Sydney Travel Guide

General

Celebrated as the ‘Queen of the Pacific Rim’, vast, vibrant Sydney is home to one of the world’s most beautiful harbours, with the imposing Opera House as the jewel in its crown.

The State capital of New South Wales, Sydney is a thriving centre for both business and the arts and, as with everything in Sydney, its landscape is larger than life. The city has all the cosmopolitan amenities – top shopping, excellent restaurants and buzzing nightlife – and visitors often find similarities with San Francisco. Carved between the mountains and the sea, the city offers the ultimate in the great outdoors. The Pacific Ocean swells onto golden beaches, while a seasonally shifting palette of colours unfolds further inland, over the Blue Mountains. In addition to the harbour, famously adorned with sailing boats that mirror the distinctive curves of the Opera House, there are numerous inland waterways and national parks.

From its sordid beginnings as a British penal colony in 1788, Sydney rapidly flourished, establishing booming trade links and witnessing large-scale development throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The Sydney Opera House – a feat of avant-garde architectural vision – epitomises the city’s desire to lead the New World into the 21st century. Sydney’s architecture is a stunning melange, with little Victorian structures nestling below towering concrete, steel and glass skyscrapers.

All the exuberance and plate-glass sophistication nonetheless fail to compensate for a certain competitive edginess in the city’s psyche. After the Australian Federation was created in 1901, the traditional bickering between Sydney and its arch rival, Melbourne, was settled in 1908, by making Canberra the new national capital. However, until 1927, when the city of Canberra was completed, Melbourne remained the seat of national government. Nevertheless, Sydneysiders insist that their city remains the ‘true’ capital of Australia and indeed, with a triumphant hosting of the 2000 Olympic Games, the world might even think it. But the rivalry with Melbourne persists – a rivalry based more on style than on stature for, while Sydney is decidedly Anglo in its ethnic orientation, Melbourne is more continental, with a much more tangibly imported culture.

Australia’s white history has eclipsed its indigenous inheritance and, although Sydney has the highest Aboriginal population of any Australian city, a stroll around the city’s streets offers little evidence that it has anything other than a white (and perhaps, latterly, an Asian) heritage. While museums, galleries, theatre and dance troupes pay tribute to the archaeological and cultural legacy of indigenous culture, Aborigines in the city remain very much an invisible minority.

With the Olympics, Sydney came of age as one of the world’s great cities. The Games’ smooth running has been attributed to the thousands of local volunteers, whose helpful, welcoming attitude revealed – much to Sydney’s own surprise – that beneath its somewhat vain and pretentious surface, there still exists a bedrock of traditional Australian virtues. But the Games did more than affect the city’s mindset; they transformed its physical appearance. Streets and public areas were remodelled, long-neglected eyesores were removed and new street furniture erected, resulting in a city centre that is more pleasant and easier to navigate than it has ever been. Combine that with semi-tropical summers and mild winters and the result is an excellent city to visit at any time of the year.

Sightseeing Overview

Who can argue with the claim that Sydney has the most magnificent harbour in the world? Millions of years ago it was a drowned river valley. Today its intricate coastal geography of headlands and secluded bays is the stunning setting for two of the modern world’s most ambitious architectural achievements – the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is therefore hardly surprising that much tourist attention is focused on the harbour, with the revived cobbled quaintness of The Rocks, the perpetual motion of people arriving and departing Circular Quay and the enduring awe that visitors experience at the steps of the Opera House.

But behind these modern monoliths, there is a wealth of history, culture and tradition. In inner-city Sydney, Macquarie Place and Macquarie Street are characterised by their imposing Victorian banking chambers and municipal buildings, while further afield, the areas of Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and Paddington are thriving cosmopolitan communities, each with their own distinct character. Kings Cross, renowned more for its red light district, has a bustling café society, while Darlinghurst comes alive every March for the world-famous Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. Paddington has a more genteel feel, with its fashionable restaurants, galleries, antique shops and restored Victorian terraces complete with wrought-iron lace verandahs.

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