A central location was important to us, but we had one specific requirement: a swimming pool where our son could spend time burning off energy in between sightseeing and bedtime.

We chanced upon the  five-star Primus Hotel on Pitt Street, a restored Art Deco treasure on Pitt Street that was once the head office of the Sydney Water Board that only opened in 2015. Its rooftop swimming pool was the clincher for us, so we made our booking a few days before our visit.

We were buzzing with anticipation all week, but would it be as good as it looked on the website? Read on for our in-depth Primus Hotel Sydney review.

Location

One of the main factors in our choice of Sydney CBD hotel was the location of the Primus. It’s on Pitt Street, close to the junction with Bathurst Street, only three blocks from the pedestrianised shopping area near the Sydney Tower Eye.

The Primus Hotel is also less than ten minutes’ walk from the Australian Museum, which our little fellow was very keen to revisit, and a similar distance from Darling Harbour in the other direction.  Chinatown is also close by, and Koreatown, which has grown over the last ten years or so, is right on the Primus Hotel’s doorstep.

The nearest train station is Town Hall, a few minutes’ walk away. Circular Quay and the Opera House are two stops from there by train, otherwise it’s a 15 minute walk or a five minute bus ride.

Our Room

We stayed in room 324 which, unless I’m mistaken is the room displayed on the Accommodation page of the Primus Hotel website.

At the booking stage we had requested a fold-out bed for our three-year-old, and even when it was put up later, the room still felt very spacious.

Our king-size bed was wonderfully comfortable, with a firm memory foam mattress offering exactly the support needed. The standard pillows are feather, and as Faye is allergic to these we had to request memory foam pillows to replace them. It turned out that we cleaned them out of their spare stock. But this was an oversight on our part – we should have made this request at the booking stage.

The bathroom is separated from the bedroom by a frosted glass screen, and it’s every bit as luxurious, with a large walk-in shower, his and hers bath robes and a set of Appelles toiletries.

We also had a very substantial desk area where we could work from our laptops, which was very useful, especially after some productive photography shoots around the city.

Level Seven Bar and Rooftop Pool

The rooftop swimming pool was one of the main reasons we chose the Primus for our weekend in Sydney. We knew we would need some quiet time at the hotel with our little fellow, and the swimming pool was the place for him to expend whatever energy he had in the tank.

The rooftop is a great place to while away some time. It’s surprisingly quiet seven floors above Sydney, and the trickle of the water from the pool down to the fountain below adds to the soothing effect. Surrounded by skyscrapers, it’s a great place to relax, chill out or swim.

We spent several hours up in the pool with our little fellow, both in the warmth of the daytime and the cool of the evening. It is spectacular, one of the best we’ve seen anywhere in the world, and at night time, with the city lights twinkling all around, it is magical. What’s more, plenty of swimming normally means plenty of sleep.

The Wilmot Restaurant

We would have loved to have sat down for a three course feast at The Wilmot, the hotel’s restaurant next to the lobby. However, our little fellow would have been gripped by wanderlust and required ice cream bribery to sit still long enough for us to eat our food.  Our feast would have to wait until another stay.

However, we did have breakfast both mornings, and it gave us all a great start to the day. The choice of food is what you’d expect of a five-star hotel, with separate continental, cooked, cereal and fruit selections. The first two of these are set either side of the open plan kitchen, where you can watch your food being prepared and cooked.

We also ordered several other dishes, including an omelette, French toast and a pancake stack for our small fellow, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

The Art Deco Décor

Faye and I both love Art Deco styling, and were really looking forward to seeing the interior of the Hotel, but the exterior frontage is pretty special too. We had walked past the building many times before without looking up, but were really surprised – it’s a really beautiful façade, and I especially enjoyed the bas-reliefs above the entrance, with a quote from the ancient Greek poet Pindar: “The noblest of elements is water.”

The lobby area is sumptuous, prime Art Deco, with a mixture of straight lines and curved corners, beautifully restored red scagliola columns and a fine 1930s glass panelled ceiling. The reception desk takes up one side of the spacious hall, the Wilmot restaurant another, with the Lobby Bar opposite the reception.  The height gives a strong sense of grandeur, and it’s an amazing place to sit back with a drink for a while.

The fourth side of the lobby is taken up with the staircase to the mezzanine, which affords a great view over the lobby. Before this you pass beneath a gorgeous Art Deco-style chandelier.

Art Deco touches can be found all around the hotel. The marble lift lobby is exquisite, and all the signage in the hotel is in Art Deco lettering, so even the signs to the toilets have a touch of 1930s glamour about them.

The Service

One word sums up the service we received at the Primus Hotel: impeccable.

This was right across the board – concierge, front desk, room service and restaurant staff.

Service was always prompt, friendly and attentive. An honourable mention goes to the staff at the Wilmot, who were wonderfully accommodating with our little fellow when he wanted to sit at every table in one section of the restaurant.

Any Improvements?

At one point we tried to open our bedroom windows but didn’t succeed in doing so. We weren’t quite sure how they worked, or whether indeed they were meant to work. We didn’t follow it up, but it may be worth having instructions on how to open the windows – if, indeed, they are meant to open.

We used the thermostat a couple of times, and both thought that the temperature may have been two or three degrees cooler than stated on the screen.

Overall Rating

10/10

Would We Return?

In a heartbeat.

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We were blown away by the range of things to do in Fremantle on our recent visit to the port city. We decided to stay in Fremantle while visiting Western Australia for a friend’s wedding across the river in Perth, partly to sample some of the famous Fremantle nightlife. We stayed almost a week and left feeling a strong affinity with this fine port city.

Discovering the city of Fremantle was a wonderful experience, full of surprises. The first was the distinctive cityscape, streets lined with grand 19^th century buildings in the unique Australian style with verandahs and ornate wrought-iron parapets.

Freo, as it’s known to locals, also seems to have a wonderful free spirit that’s hard to describe or define, but you see it everywhere. Fremantle has a strong, vibrant arts and music scene, and the city, its many independent shops, cafes and businesses all seem to have picked up on the whole creative vibe, this sea-salt, slightly radical, collective yet individual identity and character pervades everywhere. It is wonderful, and they really should try to bottle it.

Like many ports around the world, Fremantle is a melting-pot of different cultures. In some ways it reminds me of some of the great ports I’ve visited in Europe, including the likes of Hamburg in Germany, Cadiz in southern Spain, Marseille in France and Liverpool in England. It may have a shorter history than these, but has a similar maritime multicultural feel, and buckets of soul.

This is our guide to the best things to do in Fremantle.

Fremantle Round House

The Round House is the oldest building in Western Australia, built in 1831 as Fremantle’s original prison, tiny in comparison with its successor.  The Heritage guides we met were wonderful, keen to show us around the rooms inside and the views outside, including the brilliant Arcs et ellipses work by Felice Varini, a series of bright yellow ellipses painted on buildings the length of High Street, including the Town Hall Tower, which was commissioned for the 2017 Fremantle Festival.

It’s a great starting point for a visit to Fremantle as it’s one of the best viewpoints in the city, with great views along the coast and of the historic streetscape of this 19^th century port.

Fremantle Beaches

Bathers Beach is the closest beach to the centre of Fremantle, between the Fishing Boat Harbour and the Round House.  It’s two gorgeous curves of white sand washed by the turquoise waves of the Indian Ocean, and because of its location it’s the most developed of the Fremantle beaches, with restaurants such as the Bathers Beach House and Cicerello’s right next to it.

