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When it comes to dazzling the eyeballs, Sydney doesn’t disappoint.
The New South Wales capital is a visually marvellous mix of landmarks — including the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge — and natural attractions like the glittering harbour, sublime Bondi Beach, and the sweeping coastline that fronts the Pacific Ocean. There’s something here to impress everyone, and the biggest challenge for most visitors is working out how to see everything in a short stay.
With that in time, we’ve whittled the list of attractions down to ten top sights in Sydney. Tick them all off and you’ll have seen the best of the Harbour City.
Watch our video of ten top things to do in Sydney:
10 Top Things to Do in SYDNEY, Australia in 2024 | Ultimate Travel Guide & To-Do List
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Where to stay in Sydney
With gorgeous water views, a central location, and a wide range of hotels to suit all budgets, booking your accommodation in Darling Harbour Sydney is ideal. Darling Harbour is the city’s harbourside playground and high-quality accommodation options in this precinct include the luxurious Sofitel Darling Harbour. This hotel is beautifully appointed and offers plenty of amenities (including an outdoor pool, a spa, and a fitness centre). It’s also just a short walk from many of the attractions covered in our list of the top sights in Sydney, meaning you can get maximum value from your sightseeing time.
1. The Rocks
Let’s start at the beginning, literally, in the city’s oldest neighbourhood — The Rocks. The area’s unusual name comes from the local sandstone that provided materials for many of its own buildings. Originally a convict quarter, The Rocks became a mariners’ haunt and slum district, and was nearly demolished in the 1970s before being transformed into today’s heritage precinct.
Cobbled laneways, early colonial buildings, mysterious staircases and history-filled pubs give The Rocks its distinctive character. There are also unique retail stores, art galleries, and a busy craft and food market. Visit Cadman’s Cottage and The Rocks Discovery Museum, take a guided walking tour to discover more of Sydney’s early history, or simply enjoy the chance to wander at your leisure. All this is just ten minutes’ walk from Wynyard Station and two minutes on foot from Circular Quay.
2. Hyde Park Barracks
Another hive of colonial history is Hyde Park Barracks on Macquarie Street. The World Heritage-listed site preserves Sydney’s origins as a convict colony and offers rich insights into the history of the world’s longest-lasting system of penal transportation. The sandstone barracks building, commissioned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie and designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, is one of Sydney’s most handsome historic structures.
Inside, exhibits and free tours bring to life the experiences of the convicts and immigrants who passed through its doors over 180 years. Bakehouse Kitchen/Bar/Store puts a contemporary spin on convict-era food and crafts, playing rustic against elegant within its unique heritage setting.
3. Queen Victoria Building
The Barracks’ architectural restraint contrasts with the over-the-top opulence of another Sydney sight you can’t miss — the Queen Victoria Building in downtown George Street. Built in 1898, the QVB is a glorious fantasia of domes, arches, stained glass and curving staircases. Fashion designer Pierre Cardin called it ‘the most beautiful shopping centre in the world’. Enjoy a formal English high tea on Royal Albert china at The Tea Room. Browse the upmarket art and fashion boutiques, and take a turn at the grand piano in the central atrium.
The QVB is accessed directly from Town Hall station and is linked by an underground walkway to another Victorian-era shopping gem — the Strand Arcade.
4. Sydney Harbour Bridge
Since 1932, ‘The Coathanger’ has spanned Sydney Harbour with grace and strength, forming an essential connection between the city’s northern and southern shores. For television audiences around the world, it’s the centrepiece of Sydney’s spectacular New Year’s Eve fireworks, while for thousands of Sydneysiders, it’s part of their daily commute. Both practically and aesthetically, the bridge is vital to the life of the city, and no Sydney visit would be complete without seeing it up close.
For those unafraid of heights, Bridge Climb Sydney offers the ultimate Harbour Bridge experience, taking visitors to the very top of the soaring arch to reveal unmatched panoramas. Humbler, but still wonderfully rewarding, is the stroll across at road level, using the dedicated pedestrian walkway. History buffs can add value to their visit with a stop at the Pylon Lookout for more elevated views and access to three levels of exhibits on the history of this mighty engineering project.
