Sydney in 3, 5 or 7 Days: An Itinerary That Is Not Just the Opera House
Most first-time visitors see Sydney from the wrong angle: from the land, looking at the harbour. The city makes sense from the water, looking back, and the best A$10 you will spend in Australia is a ferry ticket. This itinerary is built around that idea, and around the three Sydneys that most tourists only half see: the harbour, the ocean beaches and the bush that surrounds them.
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Getting around: tap your card and forget about it
Sydney's trains, buses, ferries and light rail all run on the Opal system, and you do not need an Opal card. Tap a contactless credit or debit card, or your phone, on the reader when you board and again when you get off. Fares are capped per day and per week, Sunday travel is capped at a few dollars, and the airport train, while pricey at around A$20 because of a station access fee, is the fastest way in. You do not need a car in Sydney and you will regret one. Our do you need a car in Australia guide explains why.
Where to stay
Circular Quay and The Rocks: the harbour on your doorstep, ferries beneath your window, the highest prices in the city. For a short stay with a view, nothing beats it.
Surry Hills and Darlinghurst: the eating and drinking neighbourhoods, ten minutes' walk from Central station. Better restaurants than the harbour, better prices, more character.
Bondi: if you want to wake up and swim. Half an hour from the city by bus. Expensive, and you will spend a lot of time on the 333.
Manly: a beach suburb with a ferry to the city that is itself an attraction. Quieter, family-friendly, and the ferry ride is the best commute on earth.
Newtown and the Inner West: cheaper, younger, excellent food, on the train line.
Three days: the essentials
Day one: the harbour on foot
Start at Circular Quay. Walk to the Opera House, around its base, and then through the Royal Botanic Garden to Mrs Macquarie's Chair for the postcard view of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge together. Back through the gardens to The Rocks, the oldest part of the city, for lunch. In the afternoon walk across the Harbour Bridge on the free pedestrian path from Cumberland Street to Milsons Point, then catch a ferry back from Milsons Point to Circular Quay. The bridge climb is A$300 to A$400 and spectacular; the Pylon Lookout is under A$30 and gives you 80 per cent of the view.
Day two: Bondi to Coogee
Take the train to Bondi Junction and the 333 bus to Bondi Beach. Swim, or watch, then walk the six-kilometre coastal path south through Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly and Gordons Bay to Coogee. It is a paved path with steps, taking about two hours with stops, past ocean pools, cliffs and Waverley Cemetery. Swim at Bronte or Coogee, eat, and bus back. If it is a Sunday, Bondi Markets are on. If you have energy, the Icebergs pool at Bondi's south end is the most photographed swim in Australia and costs under A$10.
Day three: Manly by ferry
The Manly ferry from Circular Quay takes 20 minutes, passes the Opera House, the bridge and the harbour heads, and lands you in a beach town. Walk the Corso to Manly Beach, then take the Manly to Spit Bridge walk in reverse for an hour or two along the harbour foreshore through bushland, or the shorter walk to Shelly Beach for snorkelling in the marine reserve. Ferry back at sunset. This is the best day in Sydney.
Five days: add the bush and the water
Day four: the Blue Mountains
Two hours by train from Central to Katoomba, then a short bus or walk to Echo Point and the Three Sisters. The view over the Jamison Valley is enormous. Take the Scenic World railway or cableway into the valley and walk the boardwalks through rainforest, or skip it and walk the Prince Henry Cliff Walk to Leura for free. Day tours from the city are worthwhile if you want to add a wildlife park and the Featherdale koalas without changing buses.
Day five: the harbour from the inside
Ferry to Watsons Bay for fish and chips at Doyles and the South Head walk to the Hornby Lighthouse, with the Pacific on one side and the harbour on the other. Or ferry to Cockatoo Island, a convict and shipbuilding site in the middle of the harbour, and on to Balmain for a pub lunch. Alternatively, hire a kayak at Rose Bay or Manly and get on the water yourself. In the evening, the Opera House is best experienced from inside: a performance, even a cheap seat, beats the tour.
Seven days: go deeper
Day six: the Royal National Park
An hour south by train to Cronulla and a small ferry to Bundeena, then the start of the Coast Track. Walk as far as the Wedding Cake Rock and back, or to Wattamolla for a swim in the lagoon. This is the world's second-oldest national park and it is startlingly wild for somewhere on a city train line.
Day seven: a day with no plan
Return to whichever beach you liked most. Have a long breakfast in Surry Hills. Take the ferry to Parramatta up the river for the sake of the ride. See a film at the outdoor cinema if it is summer. The best Sydney day is usually the one where you copy what the locals are doing, which is mostly being outside near water.
Eating and drinking
Sydney's food is its Asian population's gift to the world: Chinatown and Haymarket for dumplings and late-night noodles, Cabramatta for Vietnamese if you have half a day, Marrickville for Vietnamese and Greek closer in. Fish and chips at Watsons Bay, a pie at Harry's Café de Wheels at Woolloomooloo, breakfast anywhere in Surry Hills, and a schooner at a harbourside pub at sunset. Coffee is superb everywhere; order a flat white. Our food and coffee guide has the details.
What to skip
Darling Harbour unless you have children or want the aquarium. It is a convention precinct with restaurants.
The Sydney Tower Eye. The views from the Harbour Bridge pylon and from the ferries are better and cheaper.
Driving anywhere. Tolls, parking and traffic will eat your day.
A harbour dinner cruise. The A$10 ferry at sunset is the same view with better food options at either end.
When to come
Sydney is good all year. February to April is the best beach weather with the crowds gone; October to November is warm and jacaranda season; June brings Vivid's light installations to the harbour; winter is 17°C and sunny, fine for everything but swimming. Avoid the fortnight either side of New Year unless you are here for the fireworks, in which case book a year ahead.
Cover photo via Unsplash.
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