Another of our favourites is Port Beach, up in North Fremantle, with more of the same sand and beautiful ocean combination, hugely popular with locals who had packed the beach before the heat of the day at 8.30 on a Sunday morning.  The cranes of the nearby port loom in the background, adding even more character to the scene.

Leighton Beach is the northern continuation of Port Beach, which was also packed when I was there, this time with a surf lifesaving carnival with a great atmosphere.

South Fremantle beach is on the free blue CAT bus route that runs down from the Cappuccino Strip on South Terrace, and deserves the same superlatives I’ve given to the other Fremantle beaches.

Shipwreck Museum Fremantle

The Shipwreck Museum – the WA Museum Shipwreck Galleries is its full official name – is one of the best museums we’ve visited in Australia.

You really need to visit it in conjunction with the WA Maritime Museum in the port area. The Shipwreck Museum is located next to Bathers Beach, a short walk down from the Round House and next to Esplanade Park.

Having lived on the east coast of Australia for two years or so, the exploration of the west coast of the continent by Dutch explorers doesn’t get much mention in comparison with the British landings and colonisation, and the same goes for what we were taught in British schools back in the day.  This Museum gives a much more balanced view. The north and north-west of Australia had been discovered 50,000 years or more before by those who became the first Australians, with regular routes from what are now the islands of Indonesia.

The Dutch East India Company took over this part of the world, and some of their ships – both unintentionally and intentionally – landed on northern and western Australian shores over the course of the 17^th century, eventually naming it New Holland. The Dutch had also mapped the western half of the continent long before Captain Cook made landfall in 1770.

Our little man was captivated from the moment we walked in. Straight away he was looking at items salvaged from various wrecks along the western Australian coast. For him this was one big treasure hunt, and he was completely engrossed in it.  The skeleton of one wreck victim required some explanation, though he didn’t take long to return to his treasure quest.

The highlight for him was the wreck of the Batavia, a Dutch ship wrecked in the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off the west coast in 1629.  A large part of the wooden frame of the ship remains, along with a replica of a stone portico that was carried on board.

It’s a very moving museum, absolutely fascinating.

http://museum.wa.gov.au/museums/shipwrecks

Fremantle Maritime Museum

The Western Australian Maritime Museum is a ten-minute walk or a short bus ride from the Shipwreck Museum, in an impressive purpose-built modern building where the Swan River meets the Indian Ocean.

The Maritime Museum was built high to accommodate some of the permanent exhibits, including the yacht Australia II which captured the America’s Cup, the world’s oldest international sports trophy, in 1983.

I had the pleasure of the company of the little fellow for the day, and sold him the idea of the visit to the museum on the back of the Pompeii exhibition which was on at the time. He is a great lover of volcanoes, but breezed through the entire exhibition in about two and a half minutes.

However, he was greatly impressed by the scale and height of the building, and kept eagerly running ahead to see as many of the boats as possible. He also loved the old Swan River ferry that ran back and forth to Perth, and the huge missile in the Naval Defence section. I was most intrigued by the Indian Ocean Gallery, including the atmospheric ship interior, and the Cargoes Gallery.

There’s also a submarine – HMAS Ovens – berthed outside, and you can also explore this as part of your visit.

http://museum.wa.gov.au/museums/maritime

Fremantle Cafes and Cappuccino Strip

Fremantle has so many great cafes, bars and restaurants, with the biggest concentration along the famous Fremantle Cappuccino Strip, which is on South Terrace.

We made sure we sampled as many places as we could along the Strip, all in the name of thorough research, and loved the cakes and coffee at Fremantle Bakehouse and the risotto at Gino’s, made with some of the freshest ingredients you could ever hope to taste, transporting us back to our beloved Italy for half an hour or so.

One of the best things about Fremantle is the sheer variety of cuisines and cultures you find around the city, and we also tried some great Vietnamese food there.

We also loved Parlapa, a gorgeous quirky Italian place near the Town Hall run by a lovely lady from Turin. Between the three of us we went through all the courses on the menu, and all were impeccable.

The Cappuccino Strip is at its liveliest on a balmy summer’s evening, when everyone is sitting at outside tables dining or drinking al fresco.

Fremantle Markets

Fremantle Markets are one of the port city’s biggest attractions for visitors, and the whole place was buzzing in the couple of hours or so that we spent there.

Most of the 150 or so stalls are in the covered market area on South Terrace, close to the Cappuccino Strip.

Wherever we go, we always seek out the local markets, and Fremantle’s are great. There’s all the fresh seafood and produce and great regional health foods for the locals and Perthites, and a lot of street food stalls and tiny restaurants on the street side. There’s also a whole range of stalls selling books, art and design. One of our favourites was the Stunned Emu Designs stall, by local author and graphic artist Wendy Binks – our little man had received one of her books for Christmas a few weeks before our visit.

Fremantle Markets are the best possible place in the region to show and see work like this, and for us the Markets fit in very much with the ethos of the rest of the city, with a proud, individual, independent spirit with an eye for the quirky and an ear for wit.

The Markets are open on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Holiday Mondays.

Fremantle Prison

Unlike the first cities and towns to be founded in New South Wales, Fremantle was founded as a free settlement. It was only later, in 1849, that the British colonists decided to turn the Swan River settlement into a penal one – all with the avowed aim of boosting the local economy.

Upon arrival, the first thing the convicts had to do was build the vast prison that would house them. It was completed by the late 1850s, and housed over 10,000 convicts transported from Britain – the last transport was in 1868, and Fremantle Prison became the region’s main prison in 1886, when very few of the convicts remained in custody. It remained in use as a maximum security prison for over a century, finally being decommissioned in 1991.

Fremantle Prison is one of eleven Convict Sites across Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, and it’s the only building in Western Australia to be accorded such status.

The Prison runs several different themed guided tours, including one on the Convict Era, when you hear some of the stories of those transported from Britain, many for minor crimes. Another tour – Behind Bars – focuses on its later history as a maximum security jail, and there is also a Tunnel Tour, exploring the network of escape tunnels dug by inmates.

http://fremantleprison.com.au/visit-us/

Fremantle Arts Centre

Fremantle Arts Centre looks fascinating. They seem to have an excellently curated programme of events, the sort of place we’d visit every week if we lived in the area. However, time wasn’t on our side during this trip,  and we weren’t able to visit for very long.

The Arts Centre  is housed  in a magnificent old Gothic pile which used to be the town’s ‘Lunatic Asylum’, an amazing venue for exhibitions and performances. .0ppoo[poi[[u43

Esplanade Park

Esplanade Park is the biggest park near the centre of Fremantle, with a great children’s playground and café, all just a short walk from Bathers Beach, the Shipwreck Museum, and Fishing Boat Harbour. It’s also home to a lovely ferris wheel, which unfortunately was closed  for maintenance during our visit.

Ferry to Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is a mini-paradise 19 km off the coast, and one of the most popular things to do in Fremantle is to take the ferry across for a day trip. It’s also the weekend break destination of choice for the good denizens of Perth, and popular for longer stays.

We took the Sealink ferry across from Fremantle and had five or six hours on the island, and what we saw made us yearn to come back for much more. There are no cars on Rottnest – you either bus it, bike it or walk it. We opted to head for the Basin, one of those world bucket list beaches a short walk from the ferry wharf and the main settlement, Thomson Bay, and also explored Pinky Bay beach, which is overlooked by the Bathurst lighthouse.

