How to spend four amazing days in Sydney

Sydney is a great place to start any first trip to Australia. There are a lot of accommodations around the tourist spots and if you are coming from the US, the most direct flights go to Sydney. It’s a great stepping off place to get your bearings while getting over the intense jet lag (it’s a 15-hour flight from LAX) and frankly if you have been to any big city in the US (e.g. New York, LA, Dallas), it may very well feel like home. So how should you plan your time in Sydney? Here’s how to spend four days in Sydney.

While we had some idea of where we wanted to go, we didn’t know a lot of people who had been to Australia to give us insights on places to stay, so we enlisted help from our trusted travel agent. She gave us several great locations and we settled on a boutique hotel called The Ovolo Woolstore 1888 very close to the Darling Harbour. As you guessed, it is a converted Wool Store built in 1888 and is now a 5-star boutique modern hotel. The rooms are a typical “European small” but you barely will be there to begin with so much to see and do in Sydney. We chose an option that included breakfast so we didn’t have to worry about our first meal of the day. For pricing check out the site directly but as a comparison, we went in early October (off-season) and the nightly price today for October is about 372 Australian Dollars or $237 US per night.

There are so many areas to stay within Sydney and often it is confusing on if you should stay near Darling Harbour or Sydney Harbour. Darling Harbour gives you more moderately priced options and beautiful views of the city skyline. Darling Harbour is known for its dinning and shopping and is especially vivid at night. While Sydney is a large urban city, strategically planning your hotel can mean easily walking to many of the main tourist areas instead of spending money on transportation. We didn’t mind walking so a 30-minute walk from our hotel to Sydney Harbour was no problem. But you can also quickly take a 3-minute taxi or the ferry as well.

Day 1

Most flights from LAX will have you arriving in the early morning in Sydney.  Every good itinerary will take you to Sydney Harbor. The area is bustling with shops and cafes and of course the iconic Sydney Opera House. We recommend going both during the day as well at night because both views are spectacular. In fact, check schedules at the Opera House because they often have nightly illuminations on the eastern sails of the Opera House showing amazing artistic images and animation.

I’m not sure if we were starving and jet lagged but we had THE BEST fish and chips EVER near the Sydney Opera House at one of the little sidewalk cafes and still talk about it today. You won’t be looking for good food for long and while I’m sure there are better places farther outside the tourist trap of the harbor, we had a few good meals near the opera house.

Take a ferry back from the Sydney Harbour to Darling Harbour and walk through that area and maybe find a place to stop for dinner. The ferris wheel all lit up with the reflection of the skyline at night is lovely.

Day 2

After much needed rest, our 2^nd day started with climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge – 134 meters or 439 feet up on top of the iconic bridge. There are several options to choose from including different climbing paths. Depending on the amount of time you have and your fear of heights, there are options for almost everyone. With two of our crew having a fear of heights we took the middle road for our adventure. It took less time for the whole tour and less time on top of the bridge. But I will say that even the two who had height issues said they would do it again today because the views are amazing and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It helped that you were hooked in the entire time. We also opted to purchase a photography option so we didn’t have to worry about taking our camera with us. They do provide you up in special suits to be worn during the climb but don’t expect to be a fashionista. Check out options here

After our morning climb and a lunch break, we took our prescheduled tour of the Sydney Opera House. We got a great sense of the history of the Opera House and were able to take a peak inside the actual venues but what you see may vary depending on availability at the time. For a tour of the Opera House, secure your tickets ahead of time. It’s a beautiful modern building with a lot of great history. We didn’t get a chance to see a show there but I also hear that can be delightful if you are into music performances. Tickets and schedules can be found here

Day 3

Next up on the itinerary is a 6km (3.7 miles) trek from Coogee to Bondi Beach.  Many sites give you directions for Bondi to Coogee but we recommend the reverse walk. If you start mid-morning, you can reach Bondi for lunch and watch the swimmers at the famous iceberg pool. So where do you start and how do you get there? We took a cab from our hotel in the Darling Harbour and asked to be taken to the center of Coogee. There are plenty of buses as well that you can take to get there. Whether you start or end there, it’s a cute little town for shopping and eating. We didn’t partake but rather quickly found our route for our walk. The walk is easy for almost any age and skill level. While it’s almost 4 miles, you can easily take your time and there are no major climbs. There are plenty of places to stop along the way, particularly is you want to take a break on one of the many beaches on the way.

And you meander along paths that take you through Waverley Cemetery, past famous Sydney beaches like Tamarama Beach and Bronte Beach and finally to the famous Bondi Beach and Iceberg pool. We didn’t attempt to swim there that day as the swells looked very strong but we did have a quick bite to eat and watched others attempt it.

Day 4

If you have a 4^th day or want to combine some of the other activities listed above, I highly recommend you take a full day guided tour of the Blue Mountains. This full day tour  included a trip to the Three Sisters, with stops at Scenic World, Echo Point and Featherdale Wildlife Park.  Scenic World was a great way to see the beautiful scenery. We really enjoyed the railway which is not your typical train – it was actually thrilling going down the trail.  And the walk beneath the rainforest canopy was beautiful. We also really enjoyed the Wildlife Park and paid a little extra to hold a koala bear. We saw kangaroos, birds, wombats and penguins. We ended the day with a ferry trip home. If you want to see all of the different landscapes of Australia, add this day trip to Blue Mountains and you will see absolutely breathtaking views.

So make sure that a few days in Sydney is on your itinerary for Australia. We thought it was a great place to start our adventure in Australia and 3-4 days is enough to see the majority of the city. We can’t wait to go back! Looking for a full itinerary for Australia? Check out this blog post on two weeks in Australia and recommendations of where you should consider for your next trip to Australia.