What YOU CAN’T MISS in Sydney | A Sydney Travel Guide

Sydney a city that many would refer to as a crown jewel of Australia from its stunning cliffsides to its sun-kissed beaches from world-renowned architecture to Multicultural neighborhoods that you've probably never heard of Sydney is a city that always delivers exactly what you want someone who's lived in Sydney for almost five years I want to go over some of the known and unknown places to visit I want to go over the neighborhoods that you've never heard of and the opera house that everybody's seen some beaches that are secluded and hard to find and bond diving which is world famous whether you're a seasoned local who's been here their whole lives or a tourist who couldn't even find Australia on the map I'm hoping that this will have something new for you to do in Sydney let's kick things off with the number one thing that anyone has to do when they come to Sydney and that would be see the Sydney Opera house over 50 years old the opera house is one of the main attractions when anyone comes to Australia visited by more than 1.2 million people a year and it was opened up by Queen Elizabeth herself this is something that every visitor to Australia and said Sydney needs to see you're lucky enough to be in Sydney during any one of a number of events you'll get to see the opera house lit up with a projector and if you're looking to go inside the opera house and see it itself you could just wander in like you're looking to buy tickets you could do a tour you could even go to see an opera or you can go out to the themed Benny Long restaurant for an amazing but expensive meal on the more budget side of things there's always the Opera bar located right outside the opera house it's somewhat inside the opera house it's just in the underground part of it and you can sit right by the water enjoy a drink as you watch boats come and go you also get an amazing view of the Harbor Bridge and for a backdrop you have the famed Sydney Opera House the number two on our list we have circular key this would be the harbor walk between the opera house and The Rock the other key is the area that every cruise ship will drop its passengers off in right in the heart of Sydney out of boats leave from this area so whether you're looking to take a ferry to manly Beach or go out while watching this is likely a place that you will end up knowing matter what in addition to this right behind the fairy Port you have a subway station that'll take you all over the city and further back behind that you have a nice little walkway pedestrian area where trams can pick you up and across from the trams you have a nice mall that you can go to for a number of fast food options in this area you will come across souvenir shops but I would recommend not going to them products they sell are fine but you can find the products for a lot cheaper at other places that are going to be listed later on in this video now moving on from circulars Key we've got the Rocks rocks would be the oldest neighborhood in Sydney and in fact the oldest neighborhood in Australia it was settled in 1788 by some of the first Europeans to come to Australia and since then it has been populated it has a lot of history including some amazing ghost stories so if you're looking for a place that you want to take a tour get a walking tour the Rocks would probably be the place to go from a no-nonsense historical tour to a ghost tour you can find them all in the rocks and if if you're looking for a place to visit I'd recommend a Fortune of War which is the oldest bar or Pub in Sydney it has that classic Pub feel to it you can get a good fish and chips and sometimes you even have live music that's sad if you like this neighborhood make sure you wander around make sure you explore because there's something amazing around every corner now we're going to be headed across the bay back to the opera house and we're going to be talking about the Royal Botanical Garden the Royal Botanical Garden is in my opinion the most beautiful garden or park that you can find in Sydney it's 30 hectic acres and it was established in 1816. entry to the Garden is completely free and if you're looking to find some of the birds that Australia is famed for without leaving the city you can find them here in addition to bin chickens which you can find throughout the city you can also find kookaburras parrots and cockatoos along with that you're going to find some species of trees and plants that are native to Australia and some that are native to Asia and sort of surrounding continents it's a beautiful way to just walk through a park see a lot out of History see a lot of sights and really enjoy or put a nice little ending to your day do note that the park does close around Sunset so make sure you're not going there too late in the day because there is a lot to explore from beautiful Italian style Gardens to picturesque desert landscape you can find it all in this park and I would recommend you take at least a couple hours to explore it if you time everything right you're gonna get done exploring the park around Sunset which means you can