There are a number of ways to indulge in no strings fun in Sydney, ranging from the bold and brave (pulling in a bar) to the sleazy and downright effective (crawling the classifieds).
If you want to enjoy some NSA sex, we’ve put together this x-rated guide to casual encounters in Sydney.
We cover everything from pick up bars and favoured Sydney dating sites, to the city’s most notorious red light spots. Hello, Cross-crawlers!
Sydney Hookups: Better Bring Your A-Game!
As one of the most visited cities in Australia, there is an abundance of singles looking to mingle around Sydney’s bars, clubs and pubs.
If you play your cards right, that can spell good news: there is plenty of casual sex available.
From backpackers and tourists to business travellers and locals, the opportunities for a casual encounter don’t come any more guaranteed than in the Harbour City.
The CBD attracts thousands of young, attractive and beautiful twenty-somethings. Sydney is a melting pot of different nationalities.
The main thing to note is that these girls have some serious options in the dating pool. You’re not going to win the race with your B-game.
Popular Sydney Pick Up Bars
If you want to take your chances on the town then there are hundreds of bars, pubs and clubs around Sydney to choose from.
Each one has their own distinct character and style, it’s important to find one that attracts singles if you are looking to bag some casual sex or a quick fling.
We’ve heard a lot of readers reporting ‘success’ at the venues below.
Just a note, gents: While these venues are great for hooking up with women, they are not marketed as ‘pick up bars’. Keep your game subtle to avoid getting kicked out!
The Soda Factory
16 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Open from 5pm until late, Monday to Thursday, 5pm-3am on Fridays and 6pm-3am on Saturdays this popular bar in Surry Hills is always buzzing.
The Soda Factory is a US diner themed cocktail bar and hosts regular theme nights and live music. There is a house band and resident DJs to keep the atmosphere pumped and the dance-floor thronged. The place is popular with students and the average age is 20-25.
It’s an energetic, eclectic and kooky mix of people who go to the Soda Factory but there is an anything goes kind of vibe which keeps things wild.
Newtown Hotel
174 King Street, Newtown, NSW 2042
Situated in the trendy Newtown residential area, the Newtown Hotel has an inclusive and friendly feel.
The area is home to creative types, many of Sydney’s large LGBT population as well as students. As a result the Newtown Hotel bar is extremely colourful and offers plenty for the barstool observer. Because of the atmosphere there are usually a lot of singles around making pick-ups almost a foregone conclusion.
The bar opens at 10am, offers meat banquets and a beer garden. During the day the atmosphere is quite chilled with acoustic music but it gets more lively after 8pm. The age range can vary depending on when you go but all are made to feel very welcome.
The Baxter Inn
152/156 Clarence St, Sydney NSW 2000
The Baxter Inn in Sydney is a hidden gem that combines the charm of an old-school speakeasy with a modern, laid-back vibe, making it an ideal spot for those looking to connect with easy-going Sydney babes. Nestled in a basement with an unassuming entrance, this bar exudes a sense of exclusivity and intimacy right from the start. Blink and you’ll miss it.
Unlike the larger, more hectic venues, The Baxter Inn offers a cozy environment, making it easy to strike up a conversation with women at the bar or share a laugh over a whiskey.
Ivy
330 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
Notoriously known as ‘a sophisticated urban playground for adults’, the Ivy bar is big and we mean seriously big.
The space is laid out over serval levels with each area having its own personality; from the Japanese eatery to the Den where DJs belt out tunes with insane bass Ivy has it all. There is a very popular outside pool club with cabanas and gourmet pizzas. Saturday nights host busy party nights with burlesque entertainment, live dancers or circus-style entertainment.
Ivy is one of the words best clubs and the pickings are rich. Thursdays tend to see younger partygoers whilst Fridays seem to attract an influx from the CBD and weekends bring out the classy super-set. If you are looking for a super club with champagne showers then head to the Ivy. A pick up artist’s wildest dreams have been realised here…
Palmer & Co
Abercrombie Lane, Sydney, NSW 2000
This 1920s prohibition speakeasy styled bar has a late license until 5am and is a popular hangout for locals.
Live music, flapper waitresses and very friendly barstaff make the place an excellent venue to settle in for a night. It’s comfy, intimate and with a slightly naughty atmosphere. Though refined in style, there is an air of debauchery on a weekend. Perfectly situated in a downstairs cellar bar off a narrow alley, Palmer & Co’s is a must visit bar.
The Bearded Tit
183 Regent Street, Redfern, NSW, 2016
It’s a small venue which is no bad thing as things can get pretty intimate very quickly. The place is friendly with a good selection of drinks and some great music. The décor is quirky which matches the type of people who frequent the bar. Crocheted penises, stuffed animals and unicorns add a kitsch edge to the old-school décor.
The bar has a motto of ‘In Memory of Now’ and openly displays its policy of no ‘racist dickheads, homophobes or sexist wankers’. You have been warned.
Civic Underground
388 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
This small but well attended club on Pitt Street usually has some great international DJs headlining. The venue is open Monday to Sunday 10pm to 5am and attracts plenty of single ladies looking for that all night party vibe — many of them keeping it strictly NSA.
Dating Sites For Casual Encounters In Sydney
It’s a running joke, isn’t it?
Ask some smart-arse: “What’s the easiest way to get laid in Sydney?“
The smart-arse will surely answer: “The Internet“.
It’s true, though. Picking up Sydneysiders in bars and clubs is no easy task. The women tend to be beautiful and spoiled for choice. Aussie guys are pretty direct, too, so you’ve got a real scrap on your hands if you want to hit the jackpot.
A much easier option is to use one of the several purpose-built casual dating sites that are popular with women in NSW:
Adult MatchMaker
https://www.adultmatchmaker.com.au
Australia’s number one adult hookups website, Adult MatchMaker has thousands of singles looking to meet up for sex. As well as plenty of couples and cheating spouses.
