The oldest, largest and possibly the most beautiful city in Australia is renowned for much more than its famous landmarks. Built around a dazzling harbour, the city has first-class restaurants, fresh seafood, myriad harbour experiences, sparkling beaches, pulsing nightlife and fantastic shopping. There are countless reasons for you to extend your stay in Australia and make Sydney your base.

Costello's Opal Discovery Centre and Shop

An Opal Mine in the Centre of Sydney!

Our George St, Sydney showroom houses Australia’s only Opal Discovery Centre.

It offers visitors a unique, informative and interactive introduction to opals.

Learn about the three beautiful types of Opal and how they are valued via multi media presentation. Hear stories from the Opals colourful history. See demonstrations of mining methods and even participate in puddling, cutting and polishing of stones.

Visit Costello's Opal Discovery Centre website

The Rocks

Find out where it all began and head to The Rocks along the northern end of George Street to get a real sense of convict history. The cobbled side streets, stone heritage buildings and charming pubs are full of life. Don't forget to have a beer at the Lord Nelson, Sydney's oldest pub, with its own boutique brewery, and go on a walking tour.

Vist The Rocks Website

Bonza Bike Tours

Whether you're visiting Sydney for the first time, have friends coming to town or are setting up a group activity, Bonza is ready to show you a good time! Sit back on one of our super-comfortable bikes while our expert Bonza guides show you the way. We’ve carefully planned routes that ride in the street a minimal amount of time - instead, we take you through parks, harbour fronts, and sidewalks. Our guides will give you great tips on what to do while in town, what’s on, where to eat, and an all-around entertaining and informative experience. Join our guides and other travellers from around the world for simply the best day of your trip!

Visit the Bonza Bike Tours Website

Sydney Tower Skywalk

Harnessed onto a moving, glass-floored viewing platform that extends out over the edge of Sydney Tower, you see Sydney from a breathtaking 260 metres above the street. With an adrenalin rush you can admire our landmarks including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour, and see all the way to the Blue Mountains.

Visit the Sydney Sky Walk website

Bridge Climb

Climbing the bridge when the sun is sinking over the horizon is awe-inspiring. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is the city’s much-loved icon. Book your walk through the website below.

Visit the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb Website

There’s an outing with your name on it – from indigenous cultural tours through the Royal Botanic Gardens and heritage walks, to gourmet food and wine tours around Sydney.

For fun, the Aussie Duck (a cross between a boat and a bus) offers a unique land tour, followed by a splash in the sea. For the seriously offbeat, Destiny Tours provides a glimpse of Sydney’s lesser-known charms from the plush comfort of a converted hearse.

Learn to sail or join a Captain Cook Cruise from Circular Quay to experience Sydney Harbour’s splendour. Make a day of it and visit Balmain, Rose Bay or Manly on a Sydney ferry. Sydney’s Precincts Sydney’s Inner City and Eastern Suburbs For those who want to explore a bit further, Sydney's melting pot of cultures has brought charm and diversity to every corner of the city. Kings Cross, Darlinghurst Kings Cross is the most densely populated square kilometre in Australia. It is electric with nightclubs, live music, adult entertainment, restaurants, bars and cafes.

Away from the bright lights, the Cross boasts some fine examples of colonial and art-deco architecture such as Elizabeth Bay House and Tusculum House. Just east of the city centre, Darlinghurst comes alive at the glitzy annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras held each year in early March. By day, alternative fashion, home-ware and music stores attract a crowd. At night, Darlinghurst comes into its own, with theatres, gay-friendly bars, live music, clubs and other late-night entertainment. Paddington and Woollahra Paddington is known for its elegant terrace houses. It has many art galleries, cafes, pubs, restaurants and designer boutiques. At the top of Oxford Street, turn left into Queen Street and you are in Woollahra, known for its exquisite designer-label boutiques, galleries and antique shops. Double Bay, a 10-minutes taxi ride from Paddington, is a harbour-side precinct with a cosmopolitan cafe society and designer boutiques. Wander past the grand residential homes of the coiffed and manicured locals and you’ll notice how Double Bay exudes European assurance. Glebe and Newtown Glebe is a perennially popular residential area with a charming mix of workers’ cottages and grand 19th-century abodes inhabited by a colourful mix of residents: artists, old-time locals and students of Sydney University.

