Jørn Utzon's sails on Bennelong Point: a World Heritage landmark and a working
arts centre with more than 1,800 shows a year. Climb the Monumental Steps, stand under the ribbed concrete vaults, then hear the Concert Hall fill with sound.
What is free, said plainlyThe steps, foyers and Badu Gili cost nothing
Real guest ratingsLive GetYourGuide scores on every card
Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before on the tours
Secure checkoutBooked and paid on GetYourGuide
Tours
Choose your Sydney Opera House tour
In the centre, the official one-hour tour, the cheapest way into the halls. Either side, the same tour with
lunch on the harbour, and the 7am backstage tour that ends with breakfast in the Green Room.
The same one-hour guided tour, then one main and one drink at Midden by Mark Olive or Opera Bar. Good value if you were going to eat on the harbour anyway.
What's included
The one-hour guided tour with a headset
One main course and one drink (wine, beer or soft drink)
The official one-hour walk through the foyers and, when they are free, the theatres, with a live guide. It is the cheapest way past the doors you cannot open yourself.
An early small-group walk in through the Stage Door, past the pit and the wings, before the building wakes up. It ends with breakfast in the Green Room, the crew and performers' own room.
One question sorts it out: do you want to see the building, or hear it? A tour walks you through the spaces.
A show sits you in one of them for an evening. The walk and the kayak never go inside at all.
The guided tours involve about 300 stairs and no lift; a step-free Mobility Access Tour can be booked
with the Opera House. Theatre visits on any tour depend on rehearsals that day. La Bohème tickets are non-refundable.
Before you book
The doors are open. The halls are not.
Most people assume you need a ticket to get into the Sydney Opera House. You don't. Walk up the Monumental Steps, along the
Broadwalks around Bennelong Point, into the Welcome Centre on the Lower Concourse with its history displays and shop, or
up to the Box Office foyer. Nobody checks anything. The building is generally open to visitors from 9am to 5pm.
What a ticket buys is a room. The Concert Hall, the Joan Sutherland Theatre and the smaller stages open only for a
guided tour or a performance. A tour shows you several spaces in an hour and tells you how they were built. A
show gives you one of them, full, for a whole evening. That is the real choice on this page, and the price gap
between them is smaller than most people think.
1,800+
Performances a year across six venues, from opera and ballet to comedy
and rock. The House is a working arts centre first and a monument second.
Official tourBackstageOperaMusicalsFree outside
Not white: the shells carry more than a million Swedish tiles in two finishes, glossy white and matte cream.
01
Is it free?
The steps, Broadwalks, Welcome Centre and foyers are. The halls need a tour or a show ticket.
02
Tour or show?
A tour to see the building, a show to hear it. Both, if you can spare an evening.
03
How fit?
Tours climb about 300 stairs with no lift. Ask for the Mobility Access Tour if stairs are a problem.
04
What to wear?
No dress code at normal shows. Flat, closed shoes for any tour, and a layer for the cool theatres.
Your visit
How a visit to the House runs
The official tour takes an hour. With the steps, a drink on the harbour and Badu Gili after dark, plan on half a day.
01
Walk from Circular Quay
Follow the harbour east past the ferry wharves to Bennelong Point. Trains, ferries, buses and the light rail all stop at the Quay.
6 to 10 minutes
02
Check in below the steps
Tours meet at the Welcome Centre on the Lower Concourse. Be 15 minutes early and cloak any backpack.
15 minutes
03
Inside the sails
The guide walks you up through the foyers and into whichever theatres are free, with the story of Utzon and the 14-year build.
1 hour, 300 stairs
04
Stay for the evening
A drink on the Lower Concourse, then a show, or Badu Gili on the eastern sails from sunset.
Opening hours, prices, cheaper seats and access: one tab each.
The building: generally open to visitors 9am to 5pm daily, later on show nights.
Box Office, Level 1: 9am to 5pm, or later if there is a performance. Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday.
Welcome Centre: daily, tours meet here. Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.
Tours: run daily, except Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and before 11am on New Year's Day.
Badu Gili: free, six minutes, on the eastern sails every night from sunset. Times shift with the season.
Official one-hour tour: from $35 (about A$50 for an adult at the Opera House).
Tour with a meal and a drink: from $64.
Backstage tour with Green Room breakfast: from $138.
