54 fun things to do indoors in Sydney

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.

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.

Discover the MCA’s collection with free guided tours running daily or explore the museum’s temporary exhibitions.

The RSL of the '80s is having a come back at the Sydney brewery's new 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. 

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 is a brand new concept that 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 past-time 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.

A cold breeze is brewing and Elsa is calling. There's icy fun on in Sydney this winter, 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 over 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-meter 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. Sitt up nice and straight on your little velour chair and pick at dainties off the three-tier tray.

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.

Miraculously, the studio of Australia’s great expressionist has been kept the way it was when he died of a heroin overdose in 1992. Browse Whiteley’s books and records and see the unfinished painting he was working on.

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.

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

When it’s too cold and wet to enjoy the Japanese garden, go inside for the gallery’s exhibitions, or sign up for one of the weekly ceramics and embroidery workshops.

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's 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 quirky 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. 

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 'chef's table' style meal is the most delicious act of trust in Sydney. Just a handful of diners can enjoy this meal at any sitting, as one of Sokyo's sushi masters delicately crafts course after course of exquisite dishes right before your eyes. Culinary artistry never tasted so good. 

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.

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.

Be one of the first in the world to witness Luna Park's latest grand transformation. On December 22, 2023, Luna Park will launch ‘Dream Circus’, an enchanting $15 million immersive experience – what they’re referring to as a high-tech ‘Magic Box’ inside Luna Park’s existing 3,000 square metre Big Top building. The Magic Box is being constructed as a high-tech, theatre-like set. So custom-designed 360-degree projections, motion-activated LEDs and hologram technology will work in with 3D, textured walls and stages.

You’ll get a workout while you learn the best strategies for indoor rock climbing. Sign up for a fun five-session course at two convenient locations. Warning: racing to the top gets addictive.

Contrary to contemporary yarns, there are still pubs that present 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. Many venues have already had their last rites read to them, yet gigs and live music still thrive in the smaller drinking hole worlds of the Inner West and beyond.

Sydney's highest cocktail lounge can be found on the 83rd floor of the Golden Bucket 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.

This trend-setting Surry Hills spin studio is all about the atmosphere and techo beats. Under the guidance of your 'cycologist' (fitness instructor, natch), you'll be led through a high-powered choreographed spin workout set to techno, pop and RnB tunes – basically anything made to groove to. It's kind of like a rave, except you'll feel fantastic after.

From sticky-floored pubs doubling up as heaving rave caves, to slick neon-lit DFs in a superclub and small bars transforming into late-night party dens when local DJs hop behind the decks, here's where to get down.

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. 

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.

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 Mascot. 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. 

Retrosweat runs weekly workouts in Sydney on Tuesdays in Waterloo and Thursdays in Surry Hills. You’ll jump and shout, stretch and flex to pop tracks from Prince to the Police. The 1980s never looked so good.