Bondi Winter Magic

If you've been searching for "Bondi Winter Magic" and the seaside ice rink you remember, here's the quick answer: that beloved winter fixture lives on today as the Bondi Festival - Waverley Council's annual July celebration on Bondi Park, with the iconic beachfront ice rink still its glittering centrepiece. The name changed, but the magic didn't. It's the same joy of lacing up skates a few metres from the sand, only now it comes wrapped in a much bigger program of music, comedy, art and light.

I'll be honest - swapping a surfboard for a pair of ice skates in the middle of a Bondi winter never stops feeling gloriously absurd, and that's exactly why I love it. There's nothing quite like gliding across the ice with the Pacific crashing behind you and the Pavilion lit up gold at dusk.

Now called

Bondi Festival

When

Annually in July (winter)

Where

Bondi Park & Bondi Pavilion

Run by

Waverley Council

Signature

Beachfront ice rink

What happened to Bondi Winter Magic?

For years, "Bondi Winter Magic" was the name locals used for the pop-up ice rink that appeared on the Pavilion forecourt each winter. These days that same rink - and a whole lot more - runs under the banner of the Bondi Festival, a two-and-a-bit-week program of arts and family fun spread across Bondi Park and the newly refurbished Bondi Pavilion. So if you booked skate tickets under the old name once upon a time, you're in the right place; just look for Bondi Festival now.

The 2026 festival ran from 3 to 19 July and has wrapped for the year. The rink returns each winter, so watch for next year's dates rather than a fixed schedule - it shifts around within July from one year to the next.

The ice rink, and everything around it

The rink is the headline, but half the fun is everything orbiting it. In recent years the festival has bundled in a Ferris wheel, live music, comedy, theatre, food and drink stalls, life-drawing sessions and after-dark light installations along the park. Plenty of it is free to wander, with paid events kept deliberately affordable - a genuine community festival rather than a pricey day out.

A lovely detail I always mention: the ice rink partners with the Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation, so a dollar from every skate ticket goes towards helping sick kids. Skating with a view and doing a little good at the same time - very Bondi.

Getting there

Everything centres on Bondi Park and the Pavilion, on Queen Elizabeth Drive facing the beach. The easiest route is a train to Bondi Junction then a bus down the hill to Bondi Beach - check Transport for NSW for live times and routes. Winter parking is easier than summer, but festival weekends still fill, so leave the car at home if you can.

So no, the magic hasn't melted away - it just goes by a new name. Keep an eye out for next winter's Bondi Festival dates, grab a skate session with a sea view, and I'll see you out on the ice.