5. Sydney Opera House
The stunning Sydney Opera House literally seems to float on Sydney Harbour. It’s Sydney’s cultural heart, Australia’s premier performing arts venue, and one of the most recognisable buildings in the world. Here you can take in opera performances, but also cabaret, musical theatre, comedy and so much more (it’s well worth browsing the Opera House’s website when you are planning your Sydney visit to see what’s on). The official guided tour is also well worth doing. You’ll learn about the building’s history, including the controversy that surrounded its construction. Danish architect Jorn Utzon was dismissed from the project and never saw the completed building that would become an architectural icon.
6. Royal Botanic Garden
When you’re ready for a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, head to the beautiful Royal Botanic Garden for a stroll or picnic lunch. Nature meets culture in this 30-hectare preserve, which has been a place of recreation and education for Sydneysiders since 1816. There are walks, talks and workshops aplenty — including art classes, yoga groups, botany tours, and lessons about the plant culture of Sydney’s Indigenous Cadigal people. Science and art are equal partners at the innovative Calyx exhibition space, and the Garden Shop stocks garden-themed Australian souvenirs.
7. Art Gallery of New South Wales
If you walk far enough through the Botanic Garden — or take the #441 bus from the QVB — you’ll reach the wonderful, recently expanded Art Gallery of New South Wales. The classical-style sandstone building has long been a treasured Sydney landmark, and provides park and harbour views you won’t see from anywhere else. The gallery’s architecturally stunning new wing (actually, it’s an entirely new building!) — the Sydney Modern Project — has just opened to the public and effectively doubled the available display space. There are more than 19,000 pieces of Australian art in the gallery’s collection, including 2,000 by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.
8. State Library of New South Wales
The nucleus of the 112-year-old State Library of New South Wales, both structurally and in terms of its book collection, is the Mitchell Library — whose imposing classical facade stands regally on the corner of Macquarie Street and the Cahill Expressway. While ‘the Mitchell’ brings the solemnity of a Greek temple to the busy streets of the city centre, its magnificent bronze doors resemble the entrance to a Renaissance palace. Inside, the glass-ceilinged, book-lined Reading Room looks every inch the part as a repository of ancient knowledge, while the Tudor-style Shakespeare Room evokes the feel of a private library in a British stately home.
9. Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach needs little introduction, given it has its own globally successful reality TV show. This crescent shaped stretch of sand, roughly seven kilometres east of the city, encapsulates the Sydney psyche and is well worth a visit — even if getting in some towel time or taking a splash hold little appeal. The natural beauty of the setting is exquisite, the heritage architecture is striking, the people watching opportunities are first rate, and the array of cafes and eateries caters to every taste. Bondi is many things to many people, and you’ll no doubt forge your own unique connection with arguably the world’s most famous beach.
10. Sydney Tower
Old-timers may call it Centrepoint Tower or even Westfield Tower — the golden turret perched on top of a slender column in the heart of the CBD has had several name changes since its construction was completed in 1981 — but its offical title is Sydney Tower. Still the tallest point on the city skyline, Sydney Tower Eye offers sweeping vistas from an observation deck 250 metres above street level. You can choose to take it outside on the fabulous Skywalk tour or enjoy a side of sensational views while dining at the Sydney Tower Buffet revolving restaurant.
This post was published thanks to Qantas Hotels.
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Additional images: Bigstock
About the writer
Roslyn Jolly is a freelance travel writer whose work has appeared in Escape (News Limited), Mindful Puzzles, Vacations and Travel, and Mindfood. In her former career as an English Literature academic, she studied and taught the work of great travel writers, such as Henry James, Herman Melville, and Robert Louis Stevenson, and became fascinated by the history of travel and tourism. Two years at school in Wales and three years at university in England allowed Roslyn to travel extensively in Europe and North America, which she continues to do.
About the writer
Adam Ford is editor of Top Oz Tours & Travel Ideas, and a travel TV presenter, writer, blogger, and photographer. He has travelled extensively through Europe, Asia, North America, Africa, and the Middle East. Adam worked as a travel consultant for a number of years with Flight Centre before taking up the opportunity to travel the world himself as host of the TV series Tour the World on Network Ten. He loves to experience everything a new destination has to offer and is equally at home in a five-star Palazzo in Pisa or a home-stay in Hanoi.
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