When’s the best time to visit Sydney?

The New Year’s Eve, of course!

The New Year’s Eve celebrations around the Sydney Harbour are the best in the world. Sydney New Year’s Eve is famous for its fireworks and the light decorations on the Sydney Harbour Bridge that display a specific message every year!
There are several other reasons too as to why it is best to visit Sydney during New Year’s Eve.

Sydney’s celebrations of the New Year precede those of most of the other major cities of the world, as Sydney is ahead of them in time.

In Sydney, New Year’s Eve is right in the middle of summer and so the weather is quite pleasant and comfortable enough to let you stay up the whole night and watch the spectacular fireworks as well as dance well into the New Year!

A cruise boat on the Sydney Harbour that is also part of the Harbour of Light Parade gives the best New Year’s Eve experience in the world. The best views of the light decorations of the Harbour Bridge and those of the Opera House and other prominent buildings are from the deck of a cruise boat. The cruise boats sail past these iconic structures allowing views from different angles. The fireworks on the Harbour Bridge are seen closest from a cruise boat that is part of the Parade which is just another reason to be on the cruise boat! Besides, one can dine and dance away into the dawn of the New Year!


There is a small catch here, however! The bookings for New Year’s Eve boat cruises begin early in the year. Sometimes the seats are sold out months in advance!
So make a dash for it, you could be just lucky!

Thematic displays of Sydney New Year’s Eve

Sydney is rightfully known as the New Year’s Eve capital of the world, with its spectacular fireworks that surpass all of its kind in the rest of world and the thematic lighting and fireworks that leave the world gasping in wonder!

On the Eve, the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, the cruises that participate in the Harbour of Light Parade and each and every nook, corner and crevice around the Sydney Harbour is decorated with lights. Every year, the lighting on the bridge has a new thematic display. The cruises that join the parade also are decorated according to a theme chosen months before. The synchronised fireworks set off from barges, buildings and different locations on the bridge with wondrous precision also display a specific message every year. The message or the theme displayed by the lighting and fireworks on the bridge has been colloquially called the ‘bridge effect’ by the Sydneysiders.

The most famous bridge effects in the past years have been the ‘Smiley’ in 1998, ‘Eternity’ in copperplate writing in 1999, the ‘Dove of Peace’ in 2002, the ‘Love Heart’ in 2005, the ‘Coathanger’ and the ‘Diamond’ in 2006, the ‘Sand Timer’ in 2007 and ‘the Sun’ in 2008.

Every year, the framework for the effect is visible months before the event which leaves the public wondering and speculating on what that year’s would be.

As the day nears, the excitement, the anticipation and the suspense builds up as the world awaits the event with bated breath!