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6 Days in Sydney- What area to stay? What not to miss?


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Following a 14-night Auckland to Sydney RCCL Cruise, we are spending 6 days in or near Sydney. First week of February 2018. I'd like to hear from experienced travelers. What are your suggestions as to what area to stay in and what not to miss. Sydney bridge is a given and I want to visit the pools of Bondi Beach.

 

Who are we and what are our interests? We are a couple in our 60's, reasonably fit, and we enjoy walking both in nature and taking in architecture. Our favorite travel experiences typically involve meeting and getting to know some locals, eating and drinking where the locals do. We're not avid ocean swimmers, so snorkeling the Reef may be out of the question. We're open to a hotel or vacation rental that allows us to walk to good restaurants and sites.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your reply.

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Having been to Sydney many times, I would say the most convenient areas to stay for sightseeing purposes would be either The Rocks or Circular Quay. The next most convenient would be the CBD (downtown) followed by Darling Harbour.

 

And, the Great Barrier Reef is about 1500 miles from Sydney, so you couldn't "snorkel the Reef" from Sydney even if you wanted to.

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I've only been to Sydney twice but some of things that you might enjoy:

 

- Walking around the Rocks area

- The Royal Botanical Gardens are lovely (and huge). Maybe a walk all the way Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

- See something at the Sydney Opera House.

- Take a tour of the Sydney Opera House.

- Take a harbor cruise

- Take a tour out to the Blue Mountains

- Featherdale Wildlife Park is a popular animal stop on the way to the Blue Mountains

- Take a ferry out to Manley. Walk around North Head

- Get a guide/driver to take you to some of the suburbs outside of the central business district (Surrey Hills, Chippendale, Ultimo, Paddington) for some of the more bohemian and gentrifying areas

- Take a walk in Gap Park. Opposite side of the Bay from North Head.

- Take a guided architectural walk

- Travel up to West Head in Kuh-ring-gai Chase National Park for a nature walk. If you have a good guide or are adventurous, find the Elvina Track and look for the overgrown path to an amazing Aboriginal Engravings site.

 

- Something we have not done yet but plan to is a wine trip to either the Hunter Valley (north) or Southern Highlands (south)

 

We found that the Central Business District/Darling Harbor is really easy to do on your own but once you start ranging farther afield it's easier to have a guide/driver who can connect a bunch of things together. Our second trip was two long half days where we did North of the Bay all the way up to West Head one day and a huge South of the Bay loop on the second day from Gap Park down through the beaches and then crossing back through all the southern and western suburbs.

 

Hope this helps.

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Having been to Sydney many times, I would say the most convenient areas to stay for sightseeing purposes would be either The Rocks or Circular Quay. The next most convenient would be the CBD (downtown) followed by Darling Harbour.

 

And, the Great Barrier Reef is about 1500 miles from Sydney, so you couldn't "snorkel the Reef" from Sydney even if you wanted to.

Thank you for your suggestions.

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

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I've only been to Sydney twice but some of things that you might enjoy:

 

- Walking around the Rocks area

- The Royal Botanical Gardens are lovely (and huge). Maybe a walk all the way Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

- See something at the Sydney Opera House.

- Take a tour of the Sydney Opera House.

- Take a harbor cruise

- Take a tour out to the Blue Mountains

- Featherdale Wildlife Park is a popular animal stop on the way to the Blue Mountains

- Take a ferry out to Manley. Walk around North Head

- Get a guide/driver to take you to some of the suburbs outside of the central business district (Surrey Hills, Chippendale, Ultimo, Paddington) for some of the more bohemian and gentrifying areas

- Take a walk in Gap Park. Opposite side of the Bay from North Head.

- Take a guided architectural walk

- Travel up to West Head in Kuh-ring-gai Chase National Park for a nature walk. If you have a good guide or are adventurous, find the Elvina Track and look for the overgrown path to an amazing Aboriginal Engravings site.

 

- Something we have not done yet but plan to is a wine trip to either the Hunter Valley (north) or Southern Highlands (south)

 

We found that the Central Business District/Darling Harbor is really easy to do on your own but once you start ranging farther afield it's easier to have a guide/driver who can connect a bunch of things together. Our second trip was two long half days where we did North of the Bay all the way up to West Head one day and a huge South of the Bay loop on the second day from Gap Park down through the beaches and then crossing back through all the southern and western suburbs.