walk up to miss mcqueary's chair get a breathtaking view of Sydney seriously there is no better way to see the city and if you're looking for the perfect Instagram spot or just spot to take a photo this is it foreign from here if you walk into the city you will be able to see Saint Mary's Cathedral there's no shame in taking an Uber because it is a bit of a walk but Saint Mary's Cathedral is one of the more beautiful pieces of Gothic architecture in Sydney it's a stunning Cathedral inside and out it's meticulously carved and designed it dates back over 200 years to hitting many Sydney locals have been baptized married and buried in this very Cathedral now across from the cathedral you have Hyde Park it has a beautiful fountain that is amazing for walking I used to live in the area I affectionately called it my dog's billion dollar bathroom but despite the name I've just given it Hyde Park is amazing to visit it's lined by Massive Australian native trees if you want to enjoy a Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon like a true Australian grab a cup of coffee go to the park sit back relax and watch the day lazily pass you by the park is amazing the locals love it it's great for picnic and it's great for seeing a few of the local animals fun fact this is the only place in Australia that I've ever seen a possum also located in Hyde Park is the Anzac Memorial in Australia each major city has its own special War Memorial this is Sydney's it was built after World War One to commemorate all the soldiers who fought in various battles and lost their lives and it continues to represent all soldiers since now we're going to be jumping all the way across Sydney to Darling Harbor darling Harbor contains a lot of attractions that they themselves are worth visiting but the harbor itself is just an amazing place to go relax maybe enjoy a really good bite to eat there's a lot of restaurants here there's a few nightclubs if that's what you're looking for and of course there's a lot of bars it's a great place to go bar hopping it's a great place to get a nice dinner or a great place to go clubbing there's a lot that you can do here and it has something for everyone those of you that like boats this is where a lot of boats will pick you up if you're looking to do a dinner cruise around the harbor a party cruise out in the ocean or even a deep sea fishing expedition in addition to those of you that like boats you also have the Australian National Maritime Museum him here you'll be able to actually get onto and explore a submarine or see the extremely amazingly named hmas vampire in Inland but still inside of darling Harbor you have the Chinese Garden of friendship while the garden itself is not huge it's an oasis of calm inside of the city you can go here sit next to the pond listen to the waterfall and enjoy some tea all while contemplating your next adventure in Sydney it's Tranquility at its finest moving on from the Chinese Garden of friendship you can go off to Chinatown if you're familiar with chinatown's this would be what you expect it's a 1950s Style Chinatown inside of the Sydney Chinatown you'll find a lot of more modern Chinese or Asian style restaurants and activities their Myriad number of brightly lit arcades that you or your kids can go enjoy you have famed restaurants and tons of authentic Chinese places that you can go to shop however if you're looking for souvenirs I suggest you keep going to Patty's Market Paddy's Market is where you're going to get some of the cheapest souvenirs that you can get in Sydney from a kangaroo skinned rug to a Sydney themed magnet to um less than copyright friendly shoes shirts and everything in between this Market has it all and one thing not to skip on Patty's Market is going up to the top floor of the market this would be the third floor it has some really cool restaurants and if I must say so myself the food here is pretty good and it's a decent price now if we jump into the middle of the city you've got the Queen Victoria building opened in 1898 this is a stunning Victorian building it's one of the best examples of Victorian architecture in the city and a definite must see you go to the top floor of this building you can see the famed Royal clock which was commissioned by none other than Queen Elizabeth II and while we're talking about malls that you have to visit I've got one more for you it's called The Strand arcade and arcade is what they call malls a lot of the time and this arcade or Mall just happens to be a architecture Marvel it was built in the late 1800s and has a Victorian style that you're going to love if you like the Queen Victoria building it's a definite must see and not too far from the qvb so why not and while you're down this way there's one other place that I'd recommend visiting and that would be Martin place this is a very beautiful place it has some amazing Bank buildings around it that were built in the 1800s and again have that historical Victorian architecture style and if you're a fan of the Matrix you're probably going to recognize the fountain just remember the girl in the red dress can't be trusted