Sydney Travel Guide - Attractions

Opera House: the Sydney Opera House is easily the most recognisable symbol in Sydney, with its distinctive design known around the world. The building was completed in 1973 but a curious anecdote is that the architect, Jorn Utzon, left Australia before the work was completed and has never seen the completed building.

There are four main auditoriums, staging around 3,000 performances a year and is the base of Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. There are guided tours, lasting about one hour, available daily between 09:00 and 17:00. The Opera House is located on Bennelong Point and with parkland to the south; this is a very pleasant area to stroll around.

The highlights of a visit here include the rose garden, cacti display and rainforest groves complete with thousands of large fruit bats. There is a trackless train to take you around the gardens which you can hop on and off wherever you want.

Taronga Zoo: Sydney’s Zoo, Taronga, is one of the city’s most popular attractions spreading across nearly 300 hectares and containing over 25,000 animals. Set in a natural bush area the zoo has gone to great lengths to try and create enclosures that match the animals’ natural habitats as much as they can.

Sydney Observatory: this attractive building, located in The Rocks area, was once a working signalling station for ships in Sydney Harbour, but today houses an interesting astronomy museum. There are a number of interactive displays with games and illustrations to educate about astronomy.

The evening shows here are fun, with a tour and the chance to see the universe through a 16-inch mirror telescope. Admission in the day time is free, but you need to buy a ticket in advance for evening shows.

For many people, the highlight of a visit is the shark enclosure. The Sydney Aquarium has the world’s largest collection of sharks in captivity, with some of the biggest over 3m in length. The aquarium is open daily from 09:00 to 22:00.

Olympic Park: the venue of the 2000 summer Olympics is a popular tourist attraction, with most of the Olympic venues, as well as numerous bars, cafes, and restaurants all in the same Homebush Bay site. The Olympic Park Information Centre has a wealth of information, maps, and advice for walking tours of the park and is open every day from 09:00 to 17:00.