Visiting Sydney, Australia

Will be off to Sydney for a two-week business trip soon. Spent a few days in Sydney many years ago, but don't remember much. Anyone can offer recommendations as to what there is to see and do?

Went there last year and would recommend these. One of my friends is just returning from Sydney today

1. Take a vineyard tour to Hunter Valley
2. Blue Mountains
3. Opera House (duh!)
4. Sydney Harbour Bridge "walk". Brilliant!
5. Dinner cruise with Thomas Cook (the others are not that good)
6. Whale watching
7. The Sydney aquarium is worth a visit
8. Go to the opera if there is something good on. Great experience.
9. Take a walk down The Rocks.
10.Sydney Tower has a fab view and dont forget to do the Skywalk
11. Sydney Observatory and the huge park near it...I think it was the Botanical Gardens. So many big bats...

And don't forget to try the Ostrich and Kangaroo steak

Have fun. Oz is a great country.

Get a ferry around the harbour, that's fun.

Everything seemed to have jumped a lot in price when I was there last year.

It wasn't too bad Monks Town, I found it relatively inexpensive when I was there last year.

1. get the ferry across the harbour to the zoo
2. have brunch on Sunday on Oxford street Paddington
3. blue moutains
4. do the bondi to bronti walk along the cliffs
5. do a 1 day sailing course on the harbour
6. watch the sun rise at Bondi beach - bronti
7. Go out for a great dinner in Newtown
8. yep climb the bridge
9. hire a car for the day and visit the southern beaches, Cronulla, coggee, or the northern beaches, manly, palm beach etc (i prefer the southern, its where i grew up)

god there is so much to say and do

It's still not TOO expensive compred to London or paris but dearer than Brizzie.

If I was in Sydney and had a weekend to do a driving trip, I'd probably do a loop and visit Parkes --> Coonabarabran --> Narrabri and back. But that's because I'm a geek, and there's a radio observatory, optical observatory and radio telescope array in those places, respectively. It's a nice trip to see some podunk towns as well.

@ tom_a - How much free time do you have and where abouts in Sydney are you staying??

My fav. things to do in Sydney include.. (some have already been mentioned...)

* Bluemountains, you can get a train straight there (about 2hrs from Central Station) Theres a hop on hop off bus for about $15 and it will take you to the Three Sisters etc.

* Atm its summer in Syd so nice and warm, make sure you check out the beaches (both north and south) Go to either Manly or Bondi for the best views (tho very touristy)

* Catch a ferry/river cat up the Parramatta River... Takes about 50mins..

* The zoo is worth a visit, great views of the harbour/city.

* Darling Harbour, inc. IMAX theatre, Chinese Gardens and Star City Casino.

* Luna Park - fun park on the harbour (north side) Free entry.

and finally a harbour cruise in the evening, leaves at 8pm goes for 1.5hrs cost $22.

I hope this helps, feel free to PM if you want any other info as I was born and raised in Syd

Oh, and Sydney ain't expensive if you do the conversion correctly. Its much cheaper to eat out in Sydney then here in Munich.. but mostly id say its on par.

In addition to the other suggestions here are some other ideas ...

For a cheap mini scenic bus tour, catch bus 288 (or 290, 294, 295 or 296) from outside the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) in the direction of North Ryde/Epping. This will take you through through the city and over the Harbour Bridge to North Sydney. Go for a swim at North Sydney pool or eat at the restaurant there (which has a nice view of the Harbour).

If you're a bit on the morbidly curious side, do a Sydney Crime Walking Tour (organised by the Justice and Police Museum) or ride around town in an old hearse for the 'Weird Sydney History and Ghost tour'.

Visit 'James Squires Brewhouse' on King Street Wharf. Try the beer ... and the beer battered fish and chips ...

Visit China Town and the fish market ... or have dinner in Little Italy (aka Norton Street Leichhardt)

Take a one day surfing course at Bondi beach.

Catch the Rivercat from Parramatta to Circular Quay, take a ride on the Manly Ferry or do a boat cruise of either the Nepean or Hawkesbury Rivers.

If you go to the Blue Mountains - check out all the hippies in Katoomba (on your way to the 3 Sisters and Echo Point), visit Leura and check out the Norman Lindsay art gallery (if you're into paintings of voluptuous naked and semi-naked women).

Visit the Musuems (like the Australian Museum, Hyde Park Barracks, Powerhouse Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art etc) as well as the NSW Art Gallery. And if you're in Sydney this month (Jan), there are usually free orchestral and jazz concerts in the Domain (the park in front of the Art Gallery).

Edit: I see sky_hoc is a faster typer than I am. Sorry for any repetition of suggestions!