The Basin beach is one of the most memorable beaches we’ve visited anywhere. The aquamarine water was some of the clearest we have ever swum in, and the reefs and pools offshore make for great snorkelling.

We also spent time there meeting the local wildlife in the shape of the curious and cute quokkas. They have been compared to both cats and rats, but are small marsupials, probably resembling smaller wallabies most of all. They happily hop and scuttle around you and are experts at ferreting their way into picnic bags and baskets. Our little man absolutely adored them.

We only explored the north-east corner of the island, but there are many more beaches, with plenty of swimming and snorkelling along the way, and so much marine wildlife to see.

http://www.rottnestisland.com

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I seem to shoot some Sydney Opera House photos every time I pass through the city, which is fairly frequently. It’s an amazing subject to photograph, way ahead of its time and still unique. Its white roof sails – or shells, or even fruit segments – are recognised the world over. It is one of the great icons of Australia, one of the great cultural centres of the country and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we felt it was time to publish an essay of Sydney Opera House photos, to show it off in all its glory and tempt you to explore some of the lesser known locations around the Harbour.

The beauty of photographing Sydney Opera House is that you always seem to find new angles.

It’s situated in a very prominent location in the Harbour, on a headland called Bennelong Point, which was named after an Aboriginal man who quickly learned English and acted as an interpreter for the British colonists, and had a hut built for him on the site. Prior to the construction of the Opera House, it was the site of a humble tram depot.

As you move around the Harbour, more and more compositions reveal themselves to you.

Mrs Macquarie’s Point

The ultimate classic view featuring in so many Sydney Opera House images is from around Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, which is at the end of the next headland to the east, the other side of Farm Cove. From here another great Sydney icon, the Harbour Bridge, conveniently comes into view behind it.

I’ve always loved the view through a long lens.

Sydney Opera House fireworks

Sydney Harbour is one of the greatest places to see a firework display in the world.  When growing up in the UK, every New Year’s Day newspaper I bought would have a shot of the fireworks in the Harbour with the classic view. Mrs Macquarie’s Chair is one of the most coveted spots to watch them from on New Year’s Eve, and you have to queue up and wait all day to get a spot.

You can still get a sense of the occasion at the Chinese New Year celebration, which takes place in late January to mid-February. For this, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge are lit up red, a traditionally auspicious colour, and you’re treated to a spectacular salvo of fireworks with much smaller crowds – probably only 200-300 people, as opposed to 14,000 for New Year’s.

Royal Botanic Garden

This view with flowers is from the Royal Botanic Garden, quite close to the Farm Cove shore.

Circular Quay

Many of the best Sydney Opera House pictures are shot from around Circular Quay. You can photograph it from one of the railway platforms at Circular Quay station, or go a bit higher to the Cahill Walk for this more elevated view.

This upright shot is also from the Cahill Walk.

As you move into winter, you can start shooting at sunrise from the Rocks side of the Quay.

One morning the sails seemed to glow as the sun burst its way through the clouds behind.

The Opera House also looks wonderful towards sunset, when the normally brilliant white sails turn orange for a few minutes, as it did for the lead shot of the essay.

During the afternoon, provided you station yourself on the correct side of the ferry with a prime close-up view of the roof sails as you move into or out of the Quay. You can have all sorts of fun trying out different abstract compositions, and you may get lucky and have the ferry stuck in a queue for a berth at a wharf.

Pylon Lookout, Harbour Bridge

This is a great vantage point over the whole Harbour, and is normally open until 5pm daily.

Blues Point

Blues Point Reserve is a great viewpoint at the right time of year for sunrise and twilight shots featuring the Harbour Bridge. It’s on the north side of the Harbour, and this twilight image is from there. This spot also gets very popular on New Year’s Eve.

Bradfield Park

This splendid park in Milsons Point has this view with the massive pylons of the Harbour Bridge framing the Opera House across the Harbour.

Milsons Point

This view through an archway is on the foreshore walk which leads below the Harbour Bridge.

Kirribilli

Kirribilli is the suburb immediately across the Harbour from the Opera House and you can get some fantastic images from here – there are a couple of jetties on the waterfront, as well as a small park and walkway close to the Harbour Bridge. I saw a ferry pass through the gap between the apartment blocks, with the Opera House behind, and waited until the next one came along.

Cremorne Point

This is another great spot on the North Shore – from here, the high rises and skyscrapers of the CBD form a formidable backdrop. The view improves as you walk up the hill from the ferry wharf.

 Getting to Sydney Opera House

The Opera House is a short walk from Circular Quay train station and ferry wharves.  Trains and ferries arrive every few minutes. Circular Quay train station is a stop on the City Circle line, and also on many journeys to the suburbs. Circular Quay is also the hub of the Sydney Harbour Ferries network. For further information, check the Transport NSW website.

Sydney Opera House Tours

The Opera House is mightily impressive from the outside, and the interior is also a must-see. The Sydney Opera House site has information on guided tours here.

Sydney Opera House Concerts

The Opera House is home to six venues inside, and one outside, the Forecourt, where an old favourite of ours, The National, are playing a week after this post goes live.

Hotels near the Sydney Opera House

There is a great selection of accommodation near Sydney Opera House – around Circular Quay, in some of the high rise hotels of the CBD and in the historic Rocks district. There are also plenty of hotels with harbour views, Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge included.

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The Margaret River beaches in the south-western corner of Western Australia are among the most spectacular beaches in Australia. We knew plenty about the wine and gastronomy of the Margaret River area, but it was the amazing coastline that really took our breath away on our first trip to the area.

The beaches vary greatly in character, with the east- and north-east facing beaches between Eagle Bay and Dunsborough ideal for swimming in the calm waters of Geographe Bay, while many of those on the west-facing coast, in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, feel the full power of the Indian Ocean and are more suited to surfing.

All of the beaches we have written about are accessible by conventional two-wheel-drive car, but another way of seeing these and others is to tackle the Cape to Cape Walk from Cape Leeuwin in the south to Cape Naturaliste in the north (or vice versa), which is 125 km long and can take seven days or more to complete.

So here’s our guide to some of the very best Margaret River beaches.

POINT PICQUET

There are two beaches at Point Picquet, a small headland on the coast road around 10 km from Dunsborough, and neither seems to have a name.  That said, they both seem to have a steady stream of visitors, so there is plenty of parking space close by.

The first beach is tiny, a small narrow strip of sand largely guarded by rocks, but with some of the most enticing clear turquoise water either of us have ever seen.

The second is also very small, probably no more than 40 metres across, but is one of the most idyllic we have ever visited. It’s still in the sheltered part of Geographe Bay, with the calm water among the very best Faye has ever swum in. It’s guarded either side by striking orange granite rocks, the whole scene making an incredible spectacle.

The drive along the coast road – Eagle Bay-Meelup Road – is pretty special too.

MEELUP BEACH

Meelup Bay beach is a short drive up the coast from Dunsborough, and absolutely sublime. We visited a few times during our visit to the area. I drove there one morning, a few minutes after sunrise, and it was deserted, the only sound the waves of Geographe Bay gently lapping against the sandy shore.

It’s probably the busiest of the beaches in the Dunsborough area by mid-morning, with the beach full of families kayaking, swimming, snorkelling or snoozing. Our little man made a beeline for the ice cream van and we found a shady spot below the trees just behind the beach, watching the world go by for a while.