As far as casual encounters go, this site is one of the most active in Sydney.
Adult FriendFinder
Similar to Adult MatchMaker but with a massive global reach. AFF is the original casual encounter / online hookup tool.
If you’re travelling beyond Sydney, this site can help you hook up for casual sex and one night stands in just about any country where it isn’t banned(!).
Red Hot Pie
Red Hot Pie is a popular digital stomping ground for Sydney swingers and followers of ‘the lifestyle’. It’s basically an online community where you can connect, chat and meet up with fellow kinky Sydneysiders.
The site hosts plenty of community events, including club nights and even sex cruises.
SDC
Not exclusive to Sydney, SDC is a global meeting place for kinks and swingers. While the members come from all over the world, we found a large number of members in the Sydney area. You can search right down to your local town or neighbourhood.
Trust us when we say: this site means business. Many gangbangs and orgies are organised via SDC.
No Strings Sex via Adult Personals
As many of you will be aware, one of the best ways to find casual sex (or a willing hookup) is to head online and check out the adult classifieds.
While the following sites can be somewhat murky to navigate — and littered with ads for working girls and hole-in-the-wall erotic massage shops — they can still turn up genuine personals from bored housewives and horny ladies looking to enjoy a bit of a fun on the side…
Use with your expectations in check.
Locanto
https://www.locanto.com.au/sydney/Casual-Encounters/207
Locanto is a classified site with a bustling adult section where readers hunt for no-strings sex every hour. There were over 1000 results in the NSW area when we first put together this list. Sadly, the adult section has declined a bit since then, but it’s still a good option.
You can narrow your search to return results that match the kind of hookup you are looking for (W4M, couples seeking couples, TS for men etc.) as well as the general area. Once again, the adverts vary in detail and authenticity, so you need to spend a while filtering out the wheat from the chaff. However, as a 100% free service, it’s still worth a shot.
DoubleList
https://doublelist.com/city/sydney
DoubleList is one of several adult classified sites to emerge in the aftermath of Craigslist and BackPage hitting the shits. At the time of writing there are several hundred dirty classifieds from horny Sydney readers.
The site is divided in to suitable categories for easy browsing:
YMMV.
BonePage
Who needs BackPage when you can have… BonePage?
This site conveniently divides its personals between “Adult” and “Dating“.
Hard to imagine the type of woman that goes on a site called BonePage to embark on a quest for a serious relationship though, no? That is immediately obvious when you check out the W4M section.
Escort, escort, escort, psychopath, escort…
You get the drill.
https://www.reddit.com/r/r4rSydney
A group Reddit board for people based in Sydney looking for anything from casual hook-ups to meeting for other activities. There are 18,000 users registered (as of August 2024) and you have a better chance of being noticed on this group as each member has opted to be a part of this community. Safer than personals and more direct than other sites, the Reddit group is 100% free.
What Happened To Craigslist’s Casual Encounters?
Remember the good old days?
Craigslist had a reputation for being the number one go-to for casual hook-ups. Until they slapped a banhammer on the adult classifieds — much to the dismay of cheapo horndogs all over the land.
Sydney used to have around 2000 adult personals under the notorious ‘casual encounters’ section.
Free to browse, and free to advertise, there were admittedly some flaws in the way the site worked: no members were verified, nor was there any way to review the users online.
This anonymous anything-goes mantra was what ultimately lead to its downfall. Craigslist removed the section citing a US sex-trafficking bill as the main reason.
Sydney Hookers and Whores
Sydney was one of the first cities to benefit from the legalisation of the sex trade and it boasts an overwhelming number of bordellos, escort agencies and adult entertainment venues — many of them featured in our Sydney Sex Guide.
There’s one staple of the sex industry we haven’t covered: street prostitution. For reasons unknown to us, many punters remain content riding their luck on street hookers and whores.
Street Prostitution Is Falling
The wealth and diversity of the licensed sex trade has seen street prostitution falling in popularity but, though illegal, it can still be found going on in numerous parts of the city.
Known affectionately as Sin City, there has been a red-light district in Sydney since the city was established in 1788.
Though transient in location, whorehouses and street workers have serviced the population in a variety of ways over the years, but they found a more permanent home in the Kings Cross area at the turn of the twentieth century.
With the large residential houses proving too costly to run, these were transformed into boarding and lodging houses. Along with a seedy criminal underworld working the area with illegally traded goods such as alcohol, Kings Cross quickly established itself as a red-light district.
Rise and Fall of The Cross
From the 1960s onwards, the Cross (as it is affectionately known) was popular with locals and visiting tourists including American soldiers on R&R from Vietnam.
The area attracted the investment of legally operated establishments catering for the clientele that frequented the Cross; strips clubs, bars and nightclubs all profiting from the trade.
Today, Kings Cross is attracting new and trendy businesses including cafes, independent shops and galleries.
However, the area is still home to many street prostitutes and hookers who continue to make a living from the reputation of the Cross. In deference to the age-old affinity to Kings Cross, local law enforcement operates a ‘tolerance-zone’ which falls inside the square formed by William, Bourke, Victoria and Burton Street.
After nightfall, the number of working street hookers inside this zone is usually between 50 and 100.
The rates charged on the street are much lower than in a bordello or massage parlour (which are commonplace nearby) and customers can get a blowjob for as little as $20 and sex for $50; however, each girl is different and there is no ‘set’ menu.
It goes without saying, there is a big caveat to using street hookers: it’s considerably more dangerous both in terms of legal and STD/STI risks.
We highly recommend you avoid soliciting on the street as it is both ILLEGAL and pretty stupid when you consider the many legal options available around Sydney.