Wow, thanks everyone. Seems it's rather inconvient that I'm actually expected to work most of the time. There's only so much you can do in one week-end...

Oh...only two weeks. Shame you don't have seven months like I had a few years back. Anyway, tom_a, everybody here has pretty much covered the sites I would recommend. Certainly Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, Bondi & Coogee Beaches, Taronga Zoo and the Sydney Aquarium are good choices. I lived in Newtown and the restaurants there are good, as TroyBoy mentioned. You may not have time to head over to Rose Bay, Double Bay and Vaucluse. Rich neighborhoods with great shopping. Avoid Paddington if you're not into the cross-dressing scene (except, as TroyBoy said, Oxford Street which is a cool place). And you just have to go to The Rocks, as SarahKT mentioned, and check out the bars while you're there. It's located by the Harbour Bridge. Oh...did anyone mention Kings Cross? It's in the city center. Have a look there for a laugh. Great nightclubs. An interesting if somewhat bizarre place. Wish you had more time, huh?

I partied a lot on Bondi Beach.

OTOH, you could be rather jet-lagged and tired for many days after the long flight, trying to work 9-5 straight away and succumbing to invitations to go out for drinks after work.

If you are staying and working in the city centre you can walk around the Rocks, over the harbour bridge to Milsons Point railway station, around the botanic gardens and Queen Victoria Building (QVB), all for free, without much effort in the morning or after work.

you have to go to Watsons Bay and climb up to The Gap. There is also a beautiful little beach with a kiosk where you can buy coffee and there is Doyle's Restaurant and Beergarden

OK, if someone was going to do a tour of the Hunter Valley, what would be the easiest way?
Bus?
Coach tour (NOTE: mention Contiki and I will not be impressed)?
Car?
Would be departing Sydney, early Dec, multi-day, probably on my own and yes I love Shiraz, which is why I want to go.

And another question: trains in NSW - a bad idea or a worse idea?
Cheers.

Trains are not very good in Australia. If you want to get from a city to the suburbs maybe it would be ok. For longer trips, no one takes the train. I would always say just rent a car. If you want to get from one major city to another, fly there, then rent a car.

For your wine trip, a car might not be the best idea however. I don't know about any other options in this case though, but there could well be some.

If you're loaded the easiest way would be to go by sea plane.


The best way to get around NSW is to hire a car.
Depends where you are going if the train will be any good or not. It would certianly be more comfortable then the bus and cheaper then flying.
The trains do not compare to anything you get in Germany, but they aren't the worst in the world. The problem is there are only two or three trains a day going up and down the coast.
Earlier this year I caught a train from Port Macquarie (well actually Wauchope near Port) to Sydney. It was super cheap (booked online) and very comfortable. Took about 6 hours (same as the bus, but driving would be 4.5 to 5 hours).

Check out www.countrylink.info for trains.

Exactly - unless I can also hire a wine-hating driver, it might be a wee bit difficult.
Cheers for the ideas, all keep them coming and no comment on my sea plane budget!

For a trip up to Hunter's Valley, try to get on an organised tour. There are numerous ones that run out of Sydney. Alternatively, catch the train to Newcastle and jump on a tour from there. With all that good wine on offer, you don't want to be missing out on the tasting because you have a rental car to drive back to Sydney. Plus driving in Sydney at the moment is a bit of a nightmare if you don't know your way around with all the new tunnels and toll roads. Was there in August and found the driving extremely stressful. Unless you have satellite nav in your car, play it safe and use public transport!
Also - if you are looking for good deals on accommodation etc, check out www.wotif.com.

Mo's suggestion is probably the best. Take the train to Newcastle ( it's a lovely trip as you cross the Hawkesbury river ) The trains to Newcastle leave Central station every hour. The journey takes about 3 hours. Train cost is about 18 dollars Australian (10 Euros) one way. Contrary to opinion above the trains to Newcastle, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains are very good value for money. No dining cars but you can buy yourself a Chiko roll, a railway pie, a carton of milk, and a copy of the Sydney Morning Herald before you depart. Heaven. Something I do when I'm back in Aus to remind me of my student days traveling home.

Take the train in the morning. Get on an organised tour to the wineries in the afternoon. Stay the night in Newcastle (an evening meal at Scratchley's on the Harbour is nice) and catch the train back to Sydney in the morning.

I still have a few mates in Newcastle that might be able to recommend a tour or two. Ill email them and get back to you.

Right, another question about hotels in Sydney.
As I want to have 3 nights somewhere decent (no backpacker crap), was looking at the Harbour Rocks. Has anyone stayed there or could recommend similar? Is for early Dec., cheers.