Is two weeks enough time to visit Australia?

[Hairbrush123]

Looking at visiting Australia in December but due to work commitments - I can only go for just over a fortnight!

I am planning on splitting my time between Sydney and Melbourne so I’d like to think it’s doable. Has anyone else been to Australia for a fortnight?

I would say you would need closer to 3 to get more out of the experience. Any way you could add on 4 or 5 days?

We went to New Zealand for 2 weeks
We stopped in 3 different places, and the kids still talk about it now over a decade later
I would have liked to stay longer but I couldn’t get any longer off work

We did two weeks and it was great but felt like we were just getting into our stride with the jet leg etc and it was time to come home. If I ever go back I'd def aim to stay for longer.

I actually got told off leaving Australia because I'd only stayed 2 weeks.

It's long enough to do a couple of cities but you will want to go back.

I’m off in November for 10 days to see my brother. It’s all I can get off work and I haven’t seen him for 5 years - been booked and cancelled for 2 years now so I’m definitely off 🎉

We went for a fortnight, I’d say the we had enough time there, but we flew both ways without a stopover and that was soul destroying. I could have cried when I had to get on another plane in Singapore for 9 hours. If I go again I’d do three weeks just so I can include stopovers both ways.

I can concur about jet lag! I felt like I was starting to adjust to Singapore time when it was time to leave.

Sadly there is no way to have more time off. I hope it’ll be ok but would go again in the future.

We went for two weeks when dd1 was 13mo and I was pg. Sydney, Melbourne, Perth.
When we lived out there, I came back to the UK on my own with dds for two weeks. My sil has come for two weeks before.

If you "just" want to do the 2 cities, it should be OK.
We had 3weeks (and started a third of the way there, so shorter flying times), and did Sydney, Queensland, Uluru and Melbourne. I would go back to Queensland out of those if I had to pick just one.

2 weeks is fine. Obviously you lose time with all the flying etc but just make the most of the time you have.

But don't trust me, I flew to Auckland for the weekend once.

I would say you can in the sense that you could have a good visit to Sydney and Melbourne in that time. Whether you want to is another question. I'm Australian and I'd only visit the UK if I had 3-4 weeks because of the unpleasantness of the flight. So it depends on your tolerance for 24 hour flights.

@HundredMilesAnHour

2 weeks is fine. Obviously you lose time with all the flying etc but just make the most of the time you have.

But don't trust me, I flew to Auckland for the weekend once.

What? Seriously? How did you cope? Why so little time?

Thanks all. I’m not too concerned about the flight as I sleep well on the plane and I would be flying business class so it makes a little more bearable.

I think you should also visit Darwin or north Queensland. Melbourne and Sydney are great but they are beautiful cities, if you've been to Europe you've seen beautiful cities. If you want to see something you can't see anywhere else, go to Kakadu or Daintree. See some wildlife and a unique landscape.

What? Seriously? How did you cope? Why so little time?

@Hairbrush123 I got a great deal on flights but couldn't really get time off work. That's life. I like new places. I thought I'd give it a go and see if it's somewhere I'd like to visit for longer in the future.

Actually flying UK-Aus the jetlag doesn't bother me too much. Arrive in Aus in the morning, stay on your feet walking all day then an early night with 10mg melatonin and I'm straight on to local time the next morning, and within 48 hours I feel great and like I've been there for months. What bothers me most is that during the flights (last time I flew Oslo-London-Singapore-Sydney-Melbourne), it feels like every bloody meal is breakfast. It's usually a month or so before I can face a breakfast again lol.

Melbourne is my most favourite place in Australia so good choice.

Yes, of course it is. I did once go to Perth for a 6 hour meeting when I was needed to go and had to fit it into other commitments. It was a lot of boring flying (in economy) but not the end of the world. All the other times I have been to Australia/New Zealand I haven't been for more than 2 weeks total

To see Sydney, Melbourne and surrounds - yes absolutely OP. I've been to Australia twice for two weeks and it was fine. The first time I did Sydney, Blue Mountains, Port Douglas, Daintree, etc and the second time Sydney, Melbourne, Gt Ocean Road and around. It was fine both times - I felt I'd seen quite a bit in two weeks and you're never going to see a whole continent even if you take three or four weeks.

I've been to Brisbane for 2 weeks several times in order to visit family there. Managed a weekend in Sydney in the middle of one of those trips.

We always go business class as worth every penny on a flight that long in order to have a proper bed and sleep.

Have fun!

Business will make it much easier. I'd say it's enough time if it's a choice between that and not going at all. If it comes down to it I would always go Melbourne over Sydney but I lived there so might be biased. Have you started planning out what you want to do while there?

I did it in 2 weeks a few years back. Personally I wouldn’t do Sydney unless you have a compelling reason to. There were other parts of my trip which I wish I’d spent more time on and I thought offered a lot more.

I flew London to Sydney.
3 nights in Sydney
Flew to Brisbane and picked up a car
Drove to Noosa and had 1 night there
Drove to Rainbow Beach and did 2 nights including a whole day trip to Fraser Island
Drove back down the coast to a wedding on the Gold Coast (3 nights there)
2 nights in Byron Bay
Then drove back to Brisbane and flew to Melbourne
Spent 3 nights doing the Great Ocean Road
Then flew home from Melbourne

Personally the Sunshine Coast was by far and away the best part of my trip. I did lots of hikes along the coast, horse riding, saw some incredible sunsets. In hindsight I wish I’d have planned it so I had time to go further up the coast and do Cairns. In my opinion, after the East Coast, the Great Ocean Road didn’t feel particularly special.

I like the Great Ocean Road but would personally rather do the Yarra Valley and/or the Mornington Peninsula.

It’s a bit short. I went for 10 days and i didn’t really get used to the jet lag and then I was on my way home and had jet lag again.

No, sorry.

I would say 3 minimum

It takes a minimum of 24 hours either way to get there, so you're immediately down to 12 days. Then you'll be jet lagged for the first day, so down to 11 days. A day to fly between Sydney and Melbourne = 10 days. A day packing and getting to the airport on your last day = 9 days. Will you have to fly back to your arrival airport to go home? If so, = 8 days.

If all you want to see is Sydney and Melbourne 4 or 5 days in each city is probably enough. But there's a lot more to Aus than just those two cities - both of which are pretty European in feel really. It would be a shame if that's all you saw.

I've done it for 10 days to visit family and it was a killer, particularly the jet lag coming back. Remember to get back at least a day before you need to work. And I said that as someone who used to travel back and forth 3 times a year.

I think 3 weeks if you can manage it gives you time to get used to the jet lag.