A few questions for my trip to Sydney
 

Hey everyone - traveling to Sydney in 3 weeks and have a number of questions as I try to nail down the details. If you have any thoughts, please chime in!

1) Any recommendations for airport transfer to hotel? Will probably book a limo and would like them to me meet us inside airport.

2) Can you recommend a tour operator for a blue mountains day trip?

3)On departure from Syd, is the Qantas F lounge far superior to the Etihad F lounge?

4)Any thoughts on a deep sea fishing charter or whale watching in late september? I haven't looked into either yet but thought I'd ask while I'm here!

5) All restaurant recommendations appreciated!

thanks in advance!

1) What hotel? Ask the hotel. Most people take a regular taxi (or the train). Limo is not a term often used in Australia.
2) Far better to do a self tour. Take the train and walk artound or rent a car locally
3) Lounge access will depend on your ticket. On what basis do you think QF or EY are options? :(
4) Google is your friend
5) What food style do you like? What price point?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ocean...ggestions.html

I use towncars.com. Never had a problem with them. Always meet me in the arrivals hall.

EK doesn't have an F lounge, only a combined J/F lounge -- so the QF F lounge is markedly superior in every respect (while the EK J lounge beats the QF J lounge :) ). Restaurants are pretty good in Sydney by US standards and price point varies from $10 to $500 per person for a meal. What are you looking for?

869's post refers to EY (an AA partner) and not EK (a QF partner)

EY also has a combined first/business lounge in SYD. While it is very nice for a business lounge I'd rate QF first class lounge as better.

1) Park Hyatt. Honeymoon trip so looking at limo or a high end sedan. Just checking options

2) Considering both guided plus self tour but running out of time and extremely busy so if anyone has a good tour co. I would consider just doing that

3) Flying F on Etihad. I have read extensively about the QF lounge so considering working something out to gain access so we can check it out. If the EY lounge is reasonably close to the QF, perhaps I will just skip the hassle.

4) ...

5) Just looking for some FT's favorites. Open to any price point or cuisine. Sydney's best.

Thank you, bensyd.

Thank you, Kiwi Flyer. I understand QF's F lounge in SYD is one of the best.

There is no way will you get access to any QF lounge when on an Etihad flight.

Re 5)

Sepia (contemporary Asian influenced) - but good luck trying to get a reservation 3 weeks out.

Quay (contemporary) - for dinner, good luck trying to get a reservation 3 weeks out.

Those 2 are the biggest "names" in Sydney dining, probably along with The Bridge Room and Rockpool and Rockpool Bar and Grill. My personal view is that Aria is a bit overrated.

However, I like Pendolino (Italian), Billy Kwong (Chinese). There is a Sydney restaurant thread in this forum with plenty of suggestions.

For cheaper dining, there's a lot of good options - Chat Thai, Mamak, various cafes for breakfast/brunch. Those cafes are probably the best value.

Perhaps you need to get creative. I'll get in if I want to.

Not that hard. Book a car, for Katoomba. Contact the concierge at PH, ask if they can arrange train booking. In 20 min you can figure it out. Heck, on the train ride there you can plot the day's activities... And not be trapped in a bus.

Be spontaneous. ;)

My 2 cents

Thanks - Had a reservation at Sepia but canceled it due to a change in plans. Have held one at Rockpool too. I will have to check out Billy Kwong.

Alright - I'll take the train and then rent a car. Thx!

Park Hyatt Sydney has a hotel car that costs about $10 more than an Uber Black to the airport from the hotel. For airport pickup, I don't know if they charge more. It's a very nice Audi A8 (at least it was in June!)

Edit: Oh yeh, it cost a fixed $110 AUD (Uber Black was $98 from airport to hotel for me, but could have been more with traffic), and they just added it to the bill.