17 Things to Do in Sydney & Where to Eat

List posts always seem to be popular, so here’s my take on some of the top things to do and where to eat in beautiful Sydney.

Of course, my recommendations may vary on what you like to do when you travel. However, I think overall this list will give you a pretty good idea on how you could spend your time here and many of my suggestions are FREE. Sydney is such a perfect city simply to wander around and enjoy the historic buildings and harbor views.

Walk across Harbour Bridge

Not only can you admire the Sydney Harbour Bridge from afar, you can also walk across it! When the bridge opened in 1932, it was the longest, single-span steel arch bridge in the world. The bridge measures 1,149 m (3,770 feet) long. The walk is a little over 2km and allows you to explore a bit of North Sydney for free.

Take a Ferry Boat Ride

Many tourist activities revolve around Sydney’s harbor. It’s easy to hop on one of the ferries from Circular Quay and go to either Watsons Bay or Manly Beach and other destinations as well. I love ferry boat rides and it’s a relaxing way to see many sites.

Walk from Manly Beach to the Spit Bridge

Well, I took a bit of long detour when I attempted to do this walk as you can see in this post where I walked 20+km. However, if you follow the posted signs properly, it’s only a 10km walk that will take you 3-4 hours to complete.

Walk Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach

We took one of the city’s numerous buses to Coogee Beach and started our 6km walk from there. You can also continue on from Bondi Beach and walk to Watsons Bay, which is a long trek, but the sea views are spectacular.

Stroll Through the Royal Botanic Gardens

Even during the winter months, there’s plenty to seee Royal Botanic Gardens. Not much is blooming during winter, but the grounds, which cover 74 acres, are still pretty and quite green. Note: there are free guided walks at 10:30 a.m. daily.

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Luckily, admission is free for the general exhibits at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which opened in 1874. The museum displays aboriginal and contemporary Australian, European and Asian art. Definitely worth at least an hour of your time.

Darling Harbour and National Maritime Museum

If you like old ships and military boats, take a stroll through the Darling Harbour, which is also home to the IMAX Theatre, Sydney Aquarium and the Maritime Museum. I didn’t have enough time to visit the museum, but I’m sure children would enjoy this!

Visit St. Mary’s Cathedral

I couldn’t resist stopping in the St. Mary’s Cathedral because my mother-in-law’s name is Mary, and it is quite pretty inside as well. This Gothic-style cathedral, first constructed in 1821, is laid out in the heart of Sydney’s CBD district.

Australian Museum

If you like dinosaurs and other natural history, then you should definitely stop in the Australian Museum, which is the oldest museum in Oz. Don’t miss the stuffed Diprotodon, which is the largest-known marsupial ever to have lived, and existed from approximately 1.6 million to some 30,000 years ago.

Observatory Hill at Sunset

Climb up this small hill in The Rocks for good views of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour.

Eat Local Oysters

Grab  a seat at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar near the Opera House and you’ll have fabulous views of Circular Quay and the Harbour Bridge. We also ordered a bottle of Australian sparkling wine to enjoy with our oysters. Reasonably priced for oysters and bubbly!

DIY Pub Crawl

There are tons of pubs, and in particular historic ones, located in the CBD and The Rocks area of Sydney. Our two favorites were Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel and Harts Pub because both offered locally made pale ales and India pale ales. Try the 3 Sheets Australian Pale Ale. We also enjoyed some good craft brews at the popular Australian Heritage Hotel and ordered a "Coat of Arms" pizza which is half emu/kangaroo. Go for the beer, but skip the cardboard-like pizza here.

Rooftop Drinks

If you want a glimpse of Sydney’s stunning harbor, head upstairs to one of the many rooftop bars. We popped into the uber-crowded Glenmore Hotel down in the Rocks which does offer a panoramic view, but crap beer, unfortunately. For a fancy cocktail, we tried the Blu Bar on 36, which is set on the 36th floor of the Shangri-La . Cocktails don’t come cheap at 20-24aud (about $15-$18usd), but the views are worth the once-in-awhile splurge.