Opera on GetYourGuide: La Bohème from $118, 2 January to 17 March 2027.
Free: the steps, the Broadwalks, the Welcome Centre and Badu Gili.
Opera Australia: $20 tickets by ballot, partial-view boxes at $49, student rush, 15% off for under-35s.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra: student rush from $20, up to 40% off for children 17 and under.
Great Opera Hits: a 90-minute arias concert from A$69, the shortest way into the Joan Sutherland Theatre.
Concessions with Opera Australia are not valid on Saturday nights. Full list in the cheap tickets guide.
The standard tour climbs about 300 stairs over 2.5 km, with no lift and few places to sit.
The Mobility Access Tour is step-free, an hour long, and booked with the Opera House.
Every theatre has wheelchair and companion seating; the Companion Card is accepted for most shows.
On show nights a courtesy bus runs from Circular Quay, and an accessible buggy from the Macquarie Street gatehouse.
Concert HallUp to 2,664 seatsHome of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, renewed and reopened in July 2022.
Joan SutherlandUp to 1,507 seatsOpera Australia, the Australian Ballet and Bangarra.
Drama TheatreUp to 544 seatsPlays from the Sydney Theatre Company and visiting companies.
PlayhouseUp to 398 seatsSmaller theatre, comedy and talks.
Studio320 seatedCabaret, late-night shows and contemporary music.
Utzon RoomUp to 200The only interior Utzon designed himself, with his own woven wall hanging.
Getting there
Where to meet
Bennelong Point, Sydney NSW 2000
Tours: Welcome Centre, Lower Concourse. Backstage tour: the Stage Door, under the Monumental Steps.
The Opera House sits on the tip of Bennelong Point, Tubowgule to the Gadigal people, a short walk east of Circular
Quay. From the Quay, keep the water on your left and follow the promenade. Car drivers can use the Wilson car park under
the building, entered from 2 Macquarie Street, but trains, ferries, buses and the light rail are simpler.
Circular Quay station and ferry wharves: 6 to 10 minutes on foot
The Opera House photographs best from above, and the summit of the Harbour Bridge is the one place you can get that view on foot. Groups of up to 14 climb the upper arch with a Climb Leader; you need to be 8 or older and pass a breath test.
Everyone knows the outline. Fewer people know what it took to build, who it belongs to, and what is actually
inside. Here is the short version before you go.
A competition, a Dane and fourteen years
In 1957 a jury picked a sketch by a 38-year-old Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, from 233 entries. Nobody yet knew how to
build his shells. Work began in 1959 with a four-year plan and a $7 million budget; it took 14 years and $102 million.
Utzon walked off the job in 1966 after a fight with the state government over money and control, and a team of
Australian architects finished the interiors. Queen Elizabeth II opened the House on 20 October 1973. Utzon was not
invited, and he never came back to see it.
The building made peace with him later. In 1999 he was asked to write design principles for its future, and in 2004 the
reception room he designed was renamed the Utzon Room, with his woven wall hanging along one side. UNESCO listed the House as World
Heritage in 2007, the year before he died.
The shells are concrete ribs covered in tiles. Up close, they are cream, not white.
What a tour really shows you
The official tour is an hour on foot with a guide, starting at the Welcome Centre. You climb through the foyers, look out
through the angled glass of the northern foyer, and go into whichever halls are free that day, such as the Concert Hall
or the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Rehearsals decide. The walk covers about 2.5 km and some 300 stairs, and there is
no lift. Guests often say the hour goes too fast.
The backstage tour is a different thing: it starts at 7am at the Stage Door, takes 12 people at most, and goes where the
crews and performers work, finishing with breakfast in the Green Room. Children under 10 cannot join.
The honest small print: you never need a ticket to get into the building, only into its halls.
The cheapest way to sit in the Joan Sutherland Theatre for a whole evening is often a show, not a tour, especially with
Opera Australia's $20 ballot or $49 box seats. Our cheap tickets guide
lists every scheme.
The six stages inside
The big shells hold the two main halls: the Concert Hall, up to 2,664 seats, home of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and
renewed in 2022 with new acoustic reflectors, and the Joan Sutherland Theatre, up to 1,507 seats, where Opera Australia
and the Australian Ballet perform. Under and around them sit the Drama Theatre, the Playhouse, the Studio and the Utzon
Room. Between them they host more than 1,800 performances a year, so there is almost always something on the night you
are in town.
