The Perfect 7 Day Itinerary for Sydney, Australia
We visited Sydney for the first time earlier this year and absolutely fell in love! We hardly ever say we could see ourselves living anywhere else other than NYC, but Sydney totally captivated us. We went in February (which is Sydney’s summer) of 2023 for World Pride and had an absolutely unforgettable time. We spent about 10 days in Sydney total and stayed in a few different areas of the city, so we felt like we have a good sense of what you should do when you go!
Where to Stay in Sydney
During our time in Sydney we stayed at 2 different hotels in 2 different neighborhood of the city! The first one was the Ovolo Wooloomooloo which is a luxury boutique hotel located in the Wooloomooloo area. It’s right on the wharf, and was nearby/in walking distance to a ton of stuff we wanted to do and see. The Ovolo is a very unique property — our room was a loft and had tons of space, and it has an amazing vegan restaurant/bar on site called Alibi.
Later in our trip we stayed at the Little National Hotel in the CBD/Barangaroo neighborhood. We absolutely loved this location because it was right outside the metro and in walking distance to tons of things we wanted to do in Sydney. Our room in the Little National Hotel was small yet functional, but the rooftop was epic. It made the small room worthwhile! If you’re looking for an affordable stay in a 4 star hotel, located in a good neighborhood, we highly recommend the Little National Hotel!
Find other Sydney accommodations on hotels.com!
How to Get Around Sydney
There are many different ways to get around Sydney — walking is the best in our opinion because so many things are in walking distance to each other. But Sydney’s metro system works great and is also very affordable! We used our Apple Pay to tap in and out each time so we didn’t get a metro card, and you get charged by the distance you’re going. There are also ferries you can take to go to certain areas that aren’t accessible by metro — for example we took the ferry to Manly Beach one day and loved it! The ferry takes you past the famous Opera House and it such a nice ride when the weather is good. Lastly you can use Uber to get around if necessary. Ubers can get expensive but I believe the metro stopped running at a certain time so if you stay out late, Uber might be your best bet.
Best Things to do in Sydney
Circular Quay/Sydney Opera House
Sydney Harbor Bridge
Manly Beach
Sydney Opera House
Since we spent about 10 days in the Sydney area, we did a ton of stuff during our trip. We will leave our top things to do below!
Head to Bondi Beach for the day - Bondi Beach is about 20-30 minutes outside of Sydney. You can easily access it by bus, metro, or Uber. The Bondi area is beautiful and famous for it’s surfing. Once you are there, you can do the Bondi to Coogee walk which takes you past the other beaches in the area (Coogee, Bronte, etc.) Here you’ll also find the photogenic Giles Bath, Bronte Bath, and the Bronte Bath stairs. The Bondi Iceberg Pool was one of our favorite things we did, we actually went twice! It’s a pool at the edge of the ocean so you can swim but also get splashed with the ocean water as well. It’s one of the most unique things we’ve ever done and we highly recommend doing this when you’re in the Bondi area! I believe it was $11AUD to enter the Iceberg Pool.
Walk Around the Sydney CBD (Central Business District) - This area has a lot of the main tourist attractions like the Sydney Opera House and The Royal Botanic Garden, but also tons of restaurants, cafes, and bars.
Explore the hip neighborhood of Newtown - probably our favorite neighborhood in Sydney! Newtown is known for it’s amazing vegan cuisine, local shops, and thrift stores aka hipster paradise! We came back to Newtown a lot and it was very easy to access on the metro.
Do a Sunset Cruise on the Harbor — They might be pricey but it’s worth it! You will get epic views of the sunset and sail under the famous Harbor Bridge. Our cruise was a special World Pride one, but there were tons of other sunset cruises in the area. If left from the Barangaroo wharf and that neighborhood is super cute as well!
Take the ferry to Manly Beach - Manly Beach is another popular beach near Sydney also famous for it’s surfing. It was only 20-25 minutes by ferry, and the Manly Beach area is super cute! It has a similar vibe to Bondi but much smaller. We loved Manly Beach and ate some amazing vegan food on the little strip.
Check out The Rocks/Circular Quay - The Rocks is one of the oldest and most historical areas of Sydney, and nearby is one of our favorite areas Circular Quay — where you can get epic views of the Opera House and the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge!
Other areas to check out: Darling Harbor, Luna Park, & Green Square Library (rainbow library)
Check out Sydney tours & activities here on Expedia!
Where to Eat & Drink in Sydney
Bootleg Italian
L’Expresso House
Sydney was vegan heaven! There were tons of amazing vegan options and plant-based restaurants to chose from. We will leave our favorites below:
Gigi Pizzeria (Newtown)
Lord of the Fries - many locations
Bad Hombres
Laneway Dumplings
Joe’s Sandwich Bar (CBD)
Wild Sage (Barangaroo)
Indu (CBD)
Kindness Vegan
Bootleg Italian
L’Expresso House (Wooloomooloo)
Aslan Coffee (The Rocks)
Devon Cafe (Barangaroo)
Georgie Boy’s Coffee
Pure Wholefoods - many locations
Shuk Falafel (Bondi)
Vandal (Newtown)
Alibi (Ovolo Wooloomooloo)
Garden of Eden Cafe (Bondi)
Shift Eatery
Green Lion Pub
The Burdekin Hotel - gay bar
The LGBTQ+ Scene in Sydney
Barangaroo Wharf
Prince Alfred Park
Sydney had an amazing LGBTQ+ scene, and its one of the places we’ve felt the safest traveling as a lesbian couple. To be fair, we were visiting during World Pride so the whole city was decked out in rainbows the entire time we were there. But we saw tons of queer locals and bars, restaurants, cafes etc. that are queer all year! The LGBTQ+ area is on Oxford Street (where Sydney’s Mardi Gras/Pride Parade happens every year) and there you will find tons of LGBTQ+ bars, shops, and restaurants. Being in Sydney for World Pride was so special and we were so glad we got to be there for such an iconic time in LGBTQ culture!
If you want to see what Sydney & World Pride were really like for us, make sure you check out our Sydney and World Pride vlogs on YouTube!
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