Sydney nightlife

Fast facts

• Diverse, dynamic and utterly up-for-it
• Sydney’s night scene caters for drinks, dancing and a whole lot more, every night of the week

Why go there

Sydney’s night-time entertainment begins with cold beer in original Deco-tiled pubs and leafy beer gardens. It stretches to wine bars serving everything from locally produced sublime wines to international wines so obscure as to be almost ridiculous. From cocktail bars to superclubs shaking and grinding with a double-dose of bass, it’s ready and waiting, 24-7.

Things to do

Expand your wine horizons with the thinking person’s wine bar crawl. Start mid-afternoon with sherry at the Bentley in Surry Hills, sip a fine Alsace white at DeVine in the city, hit the Bambini Wine Room, also in the city, for a refreshing Champagne, stop in at Vini in Surry Hills for a negroamaro and then wander over to Aperitif in the Cross for a digestif.

Spend an afternoon acquainting yourself with Australia’s drinking heritage around the great old pubs of The Rocks – The Lord Nelson, The Australian or The Mercantile.

Consider a progressive dinner. That’s one drink and one bite at restaurant bars such as Bodega, Salon Blanc, Bentley, Aperitif, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, La Sala, Lo Studio and Longrain, Jimmy Liks or the Kirketon Dining Room and Bar.

Don’t miss

• Backroom chic at Potts Point’s Lotus and the taste of a kaffir-lime spiked martini.
• The world’s best Thai take on the Bloody Mary at perpetual Surry Hills hotspot Longrain.
• The cutting edge of molecular mixology at Bentley and Salon Blanc.
• A walk on the outré side at the kooky Hollywood hotel, or a wander through gay Sydney at Oxford Street’s pumping pubs or the cool Columbian bar.
• Oysters and foie gras on toast to offset the night’s merriment at the bar of the Bayswater Brasserie.
• Cold beer and hot tunes upstairs at Kings Cross’s Melt.
• A late-nighter with Sydney’s hospitality community under the fig trees at Aperitif.