CASTLE BAY

Castle Bay – sometimes called Castle Rock Bay – is a near-neighbour of Meelup, around a 2km walk or 3 km drive away.

The Castle here is Castle Rock, an impressive outcrop and viewpoint a short walk away along the Meelup Trail footpath. Again, we made repeat visits here, drawn back because it’s such an evocative spot.  The small beach is dotted with lovely orange rocks, particularly beautiful at sunrise, and it seems to attract less of a crowd than nearby Meelup. A wonderful place.

EAGLE BAY

In Eagle Bay Margaret River has one of the finest beaches we’ve visited in Australia, a gorgeous crescent of white sand and that amazing turquoise water. The car park seemed busy, but the beach is so spacious that everyone seemed to have half an acre of space to themselves. There are also other places to park along the road back towards Point Picquet and Meelup which offer quieter places. It’s an incredible base for a holiday in the area, with plenty of Eagle Bay accommodation to choose from.

BUNKER BAY BEACH

Bunker Bay beach is the northernmost of Margaret River’s Geographe Bay beaches, and it’s quite different in character to the others nearby. We drove from the relative calm to Eagle Bay to markedly different conditions, with some big waves pounding the shore and strong rip currents sucking them straight back out to sea. It’s a magnificent beach, but the conditions were more akin to those we had already seen on the surfing beaches exposed to the full power of the Indian Ocean to the south of Cape Naturaliste.

We also made sure we had time to stop by at the Bunker Bay café, Bunkers Beach House, for a light lunch and coffee. It has a fantastic setting just metres from the beach, with outstanding views out to sea. There’s also luxury Bunker Bay accommodation close by at the Pullman Bunker Bay Resort.

YALLINGUP BEACH

Yallingup beach is the beach adjacent to Yallingup village, and it has great areas for both swimming and surfing. A statue on a lawn overlooking the beach acknowledges the role of Yallingup in Western Australian surfing history: Yallingup was one of the first places to which Perth surfing enthusiasts ventured in search of bigger, better waves, and this is exactly what they found at Yallingup and all along the Margaret River coast.

The village is a great place to visit or stay, with a good range of Yallingup accommodation including the Yallingup beach resort.  Throw in one of the most memorable short scenic coastal drives in the area, a fantastic play area mostly built from wood and a great general store, café and bakery at the top of the hill, several vineyards nearby and in Yallingup you have a great base from which you can explore the Margaret River region.

SMITHS BEACH YALLINGUP

Smiths Beach is a few minutes’ drive from Yallingup village, down Caves Road then along Canal Rocks Road before a turn on the right leads you to the sandy shore and some great Yallingup beach accommodation, including Yallingup beach resort.

It’s one of the best surfing locations on the coast, with the Supertubes break one of the best-known along the whole stretch between the two Capes.

Parts of it are also fine for swimming, and it’s also a great starting point for short walks along the Cape to Cape track, with Yallingup beach in one direction and Canal Rocks in the other.

INJIDUP BEACH

Injidup beach is the first of the west coast Margaret River beaches that we visited, and it set the bar very, very high.  It’s a glorious stretch of sand and crystal-clear ocean, where we could happily have stayed all day.

It’s the first beach to the south of the Yallingup beaches, and also just down the coast from Canal Rocks, another beauty spot with bridges taking you out onto a reef of rocks to get closer than normal to the ocean.

It’s also a fairly quiet beach, seemingly attracting a mainly younger, surfer crowd. The Injidup Spa Retreat is on the approach road: we didn’t visit, but what a setting for some pampering.

COWARAMUP BAY

Cowaramup Bay is named after the quirky town full of bovine sculptures 15km or so inland, but the beach is actually located at Gracetown, and some simply refer to it as Gracetown beach.

Cowaramup Bay is another beauty, a long, narrow curve of soft sand ideal for swimming with calm water, shielded from the full force of the southern Indian Ocean by headlands at either end.

SURFERS POINT

The small beachside town of Prevelly – named after a monastery in Greece, and with its own whitewashed Greek chapel on the hill above – is home to several beaches, each different in character.

The grandstand location is Surfers Point, which if the size and frequency of waves are an indication is one of the best surfing locations on this coast. The beach is wild, great for a bracing walk as your ears are pounded by the loudest waves I’d heard since I witnessed the Atlantic crashing onto some of the great Portuguese surf beaches a few years before.

Whereas surrounding beaches including Rivermouth are quite tranquil, there is an endless succession of big waves to ride, and the area behind the beach has some great viewing points to watch surfers and kite surfers tackling the waves.

GNARABUP BEACH

Gnarabup Beach is a short 2km drive or walk from Surfers Point and Prevelly, and when we were there it was like a millpond in comparison, the ocean almost flat as waves lapped around the wooden jetty.

Gnarabup enjoys a delightful setting, and a great way to savour it is to strategically bag one of the tables on the terrace at the White Elephant Café, place your order at the bar and linger. We could have grown quite used to this, and for those who prefer to stay around longer, there is also some Gnarabup accommodation in the village.

HAMELIN BAY

Hamelin Bay beach is one of the highlights of any trip to the Margaret River region.  The long sweep of gorgeous white sand and the dunes behind, not to mention the gorgeous Indian Ocean, are compelling enough reasons to visit, but many visitors go out of their way to get to Hamelin Bay to experience one of the most amazing wildlife encounters in Australia.

A small population of stingrays lives close to the bay, and over time they have grown accustomed to getting a feed of fish scraps from some of the fishing boats in the bay. They swim right in to the shore, often brushing against your feet to greet you (and presumably hint that they would like some more food, thank you).  Some of the fish are huge, over a metre and a half wide, but are very friendly, not aggressive at all. Some people leant forward to pat them, others were just captivated by them and filmed or photographed them on their phones. For the little man and I, it was a wonderful experience and one of the best experiences we’ve had yet seeing wildlife in Australia.

Faye is the family fish and went to investigate further. We noticed that very few people were swimming in the vicinity of the stingrays, and the reason for this is that a swimmer would be more likely to have an entanglement with one, with the possibility of it reacting aggressively and releasing its venomous barb. But standing and letting them come to you was perfectly safe.

There are several Hamelin Bay accommodation options, from the Holiday Park to a number of Airbnb rentals, with more choices down towards Augusta and back to the north around Margaret River.

FOUL BAY

Never can a beach have been named as inappropriately as Foul Bay, the southernmost of the Margaret River beaches we visited.

It’s just beyond the headland at the southern end of Hamelin Bay, and as our little fellow was worn out after seeing the stingrays, I took a sneaky half-hour walk around to see it for myself.

Foul Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches on the Margaret River coast, a long curve of pristine white sand, with the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean sweeping in to shore.

There were a few surfers at the other end of the beach, and though I didn’t have time to have a long walk down the beach, I’m very privileged to say that I have seen it.

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Walk across the Harbour Bridge 

The walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge is amazing at any time of day. The walkway is along  the east side of the Bridge with views of the Opera House and Harbour. The first time I ever walked across it was about an hour before sunrise, with the sky glowing and a grandstand view of the Opera House and Harbour behind. Unforgettable.

Bondi to Coogee walk 

Bondi to Coogee is the classic Sydney coast walk, starting at iconic Bondi Beach and passing four other beaches, several rock pools, one of Australia’s best-known historic cemeteries and some great cafes in the 6km – around 4 miles – that wind down to lovely Coogee beach.

