The back story
Where Sydney sleeps: the harbour, the city and the eastern suburbs
The Park Hyatt beside the Harbour Bridge, the Four Seasons above Circular Quay, Capella in the sandstone heart of the city, Crown Towers at Barangaroo, and the design hotels of Surry Hills and Chippendale: where to stay in Sydney.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Romain Pontida · CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsSydney is a harbour city, and the first decision is how close to the water you want to wake up. Around Circular Quay and The Rocks are the hotels with the views: the Park Hyatt on Campbells Cove, the Four Seasons, the Shangri-La and The Langham. A few streets south, in the old sandstone quarter, Capella Sydney has taken over a former government building; west, at Barangaroo, Crown Towers rises over the water. Further out, Surry Hills, Chippendale and Woolloomooloo hold the design hotels, closer to the restaurants and bars.
By the harbour
The Four Seasons Hotel Sydney rises 34 storeys above Circular Quay with 531 rooms and suites, in the hotel’s own words, with The Rocks and the Opera House steps away. The Park Hyatt sits at the water’s edge on Campbells Cove beneath the Harbour Bridge; the Shangri-La and The Langham are on the hill of The Rocks; Pier One, part of the Autograph Collection, is built on and over the water at Walsh Bay.
In the city
Capella Sydney occupies the heritage-listed former Department of Education building in the city’s sandstone precinct, with 192 rooms and suites over eight levels, Brasserie 1930 and McRae Bar. The InterContinental is set within the restored Treasury Building of 1851; QT Sydney is, in its own words, part art deco masterpiece and part heritage theatre; Kimpton Margot is on Pitt Street. At Barangaroo, Crown Towers stands over the western harbour.
Surry Hills, Chippendale and the east
Ace Hotel Sydney, in Surry Hills, has four places to eat and drink, among them Kiln on the 18th floor. The Old Clare Hotel stretches across two heritage-listed buildings in Chippendale; Paramount House Hotel is in the former headquarters of Paramount Pictures; Ovolo Woolloomooloo is on the finger wharf.
Stay by the harbour for a first visit; the ferries and the Opera House will be on your doorstep.
Our advice: book a harbour-view room only if the view is written into the booking; otherwise you may look at the city.
Why it's on our list
- By the harbour
- In the city
- Surry Hills, Chippendale and the east
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Location
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More in depth
The back storyThe harbour city: reading Sydney’s great sightsThe Opera House on Bennelong Point, the Bridge over the harbour, the convict barracks on Macquarie Street, the ferries to Manly and Taronga, and the beaches of the east: how to read Sydney.
History & heritageSydney: from Gadigal Country to the harbour cityGadigal Country, the First Fleet of 1788, the convict barracks, the railway workshops, the Bridge of 1932 and the Opera House of 1973: Sydney’s heritage, told plainly.
The back storyFrom Naala Badu to the Opera House: Sydney’s artsThe Art Gallery of New South Wales and its new building, the MCA at Circular Quay, Chinese contemporary art in Chippendale, the Sydney Symphony under the sails and the theatres of Walsh Bay: the arts in Sydney.