Get your pulse racing in The Rocks

Feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention as you celebrate Halloween in The Rocks, said to be Sydney's most haunted neighbourhood. The first area in the city to be settled by Europeans, this hilly harbourside precinct has witnessed countless historic events, including plenty of macabre incidents. So it's no surprise it transforms into a seriously spooky destination over the Halloween weekend with the annual Ghost in The Rocks festival. 

Lap up the gruesome glamour of the festival as you dare to enter haunted houses like the Abandoned Hospital, the Slaughter House, the Ghost Room and the Vampire Den. Let your imagination run free as you compete for the title of the best-dressed ghoul at the Ghost Parade. Shuffle your feet to dance tunes at the post-apocalyptic Zombie Silent DJ Party. Look for clues in a hidden pop-up bar during the Murder Mystery Party, and snap up festive crafts and treats as the sun sets before exploring a haunted maze at the Two-Faced Halloween Market.

While entry to the Ghost in The Rocks festival is free, some events like the Zombie Silent DJ Party are ticketed – check the events page on the official The Rocks website for details. 

Can't make it to the silent disco? You can still party like it's the undead apocalypse during the annual Sydney Zombie Walk through the city centre, which is held on 1 November in 2025 and is expected to have 10,000 zombies. The Sydney Zombie Walk brings together participants of all ages in a fun, family friendly event, encouraging them to dress up in creative, zombie-inspired costumes as they take to the streets of Sydney in support of several important charities. This year, they are supporting Kids with Cancer Foundation and the Redfern Aboriginal Dance Group. Visit their Facebook page for more details.

Slip on a skeleton onesie or dress up in your grisly best and join one of The Rocks Ghost Tours' Halloween Ghost Tours for an evening that will be seared in your memory. Follow your expert guide through The Rocks' cobblestone streets and shadowy laneways to hear nerve-tingling tales of the paranormal over two happily haunted hours.

The historic pubs of The Rocks have seen more than their fair share of unexplained phenomena, as you'll discover on a Halloween-night Haunted Sydney Pub Tour & Cellar Visit with Lantern Ghost Tours. Pull your cape tight against the otherworldly chill as you descend into the haunted cellar of the 1845 Hero of Waterloo hotel, where sandstone cells once held kidnapped sailors and where the melancholy spirit of a former publican's wife returns time and again. Or join Lantern's Ghost Tour around The Rocks as your guide recounts tales of ghosts seeking revenge, mass burial pits and brutality by the harbour. 

Set sail on a haunted harbour

While The Rocks may be the most haunted part of Sydney, there are many more spooky places to explore across the city and around Sydney Harbour. 

Have a fright-fully good time cruising the harbour on Vagabond Cruises' Halloween Boat Party, competing for best-costume prizes and dancing in a crowd of zombies, ghosts and vampires as your vessel carves through inky-black waters. 

Or board a ferry headed to Manly and savour the unsettling atmosphere of Quarantine Station, a former migrant quarantine station in Sydney Harbour National Park that's now a hotel and heritage site. 

Sense the presence of restless spirits as you check into Quarantine Station's Heritage Suite or a Terraces room in the old doctors' and nurses' quarters. Freshen up – or change into your costume – for a memorable Halloween Tour of this atmospheric retreat, complete with a best-dressed contest. 

Bringing the kids? Quarantine Station hosts family-friendly events including a Little Ghostbusters Halloween Event for kids aged 8 to 17, a Spookyween treasure hunt, and an age-appropriate Family Spooks ghost tour for kids as young as seven years old. You can also spread the scares across Halloween weekend – or across the year – by joining one of Quarantine Station's regularly scheduled Ghostly Encounters tours. 

You can also venture to the Parramatta River side of Sydney Harbour Bridge to join the Halloween celebrations at Cockatoo Island, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed Australian Convict Site. Step off a harbour ferry from Circular Quay or Barangaroo and feel the weight of history on this imposing rocky island, which hosted a convict gaol from 1839 to 1869 before becoming a shipbuilding centre and a reformatory. 

Thrill to true stories of convict escapes, shark attacks and more on Cockatoo Island's Family Friendly After Dark Tour (suitable for kids aged seven and above). Or take an adult-only after-dark tour where the subject matter takes a more sinister twist as you learn of the island's colourful, often brutal past. 

After your spine-chilling tour, catch a late ferry back to the city centre or retreat to your stay on the island – bring family or friends for an atmospheric stay at one of Cockatoo Island's two Federation-style Heritage Holiday Houses sleeping up to 12 guests, or cosy up at one of the restored apartments with harbour views.

Hunt for ghosts in Western Sydney

Follow the river beyond Cockatoo Island to partake in an evening of paranormal matters in Parramatta, the oldest inland European settlement in Australia. This Western Sydney hub dates back to 1788 and is steeped in the supernatural, as you'll discover on Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators' Halloween Ghost Hunt at Old Government House. 

Following the lead of an experienced paranormal investigator, you'll split up into teams and conduct all sorts of experiments in sections of the convict-built Old Government House that are usually off-limits to visitors. You'll hold vigils with paranormal equipment or simply calm your mind and sense some of the spirits who've inhabited this grand country residence – the oldest surviving public building in the country. 

Feel free to bring your own paranormal investigation equipment when you explore historic buildings and an old graveyard in Picton, around an hour's drive southwest of Sydney's city centre, on Greater Sydney Tours' Picton Paranormal Experience. Join your psychic guide as you learn of the town's colonial past and its long history of ghostly encounters on a Halloween to remember – and keep an eye on Greater Sydney Tours' events page for details of its family-friendly Halloween Scavenger Hunt.

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