Sydney

[ILiveInLondon]

I've decided that in 2025 I want to visit Sydney. It's a safe city with style gorgeous views.

Can anyone give me any recommendations? What's the city like?

How long are you planning to go for and what time of year?

Obviously the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the Botanical gardens. We also loved the Chinese Garden of Friendship, it’s a really tranquil place to spend some time. Manly and Watson’s Bay are just lovely, get the ferry over and bus back, or vice versa, so much to see. Coogee to Bondi walk (or in reverse) is about 5k along the coast but high up, there’s several beaches along the route.
If you want to get out of the city, the Blue Mountains are stunning, it’s about a 2 hour train ride, then a local bus will take you to the sites.
Public transport is great, you’ll need an Opal card to tap on and off, covers all the city public transport but not the train to the Blue Mountains.

Taronga Zoo is also really good with fabulous views.

October 2025. I'd like to go for 2 weeks. I just want to have an adventure.

If you have got a head for heights, definitely do the bridge climb. It's absolutely awesome.

I’m originally from Sydney - adding on top of what people have suggested

• do the circular quay to manly ferry
• wonder around The Rocks historical area
• walk around the Sydney botanical garden - the view from Mrs Macquarie chair is amazing
• def check out the beach (October will be too cold to swim probably) - Bondi is very lovely and worth visiting regardless but locals also like Coogee, Bronte, Shelley Beach, Freshwater beach.
• walk around Barangaroo and Darling Harbour
• blue mountain is very lovely - catch the train and spent the whole day or overnight there. There are some small villages nearby that are quite lovely also
• Palm Beach is where they filmed home and away - doable by bus
• if you want to leave Sydney, then popular places are Central Coast/Terrigal Beach, Canberra or Jervis Bay are very lovely (suggest minimum overnight trip - and probably need a car)
• Chinatown - asian food is amazing in Sydney - Thai/vietnamese/Chinese/japanese - all are so amazing !

With 2 weeks, if you like, would probably fit in another side trip either somewhere near Sydney or to Melbourne or Gold Coast.

i would also stay near the city as public transport isn’t that great in Sydney (all train routes and bus routes mainly lead to the city and most of the sights are near the city)

With 2 weeks I'd go somewhere else too. Cairns is lovely. If you can stretch to 3 then even better.

I'd stop off in Singapore on the way home too. Fantastic place.

We did 4 nights in Sydney as part of a wider trip to Australia and stayed at the Meriton Suites in Pitt Street which was a great location.

Thank you all 😊

I wouldn’t spend two weeks in Sydney, if you’re going all that way go somewhere else too. Whilst the harbour makes the geography stunning, the “city-ness” is not as good as Paris, London, New York, Barcelona, etc.

Thank you for this. I have been to Paris and London (I live in London) and I've been to NYC

Sydney is amazing. Luna park is great, a show at the opera house, shopping along Newtown, weekend markets at the Rocks, shopping and coffee in the QVB, a walk from the CBD to the art gallery, coffee at Bondi beach is beautiful even if beaches aren’t your thing. If you lie down in Hyde park at dusk you can see the bats flying around the trees… it is really a gorgeous, welcoming accessible city.

I live in Sydney, it is a beautiful city. All the above suggestions are good, if you say what kind of things you like to do I will try and come up with some more “local” suggestions. A day trip to the Hunter Valley for wine tasting is another popular activity but make sure you book a small tour group rather than the big coaches.

When an English friend visited last year and needed to stay in the city for a couple of nights before coming to mine all the decent hotels were really expensive but she ended up staying in a private room at the YHA in The Rocks (great location). She got a en suite room with a view of the Opera House for about half the price of anything else. There is a rooftop social area there as well. It books up quickly though.

I second Hunter Valley for wine tasting, we did a tour a few years ago, from memory, there about 16 of us in the minibus, it was a long day but so enjoyable.

We’ve stayed at Meriton Suites on Kent St twice, great location and very comfortable with everything you need.

The Rocks markets are great too and October is a really good time to visit, it’s warming up as it’s getting towards the end of Autumn but not as hot as it will be come their summer.

