Make the most of your time visiting Sydney! I’ve curated this list of the top 25 attractions in Sydney, Australia grouped by proximity. Please be sure to check hours, as they are subject to change.
1. Barangaroo Reserve
City park! Unwind in Barangaroo Reserve.
2. The Rocks Discovery Museum
- Mon-Sun: 10:00am-5:00pm
“Of the 270 Apollo 11 Moon Rocks and Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rocks that were given to the nations of the world by the Nixon Administration, approximately 180 are unaccounted for. Many of the Moon rocks that are accounted for have been locked away in storage for decades.”
3. Susannah Place Museum
- Mon-Sun: 2:00pm-5:00pm
“Susannah Place Museum is a historic house museum situated in The Rocks, Sydney. It is a block of four terrace houses that was built in 1844 and had domestic occupants until 1990.”
4. Suez Canal
This super narrow alleyway is rumored to be haunted. Not for anyone who is claustrophobic.
5. Museum Of Contemporary Art
- Wed: 10:00am-9:00pm
- Mon, Tue, Thur-Sun: 10:00am-5:00pm
“A contemporary art gallery is a place where contemporary art is shown for exhibition and/or for sale. The term “art gallery” is commonly used to mean art museum (especially in British English), the rooms displaying art in any museum, or in the original sense, of any large or long room.”
6. The Sydney Ruins
7. Mrs Macquaries Chair
“Mrs Macquarie’s Chair (also known as Lady Macquarie’s Chair) is an exposed sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench, on a peninsula in Sydney Harbour, hand carved by convicts from sandstone in 1810 for Governor Macquarie’s wife Elizabeth. The peninsula itself is named Mrs Macquarie’s Point, and is part of the The Domain, near the Royal Botanic Gardens.”
8. First Flag Site
The first place where they officially flew the British flag in Australia. Tragic in the context of what that meant for the indigenous peoples, but still an important part of history.
9. Museum of Sydney
- Mon-Sun: 10:00am-5:00pm
“The Museum of Sydney is a historical collection and exhibit, built on the ruins of the house of New South Wales’ first Governor, Arthur Phillip, on the present-day corner of Phillip and Bridge Street, Sydney.”
10. Australian National Maritime Museum
- Mon-Sun: 9:30am-5:00pm
“The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a national maritime museum would be constructed at Darling Harbour, tied into the New South Wales State government’s redevelopment of the area for the Australian bicentenary.” Should be blue on the map.
11. Darling Harbour
“Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is also a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district.”
12. Powerhouse Museum
- Mon-Sun: 10:00am-5:00pm
“The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences in Sydney, the other being the historic Sydney Observatory. Although often described as a science museum, the Powerhouse has a diverse collection encompassing all sorts of technology including decorative arts, science, communication, transport, costume, furniture, media, computer technology, space technology and steam engines.”
13. Angel Place
Street with hanging birdcages (similar to what places sometimes do with umbrellas) that looks like it’s out of a storybook. You don’t want to miss it!
14. Queen Victoria Building
- Thur: 9:00am-9:00pm
- Sun: 11:00am-5:00pm
- Mon-Wed, Fri, Sat: 9:00am-6:00pm
“The Queen Victoria Building (or QVB), is a late nineteenth-century building designed by the architect George McRae in the central business district of Sydney, Australia. The Romanesque Revival building was constructed between 1893 and 1898 and is 30 metres (98 ft) wide by 190 metres (620 ft) long.”
15. Sydney Tower Eye
- Mon-Sun: 9:30am-9:00pm
“Sydney Tower is Sydney’s tallest structure and the second tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere. The name Sydney Tower has become common in daily usage, however the tower has been known as the Sydney Tower Eye, AMP Tower, Westfield Centrepoint Tower, Centrepoint Tower or just Centrepoint.”
16. Port Jackson
“Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (part of the South Pacific Ocean).”
17. Hyde Park Barracks Museum
- Mon-Sun: 10:00am-5:00pm
“The Hyde Park Barracks Museum is a brick building and compound designed by convict architect Francis Greenway between 1818 and 1819; originally built at the head of Macquarie Street (1819) to house convict men and boys.
The site is managed by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales as a museum open to the public for a modest fee.”
18. Sydney Town Hall
Because who isn’t obsessed with anything from the Victorian Second Empire & French Second Empire?
19. Anzac Memorial
- Mon-Sun: 9:00am-5:00pm
“The ANZAC Memorial, completed in 1934, is the main commemorative military monument of Sydney, Australia. Listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register, the monument was designed by C. Bruce Dellit, with the exterior adorned with monumental figural reliefs and sculptures by Rayner Hoff.”
20. Hyde Park
Because every English-speaking country needs to have at least 3 major cities with a place called “Hyde Park.”
21. The Royal Botanic Gardens
- Mon-Sun: 7:00am-6:30pm
City park! Take a leisurely stroll through The Royal Botanic Gardens.
22. Art Gallery of NSW
- Wed: 10:00am-10:00pm
- Mon, Tue, Thur-Sun: 10:00am-5:00pm
“In 1871 the collection started with the acquisition by The Art Society of some large works from Europe such as Ford Madox Brown’s Chaucer at the Court of Edward III.”
23. Australian Museum
- Mon-Sun: 9:30am-5:00pm
24. Sydney Jewish Museum
- Mon-Thur, Sun: 10:00am-4:00pm
- Fri: 10:00am-2:00pm
25. Sydney Opera House
Needs no explanation.
*Anything in quotes is from Wikipedia.
The College Girl's Guide to Study Abroad 