Sydney and possibly Melbourne Itinerary(8days)

Old May 17, 2017, 9:23 pm
  #1  
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Sydney and possibly Melbourne Itinerary(8days)

Hi All,

I will be in Sydney for my honeymoon for 4 nights(using chase hyatt sign up bonus to stay at PHS - I can add a couple more days using my UR points if necessary).

For a stay of say 4-5 nights, what do you guys recommend doing for such a short time in such a big city. I know the Opera house, Bridge Climb and the attractions in the city will be on the schedule. Anything you guys would recommend? What's a good place to head to riding the ferry? Was thinking about snorkeling or scuba diving as well.

Then I was going to head off to another city(Melbourne, 2-3days?). I will JUST be missing the Australian Open(bummer), but what would the flyer talk community suggest as activities and must sees?

I know I will be pressed for time in Australia. Thanks in advance.
emofeng is offline  
Old May 18, 2017, 7:20 am
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For your Sydney ferry experience, I'd suggest the Manly ferry. Worth a visit and doesn't take too long.

For Melbourne, well, where do I start. St Kilda's a lively beach suburb with a buzz and a vibe. And Old Melbourne Jail (where Ned Kelly was hanged) is well worth a visit - it gets under many visitors' radar.

Others will no doubt flood you with more suggestions ...
glazfolk is offline  
Old May 18, 2017, 10:11 am
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Anything in particular you like to do?

In Sydney, I loved eating at Fish at the Rocks. The barramundi is their signature dish and ridiculously good. I can't wait to go back and have it again.

Go for a walk and stop at Ms Macquarie's chair for a view of both the opera house and bridge.

I love Melbourne. Great city. They have a Park Hyatt, if you want to use points at it.
Travel K is offline  
Old May 18, 2017, 5:26 pm
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I just spend 5 nights in Sydney at the PH and then 3 nights at the Melbourne PH. Both hotels are really nice. I highly recommend getting the breakfast at the Sydney PH.
PH Melbourne has a lounge. I paid for the stay and got lounge access with points. The lounge is nice, great view, not too busy and food for breakfast and drinks at night was fairly good. definitely worth the 3000 points I paid.
Melbourne PH has bicycles so if you like to cycle make a reservation; they are free.

this is a link for free walking tours in Sydney and in Melbourne. I enjoyed them. make sure you tip
http://www.imfree.com.au/

I took this tour to the blue mountains (its actually a nice day out of the city) and for the city tour which was excellent
http://www.bluediamondtours.net/

In Sydney make sure to talk a walk through the botanical park. Bondi beach is overrated.
I had a very nice dinner at
https://www.ponydiningtherocks.com/
a little pricey but very good food and excellent service.

I also liked this german food place. nothing fancy but really good sausages
http://www.munichbrauhaus.com/food-2/

In Melbourne you must visit the Queen Victoria market. some great food stalls both to eat there or to take back to the hotel.
Also take a bus or Uber to St. Kilda beach. a little funky but great vibe.

I used Uber in most of my trips. If you do not use it now, download the app and register. cheap and convinient.
keisari is offline  
Old May 18, 2017, 10:09 pm
  #5  
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Originally Posted by keisari
I just spend 5 nights in Sydney at the PH and then 3 nights at the Melbourne PH. Both hotels are really nice. I highly recommend getting the breakfast at the Sydney PH.
PH Melbourne has a lounge. I paid for the stay and got lounge access with points. The lounge is nice, great view, not too busy and food for breakfast and drinks at night was fairly good. definitely worth the 3000 points I paid.
Melbourne PH has bicycles so if you like to cycle make a reservation; they are free.

this is a link for free walking tours in Sydney and in Melbourne. I enjoyed them. make sure you tip
http://www.imfree.com.au/

I took this tour to the blue mountains (its actually a nice day out of the city) and for the city tour which was excellent
http://www.bluediamondtours.net/

In Sydney make sure to talk a walk through the botanical park. Bondi beach is overrated.
I had a very nice dinner at
https://www.ponydiningtherocks.com/
a little pricey but very good food and excellent service.

I also liked this german food place. nothing fancy but really good sausages
http://www.munichbrauhaus.com/food-2/

In Melbourne you must visit the Queen Victoria market. some great food stalls both to eat there or to take back to the hotel.
Also take a bus or Uber to St. Kilda beach. a little funky but great vibe.

I used Uber in most of my trips. If you do not use it now, download the app and register. cheap and convinient.
Thanks for the suggestions and links. With regards to PHS, there is no way I'd be able to pay for a stay using cash. I'm Hyatt Discoverist so I was hoping of utilizing my club lounge access for PHS. Do i have to do a cash + points or cash booking in order to use those vouchers? I'm going to be staying at PHS using free nights via the hyatt cc. However, I have a ton of UR points i can burn as well.
emofeng is offline  
Old May 18, 2017, 10:26 pm
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In Sydney u definitely want to spend a morning across the 3 southern beaches (Bondi, Tamaramma and Coodgie). Also some nice hiking available. Maybe a day trip to the Blue Mountains.

In Mel, try and make it out to see the penguins and possibly also the Apostles and the Great Ocean Rd.

