Your Essential Sydney, Australia, Guide: Plan a Perfect 3 Days [2025]

Sydney, Australia, is one of my favorite cities in the world. It is beautiful, home to some of the best hotels, and extremely walkable, which is important to me when visiting a city.

While 3 days is certainly not enough time to visit this iconic city, there are a few must-see attractions that you can visit to experience it.

Where To Stay

Sydney is home to some of the best hotels, in my opinion, and it’s a great city to use hotel points to stay at various brands such as Hilton, Hyatt, or Marriott. By far, the best hotel to stay in is the Park Hyatt Sydney, located in the Rocks neighborhood, about a 10-minute walk from Circular Quay train station, which takes you to the airport.

The Park Hyatt has unobstructed views of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour and is known for its world-renowned service. It’s a favorite among Hyatt Globalists, and the breakfast spread is enormous. While larger room upgrades can be hard to come by at this hotel, the location can’t be beat. The Park Hyatt is a Hyatt Category 8 hotel, with rooms costing a whopping 40,000 World of Hyatt points a night. If you can splurge, it’s well worth a stay!

If you don’t have as many points to burn, consider staying at the nearby Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay, within spitting distance of the city’s main ferry hub; the Hyatt Regency Sydney, a popular use of the Hyatt Category 1-4 certificate; or the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park, a hotel with a decent club lounge.

What To Do

Sydney Opera House Tour

Of course, the Sydney Opera House is probably the most recognizable building in Sydney, if not the world. It is an obligatory stop on any Sydney visit, and you can either see a show inside or take a tour of the facilities. The opera house hosts hundreds of shows each year.

The opera house offers multiple tours a day in a variety of languages. Each tour can take up to 35 people and costs AU$48 (about $31). Sydney Opera House tours sell out, especially during the busy summer months, and even more so when there are cruise ships that pull into port. It’s best to purchase a ticket as far in advance as possible. While there is a tour ticket office below the opera house, you can check real-time availability online when booking.

The tour is about an hour long. You can explore both the main performance halls and some of the lower theaters, as well as learn about the building’s architectural and design history and how it came to be. A guide narrates the tour, giving you a headset to listen along. I’ve found the several tours I’ve been on informative, and have had time to ask questions.

Hot Tip:

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Sydney Helicopter Tour

If you want a bird’s-eye view of the city, consider taking a helicopter tour. There are various vendors, and most tours leave from helipads or airports on the city’s outskirts. While these tours can be very pricey, easily setting you back a couple of hundred dollars a person, the views of Sydney’s iconic landmarks will be unbeatable.

Sydney Maritime Museum

The Sydney Maritime Museum is located in Darling Harbour and has free admission. However, there may be an additional charge for seeing one of the rotating temporary exhibits. The free galleries are expansive and give a broad history of the maritime industry in Australia. You’ll explore information on passenger ships, Australians who have set records around the world, Navy ships, and more! There’s also a theater where a rotating selection of documentaries plays daily.

If you want to spend more time at the museum, several ships are docked outside, including a Navy warship, submarine, and smaller boats from the colonial era. Lines tend to form at these ships early, as the entrances are capacity-controlled, so allow plenty of time to wait and see what there is to see onboard.

Hot Tip:

If you are interested in more Sydney tour and excursion options, you’ll find lots of choices on Viator.

Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb

If you’re up for an adventure, consider participating in one of the many daily Sydney Harbor bridge climbs. While not cheap (at around $300 a person), you’ll harness up and walk up the bridge’s steel sides for breathtaking views.

It’s about a 3-hour adventure, and you don’t need any prior experience or fitness level to do it. However, there are a few points where you may not want to look down if you’re afraid of heights. The climb is great for repeat visitors, too, and your guide will point out many significant landmarks on your climb.

At the end, you’ll receive some souvenir photos of the day (if you’ve purchased them), which are great for sharing on social media and with friends.

Taronga Zoo

Located about a 20-minute ferry ride from Circular Quay is Taronga Zoo, Sydney’s premier zoo. While you’ve probably been to a zoo near you, Taronga Zoo is different, as you’ll see a special emphasis on animals that are native to Australia, such as the wallaby, kangaroo, or emu.

Ticket prices are AU$47.70 (about $31) for an adult and AU$27.90 (about $18) for a child. The zoo is well worth spending almost an entire day at, so when planning your journey, you’ll want to leave ample time. The zoo is built on a hill, so there’s a fair amount of walking and inclines involved, so you should wear good walking shoes.

