Sydney Opera House
Jørn Utzon won the design competition in 1957, directed construction, then resigned before it ever opened — Queen Elizabeth II cut the ribbon on 20 October 1973.
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The building occupies all of Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour and contains multiple performance venues hosting over 1,800 shows a year. Resident companies include Opera Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Theatre Company. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007 — 34 years after a construction saga marked by cost overruns and the architect's departure.
What to look for
- The building's position between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, with the Sydney Harbour Bridge visible from the same foreshore edge
- Multiple distinct performance venues inside what reads as a single structure from outside — the modern expressionist design Utzon conceived, completed by Peter Hall's Australian team
- The guided tour route: around 350,000 people take one each year, making it one of Australia's most visited attractions
Guided tours run year-round; with over ten million site visitors annually, booking ahead avoids the longest queues.
Sydney Opera House is one of 23 sights worth the detour in Sydney, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Sydney pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Sydney
- Sydney Harbour BridgeWalk the arch of the world's tallest steel bridge — nicknamed "the Coathanger" — with Sydney Harbour spread out below you and the arch top rising 134 m above the water.
- Accor StadiumBuilt in 1999 for A$690 million, this was the largest Olympic stadium ever constructed — originally squeezing in 115,000 people.
- Sydney Tower EyeAt 309 m above the CBD, this is the highest observation deck in the Southern Hemisphere by deck elevation — clearing Auckland's Sky Tower by nearly 30 m.
- Australian MuseumThe world's fifth oldest natural history museum has been in Sydney since 1827 — older than the colony could really afford it.
- Taronga ZooFive thousand animals on the Mosman shore — and the Sydney skyline watches from across the water.
- Sydney Cricket GroundA British Army garrison pitch from February 1854, now one oval shared by two sporting codes.