YOUR EX’s Oliver Hall visits Sydney during Mardi Gras to experience the joy of being surrounded by queer communities, powerful history, and world-class culture in this stunning harbour city.
Sydney, the Southern Hemisphere’s epicentre of gay culture, knows how to dial queer joy all the way up. There is something genuinely thrilling about being surrounded by other gay men at every turn; staying on Oxford Street, I watched same-sex couples holding hands, bodies dressed for spectacle, flashes of kink, and people embracing the full theatre of being themselves, all of it perfectly in step with this year’s Mardi Gras theme: Ecstatica.
But Sydney’s magic is bigger than one glittering weekend. This is a city that offers sensual excess and natural beauty in equal measure: multicultural neighbourhoods, golden beaches, inventive dining, restless creativity, and a calendar that barely seems to pause for breath, with world-class events from Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras to May’s Vivid Sydney drawing people from all over the world to this international getaway.
Orienting Ourselves on Oxford Street
Our first stop was a walking tour with local drag queen Wonder Mama, who proved there is no better way to get to understand a gaybourhood than through its queer history. She led us along Oxford Street through the stories of its bars, businesses, protests, and past lives, delivering hard truths with comic timing. At one point, she explained that when drag was illegal, police would stop queens and check their underwear: men’s briefs meant “dressing up”, women’s lingerie meant arrest. “And that’s why I’m wearing men’s underwear today,” she quipped.
From memorials to the persecution of queer people through history to the legacy of Les Girls, Carlotta, and Sydney’s trans trailblazers, the tour gave the strip real emotional depth. There was also time for practical pleasures: a stop at The Oxford, gelato at Messina, and a final photo on the rainbow crossing at Taylor Square. (fabulouswondermama.com.au)
Staying in Sydney’s Gay Heart
Checking into 25Hours Hotel The Olympia felt like stepping into a particularly stylish fever dream. The building, once home to an arthouse cinema, still carries its old showbiz spirit, but now with a cheeky, design-forward twist. A warm cinnamon scent hits as soon as you walk in, and the reception desk is dressed like a retro video store, complete with actual VHS tapes you can borrow. Even the corridors lean into the fantasy, with colourful digital room numbers and a distinctly 1980s energy.
Rooms strike that sweet spot between playful and polished. Green tiles framed the bathroom and entryway before giving way to warm wooden floors, a statement mural above the bed, and a blissfully private balcony that all but begged for a little nude sunbathing. Best of all, this is a hotel that understands its audience: standard check-out is midday. (25hours-hotels.com)
The food and drink offerings only deepen 25Hours’ appeal. Breakfast from Jacob the Angel — heavenly matcha clouds and buttery Luna pastries — was ideal for a lazy breakfast in bed. Upstairs, Monica, the rooftop bar, serves punchy cocktails with an unexpectedly cinematic view stretching across leafy suburbs towards Bondi that feels more São Paulo than Sydney. (monica-rooftop.com)
Then there’s The Palomar, the hotel’s signature restaurant and the Australian sibling to the celebrated London original. Under Culinary Director Mitch Orr and Head Chef Luke Davenport, the menu folds Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Levant into one vivid, flavour-heavy experience. Favourites included cucumbers with green tahini and crispy chilli oil, grilled southern calamari with preserved lemon, and a pistachio ice cream baklava sandwich I am still thinking about. It was the perfect meal to complement a weekend built on spectacle. (thepalomar.com.au)
Getting High
A BridgeClimb Sydney experience is what the tourism world calls a star product, and for once, the phrase feels entirely justified. Clad in those famously unflattering but reassuringly safety-conscious jumpsuits, we scaled the summit of the world’s largest steel arch bridge for staggering 360-degree views across the harbour and beyond. It is a near-perfect formula: just enough physical effort to feel virtuous, adrenaline, and the kind of city views that make everyone fall silent.
I’d done the climb before and loved it, but this one felt especially memorable because my husband joined me. He has previously been wary of heights, yet the whole experience is so secure, so meticulously managed, that any nerves quickly gave way to delight. At 440 feet above Sydney Harbour, he was having the time of his life. Better still, our Mardi Gras departure group was almost entirely gay couples — until one straight Aussie couple arrived, whom we generously agreed to tolerate. (bridgeclimb.com)
World-Leading Theatre
When it comes to Sydney theatre, the obvious move is to book something at the Opera House. But the more thrilling choice might be Sydney Theatre Company’s home at The Wharf in Walsh Bay, a theatre complex so striking it’s almost as impressive as what is happening on stage. A long foyer runs the length of the wharf, with harbour views shimmering on one side and the entrances to its two theatres lining the other. At the very end sits The Wharf Restaurant and Bar, an airy, high-ceilinged room with sweeping water views that makes pre-show dining feel like an event in itself.
