The City
Sydney buzzes with the rhythm of a modern metropolis, but its heartbeat is ancient. It’s a city where vibrant nightlife and soaring skyscrapers stand on lands shaped for thousands of years by the Aboriginal peoples – the original storytellers of this sunlit harbour. There’s an energy here, something that runs just beneath the surface. You feel it as you wander Circular Quay, buskers playing, commuters stopping for coffee, watching ferries skip across the harbour while the Sydney Harbour Bridge arches like a steel rainbow in the distance.
Be part of the scene in one of the most enlightening ways with the Tribal Warrior Cultural Cruise. This guided tour sets sail through Sydney’s glittering waters while delving into stories, traditions, performances, and the deep Aboriginal connection to the land and sea. It’s a great way to explore the harbour by boat as well as appreciate its heritage through the eyes of descendants, offering a rare perspective on the city that most visitors miss entirely.
Set base at The Langham Sydney, an elegant European designed property that balances innovative luxury with absolute comfort. Moments from The Rocks in one direction, and Barangaroo Bay the other, it’s ideally placed for exploration – or for staying in and ordering room service. I say this with no hesitation: this was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever stayed in.
Evenings in the city have their own brand of theatre – literally. Before attending Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, we dined at Midden by Mark Olive, located on the Western Broadwalk of the Opera House. This award-winning, modern venue offers a menu rooted in native Australian ingredients: think wattleseed, lemon myrtle, and saltbush, woven into quality dishes. It’s the perfect pre-show meal, and even better when followed by iconic Sydney Rock Oysters and a crisp Riesling at the Opera House Bar, overlooking the Harbour Bridge as the sun dips below the skyline. Then comes the performance. An open-air stage with the entire harbour as its backdrop. Fireworks ignite the sky as voices soar across the water. This exciting, and frankly more accessible take on Sydney’s opera scene is a great way to enjoy a show in the city as well as enjoy the sites.
Neighbourhoods of the city like Surry Hills offer incredible dining options. Try the daring NEL Restaurant, known for its ever-changing conceptual degustation menus. In the low-lit, bunker-like space, the menu at the time was the Native Australia menu. Wildfire Murray cod with caviar, pepperberry and coffee-rubbed kangaroo. It’s innovative dining that remains deeply respectful of place and product.
The Beaches
The ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly Beach is possibly Sydney’s best-value attraction. A few dollars buys you what feels like a private cruise through the city’s grand waterways, around the Opera house and out towards the sea. Once docked, Manly’s relaxed charisma takes over – beachfront promenade walks, fresh air, and the golden sun meeting the Pacific glimmers.
A day on the beach and shopping works perfectly with lunch at The Pantry Manly. Sitting right at the water’s edge, tuck into seaweed prawn pillows, the soft shell giving way to tender seafood warmth, and zucchini flowers stuffed with melted mozzarella and sharp white anchovy. The grilled Tasmanian octopus with n’duja – was a showstopper. Every dish is locally sourced, echoing the broader theme of sustainability threaded throughout the city.
The water doesn’t just need to be enjoyed from the beach, EcoTreasures offers snorkelling tours through the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve. It’s hard to overstate the sheer proximity of wildness here. Just metres from a paved coastal path, we floated beside giant Blue Gropers, seahorses, rays and grazing green turtles. There’s something wonderful about seeing native marine life thrive just a stone’s throw from your coffee spot. Nature here doesn’t feel like a distant luxury – it’s immediate, immersive, alive.
The Animals
Across the harbour lies Taronga Zoo, but don’t come just for the animals. Integrated into the zoo is a luxury hotel – the Wildlife Retreat at Taronga. This eco-retreat blends understated luxury with a genuine commitment to conservation. The rooms, with views over animal enclosures, allow you to enjoy your morning coffee as the kangaroos are waking up below or koalas do their stretches. And with a fully maintained sanctuary on the grounds, you’re caught between nature and an incredible view of Sydney’s skyline. Each stay supports Taronga’s vital rescue, education, and habitat restoration work.
Dinner at the on-site retreat restaurant, Me-Gal, rivalled some of Sydney’s best. Highlights included Hiramasa Kingfish crudo in a whisper-light tom kha sauce, and Rangers Valley striploin paired with a tart rhubarb reduction and silky polenta cake.
As part of your stay, you’re treated to group tour access of the zoo both before and after visitors are allowed in the park allowing you to wander quietly among koalas, echidnas, and wallabies. Enclosure interactions are more intimate, fully guided and specifically run to appreciate animals at times that are right for them. If you’re lucky, you might even spot the elusive platypus that’s made a home in the hotel’s ponds.
The Gardens
Right next to the city’s busiest icons lies a 30-hectare retreat: the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. You could stroll for hours through its curated calm or spend the afternoon enjoying the views from the pristine parks, but for a deeper understanding, hop on a guided buggy tour. You’ll hear stories of plant species both ancient and introduced, and spot cockatoos playing above banyan trees, all without needing to stretch.
We lunched at Botanic House, where chef Luke Nguyen blends modern Asian flavours with an Australian palate. The Banh Khot – mini pancakes topped with Fraser Isle spanner crab and pomegranate – sang with freshness. Nem Nuong pork skewers and the Banh Cuon soft rice noodles with tiger prawns and mushroom truffle were textural symphonies. The smoky beef short ribs with spicy satay sauce and mountain pepper hit with the exact right amount of swagger.
Dessert was pure summer: mango pudding with coconut tapioca, native Davidson plum sorbet, and seasonal fruit. All of it eaten overlooking the wonderful gardens, peeking through eucalyptus.
A City Rooted in Nature
Sydney’s luxury doesn’t come gilded in gold. It’s found in moments – standing atop the Harbour Bridge after a BridgeClimb Sydney, the entire city sprawled below you; diving beside sea turtles just metres from a cafe; or dining in a world-class restaurant where lemon myrtle, finger lime, and warrigal greens elevate every plate.
This is a place where golden beaches meet sacred landscapes, where native wildlife thrives not just in zoos but in everyday life, and where Indigenous knowledge doesn’t just guide tours – it shapes the land itself.
Sydney invites you to walk in the footsteps of its traditional custodians, to taste the richness of its earth, to sleep soundly in a comfortable bed, and to wake each day to a city that is wild at heart, and wonderfully luxurious in its own, natural way.
Stay
Experience
- Tribal Warrior’s Aboriginal Cultural Cruise
- Handa Opera Sydney
- BridgeClimb Sydney
- Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney
- Guided Snorkelling Tour with EcoTreasures
