Ice skating is not the first thought when we’re wondering what to do on a sunny Sydney weekend. It was my youngsters who made the demand, they’d been to Macquarie Ice Rink on a school trip and loved it.
In my (dim and distant) youth in Scotland, ice skating at the rink in Edinburgh was a teenage rite of passage, fraught with emotional longings as it was a hot spot for first dates. We also used to skate on huge frozen puddles in the fields. Sydney’s icy offerings are far superior!
Heres’ a list of the permanent ice rinks in Sydney, with some top tips from us afterwards.
Prior to visiting the ice rink, it would be beneficial to verify the cost of ice rink should you wish to do it yourself. This will enable you to effectively plan your budget and make necessary preparations.
Canterbury Ice Rink
Phillips Avenue, Canterbury
Phone: 9789 4044
Website: www.canterburyicerink.com.au
A not-for-profit rink, owned by The Ice Skating Club of NSW Co-Operative
The Ice Zoo
689 Gardeners Road, Alexandria
Phone: 9669 6445
Website: www.icezoo.com
Public skating sessions and skating lesson.
Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink
424-458 Hoxton Park Road, Prestons
Phone: 8784 4878
Website: www.liverpoolcatholic.com.au
Macquarie Ice Rink
Macquarie Shopping Centre, North Ryde
Phone: 9888 1100
Website: www.macquarieicerink.com.au
Recently refurblished and with a slew of great new facilities. Park on the Silver Level carpark, entrance is via Herring Road or alternatively the Blue Level, entrance via Talavera Road. The Ice Rink is on Level 1 Upper.
We didn’t and it took us ages to find the ice rink!
Penrith Ice Palace
7 Patty’s Place, Jamisontown
A 30×60 metres Olympic sized rink
Phone: 4733 2611
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/PenrithIcePalace/
Sydney Ice Arena
11 Solent Circuit, Baulkham Hills
Phone: 9659 5557
Website: www.sydneyicearena.com.au
An Olympic-size rink with stadium seating 1000 people.
What You Need To Know About Ice Skating In Sydney
- You do need to plan ahead, chose your rink, check out the website and best of all, call ahead. We asked which sessions were the quietest and got the good advice to come first for the Sunday 9am – 11am session.
- Rinks have public sessions, usually of 2 – 3 hours duration.
- Most rinks also have group lessons and private lessons on offer.
- Some also offer speed skating lessons and even ice hockey.
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All in all, we had a really fun morning at the ice rinks.
And the twins are super keen to go again in the school holidays.
Do you go ice skating?
Which Sydney rink would you recommend?
Happy slippery sliding
That’s a very comprehensive list of skating rinks in Sydney! I’d only been to one (Macquarie ) and I did enjoy it, though my calves paid for it the next day hahaha! Your kids look like they really had fun, and so did you ! 🙂
It was a hoot. We might try one of the outdoors pop up ones these holidays but I think the larger (and less busy) permanent ones would probably be good to try again soon too.
We love ice-skating! Even though I am crap and usually end up on my bum more times than I am upright! And it’s a good excuse for hot chocolate afterwards right?
Yes! The perfect excuse for hot chocolate and it’d be a damn shame not to have a muffin or a cookie to dunk. A bit of chill (and a wet bum) do feel unusual in Sydney and so it’s a great excuse for a warm treat… actually a tot of whisky would go down well too.
We’ve had a lovely time at the outdoor rink in Parramatta for winter. Both last year, when it was outside the Town Hall, and again this year with a bigger rink in Prince Alfred Park. The main tip for ice skating outdoors in a Sydney winter is to go either first thing in the morning, or later at night. Last year we found the ice wasn’t as good in the middle of the day. 🙂 Excellent hot chocolate in the ‘alpine village’ set up in the park is also available – will be going back for that (and some mulled wine) one night next week!
The kiddies club offered for preschoolers at Macquarie ice rink is also good fun.