There is a particular kind of electricity in the air before curtain-up: a sharply dressed after-work crowd ordering oysters, sipping champagne, and lingering over dessert as the sun drops over the harbour. It feels urbane, romantic, and unmistakably Sydney. For me, the standout dishes were the desserts, like the Chocolate Nemesis and Torta di Limone, both decadently intense yet featherlight. (thewharfrestaurantandbar.com.au)
And the work more than justified the stunning setting. On this trip we saw The Normal Heart and Purpose, two of the most exciting pieces of theatre I have seen anywhere in the world. Sydney’s stage scene has transformed dramatically since I lived there in the early 2000s, and Sydney Theatre Company (STC) has played a huge role in that shift, particularly under former Artistic Director Kip Williams and now Artistic Director Mitchell Butel, who is curating STC’s 2026 season. The Normal Heart remains a searing tribute to early AIDS activism, layered with urgent contemporary lessons, while Purpose, the recent Tony-winning African American family drama with an asexual protagonist, arrived with all its sharp bite intact. We left assured that any time we visit Sydney in the future we will be booking tickets to an STC production — no matter what it is. The standard is that good. (sydneytheatre.com.au)
Parade Day
On the day of the Mardi Gras Parade, Sydney feels like it wakes up already dressed for the occasion. Every café within cooee of Oxford Street seems to be offering a drag brunch, but we’d been told that Chin Chin in Surry Hills was the one. They were right. Tucked a few blocks back from the parade route, it delivered the holy trinity of a proper Mardi Gras warm-up: tasty cocktails, excellent food, and queens with enough charisma to send a room feral. Drag Race Down Under alum Ivory Glaze whipped the crowd into a frenzy with filthy humour and gloriously bawdy performances, while Asian-fusion bites and party-starting drinks kept arriving with dangerous efficiency. We left feeling very merry indeed. (chinchin.sydney)
Walking back to the hotel to glitter our beards up, my husband was shocked to discover people already setting up their parade spots — six full hours before kick-off. Sydney does not play around when it comes to Mardi Gras viewing strategy. Thankfully, we had tickets to Magda’s Glitter Club, the premium viewing zone at Taylor Square, complete with its own bar, a welcome abundance of porta-loos, and prime positioning right at the heart of the action.
Then came that unmistakable opening blast: the roar of the Dykes on Bikes, sending fruit bats soaring across the sky before pyrotechnics exploded over Taylor Square and Kylie bangers boomed through the speakers. It was camp, thrilling, and so perfectly Sydney it almost defied parody. One of my favourite things about Glitter Club was that the pop anthems never stopped. Even when the parade itself was briefly obscured, the party never dipped.
And yes, at first our view was not ideal. We had arrived a little too late, and the sold-out enclosure was packed. But Mardi Gras rewards patience. Pick your moment, and people drift off for drinks, toilet breaks, bar visits, or emotional reunions, and before too long we found ourselves with a front-row view of the parade in full glorious motion. And what a parade it is. I’ve been to Pride parades in New York and London, and I honestly think Sydney Mardi Gras is the pinnacle. The atmosphere around Taylor Square is pure joy — an overused phrase, perhaps, but completely warranted here — and the sheer spectacle, creativity, and emotional energy on display is second to none. (mardigras.org.au)
After-Parties
The only shadow over the evening was that, for the first time outside the Covid years, the official Mardi Gras Party had been cancelled. But Sydney’s queer nightlife ecosystem is resilient, and there was no shortage of alternatives. On the Friday, Thick N Juicy had already drawn a huge crowd to its Main Event party, famed for its seriously cruisy atmosphere and bodybuilder go-go boys — think URGE on steroids. (thicknjuicy.com.au) On parade night itself, the big decision for many came down to Heaps Gay or Poof Doof. Heaps Gay currently has the crown as the cool kid of the scene, attracting a younger, creative, gender-diverse crowd. Poof Doof, by contrast, has grown from a Melbourne dance party into a nationwide gay circuit institution: bigger, brasher, and perhaps a little more aligned with our bear-in-their-forties demographic. (heapsgay.com.au)
