Hi everyone,

I will be staying at Sydney for 4 days. Here is what I have planned:

1. Tour of Opera House
2. Seeing a performance at Opera House
3. Bridgeclimb
4. Walking through botanical gardens
5. Sydney Tower
6. Chinese Garden of Friendship
7. Paddy's Market
8. Fish market
9. twilight Cruise on Sydney Harbor
10. Taronga Zoo OR Featherdale Koala PArk (which is better?)
11. Hanging out at King's Cross
12. Manly Beach

Anything else that you would suggest, or do you think I am hitting the best of Sydney? Thanks!! (I'm so excited that this trip is finally taking shape )

Also, I would appreciate any advice re: accomodation in Sydney. I will be going there in February, and would like to pay less than 170 Australian Dollars per night. I'd prefer air conditioning!

Thank you!

Hi, air1975!

Your itinerary sounds terrific -- you've done your homework, obviously. There's a lot to cram into four days, so your next task is to sequence these so that you don't waste time getting to one area on Monday, just to have to do it all again on Tuesday for an attraction in the same area. The Botanical Gardens, for instance, has an entrance adjacent to the Opera House, so a smart move would be to combine the two -- walk through the Botanical Gardens in time to reach the Opera House as your tour is assembling.

Sydney Tower isn't anything much, I have to say. It's just like any tower anywhere, and you will get the same great views on the Bridge climb. You might find that you could replace the tower with a stroll down Macquarie St and a look at the Mint, the Barracks, the Conservatorium, St Mary's Cathedral, the Archibald Fountain, and the Art Gallery. Since the Botanical Gardens is just behind the Conservatorium, this could be combined with the walk to the Opera House.

If you plan to do the Fish Market and the Chinese Garden of Friendship, you might also be able to add, in the same expedition, Darling Harbour, the Aquarium, the Maritime Museum, and maybe even the Powerhouse Museum, all of which are worth visiting.If you end up at the Aquarium, you can catch, from there, a ferry which will take you back to Circular Quay, from where your twilight harbour tour will leave. Alternately, you don't really need a twilight harbour tour if you plan to spend a half-day at Manly, as the ferries back from there traverse virtually the full length of the harbour (and at a fraction of the cost of the harbour tour!)and it would be easy to coordinate your return with the onset of evening. Then you could have dinner in a restaurant, either at Manly or Circular Quay, and you wouldn't have to eat the food they serve on the cruise!

Taronga is better than Featherdale. This is true at any time of the year, but especially in February, when the western suburbs in Sydney (Featherdale is half-way to the Blue Mountains)are hot, dry, and dusty. Plan never to get too far from the water's edge. And also, since you have so many outdoor activities planned, under no circumstances forget a hat and sunscreen. The only thing on your list that doesn't need sunscreen is the evening performance at the Opera House.

For some great air-conditioned accommodation that would probably come in at around your budget, try the Sir Stamford at Circular Quay or (if you are lucky enough to strike a good bargain) the Old Sydney Holiday Inn at the Rocks. Both will save you a lot of time and effort because you will step outside your hotel and instantly be right where the attractions are. If you are game to leave your accommodation to fourteen days before you travel, you can often pick up some great bargains at top hotels by looking at www.wotif.com.au.

However, your itinerary seems so well planned that I'm sure you knew all of this and don't need me to rant on. Have a great holiday!

Hi air1975,
Great itinary for four days.
I would pretty much agree with Alan too, except for his opinion of the Sydney tower,(centerpoint) it's not like any tower anywhere else in the world it's in Sydney !! Oh Alan you must put your tourist head back on ;-)

It is truly a great view and whilst the bridgeclimb also has a stunning fabulous view it is obviously not as high as the tower and the tower lets you linger for as long as you like, with a different stunning fabulous view. Naturally time is limited on the bridge as you are moving along fairly constantly.
I think both the tower and the bridge are a must see.