Sydney is lovely, but definitely plan to get out and about. It's not like London where you can spend days exploring. Must sees are the Harbour (don't pay for a boat tour, just use the local transport ferries), Luna Park, Opera House, Australian Museum, Museum of Sydney, Art Gallery of NSW and the Botanic Gardens. Southern suburbs are nice, the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk is lovely. Ferry to the Northern Beaches for good coffee and rich hipster scene. Marrickville (Inner West) for the slightly less rich hipster scene, and to see what non-beach Sydney is like.

Blue Mountains as others have said are stunning. Maybe plan an 'adventure' activity rather than just the genric coach tour type thing, as the real beauty is away from the roads and towns - canyoning perhaps?

A few days trip down the south coast would be really nice. You can train as far as Nowra, but I would recommend hiring a car and taking four-seven days to do the following trip:

Royal National Park (just south of Sydney) for an intro to the Australian bush. Stop off at Symbio Wildlife Park (not as big as Taronga in Sydney Harbour but much quieter. It's illegal to cuddle koalas in NSW, but you can get pretty close, and they have all sorts of awesome other Ozzie creatures). Then through the northern suburbs of Wollongong (Scarborough to Thirroul) for some beautiful scenery and gorgeous beaches and rock swimming pools. Wollongong itself is a bit of a post-industrial city, but has pretty beaches - good to stop off for a surf lesson? There is a stunning cycle path all the way up the coast from North Wollongong to Thirroul - you can hire bikes from North Wollongong and have a beautiful trip taking in lots of beaches and cool cafes etc. Then back in the car and down to Shellharbour - awesome easily acessible snorkelling at Bushranger Bay. Then Kiama - nice little town and cool blowholes. Then Seven Mile Beach (self-explanatory, beautiful!), and on to Jervis Bay (as others have recommended). Jervis Bay is stunning - white sand beaches, whale watching, rock climbing. If you are a camper, I would 100% recommend picking up some cheap camping gear while you're over there and camping at the state campgrounds at Green Patch and Honeymoon Bay in Jervis Bay - campfires with the possums, share your brekkie with the kookaburas, and watch sunset on the beach with the kangaroos.

Have fun!

That sounds amazing. I only have a fortnight and ruled out Australia as too far but maybe it's not.

Is it hard to get to the Great Barrier Reef or the Whitsun islands?

How's the weather/water in March or April?

Agree, we struggled to fill our time but I guess it depends on your taste. We like city holidays but actually couldn’t find that much worth seeing compared to London, New York or European cities. We did go out to manly etc but it was insanely busy…

I went to Sydney some years ago and didn't like it

I think it's fair for me to say why I didn't like it and that is because it's too big too busy and I just didn't get much out of it at all.

I was only there because I wanted to go to Australia and I couldn't afford to pay for very much so I stayed with relatives so accommodation was free and I thought well I may as well see the city but I didn't like it I wouldn't go back there again

In one way I am not sorry I went because if I hadn't gone I would always be wondering what if what if what if maybe I would like it and so I have seen it for myself and as I said I wouldn't bother with it again

I have been to Australia since and I went to Adelaide and I thought that was really nice I preferred at because it's smaller City less people

Ah for me. I do want a big city with lots of things to do

You can fly to Cairns and go out to the Whitsundays and the Reef quite easily. It probably would mean a day's travel though as it's a few hours from Sydney to Far North Queensland. Cairns is very different to Sydney, they are both gorgeous cities though.

In Sydney, walk along Crown Street in Surry Hills and Darlingurst for restaurants, cafes, pubs and nightlife (bit like Angel in London). Lord Dudley Hotel for a British pub. Australian Museum, Art Gallery of NSW, book to see something at Opera House, check out Opera Bar just outside Opera House, visit Redleaf/Neilson Park/Camp Cove beaches, South Head for more intimate beaches. Go to Doyles Seafood Restaurant (booking required). The Rocks is nice for food and colonial buildings. Best Chinatown I have seen in a Western city. Darling Harbour (very touristy). Catch a tram at Circular Quay to Surry Hills.

Just to pick up on the Doyle’s comment, I agree it’s lovely but, if you’re on a budget, Doyle’s at the pier when you get on/off the ferry serves food which is just as good but without the price of the restaurant. It has pretty much the same view if you can get a window or outside seat, has a lovely little bar and atmosphere.

People who have flown there. What's the route you take?