September is the month Manly stops pretending to be a beach town and turns itself inside out. The whole peninsula becomes a stage for three days of jazz, the galleries hit their busiest stretch of the year, and the beach that sat unpatrolled through winter gets its flags back. The water is warming, the whales are coming south with calves, and the school-holiday crowds arrive on the last weekend of the month.
Here's everything worth your time in Manly this September, sorted by what closes soonest.
Manly Arts Festival — All Through September
The Manly Arts Festival runs through September, scattering open studios, gallery shows, performances and workshops across the peninsula — MAG&M, the Creative Space at Curl Curl, Glen Street Theatre and a string of smaller studios and galleries from Manly Vale to Seaforth. Most of it is free.
The honest line: the programme is diffuse and a lot of it is announced close to the date. Rather than list individual events here, check the council's festival listing the week you're here — what's on in the first week of September is different from what's on in the last. The one fixed point is the Environmental Art & Design Prize below, which runs the whole month and closes mid-September.
Environmental Art & Design Prize — Until Sunday 20 September
The month's best rainy-afternoon answer, now with an expiry date. The Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize — one of Australia's leading environmental art and design competitions — closes on Sunday 20 September at MAG&M (Art and Design) and Curl Curl Creative Space (Young Artists & Designers). It's 170 finalists, chosen from more than 700 entries, and it's free, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am–5pm.
Your vote has a deadline, and it's mid-month, not at the end. People's Choice voting closes Wednesday 16 September, with the winner announced on Friday 18 September — the same day Jazz opens. If you're in the gallery in early September, actually vote: it's $3,000 of someone's year.
Also worth catching before it closes: a "Meet the Artists & Designers" session on Saturday 5 September at 2pm, a panel on Thursday 10 September, and a sustainable brooch-making workshop on Saturday 12 September. Details on the prize page.
Father's Day — Sunday 6 September
Every waterfront table in Manly books out by the Wednesday before. If you haven't booked, either book immediately or aim for the early sitting around 11:30am, or skip the wharf entirely and head for the beach end of the Corso, where the cafés and casual spots are easier to get into. Our where to eat and happy hours guides will help you land something.
Manly Jazz — Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September
The headline. Australia's longest-running jazz festival turns 49 this year and turns the whole town into a venue: 95-plus acts across four outdoor stages and a dozen official indoor venues, free and non-ticketed. Friday runs 4pm to 8pm; Saturday and Sunday run 10am to 6pm.
The headline names: Monica Trapaga, the Hot Potato Band and Back to Back The Band on the outdoor stages, plus gigs in the official venues — the Hilary Geddes Quartet and Murmurations at MAG&M, End Notes Collective at Cibaria, Leah Berry at The Cumberland, and an open mic at Manly Library. Bucketty's Jazz Garden returns on the Corso with live music, food and Bucketty's own brews. And on Saturday the beachfront stage runs from the Sydney Conservatorium Big Band at 11am, through a 100th-anniversary "Celebrating Miles and Trane" set, to Back to Back The Band at 5pm.
This section is deliberately short because the full guide already exists: the Manly Jazz 2026 guide has the stages, the venues and how to do the weekend. Read it before you come — accommodation for the Jazz weekend is the first thing in Manly to sell out all year.
One practical note: North and South Steyne close to traffic from 4pm Friday to midnight Sunday, from Raglan Street to Wentworth Street. Don't plan to drive to the beachfront that weekend.
Saturday 19 September — The Month's Collision
Jazz Saturday is also the third Saturday of the month, which means the Manly Village Public School Markets (8am–2pm, Darley Road and Wentworth Street) land inside the busiest day of the Manly year. If you're here for the music, the markets are a bonus between sets; if you're here for the markets, parking is unwinnable and the ferry is the answer. Plan for both, and expect the Corso to be shoulder-to-shoulder by late morning.
Girly in Manly — Opens Friday 25 September
A new show opens at MAG&M on Friday 25 September: Girly in Manly, bringing together Kate Bohunnis, Anne Ferran, Maddison Gibbs and Ebony Russell on femininity through inheritance, care, creativity and connection to place. It runs to 29 November, so this is the September event that survives into October and November. Free, as MAG&M always is.
The Flags Go Back Up — Saturday 26 September
The 2026/27 NSW patrol season starts on Saturday 26 September and runs to Monday 26 April 2027. Volunteer surf lifesavers return to the beach on weekends and public holidays, and the red-and-yellow flags go back up between them.
This matters more in September than it does in January, because the swell is still winter-sized and the town is filling up for the school holidays. Until the 26th the beach is unpatrolled on weekends — swim between the flags once they're up, and before then stick to the best swimming spots and read whether it's safe to swim in Manly if you're unsure.
School Holidays Start Monday 28 September
Term 3 ends Friday 25 September, and the spring break runs Monday 28 September to Friday 9 October (Term 4 starts Tuesday 13 October). The last three days of September are a different town from the first twenty-seven — beaches, cafés and the ferry all shift up a gear. If you're travelling with kids, our things to do with kids guide has the shortlist.
Whales — The Southbound Run, With Calves
September is when the southbound migration starts to peak, and it's the calves that make it special: mother humpbacks bring their newborns back down the coast close to shore. Fewer animals than the June–July peak, but the closest passes of the year, and same-day boat bookings are usually possible where June sold out a week ahead. North Head's Fairfax lookouts are still the best free vantage. The full story is in our whale watching guide, and the spring guide covers the wider season.
The Water and Weather in September
The water's climbing off its winter floor — roughly 16–18°C and warming, with Shelly Beach usually a degree warmer. September sits in the driest stretch of the year, and the afternoon nor'easter starts to pick up again as the month goes on. None of this is new; our spring guide has the full picture.
Markets Every Weekend
The Manly markets keep running through September: the craft and design market on the Corso and Sydney Road on Saturdays and Sundays, and the fresh produce market on Sundays. Plus the school markets on the 19th, noted above.
Weekly Events + Also Worth Knowing
- Felons run club, Wednesdays 6:15pm — free, social, all paces, from the brewpub along the beachfront.
- InSitu drag bingo, Saturdays 1–3pm — bottomless brunch and drag bingo, bookings essential.
- Pub trivia most nights — ask at the bar.
- No Sea Eagles home games this month. The last home game was 28 August; Round 27 is away in Auckland on 5 September. Don't plan a Brookvale Friday night around September — there isn't one.
- Magpie swooping peaks in September. It's real, it's brief, and the spring guide covers how to handle it.
- Sydney Fringe runs across greater Sydney all month — not a Manly event, but if you're in town for it, the ferry makes Manly an easy base.
- Q Station Sunset Sessions resume 30 September on North Head — live music and harbour views. They're really an October fixture, but the first one lands on the last day of the month.
- Chronos: Australian Ceramics from 1933 continues at MAG&M to March 2027.
Coming Up — October
Daylight saving starts Sunday 4 October, the same day as the NRL Grand Final at Accor Stadium. School holidays run to Friday 9 October, and Girly in Manly continues at MAG&M. Warmer water, longer evenings — October is the month Manly starts to feel like summer.
The Bottom Line
September is the month Manly puts on its biggest show. Jazz takes over the Corso for three days, the art prize has its final weeks, the whales come back with calves, and the flags go back up at the end of the month. If you're planning one visit all year, make it the third weekend.