Have a fabulous time

Muck

Air1975 - both Alan & Mucky have given you excellent advice on Sydney.
Kings Cross is a "sleazy" place now, nothing like its original self. At night, it can be a dangerous place to be in, unless your street wise. Having being born & breed in Sydney (now living elsewhere), I can tell you Sydneysiders, in general, don't hang around Kings cross anymore, its full of prostitutes, pimps, drug pushers, weirdos, bikies, etc.
I would go for Taronga over Featherdale Wifdlife Park, which is a fair distance out of Sydney, at Blacktown.
Your List of Places to visit, is spot on (except for the above mentioned), however, you might like to consider these:
*** Get a "Daytripper" Ticket at Circular Quay (around $14 Aust.), there is a little booth, under the Cahill Expressway at the Quay, that supplies timetables, etc, but also sells the Daytripper Ticket. This ticket will allow you to travel for 24 hrs, on all Govt.Buses/trains/ferries (except the Manly Jet Cat). Make sure you get all the ferry timetables, then jump the first ferry, and "stay" on the ferry, and return to the Quay, then check the timetable, for the next ferry ride, and do the same, all day long.
There are ferry trips, to Watsons Bay, Rose Bay, Taronga Zoo, Manly, Parramatta, Mosman, Balmain, etc. This ferry tripping around will give you excellent vista of Sydney Harbour & nearby rivers (just a great day out, on a sunny day)
Also take a "walk" around the The Rocks, near Circular Quay, to take in the history of this area. There are little laneways, old buildings, quaint old pubs,loads of tourist shops, but to get away from the crowds, keep on George Street, and follow it around, under the bridge, past the Irish Pub & Parisian external toilet, then into Lower Fort Street, this will take you past "Hero of Waterloo" Pub, and further up is the "Lord Nelson" Pub, both worth visiting, also nearby is the old church once used by the soldiers from the barracks. As you walk this area, try to imagine, Sydney Quay area, without the bridge, and what it must have been like back when the first fleet moved into the area. After a pint in the Lord Nelson, walk up to the Observatory (great park with views) and go inside (free admission)the Observatory.

The little church I referred to, is the "Holy Trinity - The Garrison Anglican Church".

Hi Air,

You might consider weekly green pass at A$40. This will get you everywhere you've mentioned . With the pass you can do as many twilight harbour cruises as you like. The pass covers ferries, buses and trains.

If you are headed out to Manly you might make a day of it and do the Spit to Manly walk along the foreshore of the harbour. Its spectacular. I think about 10 km: not too hard, I did it w./ a torn calf muscle.

The Gallery of NSW is quite wonderful, a chance to look at the region through the eyes of local artists and a dance performance in the downstairs aboriginal art galleries at noon. Its at the top of the Botanical Gardens, about a 15 minute walk from circular Quay or train on that aforementioned pass to St Martin's Place. .

Sydney's a grand city , I'm sure you'll have a blast.
A/D

enjoy

Just for the record, AD, that station is Martin Place - it's on the Bondi Junction line. There's a St James station not far away, but it's on the City Circle line.

Air1975, if you go to www.cityrail.info and go to the "Network Maps" tab all will become reasonably clear. Trains are the fastest way to get around, but the city centre is small enough to make walking the best option for most points of interest.

Wow! Thanks for the great suggestions, everyone! They are very much appreciated. If anyone ever comes to Chicago,USA - just drop me an email for suggestions etc

I will definitely look into the Powerhouse Museum, Macquarie Street and also the Spit to Manly walk, and attempt to fit them in. The pubs sound great as well - I'm sure some cold beer will be great during the hot summer day!

I have been looking at hotels in greater detail - and am somewhat surprised by how much they will charge in February! The Holiday Inn on the rocks is 237 Australian Dollars (with my AAA membership). If I didn't belong to AAA, it would be 280 AUD per night.