Poof Doof at the Ivy was epic. There were DJ sets from Mel C, a rooftop pool party so packed it felt surreal, and sculpted bodies in every direction. But what I loved most was that beneath all the torsos, lasers, and beats, people were still friendly. In one quieter room, sprawled on a couch to regroup, we were joined by a young jock enthusiastically explaining his burgeoning OnlyFans career and a man dressed head to toe in rubber with a wickedly dry Aussie sense of humour. Like a collective band of misfits, we danced, drank, explored, and eventually lost each other, giving us the perfect excuse to Uber back to bed. (poofdoof.com)
The Best Hangover Cure
The day after Mardi Gras, salvation arrived in the form of Joe’s Pizza Kitchen at the Captain Cook Hotel in Paddington, a much-anticipated reopening attached to the historic pub first opened in 1914. This is the kind of casual Italian dining Sydney does so well: unfussy, authentic, and ridiculously satisfying. The Roman-style, twice-baked rectangular pizzas were a revelation — featherlight, crisp, fluffy, and topped with beautiful imported Italian ingredients that helped resurrect us. (captaincookpaddington.com.au)
For New Zealanders, SailGP comes with a little emotional baggage. Dreamed up by Kiwi Sir Russell Coutts, it has not had a smooth run on our shores, with Wynyard Point complications followed by Christchurch’s regatta being disrupted by the presence of a protected Hector’s dolphin. No wonder SailGP has not committed to coming to NZ. Sydney, by contrast, seems to have mastered the art of turning elite sailing into something impossibly chic. The 2026 Sydney Sail Grand Prix again centred its premium spectator experience on Shark Island, with boat transfers, food, drinks, and front-row views in the middle of the racecourse.
And what a place to watch from. That tiny island in the middle of the harbour feels like a secret handed only to the lucky, with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge framing the water beyond while the F50s carve past at astonishing speed. Sydney’s event has leaned hard into spectacle, with twilight racing from 5:30pm and a hospitality set-up that feels part regatta, part garden party. At the finish, the Aussie Roos team came ashore to celebrate in the most Australian way imaginable: a champagne shoey. (sailgp.com)
Pancakes with a Side of Beef
A few days after the madness of Mardi Gras, breakfast at Rusty Rabbit felt like exactly the right kind of reset. Run by local Sydney hunks Josh and James, who launched the café at just 19, the place has spent the past 11 years becoming one of the city’s hottest brunch spots. When we visited, the buzz was still swirling from Bad Bunny’s recent stop-in. “It’s been crazy ever since,” Josh told us, as the packed café hummed around us on a rainy weekday morning. We ordered elaborately beautiful pancakes drenched in real passionfruit, ricotta, and strawberries, their famous sweet potato hash with bacon and avocado, and the signature Magic coffee — a strong double shot topped with a little milk foam. It was the best coffee we had in Sydney. (therustyrabbit.com.au)
The World’s Most Famous Beach
Energised, we tackled the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk, one of Sydney’s signature pleasures: six kilometres of beaches, cliffs, and sea, threading past Tamarama, Bronte, and Clovelly before landing in Coogee. It takes around two to three hours, depending on how often you stop to gawp, swim, or caffeinate, and after a weekend of excess, the combination of salt air, sunshine, and a well-earned beer at Coogee Bay Hotel felt close to medicinal.
A Final Slice of Queer Culture
Wanting something quieter and more reflective, we visited Qtopia Sydney, the world’s largest centre for queer history and culture. Housed in the former Darlinghurst Police Station, it is a site layered with pain, protest, and reclamation: the same building where many of the original 78ers were once held now preserves and presents the stories of Australia’s LGBTQIA+ communities. Qtopia officially opened its permanent home in February 2024, transforming a place once associated with persecution into one of memory, education, and pride.
What struck me most was how expansive the project feels. Qtopia spans multiple spaces, including the main museum building, performance venues, and the gloriously cheeky former toilet block near Taylor Square, now home to an exhibition on cruising and queer sexual cultures. It is moving, funny, political, and unafraid — much like Sydney itself. After a trip defined by spectacle and celebration, it offered something just as valuable: context. (qtopiasydney.com.au)
Sydney during Mardi Gras is exhilarating, excessive, and deeply affirming — a city where queer culture is not just welcomed, but woven into the fabric of everyday life. From Oxford Street glamour to harbour views and moments of hard-won history, Sydney delivers spectacle with substance, and we left feeling new! #FeelNewSydney
For more information visit sydney.com
On socials follow @Sydney and tag your Sydney experiences #FeelNewSydney
Writer travelled courtesy of Destination NSW