Art Gallery of NSW

The Art Gallery of NSW is one of the best-known art galleries in Australia, and entry to the museum and its permanent exhibitions is free. Some temporary exhibitions are ticketed, including the current Rembrandt retrospective. It’s also home to the Archibald Prize, Australia’s leading portrait competition, which is held annually.

Museum of Contemporary Art 

The Art Deco façade of the MCA is a familiar sight to visitors to Circular Quay, and we’ve always loved to visit, both to see the permanent collections and take our son there for kids’ art classes. All of this is free – you only pay for entry to certain visiting exhibitions.

Free guided walk in the Royal Botanic Gardens 

The Royal Botanic Gardens are Sydney’s green lung, immediately to the east of Circular Quay and the skyscrapers of the CBD.  You could wander on your own for hours, or go on a free guided tour, taking in things from the ‘dinosaur tree’, the Wollemi Pine to Cadi Jam Ora, a re-creation of Australia’s first vegetable garden.

Go snorkelling in Gordons Bay

Gordons Bay is a tiny beach a few minutes’ walk from Coogee beach, one of the last staging posts on the aforementioned Bondi to Coogee walk. The beautiful clear water on the south side of the bay is ideal for snorkelling – one of the best in Sydney.

The Rocks Discovery Museum 

The Rocks is the oldest built part of Sydney, with buildings dating from the early 19^th century onwards. It’s a fascinating area to explore, particularly its narrow lanes and alleyways which harbour many a secret. The Rocks Discovery Museum, a few steps from the tourist information centre, is well worth a visit – the interactive exhibits bring the place to life, and the exhibition on the area before British colonization in 1788 is a must-see.

Take a picnic and watch the sunset at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair with a magnificent view

Mrs Macquarie’s Chair has the best view in Sydney, across Farm Cove to the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge as backdrop. It’s a 15- to 20 minute walk up through the Domain from the nearest train station, St James, and once you’re there, you have plenty of places to sit down and enjoy your picnic, watch the light fall, the shadows lengthen and the sky glow.

Discover Cockatoo Island 

Cockatoo Island is a fascinating site, with history going back to 1839 when it was first used as a convict prison. The convicts built the first of the two dry docks, and long after their forced labour was no longer demanded, it became one of Australia’s most important shipyards. The island is easily reached by ferry from Circular Quay every half hour.

Sydney’s beaches

From Palm Beach in the far north to Cronulla in the south, and all around the harbour, Sydney’s beaches are all free: from world-famous Bondi and Manly to undiscovered gems like Milk Beach and Parsley Bay, none of them will cost you a cent.

Not quite free – go ferry hopping for the day on the $2.50 ticket 

Yes, it’s not quite free, but it’s the next best thing. On Sundays you pay $2.50 to travel all day on Sydney’s public transport network. We love to ferry-hop around the Harbour, going back and forth on the Manly ferry (which usually costs over twice the day fare, one way), and exploring some of the other routes, including the likes of Watsons Bay, Milsons Point (for Luna Park), Darling Harbour and Balmain.

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There are so many things to do in Dunsborough, one of the gateways to the Margaret River wine region in the south-west corner of Australia. Much of the best Margaret River wine is on Dunsborough’s doorstep, with a multitude of wineries to visit within a short drive of the town.

Dunsborough is also a great base to explore some of the best beaches in Australia. Several of these are located just to the north-west of the town, facing the relatively calm waters of Geographe Bay, which stretches east beyond the city of Busselton.  The water here is among the clearest we have ever seen, and is a glorious turquoise colour in contrast to the bright white sands. The west coast of the Cape Naturaliste peninsula is very different in character, getting a buffeting from the Indian Ocean and attracting surfers to some of the best surfing spots in Australia.

As the wineries have grown, so have the dining options in the area, so it has also become a gastronomic mecca as well. As well as the wineries, some breweries have opened up and other producers have set up to take advantage of the fertile soils of the area, cultivating produce ranging from olives to lavender to cereal crops. In turn, attractions have opened to cater for families and children, and there is a great deal of accommodation in Dunsborough to choose from, from private rentals to international chain resorts, which we’ll be covering soon in an accompanying article.

So here is our guide to things to do in Dunsborough.

Dunsborough Beaches

I’ve been fortunate and privileged to see some of the most amazing beaches in the world. To name a few, I have explored some of the most exquisite beaches of the Mediterranean, the windswept sands of the North Atlantic, the incredible rock formations of Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, the endless sand bars of the Baltic, the legendary surfing beaches of Portugal, the coast of southern California and the iconic Pacific Ocean beaches of east coast Australia. But nothing had quite prepared me for the Margaret River beaches, especially those around Dunsborough.

The beaches on the west and east side of the Cape Naturaliste peninsula are distinctly different. Those to the east, including Dunsborough and up as far as Eagle Bay, are on the sheltered shores of Geographe Bay, and the calmer waters tend to attract sunbathers and swimmers, whereas the beaches to the west of the peninsula are more exposed to winds from the Indian Ocean, and are more popular with surfers.

But it was the beaches to the north of Dunsborough on the Geographe Bay side that struck me the most: white sands, gorgeous shallow turquoise water, framed by orange granite rocks under a completely clear blue sky. These form the Meelup Regional Park. They made for an incredible sight – I had seen images of them before travelling, but nothing came near doing them justice. This was sensory overload for the eyes. I just had to sit, breathe slowly, take it all in, close my eyes and relax. Then I had to open them again to make sure what I had just seen was real.

For us, the best of the beaches around Dunsborough are between the quiet Castle Bay and Eagle Bay Dunsborough, including popular Meelup Beach and the two small beaches at Point Picquet headland, off Eagle Bay Meelup Road.

Faye is the family fish and said she hadn’t swum in water this clear and pure anywhere in the world.

But she did recount the tale of a poor inflatable koala washed out into the Indian Ocean

when its unsuspecting occupant was surprised by a strong rip current that took it away from her in seemingly tranquil water off Eagle Bay. We heard that the koala was later rescued by a boat out in the bay but this showed how you need to be aware of dangers, even in seemingly benign conditions.

Dunsborough Surfing Beaches

Some of the best Margaret River surfing can be found on the coast to the west and north-west of Dunsborough, the section of coast which bears the brunt of the south-westerlies from the Indian Ocean, and are part of the stunning Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park.

By far the most accessible surfing beach in the vicinity of Dunsborough is Smiths Beach Yallingup, a vast curve of golden sand. A statue of a surfer overlooks the beach – a monument to the beginnings of surfing in Western Australia, and the discovery of the bigger waves of the coast around Yallingup.

Several other Margaret River surf beaches can be reached by conventional two-wheel-drive car, including magnificent Injidup beach, a few miles to the south of Yallingup, an inviting sweep of sand culminating in a tall outcrop of dunes. Moses Rock and Guillotine also have good road access. Others like Honeycombs and The Window are only reachable by 4WD down dirt roads, while the likes of Three Bears, up near Cape Naturaliste, are even more of an adventure, accessible only on foot.

Dunsborough Coastal Walks

Dunsborough also has some wonderful coastal walks to explore. The long-distance Cape to Cape Track is the obvious draw, and it’s possible to do sections of it as day walks, particularly from Yallingup to the Cape if you can arrange a lift back.

