Things to Do on a Rainy Day in Sydney: LOTS of Ideas!

While most people think of Sydney as a warm, sunny, beachy city, the truth is that it get’s a LOT more rain than people think, forcing people to think outside of the box when it comes to things to do on a rainy day in Sydney.

Sydney gets more rain a year than Melbourne, London, or Seattle, which surprises pretty much everyone who hasn’t lived here (it’s true based on volume – I checked). When it actually decides to pour, though, you don’t need to write the day off. Between world-class museums, indoor markets, harbourside restaurants where you can watch the ferries cut through the rain, and enough quirky indoor activities to fill a week, Sydney handles a wet day better than you’d expect.

Whether you’re visiting or you live here and just need a new plan for a grey drizzly Sunday, here’s everything worth doing broken down into categories to make choices easier than ever.

Stay In, Relax, and Watch the Rain from Somewhere Nice

If you’re visiting, it’s amazing to stay somewhere with a harbor view, where a rainy day is honestly the best excuse to actually enjoy your room. Maybe it’s the California girl in me, but I personally adore being somewhere dry and cozy on a rainy day, and watching the rain come down with a drink, a book, a TV, or a phone/laptop to play on.

• The Shangri-La in The Rocks has one of the most perfect views in the city, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge both visible from your bed if you book the right room (pictured above)
• Park Hyatt Sydney sits right on Circular Quay and arguably has the closest, most unobstructed view of the Opera House of any hotel in the city. Both are worth the splurge if you can swing it, especially on a day you’re not going anywhere anyway.

Order in, get comfortable, and accept that today is a screen day. Or, if you live here or are staying somewhere a little less elevated, that’s no problem. The most obvious option for a rainy day is to use it as a rest day while you pass the time with a phone, kindle, or laptop.

Streaming, scrolling, reading a book, phone games, and binging a mystery series on Netflix are all perfect rainy day activities in Sydney. If you’re with friends or family, multiplayer games and online games are a good way to pass a few hours together without leaving the room. And if you want something a bit more interactive, this is exactly the kind of day for it: you can play some of the best australian online casinos wherever you’re sitting, no rain gear required.

Sydney Tower Eye

This one deserves its own mention! The Sydney Tower Eye is a fully enclosed observation deck in the middle of the CBD, and it’s actually one of the better rainy day moves in the city: fewer tourists, moody clouds rolling past the windows, and a 360-degree view that takes in the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, and the whole skyline without you getting a drop of rain on you. There’s a revolving restaurant up there called SkyFeast, too, if you want to make a meal of it.

If you want a cheaper version of the same idea, the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout is also enclosed and has a small museum on the bridge’s construction history before you get to the viewing platform at the top (the museum is fully enclosed, but bring an umbrella if you want to pop out to see the view). You won’t get quite the same sweeping 360 view as the Tower Eye, but it’s a fraction of the price and genuinely super fascinating to learn the history of building the iconic harbor bridge.

Museums and Galleries

Sydney has a properly good museum scene, and rainy days are the perfect excuse to actually go and spend some time wandering around the exhibits. Here are some of the top ideas for museums to visit in Sydney on a rainy day:

• Art Gallery of NSW: For Sydney, this is the most popular museum to visit. It’s a serious collection of Australian, European, Asian, and Aboriginal art, and it’s free to enter the main collection. Plan for at least a couple of hours here.
• Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA): This one’s right on the water at Circular Quay, with rotating exhibitions of contemporary art of all differet kinds. The rooftop terrace and MCA Café at Tallawoladah on the ground floor are both worth a stop on a rainy day too, and the café has serious harbour views if you want to combine art with a coffee and grey bay.
• Powerhouse Museum(s): This is a converted electric tram power station in Ultimo with a great range of science and design focused exhibits (there will be one in Paramatta soon, too). It’s worth checking opening hours in advance, since parts of it have been under renovation.
• Australian Museum: This is literally Australia’s VERY first museum sounded in 1827, with natural history, science, and culture exhibits that work well for a few hours indoors and are good for all ages.
• The Rocks Discovery Museum: This is a fun one! It’s a small, free museum in a restored 1850s sandstone warehouse that tells the story of The Rocks from before European settlement to today with fun, interactive exhibits.

Indoor Markets and Shopping

Naturally, a rainy day is a time to do some shopping, and shopping of any kind works! Sydney has plenty of options for shopping, from beautiful boutiques and old-style arcades to tourist markets and malls, too.