The Concert Hall reopened in July 2022 after more than two years of work on its acoustics and access.
Timing it
Come late in the afternoon. The sails catch the sun on the way down, the bars on the Lower Concourse fill up, and after
sunset Badu Gili lights the eastern shells with First Nations art for six free minutes. If you want a quiet building and
a tour group that is not shoulder to shoulder, the morning slots are calmer. In spring, from September to November,
Sydney is at its driest, and the Royal Botanic Garden next door is at its best.
Mrs Macquarie's Chair, a 20-minute walk through the garden, has the classic view of the House and the Bridge.
Straight answers to what people ask most about visiting the Sydney Opera House.
Is it free to enter the Sydney Opera House?
Yes, for the public spaces. The Forecourt, the Monumental Steps, the harbourside Broadwalks, the Welcome Centre, the Box Office foyer, the shop and the bars cost nothing to walk into. The halls themselves, the Concert Hall and the Joan Sutherland Theatre, need a show ticket or a guided tour. Our free entry guide maps it out.
How much does a Sydney Opera House tour cost?
The official one-hour tour starts at $35 on GetYourGuide, which matches the Opera House's own adult price of about A$50. The tour with a meal and a drink is from $64, and the early backstage tour with breakfast is from $138. All three are compared in which tour is best.
Can I just walk into the Sydney Opera House?
You can. The building is generally open to visitors from 9am to 5pm daily, and the Welcome Centre on the Lower Concourse has free history displays, the shop and the tour desk. What you cannot do is wander into a theatre: the doors to the halls open only for ticket holders and tour groups.
Is there a free tour of the Sydney Opera House?
No free guided tour runs inside. The free things are Badu Gili, a six-minute First Nations projection on the eastern sails every night from sunset, the displays in the Welcome Centre, and a short digital backstage tour the Opera House publishes online. The cheapest live guide is the official one-hour tour.
Can you buy tickets at the Sydney Opera House?
Yes. The Box Office on Level 1 of the Entry Foyer is open 9am to 5pm daily, and later on performance nights; it closes on Christmas Day and Good Friday. You can also book on the Opera House website or by phone on 1300 764 849. Tours sell out in peak weeks, so book those ahead.
How do I get cheap Sydney Opera House tickets?
Use the resident companies' own schemes. Opera Australia runs a $20 ticket ballot, partial-view box seats at $49, student rush and 15% off for under-35s; the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has student rush from $20. All the tricks are in our cheap tickets guide.
How much does an opera ticket cost in Sydney?
Opera Australia's Sydney productions mostly start from A$79 to A$89, and Great Opera Hits from A$69. Top reserves for a main-stage opera can pass A$300, and the most expensive seat of the year is the New Year's Eve gala. On GetYourGuide, La Bohème starts at $118.
Can I wear jeans to the Sydney Opera House?
Yes. Opera Australia says there is no compulsory dress code, so neat jeans and clean sneakers are fine at a normal performance. Bring a layer: the theatres are cool. Gala nights are the exception. More in our dress code guide.
How long does a Sydney Opera House tour take?
The standard tour takes one hour and covers about 2.5 km with around 300 stairs and no lift. The backstage tour runs 2 hours 15 minutes with breakfast. Allow another 30 to 60 minutes for the steps, the Broadwalks and the Welcome Centre.
How early should I arrive at the Opera House?
For a tour, be at the Welcome Centre 15 minutes before your time. For a show, aim for 30 to 45 minutes before curtain to clear security, use the cloakroom and find your seat. Ushers close the doors at showtime and latecomers wait for a break.
Is it worth going inside the Sydney Opera House?
If you care about the building, yes: the outside is famous, but the ribbed concrete vaults, the glass foyers and the Concert Hall only make sense from inside. Which theatres a tour enters depends on rehearsals that day. Our worth-it guide weighs a tour against a show.
How do I get to the Sydney Opera House?
Walk. It is a 6 to 10 minute stroll along the harbour from Circular Quay, where trains, ferries, buses and the light rail all stop. There is a car park under the building, entered from 2 Macquarie Street, but public transport is easier.
Ready to book
Walk in free. Book the halls.
Official tours with free cancellation up to 24 hours before, and shows in the Joan Sutherland Theatre.
Lunch included
★ 4.72 hoursFree cancellation