 

Hope this helps.

Great info. Thank you.

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

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Taronga zoo.

 

Ferry from Circular Quay

Sky lift thing to the top

Work your way down

Ferry back to city

 

And take note of the spectacular views some of the animals have.

 

Blue Mts

 

A Day trip

 

Maybe a day trip to Canberra our nation's capital

 

If you're into wine a day trip to the Hunter Valley

 

In Sydney itself

 

Opera House

Bridge

Harbour Ferry trip

Bondi

Manly

Sydney SkyTower

 

Your biggest problem will be fitting everything in.

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We have been to Sydney four times now, and with 6 days our OP will have to prioritize. Just so much to do there.

 

But for folks with an interest in architecture I have a few suggestions. Elizabeth Bay House is lovely. The Government House offers tours several days of the week. And a walk through the Queen Victoria Building is lovely (pay particular attention to the clocks). Susannah Place is a house museum in the Rocks area which has been left in its tenement condition so we can understand how ordinary folks really lived.

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Love the Grace Hotel. All good suggestions above.

 

Eat at Cafe Sydney, have a drink at the Opera Bar

 

 

When Mrs Gut was serving on the Board of studies they started putting her up at the Grace (prior to that they'd used the Travelodge) love it there and became friends with one of the concierges (Dean) he'd see us walk in and we'd get the full service, one year we were having trouble getting a room before one of our cruises, he rand connections all over the city to find us something then told them they had to look after us.

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I've only been to Sydney twice but some of things that you might enjoy:

 

- Walking around the Rocks area

- The Royal Botanical Gardens are lovely (and huge). Maybe a walk all the way Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

- See something at the Sydney Opera House.

- Take a tour of the Sydney Opera House.

- Take a harbor cruise

- Take a tour out to the Blue Mountains

- Featherdale Wildlife Park is a popular animal stop on the way to the Blue Mountains

- Take a ferry out to Manley. Walk around North Head

- Get a guide/driver to take you to some of the suburbs outside of the central business district (Surrey Hills, Chippendale, Ultimo, Paddington) for some of the more bohemian and gentrifying areas

- Take a walk in Gap Park. Opposite side of the Bay from North Head.

- Take a guided architectural walk

- Travel up to West Head in Kuh-ring-gai Chase National Park for a nature walk. If you have a good guide or are adventurous, find the Elvina Track and look for the overgrown path to an amazing Aboriginal Engravings site.

 

- Something we have not done yet but plan to is a wine trip to either the Hunter Valley (north) or Southern Highlands (south)

 

We found that the Central Business District/Darling Harbor is really easy to do on your own but once you start ranging farther afield it's easier to have a guide/driver who can connect a bunch of things together. Our second trip was two long half days where we did North of the Bay all the way up to West Head one day and a huge South of the Bay loop on the second day from Gap Park down through the beaches and then crossing back through all the southern and western suburbs.

 

Hope this helps.

Thank you.

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

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Following a 14-night Auckland to Sydney RCCL Cruise, we are spending 6 days in or near Sydney. First week of February 2018. I'd like to hear from experienced travelers. What are your suggestions as to what area to stay in and what not to miss. Sydney bridge is a given and I want to visit the pools of Bondi Beach.

 

Who are we and what are our interests? We are a couple in our 60's, reasonably fit, and we enjoy walking both in nature and taking in architecture. Our favorite travel experiences typically involve meeting and getting to know some locals, eating and drinking where the locals do. We're not avid ocean swimmers, so snorkeling the Reef may be out of the question. We're open to a hotel or vacation rental that allows us to walk to good restaurants and sites.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your reply.

 

Eating and drinking where the locals do.

 

Try some of the pubs, you'll be amazed at the quality of food some of them produce.

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Following a 14-night Auckland to Sydney RCCL Cruise, we are spending 6 days in or near Sydney. First week of February 2018...I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your reply.

 

 

Wot?!? No one mentioned Luna Park...?!?

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