scrb11

Will be in Sydney for 5 days later this month.

Frommers lists several different types:

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...083020156.html

Sydney Pass seems to include premium transport options, mainly Explorer buses which sound like hop-on/hop-off with recorded tour guide commentary and some harbour cruises.

The Weekly Pass appears to include all trains, buses and ferries within a specified zones including or excluding ferry to Manly.

Looks like there's a big price difference between the Sydney Pass and the Weekly Pass. So are the "premium" transportation options in the Sydney Pass worth the $100 price difference over a week of use?

Will the Weekly Pass get me to Bondi and any other nearby locations worth visiting in 5 days? (I may do a Blue Mountains tour for a day).

How long does the regular ferry take to get to Manly vs. the RiverCat? Read somewhere that it's worth walking from Bondi to Cogee or the northern beaches. Are the northern beaches reachable by walking, or maybe renting a bike?

Geordie

The Frommers page is out of date with its information, you need to go to http://www.131500.com.au/fares-and-passes

For flexibility and for only slightly more than a Multi 2 ticket I would recommend a Multi 3 $57 per week. This enables you to go to Manly on the ferry,any buses up to the Northern beaches, you can go as far as the Blue Mountains

The Sydney Pass ($175??) seems to be more premium travel which is not necessarily the best option, i.e it will let you take the jetcat(rivercat goes to Parramatta) to Manly in 15 mins?? but really the normal ferry is the way to do it, as you can sit outside and it goes slower so you can see and photgraph the sights (approx 30 mins)

If you want to do the explorer bus, then pay for it separately, it'll still be cheaper.

The Northern beaches are on the other side of the harbour to Bondi and Coogee so the best way to explore would be by taking a bus from Manly or from the City, I would not recommed riding a bike. There are number of nice beaches along the way but in theory you could just sit on the bus and view the beaches going North and if you like one, then stop at the beach when the bus heads back down South. Palm Beach is a very nice beach

scrb11

Hmm, the prices listed by Frommers are out of date too, looks like they're considerably more expensive now.

So are the Multis electronic passes or you just show them on the bus, ferry or train?

You can buy them at the airport or stations like the Museum station, with credit card?

How do you get to the Blue Mountains with a Multi 3 ticket, by train?

lavandula

If you want to do the Cliff Walk, here is some information:

http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/thing...onte_coastwalk

It is a nice thing to do on a sunny day. Bring your sunhat!

Lavandula

Geordie

<<So are the Multis electronic passes or you just show them on the bus, ferry or train?>>

You show them on the bus, but for ferry or trains you'll put them through a machine

<<You can buy them at the airport or stations like the Museum station, with credit card?>>

You can buy them at airport, stations and also most convenience stores but at the airport you will have to buy a separate ticket $15 to get out of the airport via train as the airport stations are not part of the normal network

<<How do you get to the Blue Mountains with a Multi 3 ticket, by train?>>

Yes and I believe there is a free explorer bus around Katoomba, Leura etc in addition to the public buses that you can use free of charge

PS: Another nice walk is from Spit Bridge (bus from the city) to Manly, it follows the Harbour and you see some great scenery and is a pretty flat walk, after that you could have something to eat and drink in Manly and take the ferry back to the city

scrb11

That's great. That site has some nice maps too. Can you get out there and back by bus?

lavandula

Do you mean the Waverley Council site ...? Yes, you can get there by bus (website has details), not sure if there is a bus from Waverley Cemetery for the return journey although Clovelly shops must be close by so you could get the bus from there. If you finish up in Bronte there is definitely a bus, likewise with Coogee. For more info on the buses, on both sides of the harbour, http://www.131500.com.au/ is the website with information on timetables, maps routes, etc.

Lavandula

scrb11

So the City Rail is a train for mostly getting outside the city?

There are no subways or trams within the center of the city itself?

I did see pictures of a monorail near the Harbor Bridge. Is that part of the govt. transit system (and eligible for the Multi pass)?

rasybanks

You may want to look at the Sydney and beyond card. You can buy just for the attractions or you can get with transportation. We bought this when we visited 2 years ago and it was amazing the amount of money we saved. You do need to plan but well worth the investment. They also have for Melbourne which we also purchased and it allowed us to have a hassel free trip.

scrb11

I'll think about it. Good value if I hit all those attractions. The free cruises look interesting but are they that much better than the regular ferries which I could take with just the transport pass?

margo_oz

Cityrail includes the railway under the city, as well as trains to the suburbs and beyond.

Buses are plentiful.

Trams, monorail, eetc., are smaller service and all private. Tram from Central Railway to the Casino, Fish Market and Lilyfield only. Monorail goes round in a circle through DArling Harbour and into the city.

scrb11

OK, it must be a difference in English. Rail denotes traditional trains while metro or subway denotes short-distance and underground trains in city centers.