On the Geographe Bay side, the Meelup Reserve Trail is a relatively short hike of around 8 km (5 miles) from Old Dunsborough to Meelup. It takes in some of the aforementioned sublime coastal scenery, including the stretch from Castle Rock to Castle Bay and onward to Meelup. It then climbs a rocky hill inland from Point Picquet before descending into Eagle Bay and continuing onto the beach there. It’s a fairly easy day walk, especially with an early morning start.

Dunsborough beach foreshore, a minute or two from the town centre (or CBD) and the one beach within walking distance also deserves some exploration. In the mornings it’s fairly quiet except for a few runners and people fishing, the water calm like a millpond. It’s a wonderful place to watch the world wake up, as the beach gradually gets busier with swimmers and sailors.

Scenic Coastal Drives

The Dunsborough area also has some of the best scenic driving routes in Australia. For scenic tours Australia is an outstanding destination, but the Dunsborough and Margaret River region has some of the most staggering I have ever seen.

My personal favourite is along the Eagle Bay to Meelup Road, which links these two outstanding beaches, also passing the small rocky coves around Point Picquet, offering glimpses of Eagle Bay through the trees as you approach the village.

The approach down Yallingup Beach Road is also stunning, the roadsides framing the spectacular coastline just below.

Most of the other roads in the Dunsborough and Margaret River region are inland, and are a pleasure to drive, especially the tree-lined avenues leading to some of the vineyards and wineries, and the long Caves Road which takes you south from Yallingup towards Augusta and Cape Leeuwin, a beautiful drive through the shadows of the forest and dappled light falling across the road.

 Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse

Cape Naturaliste lighthouse sits near the northern end of the peninsula, with outstanding views over the Indian Ocean to the west and the calmer waters of Geographe Bay top the east. It’s around 15 km from Dunsborough – a 15-to-20-minute drive if you take the direct route, which we didn’t.

It’s the end (or start) point of the Cape to Cape Walk which runs all the way down the coast to Cape Leeuwin near Augusta, and is around 125 km in length, and we met some Canadians who were completing the seven-day trek and about to reward themselves with double espressos and muffins from the café just below the lighthouse.

It’s a short climb of 59 steps to the viewing platform at the top of the lighthouse, which you visit as part of a guided tour.  As we were short of time, we opted to explore the lighthouse precincts instead, with a brief stop for coffee and cake at the Goose café in the beautifully restored lighthouse keeper’s cottage.

Ngilgi Cave

Ngilgi (pronounced Neelgee) Cave is one of several limestone caves in the Margaret River region, and the closest of them to Dunsborough and Yallingup – it’s only a few minutes’ drive (10 km) from Dunsborough town centre.

Ngilgi was discovered by European settlers in 1899 and initially named Yallingup Cave, it has been renamed in acknowledgement of its indigenous heritage. The local Wadandi people are custodians of this and the other caves to the south.

Its name comes from a good spirit, Ngilgi, which triumphed in a battle with an evil spirit, Wolgine, according to Wadandi tradition.

We weren’t able to visit the cave during our trip, but several people with whom we spoke recommended it, especially for the spectacular rock formations.

Margaret River Wineries

The Margaret River region is home to around two hundred wineries, and is unique among Australian wine regions in being so close to the sea – in this case, the Indian Ocean, whose cooling breezes keep temperatures lower than most of the rest of Western Australia.

Many of the region’s vineyards are located in the northern part around Yallingup and Dunsborough, with many others concentrated in the rural hinterland between the area’s two main routes, the Caves Road and the Bussell Highway, just to the north of the lovely town of Cowaramup.

You’ll find many high quality wines across the region, varying from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc to Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and you can drop in and taste wine at any of the vineyards, or join one of the Margaret River wine tours to sample several and not have to worry about driving afterwards. If you’re looking at booking wine tours Dunsborough tourist office can also help.

Many of the wineries also have restaurants attached, mostly tending towards fine dining, something which we’d like to sample more next time we visit the area.

Apart from wine, there are plenty of other food and drink options in the Margaret River area, from breweries and a distillery to olive farms to chocolatiers all offering visitors a chance to sample and buy their produce.

Bush tucker tours

The country around Dunsborough and Margaret River has also fed the Wadandi people for tens of millennia, and a fascinating way to learn more about this is on a tour with a Wadandi guide, explaining the cycle of seasons and various foods available at different times of year.

Various plants can be used for food or medicinal purposes, and different migrating fish are available to catch in different seasons.

A local Wadandi custodian offers several tours – the bush tucker experience is part of the Aboriginal Food Cave and Didge Tour.  As part of this, you’re also taken foraging on a bushwalk, and see him playing the didgeridoo in the atmospheric surroundings of Ngilgi Cave.

Dunsborough Attractions For Children

There is also a good range of Margaret River attractions for kids, and one afternoon we headed down Caves Road to Sunflowers Farm, where our son had a fantastic time meeting and feeding the animals.  We had a great time chatting with Pommy the long-beaked corella, and our little man adored feeding the goats, horses and little lamb. There was a lovely feel to the place, everyone was very friendly, and our little fellow said this was one of his favourite parts of the holiday.

There are also a couple of other similar attractions close to Dunsborough – Country Life Farm (watch out for the red double-decker bus by the side of the road) and the Wonky Windmill Farm and Eco Park which is on the road to Yelverton.

Getting to Dunsborough

For most, the starting point in Western Australia is Perth.

We drove south from neighbouring Fremantle, starting out on Old Coast the Kwinana Freeway (state route 2), which later becomes the Forrest Highway (state route 1) passing Mandurah and Bunbury, joining the Bussell Highway (Route 10) just south of Bunbury.

We then followed the Bussell Highway to Busselton, opting to take the bypass south of the town, then taking a right turn at a roundabout meeting the Vasse bypass, then a left along Caves Road to Dunsborough.

You really do need your own vehicle in Dunsborough. We cannot recall seeing any public transport while staying there almost a week. You can get a coach from East Perth Terminal to Dunsborough – but once there, you’re stuck without your own transport.

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The Bouddi Coastal Walk is the outstanding feature of the Bouddi National Park, a stunning wilderness at the southern end of the Central Coast, just across the water from Barrenjoey Head and Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

It is thanks to Marie Byles, a conservationist (and also NSW’s first female solicitor) that this amazing landscape has been preserved and protected from the encroachment of suburbia. The Lookout named after her on The Scenic Road, overlooking Putty Beach, Broken Bay, Barrenjoey, Pittwater and her home area in the far north of Sydney is a fitting tribute to her work, and a great starting point for exploration of the Park.

The Bouddi Coastal Walk runs 8 km from the east end of Putty Beach to MacMasters Beach, but it feels considerably longer. And that’s a good thing. This is a coast walk for connoisseurs, with some of the finest scenery you’ll find anywhere along the Tasman Sea, with pristine beaches almost to yourself, plenty of steep climbs and descents, and puddles lingering a week after the last rain.  It’s one of the best day hikes near Sydney, along with some in the Blue Mountains and the Royal National Park. It’s also one of the best Central Coast bush walks, and well worth a day of your time, even if it’s your first trip to Australia. It is that good.