Another rooftop bar we hope to try next time is the Bristol Arms Hotel located near King Street Wharf. 

Indulge in Gelato

My husband is a bigger gelato fan than I am. I also happen to be far pickier than he is. Finally, we found a place in Australia that serves to-die-for gelato at Messina in the Darlinghurst neighborhood. Why didn’t I ever think to create gingerbread cookies with peanut butter? You’ll find funky and traditional flavors here.

Get Spicy with Asian Food

Just like Melbourne, Sydney has heaps of restaurants selling everything from Korean and Thai to Malaysian and Asian-fusion. We love our Asian food so we tried super spicy Singapore noodles at Spice I am in Darlinghurst, awesome Korean BBQ at Madang Restaurant, Chinese dumplings at Johnny Wong’s Dumpling Bar and Jade Dumpling House and soup dumplings at Fu Manchu.

Explore a Neighborhood

For two nights, we stayed at an Airbnb apartment located between the neighborhoods of Darlinghurst and Surry Hills. We wanted to get a different taste of Sydney, and I’m so glad we did. Both these neighborhoods are filled with darling, pastel-hued Victorian-era houses and bustling cafés and have a complete different feel from the CBD. Put down your map and just explore!

Go for Brunch

Aussies love brekkie (breakfast), and so do we! We had our favorite brunch with poached eggs at The Goodwill Society and wish we would have returned. We also tried the much-hyped about Bill’s and really liked the ricotta pancakes, but overall we found the menu kinda pricey.

As you can see there’s heaps to do in Sydney. Enjoy!

What things to do in Sydney would you add to my list?

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Walking in Sydney: From Manly Beach to Spit Bridge and Across Sydney Harbour Bridge

Two days after walking 20km in Sydney with my husband, I decided to tackle another long walk, but solo this time.

My plan was to start at Manly Beach, weave through nearby Shelly Beach and Sydney Harbour National Park, wander along the coast and finish at the Spit Bridge. I had good intentions, but the walk took much, much longer than I anticipated. At the end of the day, I ended up walking about 10km more than I had planned – a total of 36,000 steps on my Fitbit. Good exercise, but man, my body was worn out!

From Circular Quay, I caught the 9 a.m. Manly Fast Ferry which features a relaxing 20-minute ride through the harbor and over to Manly Cove. I enjoyed sitting outside on the deck watching the world whiz by and reminiscing about all my previous ferry boat rides in Istanbul. I love taking ferries and wonder why anyone would want to drive a car instead!

Manly Beach

From the Manly pier, it’s about a 5-minute walk through the pedestrian-only stretch of The Corso, which is lined with beachwear shops and small cafés. On the other side is Manly Beach, a beautiful, long stretch of sand occupied by surfers, seagulls and some walkers like myself during the winter months. I walked along the sand here and enjoyed taking photos of the surfers who braved the freezing water, at least it felt like cold to me!

From here, I kept on walking along the coast past Shelly Beach and then following a path up into the Sydney Harbour National Park. This dirt path took me through trees, shrubbery and essentially what I would call “the Bush” even though I haven’t actually been to the middle of Australia yet. I clambered over large boulders so I could get close to the coastal cliffs for some amazing views back Manly Beach.

Back on the path, it was just me and the Bush. I started to freak out a little bit because I was on this trail all by myself in what seemed like the middle of nowhere and signs were posted everywhere for fox traps. I had plenty of water and snacks in my backpack, but I was more worried about what else might be sharing the park with me.

So I hurried along the trail until I finally came across a paved road which led me past the Manly Hospital and through a residential area for a bit. I ended up back where I had started when my ferry had docked at Manly Cove. In the park along the Esplanade, I found a large flock of Australian cockatoos with bright yellow crests (Sulphur-crested Cockatoos). These fellas were just strutting along the ground and cracking open fallen pine cones/acorns using their feet and beaks.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos in Sydney

Does anyone know what kind of Aussie bird this is?

