Time in Sydney pre-cruise

[psygist]

Id like to spend time in Sydney before my cruise to New Zealand in February. For a first time visitor, how many days is sufficient to visit the major sites and experience all that Sydney is famous for?  Additionally, are there any nearby places worth visiting as a day trip from Sydney?

 

Thanks for any advice from prior tourists or  Aussies!

[WAVTAM]

Many sites to see …….. but one needs to budget accordingly.( Sydney is NOT a cheap city). Do you ever plan to go back.....that would help answer part of the question. Major out of city sites like Hunter Valley and the Blue Mountains are a must. I would consider the Sydney city pass card for 2/3/4 days worth of city adventures.

[psygist]

Thanks for your reply. As the OP, we are healthy active 60 year olds but travel to new places as if we will never have the chance to return. So don’t know if 3-4 days is sufficient, too long or too short. Thanks. 

[GeezerCouple]

2 hours ago, psygist said:

Id like to spend time in Sydney before my cruise to New Zealand in February. For a first time visitor, how many days is sufficient to visit the major sites and experience all that Sydney is famous for?  Additionally, are there any nearby places worth visiting as a day trip from Sydney?

 

Thanks for any advice from prior tourists or  Aussies!

 

We'll be there for a few days *after* a cruise in 2 months.

 

One very interesting thing we found was to spend a night IN the Sydney Zoo!

It's not inexpensive, but a bit part of our interest is the animals there.  The stay involves looking right over a special animal sanctuary area from the room (if you choose that view; another choice is Harbor View, but, um, we'll just have arrived by ship...), and special excursions with the animals after and before zoo public hours.

We'll be reporting back, for sure.

 

Also, for just about any pace, we do a quick look through Trip Advisor to see if anything special jumps out.  Sometimes we find similar (or same!) things as offered by cruise line, for less and/or smaller groups.  But some things that can only be done in small groups anyway, and those aren't going to be listed for big group cruise line tours.  (We also prefer private anyway, by ourselves or with some Roll Call friends.)

 

Finally, we sometimes browse through previous roll calls that have *already* done "our" itinerary, plus some that are planning to so so.  We've found mention of a few really great tour guides that way, too.

 

I'm not sure what else we'll do.  We are now focused more on the cruise outings.  This was a "short notice" trip; usually we plan more like a year + in advance.  So we have some catching up to do!

 

GC

[Chiliburn]

7 hours ago, psygist said:

Id like to spend time in Sydney before my cruise to New Zealand in February. For a first time visitor, how many days is sufficient to visit the major sites and experience all that Sydney is famous for?  Additionally, are there any nearby places worth visiting as a day trip from Sydney?

 

Thanks for any advice from prior tourists or  Aussies!

As said Sydney is expensive,second to Hong Kong.

 You will have 24 hours traveling from home,so first day you will be recovering.

 Another day seeing the harbour a city. 

A big destination is the blue mountains.2 hours west of Sydney. You can do a tour or catch the train to Katoomba. Some people stay overnight.

 

 Sydney is attractive city but is just another city.

2-3 days would be ample to get over jet lag see the town.

[GUT2407]

My immediate thought was 5.

[Chiliburn]

55 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

My immediate thought was 5.

You would spend 5 days eating.

 

It’s good to see someone who wants to relax, Most Americans just skip through Sydney and sleep the first couple of days on the ship.

[GUT2407]

I’d do

 

1. Relax and recover from the long flight, depending on where you are staying, wander around the Rocks, the Botanic Gardens etc

 

2. Blue mts

 

3. Taronga Zoo

 

4. Manly

 

5.Bondi

 

in no particular order.

[GUT2407]

29 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

You would spend 5 days eating.

 

It’s good to see someone who wants to relax, Most Americans just skip through Sydney and sleep the first couple of days on the ship.

Sure would

 

Harry’s

China Town

Fish and Chips on the Beach (Maybe Watson’s Bay for Doyles)

cafe on the Quay

Burgers and Ribs the day we sail.

[banditoo]

4-5 days not including date of arrival if you are just planning to visit Sydney and neighbouring areas such as Manly and Blue Mountains. If you have more time and are not likely to get to that part of the world again, perhaps consider a couple of weeks in various locations in Australia before your cruise?

Edited September 28, 2019 by banditoo

[GUT2407]

13 minutes ago, banditoo said:

4-5 days not including date of arrival if you are just planning to visit Sydney and neighbouring areas such as Manly and Blue Mountains. If you have more time and are not likely to get to that part of the world again, perhaps consider a couple of weeks in various locations in Australia before your cruise?

Yep no doubt as last ng as you can, but in my opinion no less than five days.

[psygist]

Wonderful advice. Thanks to all who replied!

[iancal]

We have been to Sydney several times.  The last time was this past Feb.   We spent five nights there.  Lots of walking, lots of ferry rides etc.  We did not think that five nights was too much.  We could have stayeD longer but trained to the Blue Mountains on a prior trip.