• Queen Victoria Building (QVB): This is the move on a rainy day. The exterior is a stunning, historic, Romanesque sandstone building full of boutique stores, with a grand piano that plays itself and architecture worth the visit alone. There’s high tea at a couple of the elegant tea rooms inside if you want to make a proper afternoon of it and feel like you’re back in the 1800’s.
• The GPO (General Post Office): This is one I’d also recommend just for the building itself. The old General Post Office on Martin Place is a heritage sandstone building from the 1800s with one of the most beautiful clock towers in the city (puictured above), and these days, the inside is a big mix of shops, cafés, restaurants, and bars, with the Fullerton Hotel occupying most of the upper floors. The old internal courtyard has been turned into a glass-roofed atrium, so you can wander through what used to be the heart of Sydney’s postal service and now find yourself surrounded by restaurants instead.
• Strand Arcade: This is another beautiful heritage-covered arcade just a few blocks away with similar energy to the QVB, but smaller and a bit more boutique-focused. It’s also picturesque and fun to browse and maybe take a few photos.
• Paddy’s Markets: These are a different vibe to the prior two, like a real market with souvenirs, fruits, and random themes stalls. It’s down near Chinatown, fully covered, and good for cheap souvenirs, produce, and a proper food hall.
• Westfield Sydney: This is the big mall of the city, sitting right beneath Sydney Tower in the heart of the CBD (so, perfect to combine with a viewing platform visit). It’s what you’d expect: multiple levels of pretty much every major brand you can think of, plus a serious food court.
• Market City: Down in Haymarket near Chinatown and Paddy’s Markets, this one has a different energy entirely. The ground floor is a proper fresh produce and seafood market, the first floor food court is great for cheap noodles and sushi, and upstairs there’s a more upscale Asian dining precinct if you want to make a real meal of it. This is a good one if you want shopping and food in the same stop without it feeling like a generic mall.

Cute Cafés to Watch the Rain in Sydney

What better way to pass the time on a rainy day in Sydney than discovering a cute cafe and having a delicious meal while you relax, read, or work? Here are some of my favorite picks.

• Paramount Coffee Project: One of my favorite cafes in Sydney for vibes/aesthetics. It has high ceilings, exposed brick, share tables, and seats looking out into the street. Oh, and yummy cafe food too.
• Celsius Coffee and Dining: This is an awesome option right on the water across the Harbour Bridge. It’s overwater with tons of windows, so if you’re like me and love watching the rain come down from a war place with a hot drink, head here.
• Café Sydney: Cafe Sydney is a classic. It’s on the rooftop of the heritage-listed Customs House at Circular Quay, with a huge balcony looking straight out at the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, and the ferries coming and going. This spot tends to be bit more of an occasion than a quick coffee stop, but is worth it for the view alone.

Iconic Restaurants at Circular Quay and The Rocks

If you want a proper meal with a harbor view while the rain comes down outside (especially if you’re staying nearby), Circular Quay has some of the best options in the city.

• Bennelong: This one is INSIDE one of the Opera House’s white sails, which makes this one of the most architecturally striking places to eat in the city, rain or shine, and one of the most unique (and covered) restaurants in the whole city and maybe even country.
• Aria: Another acclaimed fine dining spot (and I mean FINE dining) right on the Quay, known for its harbour views and elevated Australian menu. This would be great to watch the world go by with a bougie multi-course meal.
• Luna Lu: If you’re in the mood for some upscale modern Asian fusion with epic views and plenty of interesting interior rooms and covered areas
• Grappa Ristorante e Bar: A newer Italian restaurant that has an epic ‘The Rocks’ vibe with interior areas and highly acclaimed dishes

If you want more ideas for this whole stretch of waterfront, I’ve written a full guide to the Top Sydney Harbour Activities for first timers which covers a lot of the Circular Quay and Opera House area in more depth.