Immerse yourself in Sydney’s most eclectic suburb, Newtown – reflecting the cultures of the world. Bondi Beach Bondi, home of Australia's oldest lifesaving club and Australia’s most famous beach, is our place to play. Try a game of beach volleyball, surf, jog, skateboard, rollerblade, walk or lie on your beach towel in the sun. Don’t forget your sunscreen. Most beach goers end up in one of the many outdoor cafes and restaurants that line the promenade overlooking the coast for brunch, lunch or dinner. Take the Bondi to Bronte Walk and refresh with some clean ocean air and magnificent views. Manly Jump on one of the distinct yellow and green Sydney ferries and take a half-hour cruise to Manly. Like Bondi, there are plenty of cafes, bars, restaurants and beach side activities to enjoy. Check out the shops too for beach-wear and local art.

Alive with activity day and night, Darling Harbour is hugely popular especially with children. Visit the National Maritime Museum and Chinese Gardens, take in a movie at the IMAX cinema, or recharge at either Cockle Bay or King Street wharfs. Close by is the Powerhouse Museum, in the district of Ultimo, and Sydney’s bustling Chinatown.

Sydney Aquarium

The aquarium contains a large variety of Australian aquatic life, displaying more than 650 species comprising more than 6,000 individual fish and other sea and water creatures from most of Australia's water habitats. Its key exhibits are a series of underwater, see-through, acrylic glass tunnels where sharks swim above visitors, and recreation of a Great Barrier Reef coral environment. The Southern Rivers exhibition is home to a duck billed platypus (right). The Sydney Aquarium was opened in 1988, during Australia's bicentenary celebrations, and is one of the largest aquariums in the world. It is regarded as one of Sydney's premier tourist attractions with over 55% of its visitors each year coming from overseas. A crocodile exhibit was added in 2008.

Visit the Aquarium website

Taronga Zoo

The young at heart will love Taronga Zoo – even getting there on a short ferry ride from Circular Quay is fun. There are koalas and kangaroos, a chimpanzee enclosure, regular bird-of-prey flight displays, a nocturnal animal house, and sensational harbour views.

Visit the Zoo Website

Centennial Park

Centennial Park, on the south side of the harbour near Paddington and Woollhara, is the perfect place for a stroll and a picnic beneath giant Moreton Bay fig trees. Sydneysiders come out to play on roller-blades, horseback or with a picnic rug in this green lung of the city.

Visit the Centennial Park Website

Sydney Opera House

Perched on the eastern headland of Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, and offers a variety of cultural performances, tours and dining options.

Visit the Sydney Opera House

Hyde Park Barracks Museum

Immerse yourself in the fascinating history of Sydney during convict times at The Hyde Park Barracks, one of the finest works of the accomplished colonial architect, Francis Greenway. Built with convict labour between 1817 and 1819, it is a popular landmark in the historic precinct of Macquarie Street and Queens Square.

Visit the Hyde Park Barracks Museum

The Powerhouse Museum

The Powerhouse Museum is a favourite. Its collection of 385,000 objects spans social history, music, science, technology, design, industry, and decorative arts, transport and space exploration.

Visit the Powerhouse Museum Website

The Museum of Sydney

Journey through our past and discover Sydney from 1788 onwards at the Museum of Sydney on the corner of Philip and Bridge Streets. Exhibitions, films and state-of-the-art technology spin stories of colonial life, Aboriginal culture, environment, trade, authority/law and everyday dramas and dreams.

Visit The Museum of Sydney Website

Royal Botanic Gardens

An oasis of 30 hectares in the heart of the city, the Royal Botanic Gardens wrap around Farm Cove at the edge of Sydney Harbour, occupying one of Sydney's most spectacular positions. The gardens, established in 1816, are the oldest scientific institution in the country. Rich in history, they form a living link with the beginnings of European settlement in eastern Australia and have an outstanding collection of plants from Australia and overseas.

Visit The Royal Botanical Gardens Website

The Art Gallery of New South Wales

This is the leading museum of art in New South Wales, and one of Australia's foremost cultural institutions. It holds significant collections of Australian, European and Asian art, and presents nearly 40 exhibitions annually.

View the Art Gallery of New South Wales Website