Manly to Spit Bridge

I’m guessing I had covered about 4-5 km at this point. The real Manly to Spit Bridge Coastal Walk starts here (10km) and takes about 3-4 hours to complete. The walk is well sign-posted but definitely isn’t easy as you go from nicely paved walkways to uneven, rocky paths and through another bushland park along the coast.

Most of this walk hugs the coast so you pass several beaches, small bays and marinas. The sea water is stunningly clear and you can literally see the bottom of the sea! If you’re lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of the Little Penguins near Manly, but they mainly appear at sunrise and sunset.

After you clamber through the bush, which is another section of the Sydney Harbour National Park (Dobroyd Head), you’ll be greeted with impressive views of the harbor and the bushland you just hiked through.

I was definitely getting tired by this point and the temperatures were warmer than originally forecasted (about 18C/64F). I was hot and I was supposed to meet an American friend from Istanbul who just moved to Sydney for a late lunch. I had no idea how much longer the walk would take.

By the time I reached the end of the coastal walk, the ugly Spit Bridge was a big disappointment. After walking through such lovely parks, I guess I was expecting a bit more. The marina is full of fancy boats and there are a few cafés here. In general, there are very few places to buy any food or drink along the walk so I would definitely recommend that you have enough water and snacks especially on hot summer days.

From North Sydney to Sydney Harbour Bridge

My friend picked me up from the Spit Bridge and drove me to North Sydney where I consumed a giant American-like bacon cheeseburger from Five Points. Delicious! After some good conversation and a bit of rest, I decided to walk back to the CBD and then our hotel. At this point, I was feeling a bit like actor Tom Hanks in the Forrest Gump movie when I decided to just keep on walking.

“For no particular reason I just kept on goin'. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on goin'. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on goin'.” - Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump, 1994

When the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932, it was the longest, single-span steel arch bridge in the world. The bridge measures 1,149 m (3,770 feet) long. Comparatively, the Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883 as the first steel-wire suspension bridge, is nearly double in length at 1,825.4 m (5,989 feet). The Sydney bridge does offer wonderful views over the busy harbor as well as the Sydney Opera and the skyscrapers that make up the CBD area. However, I was a little put off by all the evil-looking barbed wire fencing that covers the bridge’s entire walkway.

Admittedly, I’m still a sucker for those Manhattan skylines as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge in my beloved NYC.

Observatory Hill Park

After figuring out how to get off the bridge and where I wanted to go, I set off for the Sydney Observatory. The observatory, originally built in 1858, and the surrounding park is the perfect place to watch the sunset in Sydney. Or go during the daytime for gorgeous views of the Sydney Harbour and Bridge, a tip I learned from popular Australian bloggers, Caz and Craig at ytravelblog.

By this point, I could have easily taken a lil nap on one of the nearby park benches. Instead, I kept on walking another 1.2km back to our hotel.

After a long day of walking in Sydney, my biggest lesson learned is to remember to review my map better. MUCH better!

Cheers!

If you need more walking inspiration, check out these suggested Sydney walks by Destination NSW (New South Wales).

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Walking 20km in Sydney: From Coogee and Bondi Beaches to Watson’s Bay

After walking nonstop along Sydney’s coastal paths and through suburban side streets, I begged my husband if we could catch the next bus.

He declined. I grumbled on even though I had agreed to and even proposed this long walk in the first place. At the end of our second day in Sydney, we had walked approximately 28,671 steps, according to my Fitbit, which is 20km or 12.1 miles. I was quite satisfied we had walked that much, but my legs were dead tired.

6km Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach

According to TripAdvisor, the second most popular activity in Sydney is the Bondi to Coogee Beach Coastal Walk. This 6km walk offers spectacular coastal views and time to frolic along the sandy beaches and in the clear seas if the temperatures are right. Heck, even if it’s only 18C (64F) outside, people will either be swimming or surfing in those chilly waters in the middle of winter.