Ferries depart from the zoo approximately every 30 minutes. As it gets closer to closing time, patrons reach the ferry dock at the bottom of the hill. Because the ferry boats are fairly small, there will likely be an extensive wait to return to Circular Quay. On my most recent trip to Sydney, I had to wait for 4 boats to leave before there was finally enough room to accommodate me.

Bondi Beach Walk

Bondi Beach is one of the most famous beaches in the world (and in Australia). Think of it like the Australian version of Waikiki in Honolulu. On a sunny day, you’ll find many folks swimming and basking in the sand.

There is a famous 6-kilometer walk (about 3.7 miles) from Bondi to Coogee that is well worth it. The walk is mostly paved, though there are some elevation changes, and there’s a short section where you need to walk across the grass in a cemetery. The walk isn’t very strenuous, and you’ll find the occasional person running the path, too. Along the way, you’ll see the famous pools built into rock walls, some fantastic scenery, and tons of locals and tourists walking the path from start to finish. Buses regularly depart from Circular Quay to Bondi and then from Coogee to Sydney.

Australian Museum

You’ll find the Australian Museum, which is free to enter, near Hyde Park. This is a great place to spend a few hours learning about this vast country. You’ll see various exhibit halls on Indigenous people, animals that call Australia home, climate, culture, and more. The Australian Museum is similar to the Smithsonian Museum in the U.S. Depending on how long you spend in each exhibit, expect to spend at least half a day here, as the museum is large.

Justice and Police Museum

Located just steps from Circular Quay, the Justice and Police Museum is a small museum that tells the history of the New South Wales Police Force and crime within the Sydney area over the years. Inside, you can explore an old police station and jail cells and learn the history of the justice system and its evolution over time. It’s a fascinating museum that you can spend about an hour or so walking around.

Sydney Jewish Museum

The Sydney Jewish Museum is near the King’s Cross neighborhood and is an absolute hidden gem. Inside, you can explore several exhibits on the history of the Holocaust, the Jewish people of Australia, and Australia’s involvement in World War II.

Museum of Sydney

Like many museums in Sydney, the Museum of Sydney is free. It is near Martin Place and is walkable from Circular Quay. The Museum of Sydney is a great place to spend an hour or so learning about the history of Sydney, how it was founded, the colonial era, and the Rocks neighborhood, which is the old Sydney area.

There’s a really cool exhibit where you can see videos from Sydney in the 1950s to the 1980s and the city’s evolution over the years. Given Sydney’s remote location and British influence, it’s fascinating to see how the city came to be.

Cockatoo Island

Cockatoo Island is in Sydney Harbour and is only accessible by ferry. Several ferries depart throughout the day, though they don’t depart as often as other tourist sites or docks around the city. The island is a former penal colony and shipyard and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Most of the sites are self-guided, and there’s quite a bit of walking to get around the buildings.

Museum of Contemporary Art

The Museum of Contemporary Art is in the Rocks neighborhood, just steps away from Circular Quay. It’s a free museum, and you can see various rotating exhibits of modern art. I’m not too much of an art person, but I’ve always loved the Museum of Contemporary Art, as the works of art there are unique and really captivating.

Powerhouse Ultimo

Powerhouse Ultimo is Sydney’s museum of science and industry. Located about a 20-minute walk from Darling Harbour (and a short walk from Paddy’s Market), the museum boasts several collections on transportation history in Australia, Australia’s role in the race to the moon, technology evolution throughout the country, and several exhibits just for kids.

Where To Eat

Sydney is a foodie’s paradise. There are restaurants from nearly every genre, and you’re sure to find something you love.

Consider 4 of my favorites:

• Mr. Wong is a Cantonese-style restaurant near Circular Quay. This restaurant does not accept reservations, and the walk-up line can be long, so be sure to arrive before it opens to get in line.
• Rockpool Bar and Grill is one of the most famous Sydney restaurants. It offers lots of local options in a fine dining atmosphere. Its owner, Neil Perry, is the same person who heads up the Qantas catering program.
• Elements Bar and Grill is a great casual steakhouse with some insane desserts. Be sure to try the Biscoff mousse.
• The Apollo is a contemporary Greek taverna. With the heavy Greek presence in Sydney, you know the food has to be good here.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve only got 3 days to explore Sydney, you’d better get a move on, as there’s not enough time to see all there is to see and do! Sydney is one of the world’s most walkable cities, so it’s easy to get around, and there are plenty of museums, tours, and landmarks to visit, even if you’re in town for just a few days.

If you only have a short time to visit Sydney, be sure to come back when you can spend a week or longer to truly experience this one-of-a-kind city, the largest in Australia!