Sculpture by the Sea 2026: a practical guide to the Bondi to Tamarama walk

For a few weeks every spring, my favourite stretch of coastline becomes the world's most beautiful gallery. Sculpture by the Sea lines the Bondi to Tamarama clifftop with 100 works, set against the ocean, free to walk, and utterly unlike a gallery with a roof. I've done it most years and it still stops me in my tracks.

2026 dates

On now until Sunday 2 November 2026

What

Free outdoor sculpture exhibition, 100 works

Where

Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk

Distance

About 2 km one way; allow 2-3 hours

Entry

Free. $5 a person or $10 a family suggested

Milestone

30 years since the first Bondi exhibition in 1997

It started in 1997, when founder David Handley - a former commercial lawyer inspired by a sculpture park he'd seen in Bohemia - staged a single-day show of 64 works along this same path. It drew around 25,000 people on a shoestring budget, and the idea has never changed: put ambitious work by Australian and international artists against the sea and let the ocean do half the job. It's now billed as the world's largest free-to-the-public sculpture exhibition.

The walk itself

It's roughly 2 kilometres one way, from the Icebergs pool at the southern end of Bondi around to Tamarama. As a plain stroll that's about 25 minutes, but you won't stroll - you'll stop constantly, so give yourself two to three hours. Works are scattered across the sand, perched on the cliffs, and clustered through Marks Park on Mackenzies Point, the grassy headland roughly halfway along with uninterrupted views north and south. Part of the joy is watching the light and tide reshape each piece as you go.

You can start from either end: at Bondi, pick the path up at Notts Avenue and head south; at Tamarama, start near Pacific Avenue and head north. The organisers describe the full recommended route as including many stairs and moderate slopes, which is worth taking at face value before you commit a pram or a bad knee to it. A few practical notes before you set off:

• It's an active clifftop - stay behind the barriers and keep kids and dogs close near the edges.
• Toilets are at Bondi, Marks Park and Tamarama, with little in between, so go before you start.
• The Bondi end has plenty of food and coffee; Tamarama has far fewer options, so carry water and a snack. There is a pop-up café at Marks Park during the exhibition.
• Most sculptures are for sale, and many are works you genuinely can't see anywhere else.

What else is on during the exhibition

The sculptures are the thing, but the run carries a programme around them and most of it is free. Aqualand Artist Talks run across all three weekends, with artists speaking beside their own work. Sculpture Inside, at Marks Park, is an indoor gallery of the artists' smaller pieces and the one part of the exhibition that is reliably out of the wind. And you can vote in the iShares People's Choice Prize: the winning artist takes $10,000, the result is announced on the final weekend, and voters go into a draw for one of three $250 prize packs. There is also a mobile exhibition guide if you would rather not carry a printed catalogue.

Getting there

Take public transport. The organisers expect up to 450,000 visitors across the 18-day run, parking is scarce, and extra bus services are laid on specifically for the exhibition. Tap on and off with an Opal card or a contactless card - and if you are using an Opal card, top it up before you travel, because the machines at Bondi Junction get queues during the exhibition. If you're comfortable with the distance, walking down from Bondi Junction can be quicker than waiting for a bus.

• Route 333 from the city: Circular Quay to Bondi Beach via Bondi Junction, stopping along Elizabeth Street at Martin Place, St James and Museum, then out along Oxford Street.
• Train then bus: the T4 Eastern Suburbs Line from Central, Town Hall or Martin Place to Bondi Junction, then any bus down to the beach.
• Metro: the M1 to Martin Place, then a bus towards Bondi Beach or a train to Bondi Junction.
• Route 381 for the Tamarama end: a Bondi Junction to Tamarama loop, with additional services running daily from 9.15am to 6.50pm during the exhibition.
• Route 380: Watsons Bay to Bondi Junction via Military Road, with extra services between Bondi Junction and North Bondi roughly every 10 minutes from 10am to 5pm.

Beating the crowds

This is one of the busiest things on Sydney's spring calendar - the organisers expect up to 450,000 visitors across the run - so when you go matters more than anything else. A sunny weekend afternoon is shoulder-to-shoulder on a clifftop path that is narrow in places. A weekday morning is a different exhibition entirely, and the organisers say so themselves.

• Go on a weekday, and go early. The first hour after dawn is the quietest the path ever gets.
• Start at the Tamarama end. Most people pour in from Bondi, so walking against the flow gives you cleaner sightlines and easier photos.
• Skip the car. Vehicle access near the walk is restricted 9am to 6pm - take the bus, or the train to Bondi Junction and a bus down.
• Avoid the last Sunday. Closing day on 2 November will be the busiest of the run.

Accessibility

Be realistic about the full walk: the organisers state plainly that there is little wheelchair access along its length and that seating is limited. What they have built instead is a genuinely usable alternative at Marks Park, which is mostly flat and grassed, holds a large share of the sculptures, and has the indoor Sculpture Inside gallery and accessible toilets. If someone in your group has limited mobility, go to Marks Park and treat the rest as optional - and go midweek, which the organisers also recommend.

• Two suggested routes avoid most stairs: a blue easy route centred on Marks Park, and a purple moderate route for anyone comfortable with some stairs and more than a kilometre. Both are on the official downloadable map.
• The accessible drop-off and pick-up zone is on the corner of Kenneth Street and Marks Lane. You need to show a disability permit to the traffic controller to enter Fletcher Street, and the driver then has to park elsewhere.
• Accessible toilets are in the Marks Park toilet block, including a single-occupancy accessible toilet open 6am to 8.30pm on each day of the exhibition, and at Tamarama Beach - though the ramp down to Tamarama is steep.
• Tamarama has two half-hour accessible parking spaces, reached by that steep ramp. Waverley Council's map shows accessible parking across the area.
• Manual wheelchairs and large-print exhibition catalogues can be borrowed from the Catalogue Information Marquees. Anyone needing a hoist has to bring their own, and groups wanting mobility assistance should call the site office on +61 2 8399 0233.

The best sculpture here is never just the object - it's the object, the cliff and the sea, all at once.