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ManlyThe Locals' Guide
Time your trip to the music.

Festivals & Events

Time your trip to the music.

From a January surf carnival to September jazz on the Corso and harbourside NYE fireworks, Manly's calendar is worth planning a trip around. Dates, summaries and links to every official source below.

Jan

Shaw & Partners Manly Surf Open

16 to 17 January (annual)

World Ocean Series 10,000-point event. Surf boats, skis, paddleboards and ironpeople battling it out on the home break.

One of the longest-running surf-craft events on the planet and now a flagship of the Shaw & Partners World Ocean Series. Two days of elite racing across surf boats, ocean skis, board paddling and the ironman/woman finals, with the best lifesaving athletes from Australia, NZ, the US and South Africa all on Manly Beach. Free to spectate from the sand or the promenade. Bring a hat.

World Ocean Series Read our guideFree to watch
Feb

Cole Classic Ocean Swim

Sunday in February (annual)

The world's biggest ocean swim. Choose 1km, 2km or 5km from Shelly Beach finishing at Manly. The 2026 swim was moved to 22 February on safety advice.

More than four decades old and still the benchmark for Australian ocean swims. Thousands of swimmers, Olympians and first-timers alike, start from Shelly Beach and finish on the sand at Manly. Pick the 1km if you've never done one, the 2km is the classic, the 5km is for the keen. Spectating from Fairy Bower is half the fun. Note: the 2026 swim moved from 1 to 22 February after heavy rain hit water quality, so treat the February date as indicative and check the official site before booking around it.

coleclassic.com.au Read our guide
May

Taste of Manly

Late May (annual) — check Council for status

Local restaurants, breweries and winemakers take over Manly Oval for a weekend of plates, pours and live music on the Corso.

The peninsula's flagship food and wine weekend, run by Northern Beaches Council. 60+ stalls from Manly's restaurants, cafés, bars, breweries and Sydney winemakers, with live music across two stages and a kids' zone tucked along the side. The whole thing finishes by 5pm so you can roll down to the wharf for sunset. Entry is free; you pay-as-you-go for food and drink. Note: Northern Beaches Council lists the event as paused pending a review of licensing and community feedback, and has been running Taste of the Beaches across the wider region in its place — check the Council page before planning a trip around it.

Taste of Manly (Council) Read our guideFree entry
Jun

Rise Manly

19 to 28 June 2026 (annual)

Council-run winter festival. Ten nights of light installations, night markets, live music and late trading across the Corso and the wharf.

Manly's answer to the winter lull, and the reason late June is quietly one of the best times to be here. Light works and projections go up along the Corso and around the wharf, restaurants and bars trade late, night markets and fire pits fill the side streets, and there's live music most evenings. Wandering it is free; the long-table dinners and a handful of headline events are ticketed and go early. Bring a proper jacket — the wind off the harbour after dark is colder than the forecast suggests.

Rise Manly (Council) Read our guideMostly free
Sep

Night at The Barracks

11 September to 3 October 2026

Open-air concerts on a 1930s sandstone parade ground at North Head, high above Sydney Harbour. Ten nights across four weekends.

The most surprising ticket in Manly. The stage sits in the heritage parade ground at North Head Sanctuary, native bush pressing in on all sides and the occasional kangaroo grazing behind the crowd. The 2026 season opened with Boy & Bear and Aloe Blacc and runs through The Temper Trap, PNAU, Ben Folds and Katie Noonan's Grace before closing with The Cruel Sea and Jet. Every show is ticketed, some are seated, and there are no walk-ups. Don't drive: parking is limited, pre-booked and sells out, and the shuttle bus from Manly Wharf is the easy way in.

nightatthebarracks.com.au Read our guideTicketed
Sep

Manly Jazz Festival

18 to 20 September 2026

One of Australia's longest-running community jazz festivals. Three days of free outdoor stages on the Corso plus ticketed late-night sets in venues across town.

Manly Jazz turns the entire town centre into a venue for the long weekend. Free open-air stages run on the Corso, at Manly Beach and at the wharf from late morning to early evening, with ticketed shows tucked into the Hotel Steyne, the Ivanhoe and the Manly Bowling Club. Bring a picnic rug for the beachfront stage, and book accommodation early. The town fills up.

manlyjazz.com.au Read our guideSet timesFree outdoor / ticketed indoor
Oct

Surf + Sound Festival

16 October to 1 November 2026 (inaugural)

Brand new for 2026. Three weekends of live music on Manly Wharf, a free art trail running the whole three weeks, and a national boardriders contest to close it out.

The biggest addition to the Manly calendar in years — a seven-figure program from Artemus Group, who bought Manly Wharf in 2024. Live music runs across three consecutive weekends, with Skegss, The Whitlams, Skunkhour, The Beautiful Girls, GANGgajang, Winston Surfshirt and Mudhoney announced so far and more to come. Alongside it, a free public art trail across the wharf and harbour — inflatables, sculptures and projections curated by Sydney-raised, New York-based artist Jeremyville, plus five artists painting classic Defenders live at Manly Cove. The final weekend shifts to Manly Beach for the Surf + Sound Boardrider Battle, with clubs from around the country in men's, women's and under-18 divisions and a Legends Heat on Saturday 31 October putting Joel Parkinson, Mark Occhilupo and Layne Beachley back in the water. Set times and ticket prices hadn't been published when we checked.

surfandsoundfestival.com.au Read our guideTicketed music / free art trail
Dec

New Year's Eve at Manly

31 December (fireworks at 9pm & midnight)

Family-friendly fireworks at 9pm right off Manly Wharf, with partial harbour-fireworks views from Manly Cove at midnight.

The smart Sydney move on NYE: skip the Quay crush and ferry across instead. Manly Wharf hosts its own fireworks display at 9pm directly off the cove, with restaurants on the wharf opening from late afternoon. Manly Cove is an official City of Sydney vantage point (capacity 10,000, free, opens 5pm) with partial views of the main Harbour fireworks at midnight. Last ferries back to Circular Quay run all night on NYE.

Manly Cove vantage point Read our guideFree public viewing

Dates confirmed where published by official organisers. For multi-day festivals always double-check the program before booking. Programs and venues can shift.

Where it all happens

The Corso, Manly Oval and the Cove carry most of the year's events between them.

See the wildlife

Whale watching cruise

Humpbacks pass Manly on the migration, May to November. You can see them from North Head for free — a boat gets you alongside them.

Check availability

Build your own

Turn this into a day, in a minute.

Pick what you love, drop the rest. Our planner stitches ferries, beaches, walks and meals into a single, sensible day — and emails it to you.

BUILD MY ITINERARY