Get Active Indoors

Sometimes a rainy day calls for something a bit more extreme than a museum. Sydney has a surprisingly good range of indoor activities for this, fomr bowling and escape rooms to axe throwing and mini golf – truly the ideal rainy day

• Hyper Karting (Moore Park): This is maybe one of the BEST adventurous things to do on a rainy day in Sydney! It’s an indoor electric go-karting course in the Entertainment Quarter, with Australia’s longest indoor track. The layout changes regularly, so it’s never quite the same race twice.
• MANIAX Axe Throwing (Marrickville): Axe throwing is a super fun, slightly absurd, great group activity that is sure to make you and your friends laugh. Maniax is actually the biggest axe-throwing venue in the country, with a Viking-themed bar to celebrate in afterward.
• Strike Bowling and Escape Rooms (Darling Harbour): Strike is a whle indoor complex that was basically built for a full rainy day of nonstop activities. There’s bowling, escape rooms, karaoke, and laser tag all under one roof, right on the King Street Wharf in Darling Harbour. This is the PERFECT one-stop option if your group can’t agree on just one activity.
• Holey Moley (Darlinghurst or Darling Harbour): This is a pop culture themed indoor mini golf bar. They have them all over Australia and they have always been one of my favorite activities rain or shine.
• Karen’s Diner: Not exactly cultural, but if you want to laugh, this is a deliberately rude, chaotic American-style diner experience that’s become a bit of a Sydney novelty. Go with a sense of humour and don’t take it personally.
• SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is right in Darling Harbour and has some pretty incredible – you guessed it – SEA LIFE inside, haha, as well as some pretty unique offerings like glass tunnels through the shark tanks.

High Tea and Hot Chocolate

Rainy days are basically made for this kind of indulgence, and luckily Sydney’s histry lends itself to some pretty epic afternoon teas. A proper high tea somewhere elegant turns a grey afternoon into an occasion, and a few of the tea rooms inside the QVB do this really well.

If you’d rather keep it simple, Sydney has a serious hot chocolate scene too, with thick, rich Italian-style hot chocolate at Rivareno’s stores around the city being a particular favorite for warming up between rain showers.

Coworking Spaces with a Vibe and/or View

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If you’re actually trying to get work done on a rainy day rather than escape it, a few Sydney coworking spaces make it actually quite enjoyable. Here are a few to check out that have a nice vibe ot cool setting with a view.

• Work Club 200 George: This one is hard to beat. It’s a coworking space on level 32 of a landmark building right between Circular Quay and Wynyard, with expansive views over the harbor, private rooms, and lots of beautiful workspaces. Watching a storm roll through while you work from up here is a pretty cool way to spend a rainy afternoon.
• The Work Project: This is another solid option with a polished, design-forward space if Work Club is fully booked or you want something a little different.
• The Commons Coworking Spaces: This is a coworking space chain with locations all over Sydney. Check them out to see which is closest or has the best vibe.
• The Collective Manly: If you’re based up in Manly rather than the CBD, this is a good local option. While you’re up there, check out my full guide to Manly for everything else worth doing in the area, rain or shine.

Book a Massage or Spa Day

There’s no better excuse for a spa day than one that got rained out. Use this day to get a body massage, facial, skin treatment, hair treatment, or a full spa day package with lots of goodies included.

Most of Sydney’s day spas are tucked into hotels or neighborhood strips, so it’s worth a quick search for whatever’s closest to wherever you’re staying. There are options from little Thai massage places to full-on spas. A rainy afternoon is the right excuse to actually book something at that place you’ve been wanting to try.

Edit Photos, Journal, and Plan What’s Next

Rainy days are good for all the things that you keep putting off, whether you’re visiting or you live here… like editing photos, organizing folders, reading open tabs, finally sending the update you’ve been promising someone for weeks, or responding to that email. It’s also a good time to plan the next trip or part of a trip, or honestly just the next few weeks if you’re local: book a restaurant or appointment, sort out transport, look into that day trip you’ve been meaning to take.

Or, take some time to catch up on journaling – whether about your last few weeks or your goals. That’s definitely something I always put off, and feel good when I accomplish.

And if you’ve been going hard on Sydney for a few days, rest is a perfectly legitimate use of a rainy afternoon. Sleep in, watch something, do nothing. The harbour will still be there when the sun comes back.

A Few More Worth Knowing About

Some of Sydney’s best activities are outdoor by nature, but worth keeping in your back pocket for when the weather clears, or if you don’t mind getting a little wet. Here are some more of my guides for when the sun comes out:

• The coastal walks in Sydney particularly the shorter ones, can actually be beautiful in light rain if you don’t mind a damp jacket and have the right shoes.
• The best sunset spots in Sydney are obviously weather-dependent, but worth bookmarking for the day after.

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Well, that’s a full rainy day in Sydney sorted. Which one are you starting with?