We will be in Sydney for 2 days this July. Any suggestions as to 'must sees', recommended tours, centrally located hotels(near the must see areas and not too much$$$) would be appreciated. Also, is there a train/shuttle link from the air port to hotels or is Taxi the best bet? Any suggestions would be appreciated as we really want to see all we can while we are here... Thinking of a harbour cruise/city tour on day one and maybe a Blue Mountain daytrip day two...

Oh, just two days! So much to see, and too little time. Probably a good idea would be to take a 1/2 day city tour, and just get on a ferry and ride around. You can see a great deal that way. The blue mountains are fine, but if you only have the two days, there is much more to see in Sydney. Do you have a good guide of things to do in Sydney? <BR>Many of them will tell you what to see and do if you only have a certain number of days. We did go to the Blue Mountains, and the Hunter Valley, but we had ten days, so were not rushed. I still recommend the Park Hyatt....for two days, it is so convenient to everything, and worth the extra bucks. Have a great time. It is quite the place to see! Also, actually just looking at the Opera House from the ferry is just a good as going over to visit it.

Stephie, there are several good reasonably priced hotels in the centre of Sydney - probably the best guide for these and other attractions is to use <BR>www.citysearch.com.au - I think you will find most things you need on that site.

skip the blue mountains in july - it's the middle of winter here and chances are there will be fog cover for most of the day and you will miss out on the beautiful views unfortunately. <BR>as prue mentioned citysearch has got most of the city covered and is the best place to start. personally i think the local ferries are the best bet - just jump on any one from circular quay (sydney centre sort of) and cruise around the harbour for a few bucks. you can catch one out to watson's bay where there's a good restaurant (Doyles) and a good pub by the water and on the way see the opera house. you can head out to manly beach by ferry, the zoo (not that great a zoo but great views back to the city). <BR>there's an 'sydney explorer' bus that is much better value than a half day organised tour. you buy a ticket and the route goes to all the major tourist spots around the city. you can jump off any time you like and catch the next one (they run every 30mins or so). that way you spend time seeing what you want and skipping what you don't. <BR> <BR>there will be a train link from the airport open around then and there are hotel buses that run from the airport but personally, if there are at least two people, I'd skip it. they're both about $10 each and the taxi shouldn't cost more than about $25 so there's not much price difference and you don't have to stop at every hotel or train stop on the way. <BR>you should be able to get a very good rate on the not-quite 5 star hotels at this time of year (very quiet as far as tourists go) so don't spend too much. if you see one you like in citysearch most of them have an email address and you could negotiate a deal with them. the 'rocks' is the the most central area and recommended. (park hyatt IS very good but might be too pricey)

There is an Airport Express Bus. It is Green and Yellow. It costs about $10 to get to the city. It has stops all around the city. There is a hotel in the centre of town called The Grace which is nice. Not sure on the pricing. There is also a Travelodge recently opened in Sydney. <BR> <BR>Ferries are great to have a nice look around. The Coffee Cruise through Captain Cook cruises is also good and they tell you about the various sites as you are going by. This leaves from Cicular Quay. The Sydney Explorer as mentioned above is very good. The Rocks is nice to look around. It has some great pubs. I would give the Blue Mountains a miss. Not sure if are going to be in Australia but if you want to go to park to see Koalas etc Featherdale is good though touristy.

Stephie, <BR>2 days, 2 little time! As posted above the "better" bets on getting around are: <BR>1) Sydney Explorer Bus

I whole-heartedly agree the red bus "Sydney Explorer" is the way to go. It stops at around 30-40 places of interest and there are several buses looping at 10 minute intervals. You buy a full-day ticket from the bus depot at the (Queen Victoria Building?) I think. Get up early and make a day of it. A ferry to Manly is good too (you can always catch the fast cat if you're running out of time). Zillions of places to eat. If there are 2 or more of you, I would catch a taxi rather than be bothered with the bus - it will work out roughly the same price (maybe $5-10 more) but worth it to get delivered to your door. I found the tour through the Opera House amazing however, sometimes you need to check the performance schedule to see if you can gain access to all areas. <BR> <BR>Have a great time.

