10 things cheaper than dining at Noma Sydney

• How to book a table at Noma Sydney

For fans of fine dining, Friday is a red letter day. Tickets go on sale for the Sydney pop-up of Noma, the famed Copenhagen restaurant that was this year named the third best in the world.

But even the most fawning foodies might baulk at the $485-a-head price tag attached to chef Rene Redzepi's outpost in the harbour city. Yes, that's $485 - plus drinks. And the menu hasn't even been created yet.

If degustation isn't your bag, there are plenty of other things to do in Sydney that cost less than a meal at Noma [it sold out in four minutes anyway].

1. Climb the harbour bridge. Twice.

Tourists' eyes bulge at the sky-high cost of Sydney's Bridgeclimb. But it turns out to be a more affordable night out than Noma. Evening climbs start at $228, meaning you could take the journey twice and still have enough left over for a pub meal.

2. Go to Bali

Low cost carriers such as AirAsia and Jetstar offer return fares from Sydney to Bali for less than $400. There's a chance the culinary offerings won't be quite as palatable as Redzepi's gear – but then again, food probably won't be top of your agenda in Kuta.

3. Buy a car

Sure, it might be unregistered, scratched and require towing, but technically you can buy a used car in NSW for $400 ("very negotiable"). The chariot of choice is a 2001 Holden Astra with a healthy 200,000 kilometres under the hood. The seller warns that the back window is inoperable and there is a mysterious yellow light on the dashboard that might have something to do with the "burned out clutch". But who could really quarrel with a car that's cheaper than a meal?

4. Hire a boat

Getting out on the harbour is every Sydneysider's right. An eight-person boat can be booked at fairly short notice through Sydney Harbour Escapes, pick-up from Rose Bay Marina. For $395 you can hire a 20-foot motor boat for four hours, with no licence required (its speed is limited to 10 knots). That's $50-a-head for a beautiful afternoon on the water (weather permitting).

5. Take a seaplane to Palm Beach

While it is possible to drive to the tip of Sydney's northern beaches, why not go by seaplane? It costs $365 for adults to fly from Rose Bay to Palm Beach, meaning there's change leftover a bucket of prawns and bottle of vino at the Boathouse (or a three-course lunch at Jonah's).

6. Get front row tickets to the opera on New Year's Eve

For the opera-inclined, it doesn't get much bigger than Puccini's La Boheme at the Opera House on New Year's Eve. And the best seats in the house are still cheaper than a seat at Noma – it's $479 for premium tickets in the stalls or dress circle. Intermission is timed for the 9pm fireworks, and you can party past midnight with some of the best views in the city.

7. Eat two thousand Emperor's puffs

Why settle for a dozen or so courses when you could eat 1940? At $5 for 20, the cream puffs from Emperor's Garden in Chinatown are not only a Sydney tradition, they're a steal. If you popped just one per night, that's five years' worth of dessert.

8. Enter a big league poker tournament

It only takes $220 to buy-in to one of the many satellite events for the Star Poker Summer Series. The tournament itself costs $2000 to enter, but satellites give punters the opportunity to qualify for the main event at bargain rates. There are several satellite tournaments at Star casino before the main game kicks off on December 4. Get lucky and you could end up eating at Noma several times over.

9. Learn to cook

Sydney Cooking School offers beginners a four week course in cooking for $495. Strictly speaking this is $10 dearer than the Noma experience - but then again, as the old proverb goes: take a man to Noma and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to cook and he'll eat for a lifetime.

10. Go to the beach

It's a quintessential summer weekend in Sydney: take the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi, jump into the surf for a refreshing dip, grab a pork bao from the Bondi markets and knock back a beer at the Icebergs Club. There are no "sittings" and menu explanations, no white tablecloths and sommeliers – and you can do it all for about $20. Bliss.