and now let's jump to something everybody probably knows about the Sydney Harbor Bridge besides the opera house is probably one of Australia's most recognized architectural objects the bridge stretches between Sydney and North Sydney and is transverse by over 160 000 cars a day the bridge was opened in 1932 and it cost over 1.5 billion Australian dollars that would be in today's money back then it cost about 10 million pounds as far as seeing the bridge goes there's a few different ways you can do it you can walk across the bridge you can drive across the bridge or you can take a subway train across the bridge the subway train and walking across the bridge will give you amazing views driving across the bridge still will reward you with a pretty nice view but it's not as good as walking or taking the subway if you're looking to get a bird's eye view of the bridge you can do the bridge climb it costs a couple hundred dollars and that's why you're not seeing any footage of it here in this video however there's also a 20 option where you can go up into one of the towers and still get a pretty spectacular review now let's jump back into Sydney proper and go over some of the boat rides that you can take because there's a mirrored amount of options here whether you're only looking to spend a few bucks with a ferry from Sydney to manly or you want to go all out and see some whales there are options for you and I recommend you take at least one of them because being Sydney from the harbor is something everybody should do if they visit the city it's one of the best things one of the best ways that you can view the city so I definitely recommend it so the first thing I wanted to mention was whale watching because if you have never gone whale watching it is an experience in Sydney most of the whale watching tours are nice enough to guarantee that you will see well if you do not see a whale they'll allow you to rebook your trip so make sure you do that early on into your visit to Sydney so that if you do have to rebook you will be able to but rest assured I've gone well watching twice and both times we managed to see a few whales one of the times we even managed to see a few dolphins and a seal also worth mentioning is that you're not just going out to see the animals on the way out into the ocean to see the whales you're gonna be able to see these stunning Oceanside Cliffs that Sydney has you can also see them from a few Vantage points on land but seeing them from a ship is a whole other experience entirely and at this point I'm going to mention too that another option if you want to go out into the ocean is to take a fishing Expedition I've never done it but a lot of people love it so if that's your thing maybe that's worth booking if however you want to do it on the cheap there is an option for you and that would be to take a ferry to manly so Sydney has a few forms of public transportation one of them being the ferry you can take a ferry from darling Harbor circular key take it to manly it's a really nice trip you go through through the harbor you're gonna go out into the ocean just a little bit so you can see those stunning Cliffs and then you're gonna ride the manly which is a whole nother experience and one that I definitely recommend but we're not gonna be going to manly just yet because there's a few other options to cover so the last option that I wanted to cover would be a dining Cruise or just a lunch or dinner cruise these are going to take you into the harbor but they're not actually going to go out into the ocean you'll go just to sort of that mouth of the bay and then you're gonna turn around you'll still get a lot of the stunning views and Vistas but it just doesn't go quite as far if you're looking for a nice relaxing day out on the water this would probably be the option for you because these cruises tend to last two to three hours and these cruises aren't just for tourists a lot of locals will do this if they're going out for dinner with family or companies will take their employees out to celebrate a big win or Christmas fun fact Australia celebrates Christmas twice once in July and once on Christmas that's for another video however which reminds me if you've made it 13 minutes into this video you probably like the style so please hit subscribe it helps me grow this channel I'm trying to get to a thousand subscribers it would be really awesome to be able to do that before 2023 comes to an end now moving into North Sydney here you've got a few things that you might want to do the first one would be Luna Park Luna Park is an amusement park it has a few different rides it's mainly geared towards kids so we're talking about kids for maybe ages five or six up to 13 I'd say the rides aren't anything spectacular if you're coming from the US it's not like Six Flags it's a little more dialed down but it's still a lot of fun also from the ferris wheel you will get an amazing view Luna Park is free to enter so even if you're not interested in taking the rides you can go there and take some really cool shots but if you are interested in riding some of the rides do note that's an