Free things to do in Sydney

The city charges for a lot, and then hands you 9 ocean pools, 824 named parks, 140 public BBQs and 417 playgrounds for nothing. This is that half of inner Sydney, pulled from the same map data as everything else here — and where the map knows a place by name, it is named below; where it only knows there are four of them in a suburb, it says that instead of inventing a list.

🏊 Swim for nothing

9 of Sydney's 18 ocean pools and harbour baths take no money at the gate — the rock pools on the coast walk are council-run and simply open.

Bronte BathsBronte · ocean poolClovelly Ocean PoolClovelly · ocean poolGiles BathsCoogee · ocean poolRoss Jones Memorial PoolCoogee · ocean poolMurray Rose PoolDouble Bay · harbour bathBalmoral BathsMiddle Harbour · harbour bathNorth Bondi Children's PoolNorth Bondi · ocean poolWally Weekes Ocean PoolNorth Bondi · ocean poolWatson's Bay BathsWatsons Bay · harbour bath

All of them, with walking times and which ones charge: ocean pools and harbour baths.

🔭 Lookouts worth the walk

32 of the 162 mapped viewpoints carry a name — the rest are on the map as markers, unnamed by whoever surveyed them.

Clifton Lane StepsBalmain EastBellevue Hill LookoutBellevue HillTobruk Avenue LookoutCremornePylon LookoutDawes PointRozelle Bay LookoutGlebeManns PointGreenwichCopes LookoutKirribilliStanton LookoutKirribilliSpains LookoutKurraba PointThe Hodgson LookoutKurraba PointRichardsons LookoutMarrickvilleBlues Point LookoutMcMahons PointBlues Point Reserve LookoutMcMahons PointEast Crescent Reserve LookoutMcMahons PointCarroll's LookoutMosmanCurlew Camp LookoutMosmanCurraghbeena Point LookoutMosmanHeadland Park LookoutMosmanLittle Sirius Point LookoutMosmanDe' GosbasterRedfern

🔥 Where to light a public BBQ

140 free electric BBQs across 56 suburbs. Only two of them have a name in the data, so here they are by suburb — switch the ♨️ layer on the map to find the one in a particular park.

Zetland · 10Marrickville · 7Pyrmont · 7Camperdown · 6Centennial Park · 6Mascot · 5Mosman · 5Rosebery · 5Alexandria · 4Coogee · 4Earlwood · 4Glebe · 4Kensington · 4Annandale · 3Clovelly · 3Darlington · 3Haberfield · 3Lewisham · 3Lilyfield · 3Waverton · 3Beaconsfield · 2Birchgrove · 2

🛝 Playgrounds, by suburb

417 of them across 99 suburbs — the suburbs with the most are the ones with the big parks rather than the most children.

Mosman · 16Marrickville · 14Newtown · 14Glebe · 13Balmain · 10Cremorne · 9Mascot · 9Paddington · 9Redfern · 9Annandale · 8Randwick · 8Alexandria · 7Rosebery · 7Rozelle · 7Surry Hills · 7Bronte · 6Camperdown · 6Coogee · 6Forest Lodge · 6Greenwich · 6Kensington · 6Leichhardt · 6

🛹 Skate parks and off-leash runs

Sydney Skate Parkskate park · AlexandriaSydney Skate Parkskate park · AlexandriaFederal Park Skate Parkskate park · AnnandaleNorth Sydney Skate Plazaskate park · CammeraySouth Eveleigh Skateparkskate park · EveleighLeichhardt Skate Parkskate park · LilyfieldBalmoral Skate Parkskate park · MosmanCamdenville Park bike parkskate park · St PetersFernside Skate Parkskate park · WaterlooBurrows Park off-leash areaoff-leash area · ClovellySteyne Parkoff-leash area · Double BayLewisham West Off-Leash Dog Parkoff-leash area · LewishamFig Tree Lane Reserveoff-leash area · Woollahra

What “free” leaves out

Free at the gate is not free to reach: most of the coastal pools want a bus, and the harbour lookouts want a ferry. Council facilities close for maintenance without warning, BBQs run on a timed button that someone has usually just pressed, and an off-leash area is off-leash only in the hours signposted at its gate. Tennis courts are deliberately absent from this page — almost all of them are booked and paid for, whatever the map says about the net.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).