Where to Stay

For those of you travelling from overseas here's some tips on good areas to stay in Sydney! Drop us a message if you have any questions and we're happy to help!

Sydney is a large harbour city with many suburbs, principally split between the South and North shore, connected by the Harbour Bridge. We recommend staying in the South as this is where the vast majority of the fun things to do are located. Sydney is pretty easy to navigate by public transport but sometimes getting from A-B requires a few changes and can be time consuming.

The main areas we'd recommend are:

The Central Business District (CBD)
Eastern Suburbs (where we live)
The Inner West

The Central Business District

The CBD is the centre of Sydney, split between the high-rise commercial area, and the more residential areas of Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Potts Point and Paddington which are bristling with chill bars, restaurants and cafés. The advantage of being located here is the whole of Sydney will be within relatively quick reach.

Eastern Suburbs

Want to be by the beach? Or near where the wedding will be happening? The East will be perfect for you!

There are many bays within the harbour starting at Darling Point/Double Bay/Point Piper. These continue to move out of the harbour towards the open ocean. Once you breach the heads, the coast runs southwards and this is where the bigger beaches are. From North to South, they run along the coast in the following order:

Bondi

Bondi is the iconic beach that most tourists will visit when in Sydney. It is a bustling destination with a large beach for swimming and surfing. It has many cafe, pubs, restaurants and a sprawling residential area, but can be quite touristy.
Bondi Junction is (slightly misleadingly) is not by Bondi beach but about a 10-15 min bus away and is mostly commercial/residential. It is super well connected with trains running to the city and buses to every beach in the area so it is a practical (but less picturesque) place to stay. It also has a very large Westfield shopping centre.

Tamarama

Tamarama is a tiny and cute secluded beach. It's a beach for advanced surfing but swimming is great here too. It is purely residential with stunning views over the ocean, and a 10min walk to Bronte if you wanted to grab a coffee/go to a café. It's where we'll have the welcome BBQ on the 9th.

Bronte (this is where we live!)

In our unbiased opinion, this is the best beach in Sydney. It is a small, residential beach with a calm natural rock pool (called the Bogey Hole) and a famous ocean pool so you can swim even when the surf is big (or if you're scared of sharks)! Like Tamarama, it is quieter than Bondi and has a fair few cafés just over the road from the beach. Further up the hill you’ll find Macpherson Street where we our place is. It has a few more cafés and a couple of restaurants including Table Manners and Fishnets (where Vic works), as well as Char Rotisserie.

Clovelly

Clovelly coincidentally rhymes with lovely (according to Victor) which it very much is. Very different to all other beaches, it is a long inlet and so doesn’t have the big waves or a tidal pull. It is flanked by concrete areas for reclining in the sun with a small sandy area right at the end of the beach and a playground. Swimming and snorkelling are great here, as is the amazing marine-life. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to meet Clovelly's most friendly and stunning local resident – the big blue groper! There is one hotel here (the Aussie name for a pub for all you Europeans) for a cheeky couple of beers. It's a particularly family-friendly area.

Coogee

Coogee is a larger beach than Bronte, but smaller than Bondi. It has a leafy vibe with a larger park sitting behind the beach. There are more restaurants and bars so more options to do things in the evening and it is probably slightly less expensive than other beaches. There are also two pools built into the coast which are stunning - Wiley's Baths and McIver's Ladies Baths (no men allowed!).

The Inner West

The Inner west is very residential and is either by the Harbour and quiet, or in a busier hip area with lots of different restaurants, bars, pubs and shops. Newtown and Marrickville are very much the latter – think Camden Town meets East London.

Balmain, Leichhardt, Annandale, Glebe are all charming in their own ways. They have high streets with shops, restaurants, brunch spots and bookshops, parks and more and are family/residential areas.