all or nothing type of things you pay for the tickets and you get unlimited access to all the rides but you cannot buy a ticket to just one or two rides so if you want to experience that Ferris wheel you gotta pay for the whole experience also outside of Luna Park you've got lavender Bay this is a beautiful Bay in Sydney that's gonna be a theme here because there are so many of them this Bay however gives you an amazing view looking into Sydney proper sort of the CBD of Sydney or the Sydney downtown if you're American you get a beautiful view of the Opera House the Harbor Bridge a lot of Sydney skyscrapers and you can see a lot of boats going by it's great if you're looking for a time lapse or just an amazing photo of the city also in this area there's a coffee shop that I'd like to recommend it's called Celsius coffee and dining it's right on the water and while the food and the coffee hasn't blown me away coffee in Sydney is generally on another level and the view just being right on the water makes it a pristine experience I'd recommend for anyone it's a five to six dollar cup of coffee so what do you have to lose moving further into the northern Sydney area we're going to be going to Mossman Bossman is one of the Richer areas of Sydney and it's pretty expensive here there's some really nice restaurants and what I've found is a lot of Americans with families tend to live in this area I don't however because houses here cost something like five million dollars reason though that I'm recommending this area to you is because it contains the taronga zoo the tiranga zoo is probably the best zoo in Australia it's really nice as animals from all over the world and has beautiful views of Sydney from what I read the zoo actually does treat its animals fairly respectfully moving further north we're going to be eventually getting to manly now if you're going to manly you couldn't do it by bus or you could drive there but do remember that I said there's that whole ferry that goes from Sydney to manly and it's definitely worth doing at least once as far as manly itself goes manly is a chill Oceanside Beach town if you get off the ferry and manly you're gonna be thrust right into sort of the downtown of manly this is a boardwalk style area where you can go from restaurants to stores to everything in between in this area you're also going to find a four Pines Brewery which is a really good Sydney beer company that I'd recommend at least having one beer from comes to beaches the beach that I'd recommend and the only beaches I've actually been to in the area would be the manly Beach it's a beautiful beach it's amazing it's right on the ocean obviously you're gonna get the waves coming in you're gonna get the weather coming in but it is a stunning Beach like so many Sydney beaches are and it's definitely worth a visit you can also rent Kayaks here if you're looking to go and explore the ocean a bit and if you want more of a hike you can go to the north head Sanctuary which has some beautiful views and stunning Trails moving across the bay from manly Beach we're going to be going into the Eastern suburbs of Sydney these would be the richest suburbs of Sydney if you're looking for Ferraris and Lamborghinis you're going to find a ton here along with some Bugattis and rare exotic cars can't tell you where exactly to find them but if you happen to drive through this area for an hour you will definitely find some of them however no one comes all the way to Australia to view a few super cars but a lot of people do come for Bandai Beach this is one of the most famous beaches in the world and it can be found in the suburb of Bandai which is an Eastern suburb of Sydney I would love to be able to adequately describe Bandai Beach but words will fail so I'll let the video do it for me and for those of you who don't know Bandai Beach is more than just a beach just inside the beach you've got a nice Boardwalk that has some amazing places that you can get fish and chips a nice coffee or even a tattoo one Fame place that a lot of people love to go is the Bandai icebergs swimming club you can get lunch or dinner here there's hurricanes which is an amazing place if you're looking for some grilled barbecue meat and they've also got a swimming pool which is filled up with natural ocean water if you've walked from Bandai Beach to icebergs you've started the Bandai to Koji walk this is probably the most beautiful walk you could do in Sydney and if you're going to be doing any hiking this is what I would recommend it's gonna take you along a few Cliffs it's going to take you down into some lesser known but still amazing beaches you might be able to even see a black parrot and at the end of the six kilometer walk you're gonna end up in Koji Beach which is another amazing Beach this one stretches out a little bit more and has room for barbecues if that is the thing you're looking for Bandai is more of this hip lively place Koji is a little bit more feedback but it still has all the amenities that you could hope for at a beach if you enjoyed the Montana Koji Cliff Walk another area I'd recommend visiting is the clues