However, I think I will probably end up paying about 240AUD to be in the Rocks area (everything else in that area that has airconditioning is around 240 to 700 AUD). So I think that I will probably go ahead with Holiday Inn. However, I did want to ask if anyone thought that I was paying too much / getting ripped off? Thanks

In february on the spit to manly walk take swimmers and a towel.Have a swim at one of the harbour beaches (note reef beach is nude)and then shower and change at the Fairlight rockpool.
Have a beer at the new Manly wharf bar or the old fashioned Steyne Hotel at the top of the corso.

If you've got a buck then take the sea plane from Rose Bay to Pittwater..have a surf at Palm Beach..and lunch at Jonah's.The quintessential sydney summers day.

If you are sports oriented take in a cricket game at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG)

air, have a look at www.wotif.com anyway, to get an idea of current pricing. A suggestion - the Pacific International Suites, an apartment complex at 433 Kent Street, isn't in the Rocks area (I guess a 15-minute walk, or a quick train ride from Town Hall to Circular Quay) but is pretty central, very close to Darling Harbour, and right now wotif has rooms at $149. The suites are spacious and well-appointed.

air1975, while I won't attempt to talk you out of your insistence on air conditioning, allow me at least to point out that two of the very old (mid-19th century) hotels in the Rocks area which don't have air conditioning seldom get criticisms on that account, as the construction, in heavy sandstone with high ceilings, provides a natural cooling which some people actually prefer to the artificial cooling of the modern air conditioner. These two hotels are the Russell and the Lord Nelson Brewery. Both are splendidly located -- in fact, the Russell has about the best spot in all of Sydney. A third one -- the Harbour Rocks Hotel -- is of the same vintage, but I don't know if it has been air-conditioned or not.

You should at least check out the prices on these three for comparison -- certainly the prices you are being asked to pay seem to be a little more than wotif will be asking for the same rooms two weeks before you leave Chicago!

A couple of other well-located hotels for you to check also: the Menzies (I think it has a new name now, like "Premier All Seasons Menzies", or something, but "Menzies" should find it in Google), and The Observatory Hotel. If none of these suits, there are lots more, and you have plenty of time, so don't jump in and pay more than you think you should. It is perfectly possible to get good accommodation in Sydney for around $AUD100 a night if you search carefully and wait for the last-minute bargains.

I've been following these threads and feel more confident that we made the right decision to visit Australia this November. Am in Hotel Overload however. Can someone please rate these properties: Waldorf Apartment, Clarion Suites, Radisson Suites? Thanks for any help. I posted this query earlier but so far no response. Jerry

The Aquarium is open into the evening, and you would be able to do that when most other "touristy" stuff in Sydney is closed down. I know I did. It was great.

I stayed at Simpson's of Potts Point when I was in Sydney and LOVED it. It's a "boutique hotel". Think upscale B&B. It's located *near* King's Cross, sort of on the edge of that area. Frankly I was too exhausted from running around Sydney all day to go out much at night, but the area around the place seemed to be safe. My impression was of an area that had gone from elegant to seedy at some point, but was well on the way to coming back again in a sort of artsy way. My room was fabulous and the people (staff and guests alike) were great. You can't beat sitting there checking your email at night with a complimentary glass of sherry at your side.

Air1975 - here is my trip report from this past April. Your plan sounds good, I would skip the Sydney Tour (for reasons mentioned by Alan - "Hi Alan!!&quot but i would ask you to reconsider the Featherdale park: I think Australians may find Taronga "better" as they have all sorts of animals, whereas I enjoyed Featherdale more as their exhibits of "native" Australian animals held more excitement for me. I don't get to see bats/flying foxes, wombats, Taz devils, kangaroos, wallabies, crocs, koalas, exotic birds very often - Taronga has some of those, as well as giraffes, bears etc. True, does take a bit of a hike (travel time bout an hour each way) to Featherdale but worth it it my opinion. Also, take the walk from Bondi to Coogee/and or the walk from Spit to Manly - check out Alan's previous posts on this. Wonderful way to spend a morning.

