Spending Our First Days in Sydney

Summary

Landing in Sydney after a 24-hour flight, jet-lagged but far too excited to rest, we packed two full days into our first stop before heading off to explore the rest of Australia. Day one took us from the airport to Potts Point, then on to the Royal Botanic Garden, the Sydney Opera House, and the CBD. Day two was all about the coast: Watsons Bay in the morning, Bondi Beach in the afternoon. Along the way, we picked up a few lessons on hostels, coffee, tipping, and public transport that we wish someone had told us before we landed.

Day 1:

• Royal Botanic Garden

• Sydney Opera House

• CBD & Town Hall

Day 2:

• Watsons Bay

• Bondi Beach

Day 1

Getting into the city

Sydney Airport isn't far from the city centre at all. It took us only around 30 minutes to get into town, and getting through the gates was easy since you can simply tap in with your contactless credit card.

One thing worth knowing: the airport train stations (both domestic and international) add an extra station access fee on top of the normal fare. Your first trip into the city will cost noticeably more, closer to 20 AUD, than a regular ride around Sydney. Don't be surprised when you see that on your statement. If you haven't sorted out a local SIM yet, it's worth doing before you leave the terminal; we wrote a full breakdown of how that works in our guide to choosing an eSIM in Australia.

Our hostel in Potts Point

Our hostel, Mad Monkey, was in Potts Point, right by Kings Cross Station. To be completely honest, I wouldn't recommend staying here if you're not really a party person, or if you simply need to rest after a long flight.

The staff were genuinely friendly and the rooms were clean enough, but the hallway outside our dorm turned into a corridor of pre-drinks most nights, with music from the rooftop bar carrying through the walls until well past 1am. Most of the other guests were backpackers in their late teens and early twenties, there for a few nights before moving on, and the hostel leaned into that with themed pub crawls and free shot nights most evenings. If that's your scene, you'll love it. If you're after quiet, look at options further from Kings Cross, like Surry Hills or Newtown, which have a calmer, more local feel.

The neighbourhood itself isn't the most pleasant either, with a lot of bars and adult entertainment venues clustered around the station.

That said, the location is genuinely great, because you're only a few minutes' walk from the Sydney Opera House and its surrounding gardens.

The Royal Botanic Garden and Sydney Opera House

We headed that way for our first visit and grabbed some coffee on the way at Llankelly Place, a small laneway with several good cafés. We were pretty frozen, since most of the seating there is outdoors and it wasn't exactly warm. It's winter in Australia when it's summer back home, which still catches a lot of European travellers off guard.

We then continued on to the Royal Botanic Garden and were genuinely amazed by the view. Founded in 1816 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, it's the oldest scientific institution in Australia, and it shows in how established the grounds feel: mature Moreton Bay fig trees, a working herbarium, and paths that have been walked for over two centuries. The garden opens straight onto the Sydney Opera House, and it was stunning to see it in person.

It felt surreal, honestly. I'd seen photos of the Opera House a thousand times before, mostly from Danish architect Jørn Utzon's original sail-shaped design, which took over a decade to build and wasn't finished until 1973. Standing there in front of it, with the harbour behind it, is a completely different experience from any photo.

We were also struck by how fit everyone seemed to be, jogging, doing pull-ups on the harbour railings, or paddleboarding past the Opera House steps before work. We figured that between the setting and the sunny weather, it's probably easier to want to work out here than back home, but it was still impressive to watch.

CBD and Town Hall

We took some pictures, then headed to the CBD to pick up a few things we were missing, like toiletries. The vibe of the neighbourhood surprised us. It's mostly finance workers on their lunch break, but instead of the glass towers you'd expect, a lot of the buildings are these beautiful early-20th-century sandstone structures.

We also stopped by Town Hall to take care of some paperwork we needed to sort out on arrival, including opening a bank account. If you haven't been through that process yet, we go through the whole thing step by step, from getting your visa activated to picking up a TFN, in our article on sorting out your paperwork when you arrive in Australia.

We were too tired to go out that evening, so we just relaxed back at the hostel.

A few tips on Sydney and Australia for your first days

• Coffee almost always comes with milk here. Don't be surprised if you don't see "latte" on the menu. A flat white, espresso with steamed milk and less foam than a latte, is the local default, and it's originally an Australian invention.

• Tipping isn't expected like it is in the US. You can always leave one if you want to, but it's not mandatory anywhere.

• Public transport works on tap-on, tap-off. You're charged as you go based on your contactless card, but there's a daily and weekly cap, so however much you travel, you'll never pay more than a set amount per day or per week.

Day 2

Watsons Bay

The next day, we went for coffee again at Llankelly Place, since there are so many good spots there. As I mentioned, everything comes with milk here by default.

We then headed to Watsons Bay, and the views were incredible. It only took us about 30 minutes to get there from Potts Point, and the route itself was beautiful. The bay is named after Robert Watson, a quartermaster on the First Fleet ship HMS Sirius, who later became Sydney's first harbourmaster and the first superintendent of the Macquarie Lighthouse. Before that, the area was known as Kutti to the Cadigal people, who fished these waters long before European settlement.

Quick note on public transport: in Queensland it's genuinely cheap, but in Sydney it can add up faster. On weekdays the daily cap sits around 19 AUD, dropping to under 10 AUD on Fridays, weekends, and public holidays, with a weekly cap of around 50 AUD across the board. However many trips you take, you'll never be charged past that, and everything gets automatically adjusted at the end of the week.

Watsons Bay was really stunning, and it genuinely felt like being in the middle of untouched nature while still being just a few kilometres from the CBD. The Gap, the ocean cliff at the edge of the bay, has that same raw combination of wind, jagged rock, and grey-green water crashing below that I grew up with in Brittany, in the west of France, especially around the Crozon peninsula. It's the kind of coastline that makes you stop talking for a minute.

Bondi Beach

We then headed to Bondi Beach to meet up with some friends, and the vibe there was fantastic. The name Bondi comes from the Dharawal language, spoken by the Aboriginal people of this stretch of coast, and it's generally translated as "water breaking over rocks" or "the sound of waves crashing", which makes perfect sense the moment you see the swell rolling in.

We went for brunch at Harry's Bondi. Compared to Paris, prices weren't outrageous at all, especially considering this is one of the trendiest spots in Australia.

Afterwards we grabbed ice cream at Mapo and ate it while looking out over the beach, watching the surfers. It's winter there, so the beach wasn't too crowded. I asked my friends if they were ever worried about sharks, and they mentioned they'd actually witnessed an attack once. Since then, the lifeguards keep a noticeably close watch on the water there.

If you're visiting in summer instead of winter like we were, it's worth knowing that Bondi gets genuinely packed on hot weekends, so an early morning visit or a swim at the Icebergs ocean pool at the southern end of the beach is a good way to skip the crowds while still getting the view.

For dinner, since we were missing Vietnam and craving bún chả, we picked some up at Phan's House. It was good, but honestly nothing compared to what we'd had in Hanoi. We also wanted to try Lanzhou Beef Noodles, which reportedly has excellent noodles, and I'd genuinely recommend giving it a try.