tion of the Opera House tak­ing 14 years over the ini­tial esti­mate of 4 years and cost­ing a whop­ping was $102 mil­lion over the ini­tial esti­mate of $7 mil­lion – still a price worth pay­ing in our book for the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the opera House.  

Best photo spot:

A stun­ning and incred­i­ble icon, the Opera House looks great from every angle and makes for stun­ning pho­tos regard­less of where you pho­to­graph it – but in our book there’s four absolute most have gor­geous shots of this incred­i­ble won­der that give you the full beau­ty and scop of this incred­i­ble won­der.  

On the stairs of the Opera House 

First up, and as obvi­ous as it may sound, a shot on the icon­ic steps of the Opera House right in front of it is a must have. You’ll see flocks of peo­ple pos­ing on the steps – and for good rea­son – as the steps let you take in the famous sails of the Opera House with your­self in shot – mak­ing for a tru­ly mem­o­rable pho­to and a great way to cap­ture the archi­tec­tur­al design of this incred­i­ble won­der up close. If you can get to the steps straight after sun­rise – or straight after a trek up the Syd­ney Har­bour Bridge – you’ll find the steps less crowd­ed and you’ll get to cap­ture the last glimpses of the incred­i­ble sun­set reflect­ing of the beau­ti­ful won­der.  

The Sydney Harbour Bridge 

Our pick for the incred­i­ble post­card views of both the Opera House and the beau­ti­ful Har­bour, a climb up the icon­ic Syd­ney Har­bour Bridge – espe­cial­ly at Sun­rise – is sim­ply breath-tak­ing.  

Mak­ing the sum­mit to the top is straight­for­ward and you’ll be guid­ed every step of the way by your guide leader before you reach the top of the bridge from where you’ll have incred­i­ble 360-degree panoram­ic views of the Har­bour and get to see the Opera House lit up in the ear­ly morn­ing sun­rise for a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence as the beau­ti­ful Aus­tralian Sun Ris­es from behind the Opera House.  

While tak­ing your own cam­era is sad­ly, but under­stand­ably, off lim­its – you can expect your guide to snap incred­i­ble shots of your­self atop the bridge and of the har­bour below you and it makes for a tru­ly spe­cial spot to the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the Syd­ney Opera House.  

From a Ferry:

Offer­ing incred­i­ble views of the full beau­ty of the Syd­ney Har­bour Shore­line and the Opera House a jour­ney across the Har­bour and under­neath the incred­i­ble Har­bour Bridge while tak­ing in the beau­ty of the Opera House reflect­ing off the incred­i­ble water on a fer­ry is one of the best ways to both see and pho­to­graph this incred­i­ble won­der. 

With a choice of Inner Har­bour Fer­ries – spe­cial­ly for tourists and pho­tog­ra­phers and express fer­ries which take you from one side of the Har­bour to the oth­er, you’ve got a range of options as to how you trav­el across the beau­ti­ful har­bour – just be sure to get a seat on the top deck to get the best pho­tos of the Opera House as it creeps into view – and for those who don’t fan­cy the Bridge Climb tak­ing a trip along the Har­bour at sun­rise is the best time to grab pho­tos of the beau­ti­ful opera house lit up in the morn­ing sun.  

Mrs Macquarie’s Chair:

The best spot for sun­set and night-time pho­tos, the views from the beau­ti­ful Mrs Macquarie’s Chair are unpar­al­leled as you stroll through the lush green Roy­al Botan­i­cal Gar­dens to this incred­i­ble view­ing point for full views of the Har­bour Bridge, Har­bour and the Opera House in full bloom.  

Eas­i­ly found from the Mar­tin Place metro sta­tion or after clos­ing time from the Art Gallery Road – Mrs Macquarie’s Chair is espe­cial­ly beau­ti­ful at sun­set, as you get to see the Har­bour and the Opera House tra­verse through a range of Kalei­do­scop­ic colours at sun­set before the Opera House lights up with the beau­ti­ful and thought pro­vok­ing Badu Gili Light show after dark – for a tru­ly epic way to cap off your day explor­ing the icon­ic and true won­der of the world that is the Syd­ney Har­bour Opera House.