But I think I get it from the map.

Do the trains within the city come frequently enough or is a bus more reliable way to get around the city?

I will be getting a pass so I guess I'd go for whichever is the most frequent and convenient.

I have an iPhone app. that tracks buses, trains and ferries. Only thing is it tries to update in real time and I won't have be using 3G in Sydney, just Wifi.

scrb11

"For flexibility and for only slightly more than a Multi 2 ticket I would recommend a Multi 3 $57 per week. This enables you to go to Manly on the ferry,any buses up to the Northern beaches, you can go as far as the Blue Mountains"

I'm thinking of doing this but for a first-time visitor to Oz, does it make sense to go up to the Blue Mountains by yourself as opposed to a tour? There are several stations which appear to be part of the BM:

Is there a "top 10" in the BM or more like a "top 5" to hit during a day tour from Sydney?

Is the train a good way to go between the different parts of the BM, that is does the train run frequently enough to make this a time-efficient strategy during a day visit?

emerald125

I am not sure which app you have but tripview (and even the free lite version) and also Link Express is good and also free. With Tripview you do not have to be online - you can just update in a free wifi spot. I only update every few weeks and use these almost daily.

If you're in Sydney for more than a day or two, buy a weekly MyMulti1 pass for A$41 for adults and $20.50 for children under 16 years. It won't get you to the Blue Mountains but will get you everywhere else.

Family Funday Sunday is the biggest bargain of all. As long as you have a child in your party everyone travels at $2.50 all day. You can even go to the Blue Mountains on this ticket.

I know we are not supposed to post links here but I have made about a dozen travel pages about visiting Sydney and the Blue Mountains on Squidoo that you could search for. They cover all the things you have asked in your post. If telling you this breaks the rules someone please let me know and I will delete the post. It just seems silly because its exactly what you are asking.

Bokhara2

That's an informative site, Emerald125, and I can't imagine why you couldn't post a link to it, because you're not making a profit from the info.

Just a couple of things you might tell the administrators, though:
1. In their quizz, they claim a kangaroo can outpace an emu.
Not so. I've clocked many emus at more than 45miles (72km)per hour and would back them against a 'roo any day.

2. Koalas plural does not take an apostrophe! Aaaaghhh for gawdsake, what's with this obsession to stuff one before every "S"??

3. They're FAIRY penguins, not FERRY Penguins, even if they are very at home on the water.

scrb11

Yes I have TripView Sydney Lite.

Only tried it a couple of times. Good to know it caches data for offline. So it downloads the most recent schedule?

Yes I'm thinking I would either get a MyMulti3 so I could go up to the Blue Mountains on the train or get a tour which includes transportation to and within some BM destinations, in which case I'd only need a MyMulti1 to get around within the city and out by ferry or bus to areas like Manly.

I see this page on Squidoo:

http://www.squidoo.com/BlueMountainsNSW

Is that what you're referring to?

emerald125

sure is... Scrb. There are a few good Sydney pages on that site that might help you. I also wanted to add a post to your blue mountains question but it keeps logging me out for some reason. There is a tour company that I have been with called Blue Mountains Walkabout... I would recommend them 150% over all the other tours if you do go that way. It's a small group tour with a focus on indigenous history and culture.

Thanks for the proof read Bokhara and your right there is almost no money made from the site and they give money to charity too so its a win win I will make sure the changes happen.

I started to put stuff there because I have worked with backpackers for ages and get sick of answering the same things over and over so I put it on there and just send friends etc the links

scrb11

Quick question about buses. Went to the Sydneybuses site to download maps and timetables.

The time tables don't seem to list all the stops? For instance, for 333 to Bondi, the stops listed in the CBD are at CQ and Martin Place. Then it goes to Darlinghurst.

But the Tripview Lite app. for iPhone shows a couple of other stops in CBD between Martin Place and Darlinghurst?

The maps show little triangles for those unlisted stops while the ones in the timetable show up on the map as sections (square with numbers in them on the maps).?

Susan7

I'm not sure about the triangles, but I regularly catch the 333 from Circular Quay to Paddington, and while it is an express bus, there are more than 3 stops between the CBD and Darlinghurst. It sounds to me like the Triplite app is accurate.

scrb11

Are the MyMulti weekly passes valid for buses in Manly too?

There seems to be a lot of walks from where the Manly ferry docks:

http://www.walkingcoastalsydney.com....thHeadText.pdf

But these seem to be very long (most of them are like 5.5 hours) so maybe worth venturing if you can take bus back to the Manly ferry.