48 hours in Sydney, Australia

fuzzy2k3 wrote: ↑ Downtown (or as they call it, CBD - Central Business District)
You can spend a whole day there walking around
2nd day head west to their Blue Mountains area. Lots of waterfalls and great hiking. Just outside the city and accessible by transit. I have family there but maybe look up a tour group for Blue Mountain

Edit: forgot about the beaches! Lots of those

I agree with this normally a day trip out of town for a 48 hour stop isn't recommended but the Blue Mountains are very unique and accessible. Sydney is somewhat zzz. Basically Toronto with beaches and good weather so one full day there is enough to get a good feel and see the highlights. Like Toronto lots of great neighborhoods where you can make a life but nothing touristically mind blowing.

fuzzy2k3 wrote: ↑Downtown (or as they call it, CBD - Central Business District)
You can spend a whole day there walking around
2nd day head west to their Blue Mountains area. Lots of waterfalls and great hiking. Just outside the city and accessible by transit. I have family there but maybe look up a tour group for Blue Mountain

fogetmylogin wrote: ↑ I agree with this normally a day trip out of town for a 48 hour stop isn't recommended but the Blue Mountains are very unique and accessible. Sydney is somewhat zzz. Basically Toronto with beaches and good weather so one full day there is enough to get a good feel and see the highlights. Like Toronto lots of great neighborhoods where you can make a life but nothing touristically mind blowing.

Great idea, and I’ll think about that. I actually went to the Blue Mountains 14 years ago. Might be time to go back and check it out.

tour of the Opera House from the inside
Bridge Walk Climb if you have the nerve
The Sydney Aquarium is really cool
Sydney Tower Eye for a great view of the city
Sydney harbour cruise
Paddy's market has a lot of great stalls for foods and trinkets
Royal Botanic Gardens - they have some incredible trees you won't see here

The Blue Mountains is a spectacular view and you can smell the eucalyptuses but I doubt you'll have time for that
(sadly the Sydney monorail appears to have been shuttered)

MrDisco wrote: ↑ Bridge Walk if you have the nerve

I walked on the bridge crossing Sidney Harbour many years ago... I don't get why you need to "have the nerve"? I was much younger then, so perhaps it would be different today.

To OP: I had a 24-hr layover and I did the (leisure) walk around the habour, getting up close to the opera house and the botanical garden. And crossed the bridge and back :-)

Zork1984 wrote: ↑ I walked on the bridge crossing Sidney Harbour many years ago... I don't get why you need to "have the nerve"? I was much younger then, so perhaps it would be different today.

If you have a fear of heights, it can be unnerving: https://www.bridgeclimb.com/

If you are more beach person then I would suggest Coogee beach/walk
cronulla
Stanwell tops ( go at night to see the milky way )
Wollongong and Kiama.

Lot of boutique restaurants around Bondi Beach as well as lot of great Asian restaurants around Ultimo/Darling harbor area( not sure they still do the fireworks every Saturday night)/Haymarket.

Mamaks is one of my favourite Malaysian restaurants there @ haymarket .

Basically you need 3 solid days in Sydney:

1 day - CBD ("downtown") and surrounding areas
1 day - check out the beaches (Bondi to Coogee walk is a popular day activity)
1 day - daytrip to Blue Mountains area

Since you only have 2 days, I'd do some research and pick 2 out of the 3 suggested days above that best suit your interests.

MrDisco wrote: ↑ If you have a fear of heights, it can be unnerving: https://www.bridgeclimb.com/

OK I see. That's different from walking across the bridge. Yeah, this would be unnerving ;-)

Zork1984 wrote: ↑ OK I see. That's different from walking across the bridge. Yeah, this would be unnerving ;-)

yeah i edited my post because I can understand how it was slightly confusing, but a straight walk across would also be something worthwhile doing for the view

If you're not really into the city itself, an excursion might be interesting. I really liked the Jenolan Caves day trip I did, there are probably organized bus tours for that and you will see some of the scenic Blue Mountains on the way. Cave tours are ticketed and I did two of them on my day trip there.

I finished it off with an evening self walking tour around the harbour/etc at dusk, it was very pleasant.

Or if you have a rental car, a day trip down the coast to Wollongong and see/hang out at the beaches.