Things to do in Sydney
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Sydney
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Summer peak: beach Sydney at full power with Sydney Festival and long evenings, but the highest prices, humidity, crowds and bluebottles.
Autumn sweet spot: warm swims through March and April, humidity drops, crowds thin and Vivid usually starts in late May.
Winter off peak: crisp sunny days, cheapest hotels, empty walks and peak whale season, but cold nights and no ocean swimming for most without a wetsuit.
Spring sweet spot: jacarandas, Sculpture by the Sea and warming water, with October arguably Sydney's single best month.
What's on
- Sydney Festival January
Summer festival season across the city during peak beach weather.
- Sydney Mardi Gras late February to early March
Mardi Gras build up and festival period that spikes hotel rates citywide.
- Biennale of Sydney mid March to mid June in even-numbered years
Across the Art Gallery of NSW, White Bay Power Station and other venues, much of it free. Next in 2028.
- Vivid Sydney late May to mid June
About three weeks of harbour light installations, music and ideas, spectacular and crowd heavy around Circular Quay on weekends.
- Sydney Film Festival early to mid June
Twelve days of new local and world cinema, centred on the State Theatre.
- Sydney Marathon late August
A World Marathon Major, with road closures and a hotel spike that weekend.
- Sydney Fringe Festival September
Billed as NSW's largest alternative arts and culture festival, running all September.
- Sculpture by the Sea late October to early November
The Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk becomes an open air gallery, best early on a weekday.
- New Year's Eve 31 December
Harbour fireworks drive months ahead booking, minimum stays and three to five times normal hotel rates.
- Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race start 26 December
The harbour foreshore and headlands fill to watch the fleet head out to sea, free to watch from shore.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Sydney
Sydney Opera House
See a performance inside the sails rather than only walking around them, with the guided tour as an add-on.
Bondi to Coogee Walk
Six kilometres of cliffs, ocean pools and swims between Bondi and Coogee, and Sydney's best half day out.
Bronte Baths
A free ocean pool cut into the sandstone at Bronte, and the best swim stop on the coastal walk.
Bondi Icebergs Pool
The famous ocean pool at the south end of Bondi Beach, worth the entry for a swim with surf breaking alongside.
Manly Ferry
The ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly is a harbour cruise past the Opera House and the Heads for a transit fare.
Shelly Beach
A calm, sheltered beach a flat walk from Manly, best for easy swimming and snorkelling at Cabbage Tree Bay.
Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Free harbour foreshore gardens locals actually use, on the classic walk from Circular Quay to Mrs Macquarie's Point.
Mrs Macquarie's Chair
The sandstone bench viewpoint that frames the Opera House and Harbour Bridge together in one photo.
Where to stay in Sydney
Surry Hills
all-round base, especially food-first trips
Leafy and walkable next to Central Station, with Sydney's densest cluster of the restaurants and small bars.
Circular Quay / The Rocks / CBD
short first trip, no-car logistics and harbour views
Walk to the Opera House, ferries, MCA and Botanic Garden, but rates are the city's highest and some CBD streets go quiet at night.
Bondi
beach-first summer trip
Swim, surf and start the coastal walk from your door, but there is no train station and summer prices and traffic are high.
Manly
relaxed resort-feel base, families and longer stays
A real town with ocean and harbour beaches joined by a superb ferry, though late CBD nights mean committing to ferry times.
Newtown / Glebe / Paddington
repeat visitors, longer stays and lower-key local life
Terraces, galleries, pubs and cheap eats a short ride from the CBD, with poor beach access and some aircraft noise in the Inner West.
Potts Point
couples and insider compromise base
Art Deco streets and Macleay Street cafes next to Kings Cross station, walkable to the Garden, the city and Darlinghurst dining.
Think twice about
- Kings Cross proper (Darlinghurst Road strip)
Historic late night strip with hostels, strip clubs, noise and visible street homelessness and drug use late at night. Visit for a bar, do not base there for quiet or family stays.
- Around Central Station / Haymarket at night
The blocks around Central and Belmore Park have a persistent rough sleeping population and can feel edgy on quiet side streets after dark. Stay a few blocks north instead.
- Darling Harbour as a base
Safe and central but soulless as a base, with harbourside chain dining and tourist attractions at tourist prices.
- Redfern / Waterloo as a short-stay hotel base
Streets vary sharply block to block at night around large public housing estates, so a visitor booking on price alone should pick Surry Hills or Chippendale instead.
Best restaurants in Sydney
Saint Peter
Josh Niland's fish butchery restaurant uses whole fish nose to tail, the most original cooking in Sydney right now.
Firedoor
Lennox Hastie cooks an entire tasting menu over Australian woods with no gas and no electricity, unlike anywhere else.
Ester
Woodfired, fermentation driven share plates with zero stuffiness, the locals' favourite serious but fun dinner.
Pig Mary
Ester's tiny 12 seat walk in sidebar for snacks, plates ferried from the main kitchen and Martinis before dinner.
Quay
Peter Gilmore's harbour view flagship where the nature inspired tasting menu actually justifies the window seat.
Oncore by Clare Smyth
Clare Smyth's three hatted Barangaroo restaurant, the alternative splurge for British meets Australian precision.
Bennelong
Dinner inside the Opera House's southern sail, with a pre theatre menu timed to curtain before your performance.
Mr. Wong
A big glamorous Cantonese room down a CBD laneway, built for sharing and the default group dinner in the centre.