After having breakfast in Darlinghurst, we took the bus to our starting point at Coogee Beach. We decided to do the traditional walk slightly backwards so we would follow the coastal path in a northerly direction, ending at Watson’s Bay, so we could take the ferry back to Circular Quay. (Here’s a good walking map by National Geographic.)

Since we did this walk in mid-July, the long, sandy stretch of Coogee Beach was fairly empty. However, I’m sure if the temperatures were to warm up, you’d see hundreds of people here. The path is easy to follow and you’ll be rewarded with brilliant blue views of the South Pacific Ocean and the white-crested waves crashing along the coast.

Along the way, you’ll pass Gordon’s Bay, a secluded, quiet bay that is popular for divers. Or an outdoor seawater swimming pool near Clovelly Cove.

Next, you’ll turn the corner and realize you’re staring at a Victorian-era cemetery, Waverly Cemetery, established in 1877 and perched along the coastal cliffs. This sprawling cemetery might have some of the best views in the world!

At the final stretch of this walk, we encountered the famous, 100-year-old Bondi Baths, a 50-meter swimming pool located near Bondi Beach. Definitely not a bad place for a swim! Too bad the water was too cold!

At Bondi Beach, we stopped for a couple minutes to rest and watch the surfers tackle the winter waves. If you need any refreshments or lunch, this would be the place to stop.

Note: the path is generally paved, but there are quite a few steps to climb up and down here and there. 

8km Bondi Beach to Watson’s Bay

At the northern end of Bondi Beach, we ended up walking down the wrong street and on some sidewalks in suburbia-land for 1 kilometer or so. Here, a bunch of expensive homes hug the coastal cliffs so the homeowners have the fabulous views, not you. The walkway finally wanders back through the parklands of Rodney Reserve and then the Dudley Page Reserve, which offers wonderful views of the Sydney Harbour. We stopped in this park for a few minutes and watched as young children and their families enjoyed the warm winter weather.

After this reserve, we meandered through suburbia some more and finally additional parkland hugging the coast for our last 6-km decent toward Watson’s Bay. 

We got lucky on our walk and saw this pretty rainbow lorikeet parrot which calls Australia home.

Follow the Federation Cliff Walk here past the Macquarie Lighthouse, the first and longest serving lighthouse in Australia. This lighthouse was built in 1883, but there were previous ones in the vicinity since 1818.

From the lighthouse, we were rewarded with more spectacular views along the coast. Now, I no longer felt defeated, just slightly disappointed we didn’t start our walk sooner because the early afternoon glare effected some of my photos.

At the home stretch, we walked out to Gap Bluff and enjoyed some lovely views before heading downhill to Watson’s Bay to eat a late lunch. I was famished!

We snapped up one of the last beach-side tables at Doyle’s Restaurant, a local institution since 1885. We ordered an arugula salad, Asian-style scallops, garlic bread, salt and pepper-fried calamari and a bottle of Australian Sauvignon Blanc. Our lunch was a little on the pricey side at 109 aud ($80), but this was our reward after walking nearly non-stop for 5 hours. (There's also an inexpensive fish and chips place on the pier and a gelato shop nearby.)

In my world, wine is always a good idea!

Obviously, as a tourist in Sydney, you wouldn’t need to do both walks like we did. Nor in one day! However, I highly recommend taking in at least one of these coastal walks when you’re visiting this beautiful harbor-side city.

After lunch, we took the 20-minute ferry from Watson’s Bay to Circular Quay and then walked back to our Airbnb apartment. All in all, a 20-km walk for the day.

View of the Sydney Opera House from our ferry boat heading back into Circular Quay.

If you need more walking inspiration, check out these suggested walks by Destination NSW (New South Wales), the state’s main government agency for tourism.

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