this is a quieter Eastern suburb that is still located along the ocean beaches here a lot smaller and the main thing you're going to be coming here for is Cliff walks there's some really beautiful spots along the cliffs that you can just take in the ocean waves crashing against the rocks and really sort of sit back and relax there's not going to be as many tours here it's a little bit more often beaten Trail and if you're looking for beaches they're not going to be as good they're not going to be as populated but they're still going to be pretty amazing at this point though I need to give you a warning regarding the beaches if you're going to any beaches in Sydney or even Australia always make sure there's a lifeguard on duty or someone around that knows what they're doing beaches in Australia can be extremely beautiful but the water can be extremely dangerous the currents the tides the animals there's a lot of things that can go wrong in the ocean and on these beaches Bandai Beach is usually safe there's going to be warning signs out there's going to be lifeguards on duty some of these lesser-known beaches will look pristine they'll look beautiful you'll see no one there but sometimes there's a reason that no one's there so make sure you know what you're doing and make sure that you play it safe I'm a pretty good swimmer at one point I was almost a lifeguard and I still wouldn't risk it a lot of these beaches because I'm not a local I've only been in Australia for five years and I still don't know how to spot some of the natural dangers that Australians do know how to spot but enough about the things in Australia can kill you let's talk about another Beach that's going to blow you away in a good way and this would be granula Beach granular Beach is a stunning Beach that's located about 30 to 40 minutes south of Sydney it's a little bit of a trip to get out here and I wouldn't recommend going unless you've got a lot of time in this city but if you do manage to go it is a stellar Beach a lot of surfers swear by it and a lot of locals still love to come here swimming because it's never too busy each stretches on for ways so you're almost guaranteed to be able to find a secluded spot if that's what you're looking for and the surrounding area itself gives the beach more of a European Vibe they remind me of something that I'd expect to see in Spain rather than Australia now moving away from the beaches and the Eastern suburbs we're going to be going west the first more Western suburb of Sydney that I'm going to be recommending is the Burwood Chinatown the reason that I'm recommending the Burwood Chinatown area is because it stands out from a typical Chinatown this area is a more modern take on Chinatown and it is flooded with neon sign lights are everywhere it's extremely bright it's almost overwhelming to the senses and when you first step in there you really will be blown away boot options are not just limited to Chinese food and you can pick from anything from a Japanese restaurant serving conveyor belt Sushi to small markets doll slings Singaporean noodles to your classic Chinese hot pot they've also got arcades and a really cool playground for kids and while we're out in the Eastern suburbs there is one place that I would recommend depending on your situation if you're here during Easter the Olympic Park is going to be hosting the Royal Easter show the Royal Easter show is an experience that everybody should have if they visit Sydney during Easter it is crazy it's intense you get pretty much every food truck in the city and there's a lot of them going to one location selling everything that you can imagine you've got rides for little kids to big kids to adults you've got shows for people who are interested in cows Bulls chickens and you've also got Farms so it's basically a mix between some sort of State Fair a circus and an amusement park it is worth seeing if you're here in Easter and in addition to that if you are near Olympic Park and you have kids I'd recommend visiting the blaxland Riverside Park it's been rated as having one of the best playgrounds in the world these lives are built into Hills the kids literally go underground and pop out at the bottom of the hill you've got webbing for kids to climb on there's a little water park if it's hot enough and you've even got a doll house that goes on multiple stories if your kids are a bit older and you can trust them to be on your own you can sit alongside the river at a barbecue cook up some meat and enjoy a beautiful sunset while your kids get tired out well both Burwood and Olympic Park are about 30 minutes outside of Sydney proper now we're going to be talking about day trips specifically going into the Blue Mountains if you're planning a trip Into the Blue Mountains please note that you almost definitely need a car there are chores and things like that that you can hire out but make sure you do that before going to the Blue Mountains if you book a tour the way you're probably going to want to do it is take the subway to katumba and from there you're going to be jumping onto a tour bus you could do things by bus but it's