Thank you so much for your responses and advice. We will do the hop on hop off bus for sure...London, UK has a similar bus for tourists and we really got to see a lot by using it! It turns out that we may be able to stretch our Sydney stay to 3 days. To be honest, I'm worried about the weather a bit. I've done my research and know that the average temp for July is 16C(being Canadian, that doesn't sound so bad) but I have heard some horror stories reydney weather in July. If any locals can offer advice as what type of clothing to pack I would really appreciate it!

Yes, July is the coldest time of the year, buts is also the driest. Sydney tends to have most of its rainfall in the summer. July days are mostly cool, but sunny. The sun sets around 5pm.

Stephie: Just back from AU. We did 2 1/2 days in Sydney. In order to overcome the jetlag and force ourselves out of bed, I booked an organized tour for the first day. Day One: "The Complete Sydney" tour with Sydney Day Tours (they have a web site) - morning ride on ferry up Paramatta River (very beautiful) to Koala Sanctuary where we saw koalas and kangaroos (with joeys) up close and personal, wombats, wallaby, dingo and birds, beautiful drive back to city. Lunch harbour cruise out to North Head past the Opera House and back - great views of all the harbour and wonderful food. Afternoon to Olympic sight with private tours of swim center and main stadium. End of tour, back to hotel. Change clothes, dash to Opera House for dinner (nice cafe) and performance of Sydney Symphony (superb). I bought these tickets prior to arrival over the Internet. Day Two: Water ferry from Darling Harbour hotel to The Rocks. Walked the Rocks and Circular Quay, nearby museums, took city bus to Queen Victoria Shopping to see the clock. Evening - took taxi to Doyle's on Watson's Bay for dinner, water taxi home to Darling Harbour hotel (saw fireworks over the Opera House). Day Three: Toured Sydney Aquarium before departing to airport. We drove by many other sights while working our way around the city. Saw Botonical Garden from harbour cruise. Saw Maritime Museum, etc from Darling Harbour water taxi. I was a bit disappointed in the Rocks area because all the historical buildings have been converted into shops. It feels a little touristy after a while. However there is a great street market there on certain days. In future I would probably spend less time there and more in museums. I felt we made a good dent in Sydney given our time constraints. Good luck.

We stayed at the Old Sydney Parkroyal just a few weeks ago,and it was quite reasonable and very well located. We stayed in the oldest section so we could have a harbour view (which is only unobstructed from the seventh and eighth floors), but the rooms are rather small and dull. But we loved the location which is right in the Rocks, just where the Saturday and Sunday markets are held, and a three minute walk from the ferries. The Regency which is just a couple of blocks further up is also reasonable, and you might check out the new Westin Hotel, also centrally located and not too badly priced.

I would also skip going to the Blue Mountains if I had only 2 days. There is tons of things to see in Sydney. I went last month. Weather was quite nice. I stayed at the Sydney Vista - nice rooms, I'm not sure of any view, but the location was right between Darling Harbor (about 10 min walk) and the Rocks (about 5 minutes). I walked thru the Rocks, took tour around city, went to Manly Beach, then took the Coffee Cruise in the afternoon which was quite enjoyable, ferry over to Darling Harbor, and one late evening at the Sydney Observatory to see the southern sky. Another day went to Taronga Zoo, tour of the Opera House, Botanical Gardens (look for the bats), and some of the museums in the city.

Highly recommend the Bridge Climb. It is an experience of life time.

Stephie, just some info on the rail link from the airport for you to think about. This is not a dedicated air passenger service, but a re-routing of an existing suburban commuter link. There are no dedicated baggage compartments, and if you catch the train during peak hour Monday to Friday (which is roughly 8:00 am to 9:30 am) you could find it more than a little cramped!

Thanks again to everyone for their excellent advice and responses. We still haven't booked a hotel for our stay in Sydney as we are finding anything remotly central to be big $$$. We are now looking into hostels...any suggestons? Also suggestions for clean, inexpensive, centrally located hotels (under 100.00 AUS$$) would be appreciated. Thanks again!