See my trip report below:
Author: jck4
Date: 04/25/2004, 03:46 pm
Message: Just returned last night from 13 nights in Australia and as I spend many hours researching on this forum before we left, I wanted to give back and share my experiences!
Departed from DC Friday evening, 5 hours to LA on United, 3 hour layover, 13 hours on Qantas to Sydney. Ended up with no major jetlag, as we were able to sleep on the plane quite well; arrived early Sunday morning. Best way into downtown is DEFINITELY the train, easy to do, $11 per person one way to Circular Quay. It takes less than 20 minutes and I hear is faster and easier than a cab. The walk from CQ to the Lord Nelson Hotel in the Rocks was not too bad, we are both 30 and were huffing and puffing a little, as you climb a gradual hill to get to the hotel (15 minutes with luggage, 10 without). We did really like the Lord Nelson, recommended by Fodors posters. I liked that it was not on George Street, the main street in the rocks, as it seemed that area was a bit noisy. The room was clean, bed comfortable, bathroom newly renovated; no hair dryer in the room (I guess I could have borrowed one from reception) and only a desk drawer for undies. The pub itself was great with lots of character; our hotel was 2 floors up from the pub and wasn?t noisy at all. Breakfast is included and very adequate (cereal, toast, fruit).
The first morning we walked around the Rocks; Saturday and Sunday is the outdoor Rocks market which I would recommend! We had a lovely basic breakfast on George St (can?t remember the name), then headed to Circular Quay to jump on the Sydney Explorer Tour Bus. This was an excellent way to spend our first day and I highly recommend doing some sort of hop-on-hop-off bus (there?s another red bus tour, double decker like London?s busses) as you can go at your own pace, get a good overview of the city and the sights to see. This tour took us by Hyde Park, St. Mary?s, Sydney Hospital, the Barracks, Mrs. Macquarie?s chair (great view of the Opera House and the bridge), King?s Cross, Potts Point, Wooloomooloo, to North Sydney and back over the bridge, then to downtown, Chinatown, Darling Harbour. We went to the viewing platform of the Centrepoint tower - skip this as the view is OK, when you climb the Sydney Bridge you are not as high but also get a nice view. Also, unless you are with kids, the other attractions at Centrepoint (included in the price of the ticket for the view) are hokey. ($24 total pp I believe). In Potts Point there are lots of lovely cafes with good lunch food; we ate at Spring which was yummy. This is a nice residential area.
Near Darling Harbour, I?d recommend the Chinese Meditation Garden. Darling Harbour itself is a little tacky I think, I wouldn?t want to stay in a hotel there. For dinner, we went to the Loenbrau Keller in the Rocks, on Argyle street. Eat inside as they have a fun Oktoberfest-like show with 3 guys playing OoomPahPah music, doing German dances, then enlisting audience members for ringing bells and beer drinking contests. It was actually a lot of fun and the food was quite good too.
Monday we walked to the BridgeClimb office and booked our Bridge Climb for Tuesday - wait until you get to Sydney to book as you wouldn?t want to go in the rain(or check weather reports just before you leave). I think any time of day would be good to do this - it was pricey but WORTH IT!! This was one of our favorite activities on the 2 week trip. Anyway, we then took a ferry to Taronga Zoo which was good but we liked Featherdale Wildlife park better (I?ll get to that later!). It is still obviously worth a trip though, as the views are nice and the ferry ride is nice. Granted we were out to see native animals, and skipped the bears/monkeys/lions, as we had been to San Diego Zoo in January. From the Zoo, we went back to circular Quay and took a ferry to Milson?s Point, in hopes of going to a restaurant called Ripples recommended by a friend who lived in Sydney. It was closed, but we wandered up the hill in North Sydney and found a WONDERFUL little sidewalk café called Trios. Back to Circular Quay after lunch, then an afternoon tour of the Opera House. Interesting, if you like theatre/architecture. For dinner, we went to Zaffran, a ritzy Indian restaurant in Darling Harbour. Nice view, decent B+ food (we LOVE Indian food and were not excessively impressed, but worth a try nevertheless.)
