This January make the colours, sounds and sites of Sydney come alive as the city becomes your holiday canvas.

Whether your taste is classical, modern, abstract or contemporary, Sydney Festival offers sensory overload. Celebrating the arts in all forms, the Festival allows you to pick from modern music ensembles, public art installations, dance, comedy, theatre and the circus.

For your fix of free and fabulous music, join the thousands of locals at Jazz in the Domain (January 11) and Symphony in the Domain (January 18) or try your hand, or feet, at Latino dancing at Darling Harbour�s Bacardi Latino Festival.

For inspiration from a modern master head to The Art Gallery of New South Wales for Picasso: The Last Decades showing over 80 paintings and works on paper.

For moving images with a difference head to Movies under the Stars at Sydney Olympic Park or the OpenAir Cinema harbourside at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Why not pack your picnic basket and blanket for a night of romance, adventure, horror or comedy under the stars.

You�ll also be �picture perfect� after you indulge in one of Sydneysiders� favourite pastimes - retail therapy. The city�s Queen Victoria Building and Strand Arcade have all the major retailers. If it�s hip clothes you need, then head to Oxford Street, Paddington and King Street, Newtown.

For delicious food set against the quintessential Sydney harbourscape, try The Sydney Morning Herald�s 2003 Restaurant of the Year, Quay, or the hot and spicy Wildfire at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay. The Sydney Fish Markets or Doyles Watsons Bay Hotel are also good options for those on a budget wanting fresh seafood with their harbour views.

All great creators need a release and there is no better way than to relax with drinks and dancing at some of Sydney�s hottest bars and clubs. There�s Cruise and Posh Bar at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Establishment and Hemmesphere in George Street, and the Water Bar in the W Sydney hotel at Woolloomooloo.

However you decide to paint Sydney this January, don�t forget to pack the camera to record your masterpiece!

To travel to Sydney for your Sydney Festival 2003 experience call Qantas Holidays on 13 14 15 and ask about their Sydney Uncovered air and accommodation packages. The full Festival program can be viewed at www.sydneyfestival.org.au.

For more information on what to do in Sydney during summer go to www.visitnsw.com.au/sydney.

For further information for journalists only please contact Kelly Mic�, Tourism New South Wales 02 9931 1416 or kelly.mico@tourism.nsw.gov.au