Rock Features and Bullimah Beach

As we had to double back, we opted to start and finish at Putty Beach, which is at the east end of Killcare NSW beach. After passing a tiny lagoon we walked the last 200 metres of the beach before climbing a series of wooden stairs which take you out onto coastal heathland. Soon afterwards we reach an incredible array of rock formations carved by Nature over millions of years. These range from the square checkerboard tessellated pavement adjacent to the path to the liesegang rings, concentric circular and oval patterns etched into the rocks. These provided the foreground to views across to the other section of the National Park and Box Head, and across Broken Bay to Pittwater and the Northern Beaches. And then there was Bullimah Beach, a perfect little curve of sand to which we would have to return.

Gerrin Point

From here it’s a short, steady ascent to the Gerrin Point Lookout, which gives the first distant sighting of Maitland Bay, the destination of choice for many visitors to Bouddi. A perfect crescent of sand some distance along the undulating track through the bush.

We get further tantalising glimpses of the beach through trees on our right, and we are eventually joined by walkers taking the short downhill route from the Maitland Bay Centre, reaching our first goal a few minutes later.

Maitland Bay

The crowds – alright, about 15 people – had started to thin out after the rock formations next to Bullimah Beach, and now six of us had Maitland Bay to ourselves. This was on a late summer day, 26°, with a cooling breeze, near perfect hiking weather.  We decided to stop to savour this corner of paradise, and found two rocks perfect for doubling as recliners to lie back, cool down in the shade of a tree, and listen to the sound of the waves rhythmically splashing onto the beach and washing back.

Before leaving the beach behind, I went back across to look at the rock patterns at the end of the beach, which at first glance were as striking as those near the beginning of the walk. I climbed to the top of the rocks to peer around the corner across Broken Bay, to find an almost perfect set-piece photograph, with a liesegang-ringed rock in the foreground, a line of cliffs, a cormorant perched imperiously on an outcrop of rock, and a white sailing boat leaving the next cove with Sydney’s Northern Beaches in the distance. You just couldn’t make it up.

We could have happily stayed all afternoon, but we still weren’t even halfway through the outward leg of our hike.

Caves Bay

Instead, we climbed the steps at the end of the beach, gradually leaving Maitland Bay behind and reaching another high point along the top of a ridge, passing the first of several side trips, the uphill trail to Mount Bouddi Lookout, which we left for another day. We weren’t on level ground for long, as the view opened out and the path descended to the windswept rock platforms of Caves Bay. Whereas the sea back at Maitland Bay – not much more than 1 km away – was like a millpond, here it was in a foaming white rage, crashing onto the rocks.  The wooden footbridge at the bottom gave us a close view of the drama below.

Still the track made us work for our rewards, next two steep ascents and descents, the first a series of muddy pools, one above the other, that we would have to take our three-year-old back to one day for some serious splashing. Eventually we plateau at Bombi Moor, a series of elevated dunes high above the ocean.

Little Beach

We then made our way down from the heathland, through the rainforest to meet up with the fire management trail linking the car park at the end of Grahame Drive with Little Beach, 300 metres down the hill on our right.

Immediately we knew we would have to bring Little Man back here. There is a tiny campsite with six pitches, next to a creek only metres form the beach. The beach, not much more than 100 metres across, is a little paradise, a narrow, sheltered strip of sand at the end of a deep cove, with rainforest leaning right over the crumpled cliffs below to the edge of the ocean. Either side there are hundreds of flat rocks perfect for playing stepping stones, guarding lots of rock pools to explore.

Back up the hill, we turned right across the wooden bridge over the creek to continue our trek, soon pulling up the hill for one last climb to join the Mourawaring Moors Fire Trail. From here it was only a short walk to Beachview Esplanade and suburbia, continuing down to MacMasters Beach Surf Club, and the end of the Coastal Walk.

Return

We had it all to do again, this time predominantly facing the afternoon sun. Now that it was familiar terrain, it all seemed quicker than our outward journey. Except for Maitland Bay, where we took advantage of the favourable low tidal conditions to take a look at the remains of the wreck of the SS Maitland, after which the Bay was named. We also returned to the rocky viewpoint at the other end of the beach, to find the same cormorant on the same rock letting the light wind ruffle its wings, still surveying the scene. A fine way to spend the afternoon, we agreed.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

Getting there

If you’re driving from Sydney, the quickest way is to take the M1 northwards, turning off near Gosford to take the A49 Central Coast Highway. Shortly after leaving Gosford, turn right onto Avoca Drive, continuing as far as Kincumber, where you take another right onto Empire Bay Drive.

Continue along Empire Bay Drive, passing through the suburb of Bensville before taking a left onto Wards Hill Road, which climbs a steep hill before joining The Scenic Road. Turn right at the junction, staying on The Scenic Road before taking the second left turn onto Putty Beach Drive.  The car park and start of the walk are at the end of the road.

Parking

There is an $8 fee (correct coins or card) payable at machines at the car park at the end of Putty Beach Drive which covers entry to the National Park.

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Sydney is one of the world’s must-see cities, and has a huge range of accommodation available in some very different areas across the city. It can be confusing to work out which is the best area to stay in Sydney, there are so many great places.  It’s possible to stay in a suite in a skyscraper overlooking the magnificent harbour, or in a tent on an island a mile or two upstream. Or there are hip inner city suburbs with great nightlife, or further out, beaches looking out onto the southern Pacific Ocean with magnificent ocean pools where you can take an early morning dip for free before hanging out at one of the many local cafes.

In this article  we will give you an overview of the best areas to stay in Sydney to help you plan a great trip. It includes information on each of the main areas in Sydney with accommodation, looking at possible pros and cons for each, rather than focusing on any individual establishments. We’ll be following up this article with features on individual suburbs to give you further detailed information.

Ultimately it all depends on your own circumstances, budget, your interests and what you’d like to experience as to what will be the best area for you to stay in Sydney.

If you wish to harbour-hop on the ferries or run and around and see all the big sights or museums, somewhere in or close to the centre is best for you. If you want a taste of beachside living, swimming in the ocean and dining in cafes by the sea then maybe you could pick somewhere like Bondi or Coogee.

The centre (the Rocks district, Circular Quay and the CBD (city centre / downtown) has a great range of options, as do some inner city suburbs – Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and Surry Hills to the east, Glebe and Newtown to the west – and some of the beachside suburbs.

Staying in the Rocks and Circular Quay

Circular Quay is the obvious starting point for a visit to Sydney and it is also one of the best areas to stay in Sydney.  It’s the hub of the city’s harbour ferry service, and Sydney’s two world-famous icons, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, are right next to it.

Immediately adjacent to Circular Quay, the Rocks is the oldest, most atmospheric part of the city, with many buildings dating from the 19th century, through to the early 20th. The area is located on a hillside, with several streets linked by steps and alleyways, and is home to some of the city’s oldest pubs, not to mention a wide range of restaurants and clubs. You’re never more than ten minutes away from the city’s ferry hub, Circular Quay, with its adjacent train station and bus stops.

If you intend using the ferries to hop around the Harbour, the Rocks and Circular Quay are ideal places to stay. There’s also a great weekend market selling lots of handicrafts along atmospheric Playfair Street.

The area is also very close to two great walk locations. To the west there is the new Barangaroo Reserve with outstanding views over the Harbour on a landscaped area formerly occupied by the city’s gas works. In the opposite direction, the beautiful green space of the Royal Botanic Garden is a few minutes’ walk to the east of Circular Quay.

As for places to stay, there are choices from some of the big chains around Circular Quay and at the southern end of the district with amazing harbour views to small hotels and pubs and a youth hostel. These often come at a premium, but for being at the heart of things, the Rocks is a great choice.

