Discover Sydney, Australia: Interesting places on travel blog

Exploring Australia #3: Sydney

It's time to start my travel's blog third article about exploring Australia. In last two posts, we discovered Paronella Park, William Ricketts SanctuaryMungo National Park and Redwood Forest. This time we will learn about tourist attractions and interesting places in Sydney.

Harbour Bridge in Sydney

Sidney is a beautiful and the largest city in Australia (but not the capital) surrounded by a lot of great sand beaches, like Bondi beach and Bronte beach. There is a lot of different great attractions here, so to visit all of it you will need at least three or four days. It's also a very expensive city. I this travel guide, I will describe the most interesting places that I enjoyed during my trip to Sydney.

Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge called also "The Coathanger", is a steel bridge that carries cars, trains, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. With nearby Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge became the symbol of Sydney and the whole Australia. It is the sixth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 m from top to water level. It was built in 1932.

Sydney Opera view from the Harbour Bridge

The Harbour Bridge is the perfect place to photograph the famous Sydney Opera House as well as the city's center, so make sure to bring your camera with yourself.

Apart from all that, you can also take a tour from the water and see the place from a whole other perspective. Lots of people visiting tend to take up the offer of a boat hire in Sydney Harbor to see this magical city while cruising around the coast. This experience will surely give you a lot to talk about when you get back.

Tip: There is a great tourist attraction here! You can actually climb to the top of the bridge to see even better views and the panorama of Sydney. Just make sure you are not afraid of heights or you will have serious problems. An adult ticket for the climbing costs 188 AUD for a 1,5 hours climb halfway to the top and 318 AUD for a 3,5 hours climb to the top (2018 prices).

Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia. Source: Pavel / Wikipedia.

Royal Botanical Gardens

Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney are more than 200 years old (created in 1816) and they are the most beautiful botanic gardens I've ever seen and the oldest scientific institution in Australia. The place is located right from the city center, just a few minutes walk from there.

You can find here a great collection of different plants from all over the world, mostly from South Pacific and Australia. Also, you can meet here a lot of animals like Flying Foxes, Eastern Water Dragons or Rainbow Lorikeets. If you are a photographer, you should search here for two very popular points: Mrs. Macquaries Points and Chair. There is a great view on Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and the legend says that in the first part of 19th century the governor's wife had her chair carved out of the rock to watch ships passing by.

Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. Source: Jeff Turner / Flickr.

The entrance to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney is totally free. There is only a fee if you want to get inside the Tropical Centre. This is a very interesting place and it's really worth to visit it.

Circular Quay in Sydney

Circular Quay and Sydney Opera

Circular Quay is the most beautiful part of the city, including Sydney Opera and Harbour Bridge. You can really feel the pulse of the Sydney here, but also the pulse of a lot of tourists :-) This is the perfect place for taking a walk or just to sit and watch the ships. 

There are a lot of restaurant and cafes here, but you must be prepared that they will be expensive, so I recommend to take some sandwiches with you. If you want to visit the Sydney Opera, the best way is to take the 1-hour tour. There are also few other interesting places and tourist attractions here: the Museum of Contemporary Art and Customs House.

Sydney Tower Eye

Sydney Tower Eye

The Sydney Tower Eye is the tallest building in the whole city, that stands about 310 meters above the Sydney central business district. It can be found on Market Street, just between Castlereagh and Pitt Streets.

The tower is one of the biggest and most popular Sydney tourist attractions and it's visible from almost every part of the city. It costs 50 AUD if you but your ticket through the internet and 70 AUD if you will buy the ticket inside the tower.

The Sydney Tower Eye is the must-see while being in Sydney, as there are magnificent views and the whole city panorama. It's, of course, a little bit expensive, but as the whole city.

Koala Beer in Taronga Zoo, Sydney

Taronga Zoo

The best way to get into Taronga Zoo is to take a ferry from Circular Quay - this should take less than 15 minutes. Once you get here, you will discover that this is something like the whole Australia in one place. You will find here all sort of different animals, from Gorillas, Giraffes, Zebras, Bongos, Koala Bears and Elephants all the way to the reptiles and birds.

You must remember, that a lot of animals in Taronga have their showing times and are not accessible whole day, so if you are determined to see all of them, you probably will have to spend here at least few hours.

Bondi Beach in Sydney

Bondi Beach

Bondi beach is my favorite beach in Sydney and one of the best tourist attractions in the city. It's also the most popular one, so it can be a little crowded if you are not during the winter season (but then you have the whole beach for yourself). It's a perfect place to learn surfing or just to get a good sunbath.

Beware: Although the beach looks always amazing in the pictures, the water can be very cold, so if you are planning a swimming, make sure to choose the right part of the year.

Conclusion

While visiting Sydney, it's a good idea to buy an Opal card. If you will do this, you will get an access to the buses, trains, and ferries all around the city, and even further: by using Opal card, you will be able to travel to the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Hunter, Illawarra and Southern Highlands.

I hope you enjoyed my Sydney travel guide. It's a great city, probably the best one in Australia. There are tons of interesting places and tourist attractions, and on this Sydney travel blog, I tried to show you the ones that were the best for me. If you have any questions about the city of Sydney or Australia, feel free to leave me a comment below.

Wojciech Kuźma

Hey there! My name is Wojtek and I am very happy that you came to my travel blog. I've been traveling the world for a few good years now and I still want more.

On my website I describe the adventures that have happened to me, you will also find here a collection of valuable tips for tourists and travelers. If you liked this article, be sure to leave a comment and read some more!


4.89 | 9 votes
Comments: 5
  •   6th June 2018, 11:08

    Sydney is a fantastic city and I really enjoyed visiting it, probably the most of all my Australia trip. There are so many great cafes, shops and parks everywhere and a lot of other great tourist attractions and interesting places. Great Sydney travel blog, keep going this way!

  •   6th June 2018, 14:26

    Great Sydney travel guide! Im planning my own trip to Australia and Sydney is a must-see, so I will use information from your travel blog. Thanks :-)

  •   19th September 2018, 17:43

    Bondi Beach is on my list. Iconic spot. Sensational post here.

  •   13th February 2020, 13:29

    Wow, Ive got to check out these places when I visit Australia!

  •   26th November 2021, 11:47

    Great Post!!! I truly believe that there is much more to explore new places. The world has incredible beauty which makes us visit new places for sure.

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