Another thing to think of is hitting up some wineries either near Sydney or Mel. If u have more time the Barossa region around Adelaide is great.
NeedstoFly is offline  
Old May 19, 2017, 12:00 am
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My foreign friends all enjoy Darling Harbour - myself as a Sydneysider, I can't see the attraction but visitors seem to love it. There's a great aquarium there, pricey but worth it.

I'd take the ferry to Taronga Zoo and spend at least half a day there. The ferry takes you to the bottom of the zoo, you can then take a cable car to the top with a great view of a lot of the animals, then walk your way back down to the ferry for your return. It's a fantastic zoo, you can get up close to the koalas and walk amongst the kangaroos and wallabies, and there's a really good platypus exhibit - you're unlikely to see any of these animals in the wild. The ferry trip is great, it's closer than Manly.

Katoomba in the Blue Mountains is good too, a two hour train trip from Sydney. A meal at the Paragon is good (for the ambience, not so much for the food) and a visit to the cocktail bar at the Carrington is a real experience. The weather can be dodgy, very cold in winter, and if it's been raining the walks are risky (it gets very slippery). I'd recommend two nights in Katoomba so you get a full day there, with an early start to get the best of the Three Sisters, walk down the Giant Stairway and head to Scenic World (there's a funicular that can take you back to the top, you'll be stuffed after the walk).

The Carrington http://www.thecarrington.com.au/ has a good restaurant, and Bistro Niagara just opposite the railway station is great too - it would be smart to book in advance if either of these appeal to you.

Enjoy your stay in Sydney, it would be good to hear a report back from you when your trip is over.
BadgerBoi is offline  
Old Jun 27, 2017, 6:47 am
  #8  
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I've been living in SYD for about 5 months now. What time of year will you be here? I think Sydney is probably a 3-4 day city, but coming from the US, you may want 1 extra day due to jetlag.

Harbor Bridge walk - seems overrated to me, personally. Seeing a show or something at Opera House could be fun if you're into that sort of thing Opera Bar area is a fun & lively place to get a drink and meet people. For the Ferry, recommend the Manly Ferry - probably the best views.

Snorkeling/Diving isn't really SYD, you'd need to go up to Port Douglas & the reef area. I haven't been to Port Douglas yet, but hoping to get up that way soon & check out Daintree as well (and the reef, of course) - I've been told by coworkers that if you want to do the reef right, take a helicopter out one-way, spend the day diving/snorkeling, and a boat back (or vice versa) as it's a great way to experience the reef.

As for Melbourne - personally, I wish our offices were located there as I like MEL much more as a city than SYD (I live in Darlinghurst in SYD) - it's got more culture and feel to it than SYD does. I'd personally spend more time down there if not doing the reef and maybe just 1-2 days in SYD (and honestly, I'd personally skip SYD and do MEL & the reef - but that's just me!)
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 2:33 pm
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Originally Posted by bhatnasx
I've been living in SYD for about 5 months now. What time of year will you be here?
OP mentioned just missing the Australian Open, so January or February...
As a Sydney native, lots of good suggestions above.
kirkwoodj is offline  
Old Jun 28, 2017, 12:26 am
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From what I was told, you can't take pictures while doing the bridge walk so that was a minus. You can get pretty high up doing the walk up the Pylon instead (and its cheaper) - in fact I saw some doing the climb from my perch at the top of the pylon.

The Manly ferry is right by Circular Quay so very close to the Park Hyatt. It's the easier access to the beach. Bondi requires a bus - which is usually crowded at times and just not as cool as being on the water.

I'm not a lie back and relax on the beach type so I'd recommend a beach walk. I didn't do the Manly to Spit Bridge walk, but it looks pretty awesome on the Sydney website. I did do the Bondi to Coogee one in 2015.

It was a great beach walk with many well maintained walkways - lots of water filling stations and clean bathrooms along the way. You can see a couple of my pics in my trip report.

For the Blue Mountains make sure you wake up early, it's a ~2 hour train ride there and another 2 coming back. Still a totally neat place to see but figure a whole day, at least, there.

I did a Sydney/Melbourne trip in 2013 (couldn't get tickets/flight for the actual Melbourne cup but managed to catch one of the other race days). But I didn't spend much time in the actual city. I did back to back: a penguin tour at Phillip Island and a Great Ocean Road bus tour (my pics).

Most people recommend doing the Great Ocean Road tour over several days so you can take your time to explore the towns. I didn't really have time, so the bus tour was great for me.

Phillip Island is about a half day tour - late into the night as they only start coming in when its dark. You cant take pictures of them as any flash will scare them away. They tried a no flash policy but there was always people using one so now everything with a camera is banned. Still pretty cool to see them come to shore into their little burrows. Definitely upgrade to the premiere tickets so you're closer than the regular ticket goers.

I also did a tour of the Cricket Grounds (I actually just wanted the Sport museum, which is pretty cool, but they had a deal for both). Seems you can tour the tennis courts and even play on it if you're interested - http://www.tennisworld.net.au/tours/
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Old Jun 28, 2017, 5:32 am
  #11  
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Notice you plan flying SYD-MEL-SYD around Australian Open time ... I got burned by this a few years ago as EVERY seat on QF was sold on some days (even J at AUD 1000+ for one-way was sold out). Book ahead if you know your dates. Only a few days sell out like this, but surprising when it does (SYD-MEL has more seats available than any city pair in US, very busy route).
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