Staying in the CBD (Central Business District)

The CBD (city centre to the British, downtown to Americans) is the area between Circular Quay and Central Station, the concrete corridors of skyscrapers where big business, luxury hotels and some of the best shopping and eating in Australia can all be found. Much of the accommodation is high end and high-rise, with some spectacular views – just remember that the further from the harbour you go, the less you’ll see of it, and the more you’ll see of other high rises. If you want to see the harbour from your room, you need to look for somewhere in the northern end of the CBD, towards the Rocks. You’re very close to everything in the CBD, including ferry and bus connections and the sights around Circular Quay. Ideal for a weekend away being pampered or for a shopping expedition at the QVB and nearby Pitt Street.

Staying near Central Station Sydney  

The area around a major city’s main train station is often among its least salubrious, and this is true of Sydney. The area is great for backpackers looking to save while having excellent public transport connections and easy access to all of the city’s sights, plus the range of

wonderful food in Chinatown. It’s also a great place to stay if you need to catch an early morning train or bus.

Staying in Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour is the busy, popular waterfront area on the western edge of the CBD, and the area is full of attractions from museums to the biggest playground in the city, not to mention a huge range of restaurants (including many chains) and the fantastic view of the city lights at dusk. There are plenty of accommodation options, especially chains, and popular with families, and you can pick up some surprisingly good bargains in this part of town.

The only drawback with Darling Harbour is that it seems a bit out on a limb as far as public transport is concerned. There are regular ferries from Circular Quay, and the light rail also passes close by, but there always seems to be a fairly long walk or two involved – fine for me, but not for everyone

Staying in Kings Cross and Potts Point

Kings Cross, Sydney’s main red light district, is a very small area – essentially a large junction and a street leading off it for a few blocks – but it has always had a murky reputation. Having stayed close to it recently, it didn’t strike me as very threatening, but with a few overflowing bars and seedy strip joints it has more than a whiff of the underbelly about it. However, the backpacking scene continues to flourish, with lots of options in the streets off Darlinghurst Road and Macleay Street.

Potts Point is the Cross’ northern neighbour, very different in character with tranquil tree-lined residential streets, beautiful verandaed Victorian houses and views over the harbour to the city. There are also lots of cafes and small restaurants along main routes such as Victoria Street.

Transport connections are very good, with Kings Cross station at the end of Victoria Street, and Darlinghurst Road busy with buses linking the city in one direction and the beaches in the other.

Staying in Darlinghurst and Surry Hills

These neighbouring suburbs, which between them cover the ground from Kings Cross in the north to Central station and Redfern to the south-west – also make great bases to explore Sydney. Both these areas have a great deal going for them, especially when it comes to nightlife, with an abundance of places to eat out and drink. Darlinghurst, immediately to the south of Kings Cross, has so many great options, and if you’re in the northern part of the suburb transport links are a bit quicker than elsewhere, with the train at Kings Cross. Darlinghurst and neighbouring Paddington are at the heart of Sydney’s gay scene, and the annual Mardi Gras parade passes along Oxford and Flinders Street in the heart of Darlinghurst.

Surry Hills, immediately to the east of Central station, covers a wide area and is very well-connected with buses – you might have to change at Central to get to a lot of the sights, but that seldom takes long. 

Staying in Kirribilli & North Sydney

Hilly Kirribilli is directly across the water from the Opera House, and sits in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge, and some waterfront apartments with these outstanding views are available for rental. There are also a couple of good budget options a ten-minute walk away from transport. There are three relatively quick ways to get to Kirribilli – the train to Milsons Point station, very close to the ‘village’, and ferries either to Kirribilli wharf (at the bottom of some steps on the east side of the suburb) on the Neutral Bay route, which run every 30 minutes, or Milsons Point wharf outside Luna Park fairground, which is a 15-minute walk away.

The adjoining suburb of North Sydney has a few chain hotels – some with amazing views across the Harbour – and pubs with accommodation, and the North Sydney train station is ideal for some of these. The only drawback with this area is that it is rather lacking in character.

Beyond here, options are pretty sparse as you head east along the North Shore.

Staying in Manly

We’ve used Manly as a base for exploring Sydney several times, and we heartily recommend doing so. You feel a world away from the CBD when walking along Manly Beach at sunrise, where you’ll invariably be joined by runners, surfers and cross-training groups. This is the sunny outdoor Aussie lifestyle many imagine before actually visiting – I certainly did.

So apart from one of the most enjoyable public transport journeys in the world – the F1 ferry – to get there and back, and several beautiful beaches, does Manly have anything else going for it?

There’s a good range of accommodation, often a little less than you’d pay for something comparable in the city, and most places are only a short walk from the ferry wharf. There is good coffee aplenty, lots of food options around the main street, the pedestrianised Corso, and shops where you can stock up on food if you’re self-catering.

STAYING IN BONDI

Staying near one of the beaches can be a great way to spend your time in Sydney and to get a real taste of Sydney beachside living, to many this is a taste of living the quintessential Australian dream. . At Bondi – the most famous in the city, if not the country – you’re very close to the city (25-30 minutes on frequent buses to Central and Circular Quay) but with a very different feel to the centre. Seeing the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean is a w.onderful way to start the day, and you can surf in the sea or swim in the spectacular Icebergs pool at the southern end of the beach, or take the popular path down the coast to Coogee. Breakfast by the beach is a popular Sydney past time and Bondi is full of cafes where you will find people having a meal at all hours of the day after a dip in the ocean.

Bondi has a huge range of accommodation, from dorm beds in hostels to exclusive hotels and apartments along and just behind the beach strip, Campbell Parade

Staying in Coogee

Coogee, at the other end of the famous coastal walk from Bondi, is quieter and lower key than its neighbour to the north, but it makes an equally good base from which you can explore Sydney. It has a great beach, not to mention some of the best rock pools and baths in the city. It’s around 25-30 minutes on the bus from the city, has plenty of good places to eat and has accommodation options from backpacker hostels to boutique hotels and apartments

Staying in Newtown

Newtown has long had a reputation of being one of the most bohemian of Sydney’s suburbs. It is a couple of miles south-west of Central Station, and centred around main thoroughfare King Street, to the south of the university. The backstreets have some of the best street art in the city, and are always a pleasure to explore, while King Street and its side streets have a huge range of cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants. There are plenty of hotels, and it’s worth considering if you’re looking to rent for a few weeks or so. Also great as a base if you’re staying down for a gig at the nearby Enmore or Annandale. University halls in nearby Camperdown are also opened up as accommodation outside term time. Transport connections – buses every few minutes, trains just four stops from Central – make Newtown a very convenient option.

Staying in Glebe

Glebe is a suburb in the city’s inner south-west that has a great choice of pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants to while away a few hours and a good mix of accommodation to boot. It’s very close to the city, well-served by both the light rail and buses. The former connects Glebe with the attractions of Darling Harbour, while it’s only a short hop on the bus along Broadway to Central. Apart from some nice quirky cafes and shops along Glebe Point Road, there are also lovely walks to Blackwattle Park, for views of the landmark Anzac Bridge, and the University, just to the south in Camperdown. On Saturdays the area gets busier as people from all over the city flock to Glebe Markets, in search of all kinds of treasures old and new, not to mention some great food. A good choice.

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