Sydney has an enormous number of places to drink and party. A limited number of venues have 24 hour licences, however the majority close before 3am and some as early as 11pm, particularly if there are nearby residents. Most venues will have door staff checking photo identification to determine that you are over 18. Admission is also commonly refused to those who seem visibly drunk to the staff. More popular venues have discriminatory door practices, the most common of which is refusing entry to groups of men who are not accompanied by women.
Most places have at least a basic dress code. If you’re not sure where you’re headed and want to get into most generic pubs and clubs you come across, men should wear a collared shirt, neat full-length pants (not jeans) and business-style shoes. Cheaper pubs have looser requirements, and of course different groups follow different fashions. This recipe won’t work for entry to a goth club. In almost all cases, women can dress more freely, but a small number of places require closed shoes.
Entry charges for live music or DJs are usual and range from $5 to $30 depending on clientele. Entry charges are rare if you’re going into a pub for a drink.
Note that there is a taxi shift change at 3am, and it is notoriously difficult to catch a taxi anywhere between 2:30am and 3:30am.
Some types of nightlife are concentrated in particular areas:
Backpackers drink near the hostels, and will find a lot of fellow budget travellers in pubs in the Eastern Suburbs Beaches like Bondi Beach and Kings Cross.
In some ways Irish pubs are a global phenomenon, but they’ve certainly taken Sydney by storm. Irish pubs are concentrated in the Rocks area of the city, and are outrageously popular on the 17th March when the St Patrick’s Day parade is held.
Business pubs also cater to the city crowd: lawyers, financiers and brokers and are very busy Friday nights when the city workers are let loose for the week.
Large nightclubs are concentrated in the Darling Harbour area.
Sydney’s large gay scene is concentrated in Darlinghurst
Sydney’s students drink in the Inner West
Some nightclubs and Sydney’s younger partygoers are found in North Sydney
