The Best Bars Near Oxford Street to Visit This Mardi Gras Weekend
This year's Mardi Gras parade is set to take over Darlinghurst with rainbows and glitter on Saturday, February 29. The parade will kick off at 7.30pm on the corner of College and Liverpool streets (near Hyde Park) then the 200 groups and floats — and thousands of colourful revellers — will make their way up Oxford Street, hook a right at Flinders Street and end at the northern end of Moore Park at 11pm. The kind people at Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have put together a handy map, too.
If you're partaking in the parade, or looking for a good vantage point — and don't manage to squeeze into the heaving Stonewall Hotel or Columbian — head to one of these bars and pubs a stone's throw away from Oxford Street.
Image: Destination NSW
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Bar
Odd Culture - CLOSED
Level 2, The Taphouse, 122 Flinders Street, Darlinghurst
The Taphouse's sour beer and natural wine bar.
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Bar
Gorgeous George Bar - CLOSED
13 Burton Street, Darlinghurst
This extravagant bar is named after a famously OTT 1950s wrestler.
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Bar
The Oxford Hotel
134 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
From mellow solo acts and laid-back duos to live bands and DJs.
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Bar
The Beresford Hotel
354 Bourke Street, Surry Hills
A Surry Hills pub with one of the best courtyards in town.
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Bar
Courthouse Hotel
189 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
This Oxford Street stalwart lights up during Mardi Gras.
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Bar
East Village Hotel
234 Palmer Street, Darlinghurst
The three-tiered Darlinghurst pub gets a new life with an upstairs sports bar and rooftop terrace.
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Bar
Taphouse Sydney
122 Flinders Street, Darlinghurst
The Taphouse 2.0 brings fun wines, long necks of Tsingtao and succulent Chinese meals to Darlinghurst under the guidance of the Forresters team.
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Bar
Cafe Lounge - CLOSED
277 Goulburn Street, Surry Hills
Potentially cheesy jokes with definitely cheesy pizza.
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Bar
The Cliff Dive
16-18 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
The Tio's boys have done it again. And this time, things are tropical.
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Bar
Middlebar - CLOSED
383 Bourke Street, Darlinghurst
Inspired by Cuban cocktail joints, the former Lo-Fi space is now a make-your-own G&T bar.
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Bar
Goodbar - CLOSED
11A Oxford Street, Paddington
Come for the cocktails and stay for the dance floor dazzling with mirror balls.
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Bar
Dead Ringer
413 Bourke Street, Surry Hills
The Bulletin Place team reinvent Bacardi Breezers, Redskins and so many nostalgic favourites.
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The Unicorn
106 Oxford Street, Paddington
This friendly, unpretentious pub from the Mary’s gang is well-loved for its cold beer, homegrown wine list and food menu.
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Bar
Bitter Phew
137 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
Craft beer bar upstairs, natural wine bar downstairs.