going to take a while it's going to take way too long and you're not going to be able to see everything in the Blue Mountains there's a few things that you definitely need to do the first off would be to see three sisters it's a stunning Rock outcropping and it is right along a canyon side to get to the three sisters you're going to take a little bit of a hike we're talking maybe 10 to 20 minute hike you're gonna see the three sisters and then you're gonna be able to look out across the valley this would be the Jameson Valley and from the three sisters you can take some stairs down into this Valley but this is not for the faint of heart or the inexperience there are a lot of stairs here it's not that's something that I personally did because it's it's a lot of stairs it looks like a beautiful hike it looks amazing but it could go wrong if you're not prepared if you want a hike that's a little bit easier the one I would recommend is a Grand Canyon walking trail this Trail is six kilometers long and it will loop around so you basically start where you finish when you arrive at this Trail you will begin from a parking lot that is located high up in the canyons you will climb your way down some stairs into these Canyons which is where you're going to see rainforest Yes you heard me right you're gonna start in Treetop mountains and climb your way down into a rain forest trail will wind you through Canyons past waterfalls under rocks and then you're gonna come out on the other side back in the mountains it is a bit of an intensive hike and you want to make sure you're prepared for it but in a couple hours you can do this assuming you're fairly fit also while you're in the Blue Mountains a favorite of any Sydney local is the Hydro Majestic you can book a high tea experience here or just come for the coffee you're gonna get in amazing view of the Blue Mountains and you're going to be able to See For Miles it's spectacular and better yet no matter what the weather you can sit back inside and enjoy finally moving away from the Blue Mountains there's a few places that I'd recommend if you're looking for a weekend getaway the first place would be Hunter Valley Hunter Valley is where a lot of amazing wine is made and if you strategically book your hotel you can literally walk to multiple wineries in a few minutes the way I would recommend doing Hunter Valley is first you need to drive there once you get to Hunter Valley you can take a wine tour going to some of the wineries a little bit harder to visit and after that you can go back to your hotel and walk to some of the wineries that are closer to you there's a lot of amazing options here a lot of the wines are Stellar but do note alcohol in Australia is a bit expensive wine is generally one of the cheaper ways to get drunk but you're still going to be spending 10 to 50 dollars for your average bottle for comparison if you're going to be buying a bottle of hard liquor you're going to be paying well over fifty dollars for it and if you're just looking to get on the beers the Australians would say expect to pay a minimum of three dollars per beer assuming you're buying it from a liquor shop if you're going out drinking a good pup might have a deal they'll get you a schooner for six to seven dollars and a pint for somewhere between seven and nine if it's not during happy hour however expect to pay about 10 to 15 dollars for a bottle or pint of beer for reference if you're getting house wine at a bar you're probably gonna be paying about twelve to Fifteen dollars for that wine and if you're looking to get a cocktail you're gonna be probably paying 18 to 25 for a cocktail and this would be at your average place and speaking of places I've got one more place to recommend and that would be Jarvis Bay Jarvis Bay is located two to three hours south of Sydney but it has one of the best beaches in the world it's supposed to have the whitest sand in the world and at night the beach can become a photo luminescent this is because of the Plankton that soaks in the sunlight during the day and gives off light at night it's not a guarantee but if you go down there and get to see the photo luminescence it's probably one of the few experiences that you can only have in Australia and speaking of experiences you can only have in Australia make sure you hit subscribe if you don't want to miss out on more amazing experiences also check the description for some useful links and maybe even a map of all locations mentioned in this video

Channel: Traveler’s Memoire

Views: 14,385

Keywords: Sydney, Sydney Australia, Australia, Sydney Tourism, What to do in Sydney, Things to do in Sydney, What to see in Sydney, Top things to see in Sydney, Sydney travel, Sydney tourism, sydney vlog, what to do in sydney 2023, sydney 2023, 2023, Australia 2023, Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, Darling Harbour, Circular Quey, Tourism, tour, travel, travel vlog, Chinatown, Burwood, Hunter Valley, Blue Mountains, Sydney Day Trips, Sydney Boat, Sydney Boat trips, NSW

Id: ZRn9z6Ha0Ho

Length: 26min 0sec (1560 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 31 2023