Travel to Sydney

The major entry point to Australia - Sydney is one of the most enchanting tourist spots in the world. Situated in the state of New South Wales, between the two coastal cities of Newcastle and Wollongong, on Australia's south-east coast, Sydney is the largest, oldest, and perhaps the vibrant of all the metropolitan cities in the country. With the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Hawkesbury River to the north, the Blue Mountains to the west, and the Royal National Park to the south - Sydney is the capital of New South Wales. Further, its seaport is one of the best in the world.

Sydney was the first city to be colonized by the Europeans in the country, and it was established in 1788 by Arthur Philip at Sydney Cove. Since then, the destination has been flourishing, and is now the financial center of the country. As the country's top tourist destination, Sydney draws holidaymakers from across the world, with its stupendous beaches, interesting monuments and museums, scenic attractions, excellent forest reserves, and superb parks and gardens. Additionally, people touring the place could engage in a number of activities such as cruising, jet boating, sightseeing, golf, and much more. In short, Sydney is a glamorous destination, providing all that a traveler looking for.

Discussed below in this article are some of the most popular attractions that set apart Sydney from other destinations in New South Wales.

This attraction has also been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in Sydney Harbor on the Bennelong Point, the Sydney Opera House is one of the world's much famed venues for performing arts. Apart from being a venue for several theaters, musical performances, and ballets, it also hosts performances of such leading names as the Sydney Theatre Company, Opera Australia, and the Sydney Symphony.

In addition to being home to attractions such as Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Wildlife World, it also consists of the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, where national as well as international conferences and exhibitions are held.

Aforesaid are just few among many of the attractions in the city. Places of interest also include Bondi Beach, which is a fantastic area for enjoying activities such as surfing; Balmoral Beach, with its own island; Taronga Zoo, where a fantastic range of animals can be seen; and Manly Beach, which is noted for its incredible scenery.

In short, Sydney boasts of everything for an unforgettable vacation. Hence, it has accommodation choices to cater to all types of visitors, no matter you are honeymooners, leisurely travelers, or business travelers. High-end hotels come with rooms that are replete with upscale amenities.

For business travelers, these hotels provide a host of facilities such as convention and meeting rooms with banquet facilities and most sophisticated equipments. There are also some hotels that render services in the form of packages covering accommodation, dining, spa facilities, and sightseeing options.

Today the Harbour Bridge has many uses. Firstly and probably primarily it is a major road between the northern suburbs, populations of Sydney and the Sydney Central Business District. There are six right lanes, three to four lanes either way of thick traffic, particularly during peak hour it could get very congested. So it is a big thing the fact that there is traffic there. There is also a train line that goes each way across it for the same kind of thing.

There's also a pedestrian access on the eastern side, you can actually walk by pedestrian access and we'll talk a little bit about that in a minute, about how you can do that. Hundreds of commuters actually walk across Harbour Bridge to get to and from the city to go to work everyday. So this is a serious pedestrian thoroughfare to get from the north side down to the south. Interestingly enough, also there's every year in Sydney they have a running event, a marathon running event called The Bridge Run or The Bridge Marathon. What this is, is as the name implies it is a running event of varying lengths, but a key focus of the running event is actually running across the Harbor Bridge.

I have participated in this and it is fantastic event and it really is something, and they close up all the traffic obviously. And as far as the eye can see, thousands of people running across that Bridge embarking on their marathon or half-marathon or fun-run, varying distances are available. So that is another use, and that is really only once or twice a year that they run those runs and it causes a lot of problems for the traffic, because you have to re-route it in different ways. But it is one of the ways, that Sydney siders use their bridge, it affords magnificent views as well.

When you are actually on the bridge walking across it, beautiful views of the Harbour and the foreshores by following the northern or the southern side is pretty good. Another big one which you have probably seen on television is New Year's Eve. Now what Sydney has done in every since well it will be many years now, since well before 2000, is that the Harbor Bridge itself because it so such a public high icon, thousands and thousands of fireworks are actually fired from there at midnight on New Year's Eve. It's a focal point there, it is zoomed all across the world and very much from Sydney, at midnight everyone knows to look to the Harbor for the fireworks that run 15 to 20 minutes. And really is a New Year's Eve spectacle.