20 Best Hotels in Sydney, New South Wales

Opened in 2020, the Crown Sydney is perhaps the city's most ambitious development costing a whopping A$2.2 million. But it's now the most superior stay in Sydney, with each room completed with luxurious finishes, with many boasting water views. All communal spaces, including the restaurant and bar, are undoubtedly of a five-star standard. But the service has seen a few teething problems, with long check-in queues and rooms not quite ready on time. But those will likely ease as the hotel matures. An on-site casino is planned for later in 2022.

A multimillion-dollar total rebuild, which included the addition of an entire top floor, has seen the iconic Park Hyatt Sydney reemerge as Sydney's best address. The low-slung hotel has ramped up its celebrity clientele reputation a notch or three with the addition of three new suites on the new level, including the largest in Sydney (aptly named the Sydney Suite) measuring at 3,853 square feet. Most of the hotel's 155 rooms have an Opera House view (they all have harbor views), enjoyed from one or two private balconies or large terraces. The former rooftop pool area has been incorporated into THE SPA, a luxurious new retreat bedecked with poolside cabanas and all manner of health inducing aromatherapy steam rooms that open out onto an enormous terrace. Guest rooms and public areas are a study in sleek elegance decorated in chocolate, cream, and beige hues, plus sculptures, artwork, and photographs by Australian artists. Three dining venues—the Dining Room, the intimate Living Room (where daily afternoon tea is served), and The Bar—complete the gorgeous picture.

Formerly a wool-storage facility, this four-story hotel is an Accor MGallery property, which is a select portfolio of distinctive and individual hotels in Australia. Built in 1887 and converted into a hotel in 1989, the 59-room property has been stripped back to its foundations, exposing its original sandstone and brick. Everything is new from the carpets, beds, furniture, TVs, lighting, and bathrooms, however, it retains its historical character, and the bar (Eric's) and restaurant (Scarlett) are named after a pair of ill-fated lovers—a sailor and the madam of a brothel that stood next door to the hotel in the late 19th century. The new lobby resembles a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined with old tomes, historic photos grace the walls, and the cozy bar doubles as the check-in counter. Five room types range from heritage rooms to the top-floor harbor suite with glorious views of the Opera House. A lovely new inclusion is the courtyard terrace on the ground floor, filled with greenery and bathed in natural light.

More English country manor than inner-city hotel, this gorgeous property feels like a decadent, luxurious sanctuary. Previously called The Observatory, the hotel was taken over in 2013 by Langham Hotels, a British brand with many upscale hotels in its portfolio. Little has changed with the exception of new beds, known as Langham blissful beds (each with a custom-made feather topper) in each suite and guest room. The spacious rooms, with their Venetian- and Asian-inspired decor, have mahogany furnishings, antique reproductions, plush fabric, and some suites have four-poster beds. The spectacular indoor pool is surrounded by marble and potted palms, with a fresco of Van Gogh's The Starry Night on the ceiling. Taking afternoon tea in the Palm Court is a sophisticated delight (A$55). The hotel's single weakness is its lack of views, but that's like saying the Mona Lisa's single weakness is her crooked smile.

Towering above Walsh Bay from its prime position alongside the Sydney Harbour Bridge, this sleek hotel is the place for a room with a bird's-eye view. North-facing rooms overlooking the water are the best; views on the other sides—Darling Harbour, the city, or the eastern suburbs—are less impressive. Rooms are large, modestly opulent, and decorated in pleasing autumnal colors. All have complimentary Wi-Fi. With a private bar and lounge, the Horizon Club floor has impeccable service, with a host to look after your needs. Altitude restaurant and the adjacent Blu Bar at 36 (on the 36th floor) provide terrific views of Sydney Harbour, especially in the evening. There's also an Asian-inspired day spa called CHI, the first of its kind in Australia. Look for deals on one-night stays over weekends.

This luxurious boutique hotel is the gem of inner Sydney. Tucked away in a street lined with stately apartments, and a mere 100 yards from the area's hip restaurants and cafés, this lovingly restored 1892 structure is reminiscent of a Queen Anne Victorian, with all of its nooks and crannies. Each room has a different shape and is furnished in muted autumn tones, with plush drapes, table lamps, fireplaces, king or queen beds, flat-screen TVs, and an array of interesting artwork. The Cloud Suite is the best room in the house, with a double Jacuzzi bath and a DVD. One of the king rooms has a big balcony overlooking the street, and one of the two family rooms has a small courtyard. If you don't want to hike up the stairs, request one of the several ground-floor rooms. A continental breakfast is included in the tariff and is served in a light-filled conservatory.

