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We have been playing with a short trip away to Sydney. We hoped to go to the zoo and aquarium. Where would you stay? Any other places we could visit? Had thought about taking a train to Central but that is pretty much the best of my knowledge of the area. I'm from a small town country area and tbh have never used public transport :redface:
I have no idea what is where. Help!
TIA
I love love love the Chinese Gardens :)
And I love the cove at night.
Anywhere in the city would work for you to easily do those things. Walk to aquarium from your hotel and walk to circular quay and catch a ferry across to the zoo.
You could also wander to the Opera House, have a picnic in the botanic gardens or just sit by the harbour near the rocks.
Have a great time. :)
Will you be here on a Sunday? $2.50 tickets (under 4s are free) on trains/buses/ferries/light rail. You can catch train to central, get on light rail to The Star, visit Zumbo for yumminess (plus other great eats in the food court there or the Garden Buffet, which is pretty amazing) and nice clean toilets! Then walk to Darling Harbour and explore, or catch the ferry from near the maritime museum. One of the routes from there goes via Luna Park wharf, under bridge to circular quay.
I would stay near Darling Harbour (including Astral Towers at The Star - very nice) or near the Quay. Are you on a budget or splurging?
Are you into food/shopping/sightseeing the famous bits/museums and culture/architecture?
I think you have an almost 4 yo and a 1 yo from your sig?
Chinese Gardens are great
Sydney Tower (eat a meal at yum cha in Westfield Sydney or in the food court on the level below)
Darling quarter has a fantastic playground (take spare clothes, towel and plastic bag - it has a water section)
Darling harbour nice but with the redevelopment isn't quite as pretty as normal
Botanic Gardens are beautiful
Walk around near Opera House
The Rocks (not as interesting for kids though)
Shopping in the QVB (go to the upper level for the clock etc, which is pretty cool), Pitt St mall, Westfield (under Sydney Tower) and The Strand Arcade
You might want to look at some of the multi-attraction passes if you want to see a lot
Museums tend to be cheaper - Powerhouse is pretty cool for your 4yo and there is also the Australian Museum
Hope that gives you some ideas! Any more questions just ask.
If I was going to Sydney, I'd go to Melbourne instead ;) :p
We did Sydney in April, went to see The Lion King with my family so we had Nanna, Pop, two mums, two dads, five kids ages 6-1. We stayed at Freshwater Beach, just north of Manly, in a big house. I think that was a great idea - we were close to Freshwater Beach town, with some shops so we could buy and cook our own meals. FB also had some restaurants and pubs so we went out once to the pub, which was good.
Also it's only 10 mins from Manly and the fun of Manly - beach, aquarium (quite good but pretty small so we whizzed through it relatively quickly), ferries! Ferry across to Sydney CBD was awesome.
Other option is to stay around Darling Harbour, like surprised said, and do the reverse - ferry across to Manly. Public transport in Sydney is pretty good, don't drive, driving almost killed us, literally and figuratively.
Our kids LOVED the water play area at Darling Harbour. Even though it was a little cold they all had a blast. DD fell in and got soaked and after her initial sulk she was fine, had too much fun to care really.
We went to the Sydney aquarium also, which is bigger than Manly and we spent a good deal of time there. Really enjoyed it. But we are fishy people! We also did Madam Toussaud's and Australia Zoo, which are right next to the aquarium. Our kids were strangely fascinated by Madam Toussaud's and we spent more time there than anticipated.
We did not go up Sydney Tower, we'd wanted to but ran out of time.
HTH!
We are going in about a month and we are getting these passes
Our Best Sydney Attraction Pass Deal