Bridge Climb - fantastic. Afternoon - Sydney Aquarium; at first we were indifferent about the aquarium, but once we got to the underwater tubes/tunnels, we decided it was worth it. It was neat seeing the platypus, but the other fish displays were underwhelming (I was unfortunately comparing it to the Monterrey Aquarium, the best in my opinion) but the shark tank and the seal display were fantastic. Definitely worth a visit. Dinner: Arthur?s Pizza on Oxford Street in Paddington - recommended by my friend who lived in Sydney as the best pizza in town and it certainly was splendid. It was nice to see a different part of Sydney, more residential, artsy area. We had tried to go to a restaurant called Sea Cow which was closed for the night, according to my friend has great reasonably priced seafood. Before I forget, one night we ate at Billy Kwon?s, a nouveau Asian cuisine restaurant in I think Darlinghurst - also highly recommended.
Wednesday we took the train out to Blacktown to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. I had heard about this from a friend who had gone to Sydney last year and she raved about it. I hadn?t found it mentioned very much on this forum, and when we got to Sydney, I asked some locals about it. Most had either not heard of it, or said Taronga Zoo was better. My theory is that locals don?t get thrilled about seeing Kangaroos, Crocs, Koalas and flying foxes becaue they get to see those more often than bears, tigers, and monkeys. We absolutely LOVED the Featherdale Wildlife park (email me if you want info on how to get out there) - got the chance to pet a koala (have our picture taken with it), feed kangaroos and wallabies (they are out in the open with you), see a taipan (very deadly snake) eat a dead mouse (great reptile house), see a croc jump for a dead chicken, see tons of native birds up close as well as the flying foxes(essentially a bat). I would highly recommend a half day trip out there if you get excited by the animals mentioned above. We also saw Tasmanian Devils, white kangaroos, a cassowary, dingos, and wombats.
That afternoon we did the lovely Spit to Manly walk (Thank you Alan!!). The weather was perfect and the walk was wonderful. We didn?t start until 2pm and felt a little rushed so I?d recommend you allow yourselves a bit more time. Alan has excellent directions on this forum somewhere for how to get there. It takes you past lovely coves with clear blue water, fantastic views of downtown, aboriginal carvings, and some nice beaches. Plus the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay just past sundown was spectacular.
Thursday morning we took a leisurely stroll through the Sydney Botanical Gardens. How enchanting a way to spend a morning! We were amazed at the thousands (yes!!) Of flying foxes hanging from the trees above us, and the chatter of wild cockatoos and kookaburras soaring by. If you want to splurge, I?d recommend our afternoon activity: a friend had given us a gift certificate for Sydney by Seaplane for a flight to the Cottage Point Inn, an fantastic and romantic restaurant/B&B on the Hawksberry River north of Syndey. We had a 3 hour lunch on the bank of this lovely river with sailboats passing by, 70 degree cloud-free skies, and A++ food. At 3:30 the plane picked us back up and we flew over Sydney and the suburbs. From there (Rose Bay) we took a cab to Bondi and walked to Coogee - a marvelous 90-120 minute walk along the cliffs. Another must do for any trip to Sydney!! That night we met up with friends for dinner at the Lord Nelson. Friday we flew to Port Douglas, check out that report on a separate posting. After Port Douglas and Ayers rock, we returned to Sydney for one last night, where we ate at Quay - FANTASTIC view of the Sydney bridge and Opera House/Circular Quay - food was also very good but VERY!!! expensive. It was our last night and we wanted to splurge....Another recommended food splurge is breakfast at the Park Hyatt, great food and great view.
Email [email protected] with any questions. Julie