This hotel apartment complex, several hundred feet from Bondi Beach, includes more than a dozen restaurants, bars, and stores. The lobby is abuzz with holiday makers enjoying a home-away-from-home stay in sleek accommodations, most with fully equipped kitchens and laundry facilities. The 111 rooms comprise 56 one-bedroom apartments, eight two-bedroom, and one three-bedroom apartments; the remainder are studio rooms with microwaves, tea/coffeemaking facilities, and fridges. All have clean, white minimalist looks set off with bright, beachy cushions and wall art. Sofas convert into extra beds while lounge and bedroom have flat-screen TVs; all have balconies. There's a lap pool, Jacuzzi, and small gym, and a grocery store and wine store just across the road. The beach is a five-minute walk away along a street lined with restaurants, ice-cream parlors, and bars. There's limited free Wi-Fi in the lobby.

On a quiet stretch in the trendy shopping precinct of Paddington, this small, friendly, family-run hotel has simple accommodations at an outstanding price. Garden rooms overlook an Italianate central courtyard and pool; they are the largest and the most quiet. Triple-glazed windows mean rooms overlooking bustling Oxford Street aren't bombarded by traffic noise. Those on the third floor have harbor views. All rooms have Foxtel (cable TV), there is free Wi-Fi in the garden rooms and public areas, and guests can use bicycles (perhaps for a cycle around nearby Centennial Park) for free. Discounts are given to guests when dining at the nearby Rose, Shamrock and Thistle pub and bistro. The location, close to shops, restaurants, and nightlife, is a 15-minute walk from the city center.

Live like a local at Coogee Beach, which is just as gorgeous as nearby Bondi, but without the crowds. Accommodations are considerably kinder on the hip pocket, too. This hotel is opposite the beach and has many rooms with balconies looking out to fabulous ocean views, so be sure to ask for one when you book. The rooms are bright and spacious and feature smart TVs so you can screen media from your own device if you don't like the range of on-demand movies available. There's a heated outdoor pool, on-site tennis court, and well-equipped gym as well as secure undercover parking (A$25 per day). The Oceans Dining & Drinks bar is a great place for a cocktail or casual meal—the views are spectacular—or if you fancy something a little more special try Bluesalt, the hotel's fine dining restaurant. There's free Wi-Fi in all the rooms for 20 minutes. While not quite as buzzy as Bondi, Coogee has a great selection of cafés and restaurants and they are all within a few minutes' stroll from the hotel. If you do want to head to Bondi it's only a short taxi drive away, or step out on the clifftop walking trail via Clovelly and Bronte Beach—it's a fantastic half-day walk.

"Simply comfortable and affordable" is the slogan at this 1920s-style hotel at the leafy end of Potts Point, and it's hard to disagree on either count. Location and price are also major draws at this friendly hotel, which has been recently upgraded with the addition of 17 new rooms (converted from a former first-floor restaurant), each with modern facilities and Wi-Fi. All rooms now have flat-screen TVs, new drapes, and desk furniture. Flexible "dynamic rates" can see a standard room sell as low as A$89 and one of the new "queen rooms" for $A139 so check online for deals. Some rooms have balconies; studio apartments include kitchenettes. A Greek restaurant, the Apollo, on the ground floor is open for dinner and lunch on Friday and weekends.

This serviced-apartment hotel is one of Sydney's swankiest places to stay. Suites are contained in a gleaming 42-story tower (with just seven suites per floor) in central Sydney, just a few minutes' walk from Town Hall. Two amazing penthouses offer fantastic views over Darling Harbour just to the west. The design is ultra hip, from the 18-foot rainfall chandelier that dangles above you in the lobby to the 20-meter lap pool with a glass floor looking down into the Regent Place shopping precinct below. Daily breakfast in served in the The Mezzanine and room service, from an extensive menu, is served after 6:30 pm, but there is no on-site restaurant for other meals. Of the 201 rooms, the 146 suites have a kitchenette or fully equipped kitchen, and several eateries are located in Regent Square, just a short elevator ride away on the ground floor.

At this landmark hotel in downtown Sydney you enter a spacious, light-filled lobby displaying a stunning four-story sculpture. Among the five different room types are 31 relaxation rooms divided into three zones: relaxation space, spa bathroom, and work zone. Whirlpool baths, body-jet showers, and the latest electronic wizardry are just some of the features. The glass brassiere, run by well-known Sydney chef Luke Mangan, and trendy bar Zeta, designed by New Yorker Tony Chi, are hip places to eat and meet, but expect an expensive bar tab. The circa-1890 Marble Bar also attracts a crowd. The hotel is home to LivingWell, the largest hotel-based health club in Australia, offering group fitness, yoga, and Pilates classes, as well as a range of pampering treatments.

