Surely we can’t be halfway through 2025 already, can we? While the year races away from us (New Year’s resolutions still firmly on their marks), the big positive is that Vivid Sydney is just around the bend – treating us to 23 days and nights of dream-inspired art installations, light projections, music performances, talks and films.

Dotted among the endless one-off events with legends like Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, Martha Stewart and Warren Ellis are the real heroes – the bars and eateries catering to the Vivid crowds. This year, the selection takes in some of Sydney’s favourite spots, each offering festival-exclusive menus, one-off collabs and cocktail specials that will run from 23 May till 14 June.

Harbourside, you’ll find Matt Moran’s Circular Quay stunner Aria, blessed as it is with some of the best views of the lit-up Sydney skyline. For this year’s Vivid, Aria’s bar and wharf room are getting a revamped snack menu, with bite-sized headliners like fried quail leg, K’gari spanner crab and an ice-cream sundae with sherry caramel and pecans. In the dining room, you can opt for a tableside-churned nitro ice-cream course, 2015 Dom Perignon White Luminous by the glass for $69 and a special edition Belvedere 10 Martini for $27.

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Just around the corner, the cocktail legends at Maybe Sammy are pairing up with Hennessy for a collab titled It’s Show Time. For the festival’s three weeks, the bar is offering up some theatrical specials, including Dom Perignon champagne by the glass and three cocktails highlighting the best of Hennessy – including the $26 Hennessy Halo Sidecar with De Kuyper Triple Sec, lemon and orange blossom. They make ideal accompaniments for the venue’s twice-nightly choreographed dance performances at 8pm and 10pm.

At Darling Harbour’s two-floor Meat District Co, the Vivid-only counterpoint to the staple burgers, steaks and ribs comes thanks to a collaboration with Belvedere. The exclusive Sunset Vibe cocktail is $21 and blends Belvedere Pure Vodka, lime, sugar syrup, grenadine, agave and orange juice to bring a little summer sun to the midwinter festival.

The Belvedere cocktails continue to flow in Darling Harbour, as Blackbird Cafe changes shades ever so slightly with its exclusive Bluebird Dream cocktail – a mix of Belvedere, triple sec, blue curacao, lime juice and passionfruit puree – available for $18 across the three festival weeks. Blackbird has exceptional views of the Vivid Cockle Bay lightshow from its waterfront balcony – and if you head down on a Friday, you can catch its Busker Night and extended happy hour promotions too.

For its Vivid special, all-day Italian diner and patisserie Bottega Coco is offering Veuve Clicquot by the glass for $25 (or full bottles for $120) to complement its already extensive breakfast, high tea, patisserie and banquet menus. Next door, enchanting cocktail bar and Barangaroo neighbour Cardea has its own one-off for Vivid, the $20 Blueton cocktail – that’s coconut-infused Belvedere, bergamot, orange liqueur and lime.

Middle Eastern favourite Aalia, known for its topnotch service, is hosting a pop-up bar on its doorstep in Martin Place. Sample signature meze (the Angelachu anchovies with muhammara on Turkish bread is a crowd favourite) and sip exclusive cocktails like the Silk Road Sling, with Belvedere, lychee and oolong tea, or the Henny Colada – both $17. Your evening will be backdropped by Vivid’s BioDream: a psychedelic, nature-fuelled dreamscape projected on Harry Seidler’s brutalist CTA Building next door.

This article is produced in partnership with Hennessy and Veuve Clicquot.