Sydney Hotels

Recommended Sydney Hotels

Sydney Hotels

Sydney is the largest city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales with a population of just over 4.25 million.

Sydney has plenty of accommodation from budget to luxury.

Sydney's backpackers and budget hotels are mainly in the southern CBD area or the Kings Cross and Potts Point area.

Mid-level accommodation is located in the CBD, Darling Harbour, and Darlinghurst areas. North Sydney mainly has business hotels. Luxury accommodation is located in the CBD, Darling Harbour and Double Bay. Bondi Beach and Manly Beach are famous beach-side tourist areas with all types of accommodation from backpackers to 5-star.

The high tourist season is the Christmas and New Year period, Easter and Australian School Holidays.

Sydney Dining

Sydney's multicultural mix of people presents a huge range of cuisine from around the world.

The CBD area is full of many restaurants, bars and cafes.

The Summit revolving restaurant and bar has great food and fantastic views of Sydney. It is located on level 47 of the Australia Square building on George Street.

Sydney Tower Restaurants host the fabulous revolving buffet restaurant and a la carte restaurant [lunch from $49, dinner from $64]

Darling Harbour is lined with many quality restaurants and cafes overlooking the waterfront making a very pleasant dining experience.

Chinatown has excellent food at the many good quality restaurants and inexpensive food from the many food courts.

Food Courts are located in most of Sydney’s many shopping malls and offer visitors good value meals. Sydney has most of the usual American fastfood outlets such as McDonald's and KFC. Coffee shops such as Starbucks and Gloria Jeans are very common in malls and commercial centers.

Sydney Shopping

The Pitt Street Mall in the CBD is the city’s main pedestrian mall located between Market Street and King Street. There are many shops lining the adjoining streets. Castlereagh Street is popular for fashion boutiques, jewellery stores and internationally branded goods.

The Queen Victoria Building is located in the CBD on George St adjacent to the Sydney Town Hall. It was refurbished in the 1980s into over 400 stores but still retains its historic and beautiful architectural Victorian style. The basement connect through to the underground Town Hall Railway Station.

Darling Harbour Mall located on the waterfront hosts many stores merchandising internationally branded goods, designer boutiques and features restaurants and cafes with waterfront vistas.

Strand Arcade is Sydney's epicentre of style and design, housing many of Australia's top designer labels, manufacturing Jewelers, unique shops and beauty salons. The arcade was named after the famous Strand in London and opened in 1892 and is the only remaining Victorian-era arcade in Sydney. The lower ground floor hosts one of Sydney's largest Duty Free stores offering duty free and retail prices.

Oxford Street to the east of the CBD is a popular area with visitors as the streets are lined with shops, bars and nightclubs.

Paddy's Markets located at the southern end of the CBD in Dixon St is a huge open hall full of vendors selling merchandise at bargain prices. [Open Thursday to Sunday]

Sydney Fish Markets is popular with tourists and is a great experience for the best in Sydney's seafood and one of the best gourmet experiences. Try to get there before 9am to catch some of the action and sample from one of the market's many restaurants. [Take the metro light rail]

Westfield Shopping Centre Bondi Junction is located in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and is the closest large shopping complex outside the CBD and is easily accessible from Bondi Junction railway station which is ten minutes ride by train from Town Hall Station.

Sydney Nightlife and Entertainment

The Sydney CBD has a multitude of restaurants, bars and clubs. Within walking distance of the CBD is the Darling Harbour area with many restaurants, bars and nightclubs encircling the harbour including the facilities at Star City Casino.

The Rocks area around the southern CBD-side of the Harbour Bridge is popular for its restaurants and Irish pubs. While Kings Cross to the east of the CBD is Sydney's red light district with many bars, strip clubs and night clubs. Paddington’s Oxford Street area south-east of the CBD is popular with drinkers.

Over the Harbour Bridge North Sydney is a popular area with Sydney's younger party-goers.