Best bars in Sydney
Maybe Sammy
An acclaimed cocktail bar in The Rocks, ranked among the best in Australasia.
Cantina OK!
A tiny CBD laneway bar devoted to tequila and mezcal, also listed among the world's best bars.
Shady Pines Saloon
A honky tonk basement bar known for whisky and fresh pressed apple juice, a completely different Sydney night.
Best coffee in Sydney
Single O Surry Hills
The specialty coffee stop locals rank above the brunch institutions for the coffee itself.
Edition Roasters
A specialty coffee stop as good as Single O for a proper Sydney cafe morning.
Paramount Coffee Project
The cafe inside the Paramount House precinct in Surry Hills, a local specialty coffee consensus pick.
Outdoor things to do in Sydney
Bondi to Coogee Walk
As a full excursion the ocean cliff version of Sydney's great walks, with swims at Bronte Baths and Gordons Bay.
Spit to Manly Walk
Ten kilometres of harbour bush walking from Spit Bridge to Manly, with harbour beaches and engravings at Grotto Point.
OzPaddle Sydney
A small group sunrise kayak past the Botanic Garden to beside the Opera House, with harbour photos included.
Let's Go Surfing
A two hour beginner lesson at North Bondi with Bondi's only officially licensed surf school, board and wetsuit included.
Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve
Sydney's best easy snorkel, a protected no take reserve with blue gropers, rays, cuttlefish and over 150 fish species.
Royal National Park
Sydney's great bush to beach escape under an hour south, best as a Coast Track section or a Wattamolla swim day.
Figure Eight Pools
Spectacular rock pools that are strictly low tide only, so check the NSW Parks tide and risk rating before going.
Grand Canyon Track
A fern filled sandstone canyon loop from Evans Lookout, the Blue Mountains walking day that skips the Scenic World crowds.
Best hotels in Sydney
Capella Sydney
A serene luxury hotel in a 1912 sandstone government building, five minutes from Circular Quay and the new benchmark.
Park Hyatt Sydney
The Opera House view hotel, low and curved across the water so many rooms frame the sails from the bed.
Paramount House Hotel
A 29 room design boutique above Paramount Coffee Project, with the best breakfast to bar neighbourhood outside.
Ovolo Woolloomooloo
Huge loft style rooms inside a 100 year old harbour wharf, a 15 minute walk to the Botanic Garden and Opera House.
QT Sydney
Theatrical Art Deco design hotel in the Gowings and State Theatre buildings on Market Street.
QT Bondi
The beach version of QT, apartment style rooms across from Bondi Beach for a beach first base.
Hotel Ravesis
A small pink hotel directly on Campbell Parade, so you wake up on Bondi Beach with the commute that implies.
Manly Pacific Sydney
A full service hotel on Manly's ocean front, home to the hatted Cibaria restaurant.
Is Sydney expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | A$160 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | A$316 a person |
| Splurge | A$700 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Sydney Opera House: weeks ahead
- BridgeClimb Sydney: weeks ahead
- Taronga Zoo Sydney: a few days ahead
- Sydney Cricket Ground: a few days ahead
- OzPaddle Sydney: a few days ahead
- Let's Go Surfing: a few days ahead
- Moore Park Golf: a few days ahead
- Sydney Harbour Tall Ships: a few days ahead
- Book Saint Peter, Firedoor, Quay, Oncore and Sixpenny 4 to 12 weeks out and take any slot offered.
- Opera House performances and BridgeClimb sell out for weekends, Vivid and summer, and BridgeClimb should not sit on your last day.
- New Year's Eve, Vivid, Mardi Gras, Sydney Festival and major sport spike hotel rates citywide, with minimum stays at New Year.
- Buy Taronga and Scenic World tickets early and arrive at opening on sunny Sundays and school holidays.
Is Sydney safe?
- Sydney is low violent crime for visitors, so normal big city care suffices, and do not leave gear unattended at the beach.
- Swim between the red and yellow flags at patrolled beaches every time, and use ocean or harbour pools if you are not a confident ocean swimmer.
- Sun is non negotiable, with extreme summer UV even on cloudy days, so use SPF 50, a hat and water on walks.
- Heed shark and jellyfish warnings and beach closures, stay on track in bushland, and note tipping is not obligatory in Australia.
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
Sydney travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Darling Harbour tourist dining and the WILD LIFE, Madame Tussauds and SEA LIFE combo tickets are the weakest value in the city.
- Paying for an Opera House tour and skipping a performance, or eating on the Circular Quay tourist strip without checking the name.
- Bondi Beach alone at midday in summer with no walk, swim or cafe plan, and standard Blue Mountains coach tours that only corral two stops.
- Paddy's Markets for authentic shopping and Sydney Tower Eye as a must do, when markets, the Bridge walk and ferries do more for less.
Getting around Sydney: public transport and more
- Tap on and off with contactless or an Opal card across trains, Metro, buses, light rail and ferries, with daily and weekly fare caps.
- Circular Quay is the ferry hub for Manly, Taronga Zoo, Cockatoo Island, Balmain and Watsons Bay, and ferries double as sightseeing.
- The airport train from Central or Town Hall takes about 13 minutes from Central plus a station access fee.
- Cluster days by area because Sydney is hilly and harbour cut, and only rent a car for the Blue Mountains, Royal National Park or Northern Beaches.
Who Sydney suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Sydney your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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