In its character as well as its dimensions, this friendly B&B on a quiet part of a bar- and club-lined street is reminiscent of a European pensione. Simple, tastefully outfitted rooms come with high-quality beds and linens, as well as wooden blinds over the windows. Access to the four floors of rooms is via a small staircase, and there is no elevator. There are single, double and superior rooms, the latter suitable for a family. Despite its proximity to the heart of Kings Cross, the hotel has a relaxed, serene atmosphere. There's a two-night minimum stay; book online for cheaper rates.

If your idea of heaven is sleeping above a pub that brews its own boutique beers (or ales, as they're rightly called), this is the place. The hotel, hewn from Sydney sandstone, has been a popular watering hole with Sydneysiders and visitors for decades. Built in the early 1840s, the building has been restored to its former grandeur. While the nine guest rooms and the first-floor Lord Nelson Brasserie restaurant have exposed sandstone walls, their fittings and design are very contemporary. Seven standard rooms have en suite bathrooms and cost A$20 a night; a smaller room with en suite bathroom is A$220 a night, while another room (costing A$) has a bathroom that's located a short walk across the hall. All rates include continental breakfast. The hotel is a stroll from the Harbour Bridge. The bar is always busy on Friday nights and most weekends as the craft beer is excellent.

If you're tired of the standard travelers' rooms, this renovated Victorian terrace house may be just the tonic. Having undergone a massive conversion into 21st-century cool, it sports a decorating scheme of brash colors—blues, yellows, and creams splashed against reds—and furnishings (platform beds and chaise lounge) that might have come direct from a Milan design gallery. Every room is slightly different, has a kitchenette, and was recently fitted with a new flat-screen TV. Behind the glamour is a comfortable, well-run hotel with friendly, attentive staff. This is one of the few city hotels that welcome guests' dogs, and it's near many good restaurants.

This former wool warehouse has been turned into one of Sydney's most cutting-edge designer hotels. Just west of Darling Harbour, the building has been beautifully restored; all of the 90 rooms have tall windows and most have exposed brick feature walls and industrial looking touches. The lobby is a seven-story atrium with a collection of fun furniture—purple swivel chairs, blue armchairs, and a tree in the middle, with exposed ironbark beams overhead. The hotel is part of the Ovolo collection whose stock in trade is cool and funky interiors and free minibars in each room. They also offer complimentary drinks and nibbles to guests at 5 pm each evening. The hotel is a 10-minute walk to the attractions of the Darling Harbour and the city center.

This ultrahip hotel occupies a former wool shipping shed that includes authentic structures of the former wharf (pulleys, giant trusses, and brontosaurus-like machinery), a great location (a stone's throw from the Opera House), and the chance to be on the harbor but in a quieter location. Guest rooms, decorated with trendy fish prints, are arranged like the cabins on a luxury liner, rising in tiers on the outside of the central cavity. The entire hotel is 100% smoke-free and all meals are plant-based. There are five restaurants in the adjoining wharf complex, known as the Wooloomooloo's Finger Wharf.

This hotel is the answer for those seeking color and quirkiness, teamed with style and super-efficient service. Situated in the city center, feet from Town Hall railway station, the 200-room hotel has taken over the former and much-loved Gowings men's department store and several levels above the (existing) and beautiful State Theatre. While waiting to take the elevator to the second-level reception, check out the quirky gowns and costumes in glass cases in the ground-floor coffee bar. The lobby has pink high-back armchairs and blue and brown low-slung ottomans, and bedrooms have polished timber floors, multicolor rugs, eclectic artwork, miniature ottomans, rich throw rugs and super-comfortable beds. In keeping with the historic building, there's an old-fashioned barbershop on the premises and vintage, art deco, and Gothic art pieces everywhere. A luxurious spa; an upscale restaurant called Gowings Bar and Grill, a casual (and very groovy) café, and the Gilt Lounge cocktail bar complete the picture. There's free Wi-Fi throughout. You'll have no doubt you've arrived at this ultra hip place when you discover the concierge and staff are called "directors of chaos" and look like extras in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Situated in the heart of the historic Rocks precinct, the lodging has a boutique-hotel style. The accommodations are a stone's throw from the attractions around Circular Quay, and several rooms have large picture windows with spectacular views of the Opera House. (The poolside breakfast lounge has a similar view.) If you hanker for something a little different—and more charming—seven historic two-story houses are available. Each has a bedroom and bathroom upstairs, and lounge (with sofa bed) and kitchen downstairs. The houses are ideal for families or extended-stay vacationers.

Even though it's been around for a few decades, this hotel with its low-key facade is still a bit of a secret. It's in a great location (right in The Rocks and about a two-minute walk from Circular Quay), and the rooftop pool and terrace have spectacular views of the Opera House, bridge, and harbor. The eight-story hotel has a dramatic central atrium topped with a glass roof; the guest rooms open out onto passageways that overlook the reception desk, lobby bar, and restaurant several stories below.